JHEK 
 
 JHWl 
 
THE 
 
 GREAT CONTROVERSY 
 
 BETWEEI CHRIST AND SATAK 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION, 
 
 BY MRS. E. G. WHITE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF CHRIST," "PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS, 
 
 "SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE OF PAUL," "STEPS TO CHRIST," 
 
 AND OTHER WORKS. 
 
 PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 OAKLAND, CAL., 
 
 NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO, AND KANSAS CITY. 
 
I 
 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year i8S8, by 
 
 w>^.~ g -f Wnzt*., 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 
 
 N the leader of those " angels which kept not their first estate" 
 (Jude 6) fell from his holy and exalted place in Heaven, he precipitated 
 upon the universe of God an awful controversy. 
 
 From the very nature of the case, there must be eternal antago- 
 nism between righteousness and sin. Between purity and pollution 
 there can be no coalition; nor could the supreme Author of all things, 
 the God in whom inheres every perfection, maintain any other than 
 an attitude of uncompromising hostility to sin and all its fruits, to the 
 author of rebellion and all his followers. 
 
 Another conclusion is apparent: God, as the foe of all evil, and at 
 the same time omnipotent, could not, consistently with his own nature, 
 suffer rebellion to enter within his realms, and abide forever. The in- 
 truder must be cast out; the disturber of the peace must be destroyed. 
 There can be no question as to the issue of this controversy between a 
 holy Creator and the rebellious creature. 
 
 That sin might make a full revelation of its nature and results to 
 the intelligences of all worlds, this controversy was not arrested in its 
 inception. When sin is finally destroyed, it will have given sufficient 
 evidence to satisfy every mind that it deserves the infliction; and all 
 will joyfully acquiesce in its merited doom. 
 
 Happily we have no evidence that, outside the apostate angels, any 
 other world than our own has fallen under the influence of this sinful 
 revolt. But this is enough to make it a matter of absorbing interest to 
 us; for Satan and his angels being cast out of Heaven, this world has 
 become the sole theater of the struggle between right and wrong. All 
 men have become involved therein. Between them and salmtioii 
 there lies the problem of recovery from sin, the attainment to l^km- 
 dition of reconciliation and acceptance with God. 
 
 What theme is therefore entitled to be regarded with more absorb- 
 ing interest than this great controversy the stages through which it 
 has passed, its present development, and the outlook for the future. 
 How and under what circumstances will the controversy end? and 
 have we any evidence that the long-wished-for termination is drawing 
 near ? 
 
 To the consideration of these great themes the following pages are 
 devoted; and we have the clearest assurance that the author possesses 
 
 (a) (iii) 
 
 19399ft 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 peculiar qualifications for such a work. From her childhood she has 
 been noted for her reverence and love for the Word of God, and her 
 piety and devotion to his service. Unbounded faith in the promises 
 of the Holy Scriptures has been both an inducement and a means to 
 enable her to live near to the Saviour. The blessing of the Holy Spirit 
 has been vouchsafed to her in large measure. And as one of the offices 
 of this Spirit was declared to be to show unto the followers of Christ 
 "things to come" (John 16:13), working through that prescribed chan- 
 nel which, as one of the endowments of the church, is described as 
 the gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:9, 10; 14:1), so we believe she has been 
 empowered by a divine illumination to speak of some past events which 
 have thus been brought to her attention, with greater minuteness than is 
 set forth in any existing records, and to read the future with more than 
 human foresight. Those who know what it is to hold communion with 
 our heavenly Father, will, we think, as they read these pages, feel con- 
 strained to believe that the writer has drawn from the heavenly fount- 
 ain, and received help from that throne of grace where Christ sitteth as 
 our merciful High Priest, and whence he is ever ready to send forth as- 
 sistance to the many sons wiiom lie is bringing unto glory. Heb. 2:10. 
 
 Aside from the great volume of inspiration the Bible no other book 
 presents a more wonderful and intensely interesting history of the pres- 
 ent dispensation, to the complete restitution of all things, than the vol- 
 ume here offered to the public. And as the closing scenes of this world's 
 history are of the most thrilling and momentous nature, these are more 
 particularly dwelt upon in this work. The reader, as he follows the nar- 
 rative, beginning with a sketch of our Lord's great prophecy in Matthew 
 24, will find himself entering into new sympathy with the church in her 
 warfare and her sufferings, as she passes on to her promised redemption ; 
 and the soul of every believer will kindle at the vivid description of the 
 final triumph of the people of God, the destruction of Satan and all his 
 followers, the total and eternal extirpation of evil from the universe, and 
 the renovation of the earth as the everlasting inheritance of the saints, 
 when this great controversy is concluded. 
 
 While the subjects here presented involve the loftiest imagery, and 
 most wonderful depth, even as the apostle declares, " the deep things 
 of ( Jod," which the Spirit alone is capable of searching into (L Cor. 2 : 10), 
 yet they are treated in language chaste, simple, and easy to bo under- 
 stood. And we rejoice to know .that the reading of this work leads to 
 greater confidence in, and love for, the Holy Scriptures, to greater sym- 
 pathy with Christ, in his marvelous work for the redemption of men, 
 and to greater reverence for the God of all grace, in whom are all the 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 Numerous editions <>f tl' ls wirk having already been exhausted, 
 we feel a peculiar gratification in sending forth this edition, enlarged 
 
 (*) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 and improved, and adapted to circulate in various tongues. The illus- 
 trations will add to the interest and value of the work. May it still 
 prove a blessing to all who read, and redound to the glory of the Most 
 High. 
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 BEFORE the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with 
 his Maker ; but since man separated himself from God by transgres- 
 sion, the human race has been cut off from this high privilege. By 
 the plan of redemption, however, a way has been opened whereby the 
 inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with Heaven. God 
 has communicated with men by his Spirit, and divine light has been 
 imparted to the world by revelations to his chosen servants. "Holy 
 men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. 1 : 21. 
 
 During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there 
 was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, com- 
 municated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from 
 father to son, through successive generations. The preparation of the 
 written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were 
 then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued during the 
 long period of sixteen hundred years, from Moses, the historian of 
 creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the most sublime truths 
 of the gospel. 
 
 The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human 
 hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the char- 
 acteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all "given 
 by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16); yet they are expressed in the 
 words of men. The Infinite One by his Holy Spirit has shed light 
 into the minds and hearts 01 his servants. He has given dreams and 
 visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus re- 
 vealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language. 
 
 The ten commandments were spoken by God himself, and were 
 written by his own hand. They are of divine, and not human com- 
 position. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the 
 language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such 
 a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and 
 the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that 
 "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1 : 14. 
 
 Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and 
 occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 
 Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the 
 nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are 
 employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly 
 presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a 
 .subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the 
 superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contra- 
 diction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, 
 discerns the underlying harmony. 
 
 As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought 
 out in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed 
 with one phase of a subject; he grasps those points that harmonize 
 with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; 
 another seizes upon a different phase ; and each, under the guidance of 
 the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own 
 mind; a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony 
 through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect 
 whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and 
 experiences of life. 
 
 God has been pleased to communicate his truth to the world by 
 human agencies, and he himself, by his Holy Spirit, qualified men 
 and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selec- 
 tion of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was intrusted 
 to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from Heaven. The testimony 
 is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language; yet 
 it is the testimony of God ; and the obedient, believing child of God 
 beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of gra.ce and truth. 
 
 In his Word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary 
 for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authorita- 
 tive, infallible revelation of his will. They are the standard of char- 
 acter, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience. "Every 
 scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction which is in righteousness ; that the man of 
 God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." 
 2 Tim. 3: 16, 17, Revised Version. 
 
 Yet the fact that God has revealed his will to men through his Word, 
 has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the 
 Holy Spirit. On the contrary, the Spirit was promised by our Saviour, 
 to open the Word to his servants, to illuminate and apply its teach- 
 ings. And since it was the Spirit of God that inspired the Bible, it is 
 impossible that the teaching of the Spirit should ever be contrary to 
 that of the Word. 
 
 The Spirit was not given nor can it ever be bestowed to supersede 
 the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the Word of God is 
 the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. 
 (d) 
 
PREPACK. 
 
 Says the apostle John, " Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
 whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out 
 into the world." 1 John 4:1. And Isaiah declares, " To the law and 
 to the testimony ; if they speak not according to this word, it is because 
 there is no light in them." Isa. 8 : 20. 
 
 Great reproach has been cast upon the work of the Holy Spirit, by 
 the errors of a class that, claiming its enlightenment, profess to have 
 no further need of guidance from the Word of God. They are governed 
 by impressions which they regard as the voice of God in the soul. But 
 the spirit that controls them is not the Spirit of God. This following 
 of impressions, to the neglect of the Scriptures, can lead only to con- 
 fusion, to deception and ruin. It serves only to further the designs of 
 the evil one. Since the ministry of the Holy Spirit is of vital 
 importance to the church of Christ, it is one of the devices of Satan, 
 through the errors of extremists and fanatics to cast contempt upon 
 the work of the Spirit, and cause the people of God to neglect this 
 source of strength which our Lord himself has provided. 
 
 In harmony with the Word of God, his Spirit was to continue its 
 work throughout the entire period of the gospel dispensation. During 
 the ages while the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament 
 were being given, the Holy Spirit did not cease to communicate light 
 to individual minds, apart from the revelations to be embodied in the 
 sacred canon. The Bible itself relates how, through the Holy Spirit, 
 men received warning, reproof, counsel, and instruction, in matters in 
 no way relating to the giving of the Scriptures. And mention is made 
 of prophets in different ages, of whose utterances nothing is recorded. 
 In like manner, after the close of the canon of Scripture, the Holy 
 Spirit was still to continue its work, to enlighten, warn, and comfort 
 the children of God. 
 
 Jesus promised his disciples, "The Comforter, which is the Holy 
 Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
 things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have 
 said unto you." " When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide 
 vou into all truth; . . . and he will show you things to come." John 
 14 : 26 ; 16 : 13. Scripture plainly teaches that these promises, so far 
 from being limited to apostolic days, extend to the church of Christ 
 in all ages. The Saviour assures his followers, "I am with you al way, 
 even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28 : 20. And Paul declares 
 that gifts and manifestations of the Spirit were set in the church 
 " for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
 edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the 
 faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, 
 unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 
 4:12,13. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 For the believers at Ephesus the apostle prayed, " That the God of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the 
 Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of 
 .your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is tlie 
 hope of his calling, and what ... is the exceeding greatness of 
 his power to us-ward who believe." Eph. 1 : 17-19. The ministry of 
 the divine Spirit in enlightening the understanding and opening to 
 the mind the deep things of God's holy Word, was the blessing which 
 Paul thus besought for the Ephesian church. 
 
 After the wonderful manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the day of 
 Pentecost, Peter exhorted the people to repentance and baptism in the 
 name of Christ, for the remission of their sins; and lie said, " Ye shall 
 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and 
 to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord 
 our God shall call." A cts 2 : 38, 39. 
 
 In immediate connection with the scenes of the great day of God, 
 the Lord by the prophet Joel has promised a special manifestation of his 
 Spirit. Joel 2: 28. This prophecy received a partial fulfillment in 
 the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; but it will reach 
 its full accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace which will 
 attend the closing work of the gospel. 
 
 The great controversy between good and evil will increase in in- 
 tensity to the very close of time. In all ages the wrath of Satan has 
 been manifested against the church of Christ; and God has bestowed 
 his grace and Spirit upon his people to strengthen them to stand 
 against the power of the evil one. When the apostles of Christ were 
 to bear his gospel to the world and to record it for all future ages, 
 they were especially endowed with the enlightenment of the Spirit, 
 But as the church approaches her final deliverance, Satan is to work 
 with greater power, lie comes down "having great wrath, because 
 he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Rev. 12:12. He will 
 work "with all power and signs and lying wonders.'' 2 Thess. 2:9. 
 For six thousand years that master-mind that once was highest among 
 the angels of God, has been wholly bent to the work of deception and 
 ruin. And all the depths of Satanic skill and subtlety acquired, all 
 the cruelty developed, during these struggles of the ages, will be brought 
 to bear against God's people in the final conflict. And in this time of 
 peril the followers of Christ are to bear to the world the warning of 
 the Lord's second advent; and a people are to be prepared to stand 
 before him at his coming. " without spot and blameless." 2 Pet. .'!. 1--I. 
 At this time tin! special endowment of divine grace and power is not 
 edfnl to the church than in apostolic' days. 
 
 Through the 'Humiliation of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long- 
 continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to 
 behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between 
 Christ, the Prince of life, the author of our salvation, and Satan, the 
 prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God's holy law. 
 Satan's enmity against Christ has been manifested against his fol- 
 lowers. The same hatred of the principles of God's law, the same 
 policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by 
 which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are 
 led to worship the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in 
 all the history of the past. Satan's efforts to misrepresent the char- 
 acter of God, to cause men to cherish a false conception of the Creator, 
 and thus to regard him with fear and hate rather than with love, his 
 endeavors to set aside the divine law, leading the people to think them- 
 selves free from its requirements, and his persecution of those who 
 dare to resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all ages. 
 They may be traced in the history of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, 
 of martyrs and reformers. 
 
 In the great final conflict, Satan will employ the same policy, mani- 
 fest the same spirit, and work for the same end, as in all preceding ages. 
 That which has been, will be, except that the coming struggle will be 
 marked with a terrible intensity such as the world has never witnessed. 
 Satan's deceptions will be more subtle, his assaults more determined. If 
 it were possible, he would lead astray the elect. Mark 13 : 22, Revised 
 Version. 
 
 As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of his 
 Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden 
 to make known to others what has thus been revealed, to trace the 
 history of the controversy in past ages, and especially to so present it 
 as to shed a light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In 
 pursuance of this purpose, I have endeavored to select and group to- 
 gether events in the history of the church in such a manner as to 
 trace the unfolding of the great testing truths that at different periods 
 have been given to the world, that have excited the wrath of Satan, and 
 the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been maintained 
 by the witness of those who "loved not their lives unto the death." 
 
 In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before 
 us. Regarding them in the light of God's Word, and by the illumina- 
 tion of his Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, 
 and the dangers which they must shun who would be found " without 
 fault" before the Lord at his coming. 
 
 The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past 
 ages, are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged 
 by the Protestant world ; they are facts which none can gainsay. This 
 history I have presented briefly, in accordance with the scope of the 
 
book, and the brevity which must necessarily be observed, the facts 
 having been condensed into as little space as seemed consistent with 
 a proper understanding of their application. In some cases where a 
 historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in Drief, a com- 
 prehensive view of the subject, or lias summarized details in a con- 
 venient manner, his words have been quoted; but except in a few in- 
 stances no specific credit has been given, since they are not quoted for 
 the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his state- 
 ment affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject. In nar- 
 rating the experience and view's of those carrying forward the work of 
 reform in our own time, similar use has occasionally been made of 
 their published works. 
 
 It is not so much the object of this book to present new truths con- 
 cerning the struggles of former times, as to bring out facts and princi- 
 ples which have a bearing upon coming events. Yet viewed as a part 
 of the controversy between the forces of light and darkness, all these 
 records of the past are seen to have a new significance; and through 
 them a light is cast upon the future, illumining the pathway of those 
 who, like the reformers of past ages, will be called, even at the peril of 
 all earthly good, to witness " for the Word of God, and for the testi- 
 mony of Jesus Christ." 
 
 To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and 
 error; to reveal the wiles of Satan, and the means by which he may 
 be successfully resisted ; to present a satisfactory solution of the great 
 problem of evil, shedding such a light upon the origin and the final 
 disposition of sin as to fully make manifest the justice and benevo- 
 lence of God in all his dealings with his creatures; and to show the 
 noly, unchanging nature of his law, is the object of this book. 
 That through its influence souls may be delivered from the power of 
 darkness, and become "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in 
 light," to the praise of Him who loved us, and gave himself for ns, is 
 the earnest prayer of the writer. 
 
 1 :. ( K AY. 
 
 1 1 1: \ I.DSBURG, CA r,., 1 
 May, 1888. ] 
 
 (h) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 THE Siege and Overthrow Foretold. Glory of the Chosen City. The Tri- 
 umphal Entry. The Son of God Overwhelmed with Anguish. Unbe- 
 lief a*d Ingratitude of Israel. Jerusalem a Symbol of the World. 
 A Twofold Prophecy. Christ Warns his Followers. Potents of Dis- 
 aster. Escape of the Christians. The Siege by Titus. Famine and 
 Suffering. The Sanctuary in Flames The City Demolished. 
 Slaughter and Captivity of the people. A Symbol of the Final De- 
 struction 17-38 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 PAGANISM against Christianity. First Martyrs for the Faith. The Cata- 
 combs a Refuge. Peace Purchased by Compromise. The Leaven of 
 Idolatry. Separation of the Faithful. Why the Gospel Occasions 
 Strife ". 39-48 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 THE APOSTASY. 
 
 THE Rise of the Papacy Foretold. Suppression of the Scriptures. The 
 Rites of Heathenism Adopted. The Change of God's Command- 
 ments. Establishment of Romanism. Beginning of the Dark Ages. 
 Infallibility of the Church. The Power of the Pope. Henry IV. 
 at Canossa. The Boast of Gregory VII. Pagan and Papal Errors. 
 The Inquisition. The World under the Rule of Rome 49-60 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE WALDENSES. 
 
 CHRISTIANS in the Dark Ages. The Gospel in Great Britian. Columbaat 
 lona. The Saxons Embrace Romanism. Extermination of the 
 Primitive Church. The People of Piedmont and the Papal Power. 
 The Protesters Flee to the Mountains. The Waldensian Bible. The 
 Youth Trained for Trial. Missionaries in Disguise. Crusades against 
 the Vaudois. The Bull of Extermination. Seed for the Reforma- 
 tion 61-78 
 
 (v) 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 
 
 TOKENS of Light. The Morning Star of the Reformation. Wyclifle's Tal- 
 ents and Education. His Study of the Scriptures. The Pope's De- 
 mand for Tribute. Wycliffe and the Friars. Ambassador to the 
 Netherlands. He Rebukes the Greed of Rome. His Death Decreed. 
 God's Overruling Providences. The Rival Popes. Wycliffe Trans- 
 lates the Bible. His Arraignment before Three Tribunals. His 
 Triumphant Defense. Is Summoned to Rome. His Letter to the 
 Pope. Close of Wyeliffe's Life. Persecution of the Lollards. The 
 Reformer's Work not Destroyed *... 79-96 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 HUSS AND JEROME. 
 
 THE Gpspel in Bohemia. Corruptions of the Hierarchy. Denounced by 
 Huss. Prague under Interdict. Jerome Unites with Huss. Council 
 at Constance. Imprisonment of Huss. A Prophetic Dream. The 
 Reformer Burned at the Stake. Arrest of Jerome. Long Imprison- 
 ment and Torture. He Recants. He Re-affirms his Faith. His 
 Noble Defense and Triumphant Death. Pope and Emperor Unite 
 against Bohemia. The Invading Armies Routed. Rome Resorts to 
 Policy. Treaty with the Bohemians. Persecution of the Faithful. 
 The Church of the Alps 97-119 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 
 
 Lt'TiiER the Man for his Time. Early Life. Severe Discipline. At the 
 University. Discovery of the Bible. Conviction of Sin. He En- 
 ters a Cloister. The Chained Bible. Ordination as a Priest. Called 
 to Wittenberg. Visit to Rome. Justification by Faith. Rome's 
 Traffic in the Grace of God. Tetzel and the Indulgences. The 
 Ninety-five Theses. Melancthon Unites in Reform. Luther at 
 Augsburg. Papal Plots. Frederick of Saxony his Protector. The 
 Reformer Excommunicated. Truth Opposed in All Ages 120-144 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 
 
 CHARLES V. and the Emissaries of Rome. Demand for Luther's Execu- 
 tion. The Legate's Speech. Duke George and the Papal Abuses. 
 The Reformer Summoned to Worms. Welcome at Erfurt T:-each- 
 
CONTENTS. . vn 
 
 ery Foiled. Entry to Worms. Before the Diet. Luther's Prayer. 
 Second Appearance at the Diet. Refusal to Retract. The Emperor's 
 Message. Efforts for Compromise Unavailing. Luther's Departure 
 from Worms. Condemned and Outlawed. A Prisoner in the Wart- 
 burg 145-170 
 
 CHAPTER -IX. 
 
 THE SWISS REFORMER. 
 
 GOD'S Choice of Instrumentalities. Youth of Ulric Zw ingle. Efforts to 
 Make him a Monk. His Work in the Alpine Parish. Proclaiming 
 the Truth at Einsiedeln. Labors at Zurich. Sale of Luther's Writ- 
 ings; Indulgences Condemned. The " Great Death " Plague. Fruits 
 of the Gospel. Discussion at Baden. Eck and CEcolampadius. 
 Bern and Basel Declare for the Reformation 171-184 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 
 
 EFFECT of Luther's Disappearance. The Reformation still Advanc- 
 ing. Pretended Prophets. They Set Aside the Bible. The Refor- 
 mation on the Verge of Ruin. Luther's Return to Wittenberg. 
 Fanaticism Checked. Its Subsequent Revival. Munzer and his 
 Teaching. Sedition and Bloodshed. Not Chargeable to the Refor- 
 mation. Translation of the Bible. The Work of Colporters. Spread 
 of the True Faith .; 185-196 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 
 
 THE Diet of. Spires. A Dark Day for the Reformation. The Imperial 
 Message. Religious Toleration Forbidden. The Protest. Impor 
 tanceof its Principles. Danger to the Protesters. Escape ofGrynaeus. 
 The Diet at Augsburg. The Protestant Confession. Faith ami 
 Courage of the Princes. Before the Emperor. A Glorious Victory. 
 Prayer the Reformers' Strength 197-210 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 
 
 DAWN of the Truth in France. The Work of Lefevre. Farel's Conver- 
 sion. The New Testament Published at Meux. Rage of the Hier- 
 archy. The Stake Set Up. Louis Berquin. The Mutilated Image. 
 A Noble Martyr. Scenes of the Revolution Foreshadowed. John 
 Calvin. Protection through the Princess Margaret. Preaching at 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 the Palace. Paris Moved by the Word of God. The Truth Rejected 
 Posting of the Placards. France Pledged to Exterminate the 
 Heresy. Flight of the Huguenots. Farel in Switzerland. The 
 Gospel at Geneva. Rise of the Jesuits. The Inquisition Re-estab- 
 lished. Geneva and the Reformation 211-236 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA. 
 
 PROTEST in the Netherlands. The Waldensian Bible Translated. Menno 
 Simons. Edicts of Persecution. Atrocities of the Spanish Kings. 
 The Reformer of Denmark. The Work in Sweden. Olaf and Laren- 
 tius Petri. Sweden a Bulwark of Protestantism. The Thirty Years' 
 War. Germany Saved from Popery 237-244 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 
 
 TYNDALE Translates the Bible. Opposition to his Work. He Flees to 
 Germany. Printing the New Testament. Its Introduction into 
 England. Tyndale's Imprisonment and Martyrdom. Latimer De- 
 fends the Bible. Other Reformers. The Bible in Scotland. John 
 Knox. Before Queen Mary. The Established Church in England. 
 Dissenters Persecuted. John Bunyan. Baxter, Flavel, Alleine. 
 Great Religious Declension. Whitefield and the Wesley s. Early 
 Experiences. The Doctrine of Faith. Moravian Teachers. A Light 
 from Bohemia. Conversion of the Wesleys. Power and Success of 
 their Ministry. Persecution of the Methodists. Wesley and An- 
 tinomianism 245-264 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 REJECTION of Light. Results of Suppressing the Scriptures. Prophecy of 
 the Work of France. The Two Witnesses. National Atheism. Ac- 
 tion of the French Assembly. The Marriage Relation Degraded. 
 Christ Crucified in his Followers. St. Bartholomew Massacre an Ex- 
 ample. War against the Bible. Blasphemous Rites. The Goddess 
 of Reason. Romanism and the Revolution. The Reign of Terror. 
 Prophecy Fulfilled. The Scriptures Exalted. Missionary and Bible 
 Societies. Unprecedented Circulation of God's Word 265-288 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 
 
 ROMISH Rites in the Church of England. Dissenters Seek Liberty in 
 Holland. John Robinson's Address to the Pilgrims. The True 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Spirit of Reform. The Colonists of New England. Church, and 
 State. Persecution of Roger Williams. He Founds Rhode Island. 
 A Church without a Pope. A State without a King. The Work of 
 Apostasy...... 289-298 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 
 
 THE Coming of Christ. The Hope of True Believers in All Ages. Signs 
 of the Second Advent. Earthquake of Lisbon. The Dark Day. 
 Condition of the World and the Church Foretold. A Solemn Warning. 
 -Unfaithful Watchmen. Israel at the Birth of Christ, Humble 
 Shepherds Receive the Glad Tidings. Religious Leaders in Darkness. 
 Results of Cherishing Light 299-316 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 
 
 EARLY Life of William Miller. He Becomes a Deist. His Mental Con- 
 flicts. His Conversion. His Study of the Bible. The Prophecies can 
 be Understood. The Temporal Millennium. The Personal Advent 
 of Christ. Chronology of the Scriptures. Miller Presents his Views. 
 --His Preaching Attended with Power. Fulfillments of Prophecy, 
 The Falling of the Stars. The Fall of the Ottoman Empire. 
 Denouncement of Miller. The Warning of Noah. Why the Doc- 
 trine of Christ's Coming is Disliked. Its Effects upon Those who Re 
 ceived It 317-342 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 
 
 GOD'S Purposes Imperfectly Comprehended. Doctrines of Men Blind the 
 Mind. Preaching of Christ's First Advent. Expectation of the Disci- 
 ples. Their Disappointment at the Death of Christ. The Disappoint- 
 ment Explained. The Counterpart of their Experience. The Mes- 
 sage of the Second Advent. Disappointment of the Believers. The 
 Result of Popular Error 343-354 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 
 
 A STRIKING Symbol. The Warning of the Judgment. Joseph Wolff's 
 Life and Labors. Widespread Expectation of the Messiah's Advent. 
 The Message in England. Bengel's Labors in Germany. Gaussen in 
 France and Switzerland. Child Preachers in Sweden. The Work in 
 America. The Warning Received by Thousands 355-374 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 A WARNING REJECTED. 
 
 A MARKED Religious Declension. The Result of Rejecting Light. Proph- 
 ecy of Rev. 14:8 Symbol Explained. Worldliness in the Church. 
 Testimonies of Eminent Men. Full Application of the Prophecy 
 yet Future 375-390 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 
 
 HABAKKUK'S Prophecy. The "Parable of the Virgins. The Work of Fa- 
 naticism. The Word of God a Test." The Midnight Cry ."Type and 
 Antitype. Character of the Work. Passing of the Time. An Un- 
 shaken Faith. Encouragement from the Word of God. Waiting for 
 Light '. 391-408 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 
 
 TERMINATION of the Prophetic Periods. The Earth Not the Sanctuary. 
 The Tabernacle. The Earthly Sanctuary a Figure of the Heavenly. 
 The Mosaic Service a Type. Zechariah's Prophecy. The Cleans- 
 ing of the Sanctuary. Mediation of Christ. Close of the Work of 
 the Atonement 409-422 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 
 
 THE Purpose of God Fulfilled The Coming of the Lord to his Temple. 
 A Work of Purification. Parable of the Virgins Completed. The 
 Coming of the Bridegroom. Going in to the Marriage. " The Door 
 was Shut." A Time of Trial 423-432 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. 
 
 THE Temple in Heaven. The Ark of God's Testament. The Fourth 
 Commandment. A Threefold Warning. The Standard of Duty. 
 The Foundation of Worship. Symbols of Paganism and tin? Papacy. 
 Another Power. Its Peaceful Professions. A Striking Contradic- 
 tion. The Last Work of Apostasy. The World Divided into Two 
 Classes. What Constitutes the Distinction.. . , . . .433-450 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 A WORK OF REFORM. 
 
 ISAIAH'S Prophecy of Reform. " Seal the Law." The Scripture Explained. 
 The Last Church. Distinctive Doctrines. The Truth Unwelcome. 
 Popular Perversions of God's Word. Time-Setting an Error. 
 The Cause Retarded by Unbelief. The Duty of Reformers... .45 1-460 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 MODERN REVIVALS. 
 
 RESULTS of Preaching the Word of God. A Marked Contrast. Sensa- 
 tionalism in Religion. The Cause of Errors in Doctrine and Life. 
 The Law and the Gospel. Antinomian Teachers. Conversion and 
 Sanctification. The Standard of Holiness. Sanctification a Pro- 
 gressive Work. Temperance and Consecration. The Christian's 
 Privilege 461-478 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT. 
 
 THE Opening of the Judgment. The Books of Record. God's Law the 
 Test of Character. Christ Our Advocate. Order of the Judgment. 
 The Blotting Out of Sins. Satan's Accusations. The New-Covenant 
 Promise. The Time of the Judgment. The Anti typical Day of 
 Atonement. Individual Accountability. Probation Nearly Ended. 
 479-491 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 
 
 A SOURCE of Perplexity. God Not Responsible for Sin. The Universe 
 before the Existence of Evil. Lucifer, the " Son of the Morning." 
 His Self-Exaltation. His Policy of Deception. God is Truth. 
 His Long-suffering Mercy. Revolt and Banishment of Satan. Spirit 
 of Rebellion among Men. Satan Accuses God of Injustice. The 
 Fall of Man. The Atonement Demonstration of God's Love. 
 Christ's Earthly Ministry. Satan's Character Unmasked. His De- 
 struction As*sured.*-God's Justice Vindicated. No Cause for Sin 
 Exists 492-504 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SATAN. 
 
 THE First Prophecy. rAntagonism between the Spirit of Christ and the 
 Spirit of Satan. Hatred of the Followers of Christ. Indifference of 
 Christians to Their Danger. Satan's Tireless Vigilance. Effects of 
 Familiarity with Sin The Final Conflict 505-510 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 
 
 THE Visible and Invisible Worlds Connected. The Ministration of 
 Holy Angels. Evil Spirits in League for Man's Destruction. Their 
 Malignity Manifested in the Time of Christ. Danger of Denying 
 their Existence. The Bible Reveals their Wiles 511-517 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 SNARES OF SATAN. 
 
 How Satan's Plans are Executed. He Prevents Men from Hearing the 
 Word of God. Accusers of the Brethren. Fanciful Interpretations 
 of Scripture. " Science Falsely so Called." Deceptive Doctrines. 
 . Disbelief in tlje Pre-existence of Christ. Non-existence of Satan. 
 Coming of Christ at Death. Miracles Impossible. Danger of Cherish- 
 ing Doubt. Uses of Temptation 518-530 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 
 
 THE Tempter in Eden. A Plan for Man's Overthrow. Death the Penalty 
 of Sin. Immortality the Gift of God. Doctrine of Eternal Torment 
 Introduced. God's Character Misrepresented. A Cause of Infidelity. 
 Universal ism the Opposite Error. Salvation Conditional. The 
 Wicked Unfit for Heaven. God's Mercy in their Destruction. Con- 
 sciousness of the Dead a Fallacy. What the Bible Teaches. Belief 
 of Luther and Tyndale. The Judgment and the Resurrection. 
 .". 531-550 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 \ vi [ I:AI, Immortality its Foundation. Materialization a Counterfeit. 
 Not the Result of Trickery. A. Revival of Ancient Witchcraft. 
 Adapted to Ensnare All Classes. Its Deceptions Unveiled. ...551-562 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 
 
 ROMANISM Gaining Favor. A Cause of Apprehension. Pomp and Splen- 
 dor of her Worship. Contrast between Christ and the Pope. 
 Protestants Blinded by False Charity. The Secret of Rome's Power. 
 An Age of Intellectual Light not Unfavorable to her Success. 
 
CONTENTS. xin 
 
 The Sunday Movement. The First Sunday Law. The Roll from 
 Heaven. Pretended Miracles. A Remarkable Confession. The 
 Church of Abyssinia. Rome's Enmity toward the Law of God. 
 History of the Past to be Repeated. Purpose of the Romanists. 
 563-581 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVL 
 THE IMPENDING CONFLICT ITS CAUSES. 
 
 THE Great Controvesy and the Law of God. The Last Battle between 
 Truth and Error. Rejection of the Bible. Philosophical Idolatry. 
 Results of Setting Aside God's Law. Temperance Reform and 
 the Sunday Movement. Spiritualism. Satan Appears as a Bene- 
 factor. He Controls the Elements. Terrible Calamities. God's 
 People will be Accused as Troublers of the Nation. Liberty of Con- 
 science Disregarded. Last War upon the Church 682-592 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 
 
 THE Detector of Error. An Understanding of the Prophecies Essential. 
 Danger of Following Human Leaders. How to Understand the 
 Scriptures. Why Theologians often Err. Necessity of Prayer. 
 Every Character to be Tested 593-602 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
 THE FINAL WARNING. 
 
 THE Mighty Angel. Application of his Message. " The Seal of God." 
 Light for All who Seek It. The Experience of Reformers. 
 God's Providence in the National Councils. The Closing Work. 
 World-wide Extent. Power and Glory. Fruits of Missionary Ef- 
 forts 603-612 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 THE TIME OF TROUBLE." 
 
 CHRIST'S Ministration Closes. The Wrath of Satan. The Whole World 
 against God's Servants. The Decree of Outlawry. In Peril and 
 Distress. Illustration from the Time of Jacob's Trouble. Power 
 of Importunate Prayer. The Prophetic Woe. Supernatural Sights 
 and Sounds. The Crowning Deception. God's People Forced to 
 Flee. The Mountains a Hiding-place. Imprisonment and Bond 
 
xiv VVNTUJNT8. 
 
 age. The Righteous not Forsaken. The Unmingled Wrath. 
 Guardian Angels. Their Appearance in Human Form. -The Prom- 
 ise of Deliverance 613-634 
 
 CHAFFER XL. 
 GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 
 
 A MOVEMENT for their Destruction. The Night Attack. Supernat- 
 ural Darkness. The Rainbow of God's Glory. Celestial Voices. 
 The Sun at Midnight. -The Voice of God. A Mighty Earth- 
 quake. A Special Resurrection. Prophetic Portrayal. The Star 
 of Hope. Revelations in the Heavens. The Everlasting Covenant. 
 "The Sign of the Son of Man." Christ's Coming in Glory. 
 Resurrection of the Just. The Reward of the Righteous. Before 
 the Throne. "The Joy of their Lord." Meeting of the Two 
 Adams. Eden Restored. The " New Song." The Theme of Re- 
 demption 635-652 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 
 
 GOD'S Judgments upon the Wicked. Their Treasures Swept Away. 
 False Teachers Exposed. Fury of the Multitudes. Strife and Car- 
 nageThe Earth Made Waste. The Prison-house of Satan. A 
 Work of Judgment 653-661 
 
 CHAPTER XLIL 
 THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 
 
 CHRIST'S Return to the Earth. The Resurrection of the Wicked. The 
 Mount of Olives. Descent of the New Jerusalem. Satan's Last 
 Struggle. Christ upon the Throne of his Glory The Final Cor- 
 onation The Judgment of the Wicked. The Books of Record. 
 A Panoramic Portrayal. The Scenes of Redemption. The Cross of 
 Calvary. Results of Rebellion. God's Justice Made Manifest. The 
 Fire of Destruction. Evil Annihilated. The Home of the Saved. 
 The City of God. The Universal Anthem 662-678 
 
 GENERAL NOTES 679-691 
 
 P.io. UAPHICAL NOTES.. G92-70J 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 P^GE. 
 
 JERUSALEM FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES Frontispiece 
 
 THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE 17 
 
 THI: TEMPLE AND ITS COURTS 24 
 
 MARTYRDOM OP THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 39 
 
 CHRISTIAN'S WORSHIPING IN THE CATACOMBS 40 
 
 ST. PETER'S CHURCH, AT ROME -49 
 
 PFXANCE OF HENRY IV. AT CANOSSA 58 
 
 WALDENSIAN MISSIONARIES 70 
 
 \VYCLIFPE, Huss, JEROME, ZWINGLE, (ECOLAMPADIUS 79 
 
 WVCLIFFE AND THE FRIARS 88 
 
 IIuss IN PRISON 106 
 
 JEROME LED TO MARTYRDOM 114 
 
 LUTHER, CALVIN, FAREL, MELANCTHON, FREDERICK OF SAXONY - 120 
 
 LUTHER'S PROTEST AGAINST INDULGENCES 130 
 
 LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET 156 
 
 Swiss REFORMERS PREACHING IN THE FIELDS 171 
 
 LUTHER AT THE WARTBURG 185 
 
 READING THE PROTEST AT THE DIET OF SPIRES 202 
 
 FRANCIS I. AS A PENITENT 228 
 
 TYNDALE, KNOX, LATIMER, RIDLEY, Wi HART, CRANMER 245 
 
 WI.SLEY, BAXTER, BUNYAN, MILLER, WHITEFIELD 253 
 
 POPE Pius VI. TAKEN PRISONER IN 1798 266 
 
 THE ST. BARTHOLOMEW MASSACRE 272 
 
 THE GODDESS OF REASON 276 
 
 STREET SCENE IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 282 
 
 THE SIGNS OF His COMING 306 
 
 DIAGRAM OF THE 70 WEKK.S AND THE 2300 DAYS 328 
 
 THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE DISCIPLES 344 
 
 JOSEPH WOLFF AMONG THE ARABS 360 
 
 CHILD-PREACHING IN SWEDEN. 366 
 
 ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT 420 
 
 CHRIST HEALING THE DEMONIAC 514 
 
 PROCLAIMING THE DOGMA OF PAPAL INFALLIBILITY AT ROME 563 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN LATERAN 566 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 572 
 
 BEFORE THE INQUISITORS 580 
 
 ELEMENTS OF DESTRUCTION 590 
 
 THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE 636 
 
 THE DOMINION RESTORED.,. 676 
 
 txv) 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
V 3 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 " IF thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, 
 the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are 
 hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, 
 that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and com- 
 pass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall 
 lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within 
 thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; 
 because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." 1 
 
 From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. 
 Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before him. It 
 was the season of the Passover, and from all lands the chil- 
 dren of Jacob had gathered there to celebrate the great na- 
 tional festival. In the midst of gardens and vineyards, and 
 green slopes studded with pilgrims' tents, rose the terraced 
 hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel's 
 capital. The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say, 
 " I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow; " as lovely then, and 
 deeming herself as secure in Heaven's favor, as when, ages 
 before, the royal minstrel sung, " Beautiful for situation, the 
 joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion," " the city of the great 
 King." 2 In full view were the magnificent buildings of the 
 temple. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the snowy 
 
 i Luke 19 : 42-44. a Ps. 48 . 2. 
 
 (17) 
 
18 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 whiteness of its marble walls, and gleamed from golden, gate 
 and tower and pinnacle. " The perfection of beauty" it stood, 
 the pride of the Jewish nation. AVhat child of Israel could 
 gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! 
 But far other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus. "When 
 he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it." 1 
 Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while 
 palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes 
 of the hills, and thousands of voices declared him king, the 
 world's Redeemer was overwhelmed with a sudden and mys- 
 terious sorrow. He, the Son of God, the Promised One of 
 Israel, whose power had conquered death, and called its 
 captives from the grave, was in tears, not of ordinary grief, 
 but of intense, irrepressible agony. 
 
 His tears were not for himself, though he well knew whither 
 his feet were tending. Before him lay Gethsemane, the scene 
 of his approaching agony. The sheep gate also was in sight, 
 through w T hich for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been 
 led, and which was to open for him when he should be 
 "brought as a lamb to the slaughter." 5 Not far distant 
 was Calvary, the place of crucifixion. Upon the path which 
 Christ was soon to tread must fall the horror of great dark- 
 ness as he should make his soul an offering for sin. Yet 
 it was not the contemplation of these scenes that cast the 
 shadow upon him in this hour of gladness. No foreboding 
 of his own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish 
 spirit. He wept for the doomed thousands of Jerusalem 
 l>e<-ause of 'the blindness and impenitence of those whom 
 he came to bless and to save. 
 
 The history of more than a thousand years of (iod's spe- 
 cial favor and guardian care, manifested to tin- chosen peo- 
 ple, was open to (he eye of Jesus. There was Mount Moriah, 
 where the sou <>f promise, an unresisting victim, had been 
 bound to the altar, emblem of the offering of the Son ot 
 ( Jod. a There, the covenant of blessing, the glorious Messianic 
 
 1 Luke 19 : 4L * Isa, 53 : 7. s Oun. 22 : 9. 
 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 19 
 
 promise, had been confirmed to the father of the faithful. 1 
 There the flames of the sacrifice ascending to heaven from 
 the threshing-floor of Oman had turned aside the sword of 
 the destroying angel ' 2 fitting symbol of the Saviour's sacri- 
 fice and mediation for guilty men. Jerusalem had been 
 honored of God above all the earth. The Lord had " chosen 
 Zion," he had "desired it for his habitation."' There, for 
 Mges, holy prophets had uttered their messages of warning. 
 There, priests had waved their censers, and the cloud of 
 incense, with the prayers of the worshipers, had ascended 
 before God. There daily the blood of slain, lambs had been 
 offered, pointing forward to the Lamb of God. There, Je- 
 hovah had revealed his presence in the cloud of glory above 
 the mercy-seat. There rested the base of that mystic ladder 
 connecting earth with Heaven, 4 that ladder upon which 
 angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened 
 to the world the way into the holiest of all. Had Israel as 
 a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem 
 would have stood forever, the elect of God. 5 But the history 
 of that favored people was a record of backsliding and re- 
 bellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their 
 privileges, and slighted their opportunities. 
 
 Although Israel had " mocked the messengers of God, and 
 despised his words, and misused his prophets," 6 he had still 
 manifested himself to them, as "the Lord God, merciful 
 and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
 truth;" 7 notwithstanding repeated rejections, his mercy had 
 continued its pleadings. With more than a father's pitying 
 love for the son of his care,. God had " sent to them by his 
 messengers, rising up betimes, and sending ; because he had 
 compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place." 6 
 When remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had failed, he 
 sent to them the best gift of Heaven; nay, he poured out 
 all Heaven in that one gift. 
 
 1 Gen. 22 : 10-18. 2 1 Chron . 21. 3 Ps. 132 : 1 3. < Gen. 28 : 12 ; 
 * John 1 : 51. 5 Jer. 17 : 21-25. 6 2 Chron. 36 : 15, 16. 7 Ex. 34 : 6. 
 
20 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The Son of God himself was sent to plead with the iin- 
 penitent city. It was Christ that had brought Israel as a 
 goodly vine out of Egypt. 1 His own hand had cast out the 
 heathen before it. He had planted it "in a very fruitful 
 hill." a His guardian care had hedged it about. His serv- 
 ants had been sent to nurture it. " What could have been 
 done more to my vineyard," he exclaims, " that I have 
 not done in it ? " 2 Though when he " looked that it should 
 bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes/' 2 yet with 
 a still yearning hope of fruitfulness he came in person to 
 his vineyard, if haply it might be saved from destruction. 
 He digged about his vine; he pruned and cherished it. lie 
 was unwearied in his efforts to save this vine of his own 
 planting. 
 
 For three years the Lord of light and glory had gone in 
 and out among his people. "He went about doing good," 
 "healing all that were oppressed of the devil," 3 binding up 
 the broken-hearted, setting at liberty them that were bound, 
 restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk and 
 the deaf to hear, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and 
 preaching the gospel to the poor. 3 To all classes alike 
 was addressed the gracious call, " Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." * 
 
 Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for his 
 love, 5 he had steadfastly pursued his mission of mercy. 
 Never were those repelled that sought his grace. A home- 
 less wanderer, reproach and penury his daily lot, he lived 
 to minister to the needs and lighten the woes of men, to 
 plead with them to accept the gift of life. The waves of 
 mercy, beaten back by those stubborn hearts, returned in a 
 stronger tide of pitying, inexpressible love. Hut Israel had 
 turned from her best friend and only helper. The pleadings 
 of his love had been despised, his counsels spurned, his warn- 
 ings ridiculed. 
 
 'Ps.80:8. 2 Isa.5:l-4. 8 Acts 10 : 35; Luke 4 : IS; .Mutt. 11 : 5. 
 4 Matt. 11:28. 6 Ps. 109:5. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 21 
 
 The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of 
 God's long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud that 
 had been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, 
 now black with woe was about to burst upon a guilty people, 
 and He who alone could save them from their impending 
 fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be 
 crucified. When Christ should hang upon the cross of 
 Calvary, Israel's day as a nation favored and blessed of 
 God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a calam- 
 ity, infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world ; 
 but as Christ looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole 
 city, a whole nation, was before him; that city, that nation 
 which had once been the chosen of God, his peculiar 
 treasure. 
 
 Prophets had wept over the apostasy of Israel,, and the 
 terrible desolations by which their sins were visited. Jere- 
 miah wished that his eyes were a fountain of tears, that he 
 might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter 
 of his people, for the Lord's flock that was carried away cap- 
 tive. 1 What, then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic 
 glance took in, not years, but ages ! He beheld the destroy- 
 ing angel with sword uplifted against the city which had so 
 long been Jehovah's dwelling-place. From the ridge of 
 Olivet, the very spot afterward occupied by Titus and his 
 army, he looked across the valley upon the sacred courts 
 and porticoes, and with tear-dimmed eyes he saw, in awful 
 perspective, the walls surrounded by alien hosts. He heard 
 the tread of armies marshaling for war. He heard the voice 
 of mothers and children crying for bread in the besieged 
 city. He saw her holy and beautiful house, her palaces and 
 towers, given to the flames, and where once they stood, only 
 a heap of smouldering ruins. 
 
 Looking down the ages, he saw the covenant people scat- 
 tered in every land, "like wrecks on a desert shore." In the 
 temporal retribution about to fall upon her children, he saw 
 
 :l: 13:17. 
 
22 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 but the first draught from that cup of wrath which at the 
 final Judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine pity, 
 yearning love, found utterance in the mournful words: " '0 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 
 stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I 
 have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth 
 her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! ' 1 Oh 
 that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known 
 the time of thy visitation, and the things that belong unto 
 thy peace ! I have stayed the angel of justice, I have called 
 thee to repentance, but in vain. It is not merely servants, 
 delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and re- 
 jected, but the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou 
 art destroyed, thou alone art responsible. ' Ye will not come 
 to me, that ye might have life.' " 
 
 Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened 
 in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the 
 retributive judgments of God. The woes of a fallen race, 
 pressing upon his soul, forced from his lips that exceeding 
 bitter cry. He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, 
 tears, and blood; his heart was moved with infinite pity 
 for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth; he yearned to 
 relieve them all. But even his hand might not turn back 
 the tide of human woe ; few would seek their only source of 
 help. He was willing to pour out his soul unto death, to 
 bring salvation within their reach ; but few would come to 
 him that they might have life. 
 
 The Majesty of Heaven -in tears! the Son of the infinite 
 God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The 
 scene filled all Heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to 
 us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a 
 task it is, even for infinite power, to save the guilty from the 
 consequences of transgressing the law of (iod. .Jesus, look- 
 ing down to the last generation, saw the world involved in 
 a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of 
 
 iMatt. 23:37. John 5: 40. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 23 
 
 Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of 
 Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their 
 rejection of the law of God, the foundation of his govern- 
 ment in Heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would 
 be despised and set at naught. Millions in bondage to sin, 
 slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would 
 refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visit- 
 ation. Terrible blindness ! strange infatuation ! 
 
 Two days before the Passover, when Christ had for the 
 last time departed from the temple, after denouncing the 
 hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers, he again went out with his 
 disciples to the Mount of Olives, and seated himself with 
 them upon a grassy slope overlooking the city. Once more 
 he gazed upon its walls, its towers and its palaces. Once 
 more he beheld the temple in its dazzling splendor/ a dia- 
 dem of beauty crowning the sacred mount. 
 
 A thousand years before, the psHmist had magnified God's 
 favor to Israel in making her holy house his dwelling-place: 
 "In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in 
 Zion." 1 He "chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion 
 which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like high pal- 
 aces." 2 The first temple had been erected during the most 
 prosperous period of Israel's history. Vast stores of treasure 
 for this purpose had been collected by King David, and the 
 plans for its construction were made by divine inspiration. 3 
 Solomon, the wisest of Israel's monarchs, had completed the 
 work. This temple was the most magnificent building which 
 the world ever saw. Yet the Lord had declared by the 
 prophet Haggai, concerning the second temple, " The glory 
 of this latter house shall be greater than of the former." "I 
 will shake all hations, and the Desire of all nations shall 
 come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord 
 of hosts." 4 
 
 After the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, it 
 
 1 Ps. 76 : 2. * Ps. 78 : 68, 69. 3 1 Chron. 28 : 12, 19. 
 
 * Hag. 2 : 9, 7. 
 
24 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 was rebuilt about five hundred years before the birth of 
 Christ, by a people who from a life-long captivity had re- 
 turned to a wasted and almost deserted country. There 
 were then among them aged men who had seen the glory 
 of Solomon's temple, and who wept at the foundation of the 
 new building, that it must be so inferior to the former. The 
 feeling that prevailed is forcibly described by the prophet: 
 "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first 
 glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes 
 in comparison of it as nothing?" 1 Then was given the 
 promise that the glory of this latter house should be greater 
 than that of the former. 
 
 But the second temple had not equaled the first in mag- 
 nificence; nor was it hallowed by those visible tokens of the 
 divine presence which pertained to the first temple. There 
 was no manifestation of supernatural power to mark its 
 dedication. No cloud of glory was seen to fill the newly 
 erected sanctuary. No fire from Heaven descended to con- 
 sume the sacrifice upon its altar. The shekinah no longer 
 abode between the cherubim in the most holy place; the 
 ark, the mercy-seat, and the tables of the testimony were 
 not to be found therein. No voice sounded from Heaven to 
 make known to the inquiring priest the will of Jehovah. 
 
 For centuries the Jews had vainly endeavored to show 
 wherein the promise of God given by llaggai, had beei 
 fulfilled; yet pride and unbelief blinded their minds to the 
 true meaning of the prophet's words. The second ton pic 
 was not honored with the cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with 
 the living presence of One in whom dwelt the 1'nllncss of 
 the Godhead bodily, who was (i<>d himself manifest in the 
 flesh. The "Desire of all nations" had indeed come to his 
 temple when the Man of Na/areth taught and healed in the 
 sacre<l courts. In the presence of Christ, and in this only, 
 did the second temple exceed the first in glory. But Israel 
 had put from her the proil'eivd gift of Heaven. \Viththe 
 
 1 Hag. 2:3. 
 

 THE first temple, erected by Solomon, was com- 
 pleted B. c. 1004. In B. c. 588, soon after the be^ 
 rginning of the seventy years' captivity in Baby. 
 Ion, it was destroyed by the army of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. After the return of the Jews to their 
 1 own land, the temple was rebuilt, on a somewhat 
 larger scale, by Zerubbabel, B. c. 516. Five hun- 
 'dred years later it was restored and enlarged by 
 Herod, who began the work about 20 B. c. Herod 
 /retained, in the sanctuary, the same dimensions 
 [ as in that of Zerubbabel, but he added greatly to 
 the size and magnificence of the courts. The 
 ' temple inclosure was so extended as to form an 
 ; area of nearly a thousand feet square. The clois- 
 ters surrounding the outer court are said to have 
 been, in an architectural point of view, the most 
 magnificent part of the entire structure. A series 
 of terraced courts ascended to the holy house it- 
 self, which faced eastward, and was approached 
 from the east, though the principal gateways in 
 the outer inclosure were on the west. This tem- 
 ple was destroyed A. D. 70. 
 
 THE TEMPLE AND ITS COURTS. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 Of 
 ^Rt4\| 
 
DESTR UCTION OF JER USA L KM. 25 
 
 humble Teacher who had that day passed out from its 
 golden gate, the glory had forever departed from the temple. 
 Already were the Saviour's words fulfilled, " Your house is 
 left unto you desolate." 1 
 
 The disciples had been filled with awe and wonder v at 
 Christ's prediction of the overthrow of the temple, and they 
 desired to understand more fully the meaning of his words. 
 Wealth, labor, and architectural skill had for more than 
 forty years been freely expended v to enhance its splendors. 
 Herod the Great had lavished upon it both Roman wealth 
 and Jewish treasure, and even the emperor of the world had 
 enriched it with his gifts. Massive blocks of white marble, 
 of almost fabulous size, forwarded from Rome for this pur- 
 pose, formed a part of its structure; and to these the dis- 
 ciples had called the attention of their Master, saying, "See 
 what manner of stones and what buildings are here! " 2 
 
 To these words, Jesus made the solemn and startling 
 reply, " Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here 
 one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 3 
 
 With the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples associated 
 the events of Christ's personal coming in temporal glory to 
 take the throne of universal empire, to punish the impeni- 
 tent Jews, and to break from off the nation the Roman yoke. 
 The Lord had told them that he would come the second 
 time. Hence at the mention of judgments upon Jerusalem, 
 their minds reverted to that coming, and as they were gath- 
 ered about the Saviour upon the Mount of Olives, they 
 asked, " When shall these things be? and what shall be the 
 sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" 
 
 The future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had 
 they at that time fully comprehended the two awful facts, 
 the Redeemer's sufferings and death and the destruction of 
 their city and temple, they would have been overwhelmed 
 with horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the 
 
 1 Matt. 23 : 33. * Mark 13:1. 3 Matt. 24 : 2. 
 
 4 Matt. 24:3. 
 
26 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 prominent events to take place before the close of time. His 
 words were not then fully understood; but their meaning- 
 was to be unfolded as his people should need the instruction 
 therein given. The prophecy which he uttered was twofold 
 in its meaning: while foreshadowing the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day. 
 
 Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that 
 were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retrib- 
 utive vengeance that would come upon them for their re- 
 jection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs 
 would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would 
 come suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned his 
 followers: " When ye therefore shall see the abomination of 
 desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the 
 holy place (whoso readeth let him understand), then let 
 them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." 1 When 
 the idolatrous standards of the Romans should bo set up in 
 the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the 
 city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in 
 flight. When the warning sign should be seen, those who 
 would escape must make no delay. Throughout the land 
 of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight 
 must be immediately obeyed. He who chanced to be upon 
 the housetop must not go down into his house, even to save 
 his most valued treasures. Those who were working in the 
 fields or vineyards must not take time to return for the 
 outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the 
 heat of the day. They must not hesitate a moment, lest 
 they be involved in the general destruction. 
 
 In the reign of Herod, Jerusalem had not only been 
 greatly beautified, but by the erection of towers, walls, and 
 fortresses, adding to the natural strength of its situation, it 
 had been rendered apparently im pregnable. - He who would 
 at this time have foretold publicly its destruction, would, 
 like Noah in his day, have been called a cra/e<l alarmist. 
 1 Matt. 124: 1f s !; Luke 21: 20. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 27 
 
 But Christ had said, " Heaven and earth shall pass away, 
 but my words shall not pass away." l Because of her sins, 
 wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her stub- 
 born unbelief rendered her doom certain. 
 
 The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah : " Hear this, 
 I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes oi' 
 the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all 
 equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with 
 iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the 
 priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine 
 for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is 
 not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." 2 
 
 These words faithfully described the corrupt and self- 
 righteous inhabitants of Jerusalem. While claiming to rig- 
 idly observe the precepts of God's law, they were transgress- 
 ing all its principles. They hated Christ because his purity 
 and holiness revealed their iniquity; and they accused him 
 of being the cause of all the troubles which had come upon 
 them in consequence of their sins. Though they knew him 
 to be sinless, they had declared that his death was necessary 
 to their safety as a nation. " If we let him thus alone," said 
 the Jewish leaders, " all men will believe on him ; and the 
 Romans shall come and take away both our place and 
 nation." 3 If Christ were sacrificed, they might once more 
 become a strong, united people. Thus they reasoned, and 
 they concurred in the decision of their high priest, that it 
 would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation 
 to perish. 
 
 Thus the Jewish leaders had " built up Zion with blood, 
 and Jerusalem with iniquity." And yet, while they slew 
 their Saviour because he reproved their sins, such was their 
 self-righteousness that they regarded themselves as God's 
 favored people, and expected the Lord to deliver them from 
 their enemies. "Therefore," continued the prophet, "shall 
 Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall 
 
 1 Matt. 24 : 35. 2 Micah 3 : 9-11. 3 John 11 : 48. 
 
28 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high 
 places of the forest." 1 
 
 For forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had boon pro- 
 nounced by Christ himself, the Lord delayed his judgments 
 upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was the long- 
 suffering of God toward the rejecters of his gospel and the 
 murderers of his Son. The parable of the unfruitful tree 
 represented God's dealings with the Jewish nation. The 
 command had gone forth, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it 
 the ground?" 2 but divine mercy had spared it yet a little 
 longer. There- were still many among the Jews who were 
 ignorant of the character and the work of Christ. And the 
 children had not enjoyed the opportunities or received the 
 light which their parents had spurned. Through the preach- 
 ing of the apostles and their associates, God would cause 
 light to shine upon them; they would be permitted to see 
 how prophecy had been fulfilled, not only in the birth and 
 life of Christ, but in his death and resurrection. The chil- 
 dren were not condemned for the sins of the parents; but 
 when, with a knowledge of all the light given to their par- 
 ents, the children rejected the additional light granted to 
 themselves, they became partakers of the parents' sins, and 
 filled up the measure of their iniquity. 
 
 The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only con- 
 firmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence. In their 
 hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus, they re- 
 jected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew his pro- 
 tection from them, and removed his restraining power from 
 Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control 
 of the leader she had chosen. Her children bad spurned 
 the grace of Christ, winch would have enabled them to sub- 
 due their evil impulses, and now these became the con- 
 querors. Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased pas- 
 sions of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond 
 reason, controlled by impulse and blind rage. They be- 
 
 1 Micah3:12. Luke 13: 7. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 29 
 
 came Satanic in their cruelty. In the family and in the 
 nation, among the highest and the lowest classes alike, there 
 was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder. There 
 was 110 safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one 
 another. Parents slew their children and children their 
 parents. The rulers of the people had no power to rule 
 themselves. Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants. 
 The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the inno- 
 cent Son of God. Now false accusations made their own 
 lives uncertain. By their actions they had long been say- 
 ing, "Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us." 1 
 Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer 
 disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and 
 the highest civil and religious authorities were under his 
 sway. 
 
 The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to 
 plunder and torture their wretched victims, and again they 
 fell upon each other's forces, and slaughtered without mercy. 
 Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their hor- 
 rible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before 
 the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of 
 the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption 
 the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that 
 they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it 
 was God's own city. To establish their power more firmly, 
 they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even while Roman 
 legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to 
 wait for deliverance from God. To the last, multitudes held 
 fast to the belief that the Most High would interpose for the 
 defeat of their adversaries. But Israel had spurned the 
 divine protection, and now she had no defense. Unhappy 
 Jerusalem! rent by internal dissensions, the blood of her 
 children slain by one another's hands crimsoning her streets, 
 while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her 
 men of war! 
 
 'Isa. 30:11. 
 
30 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 All the predictions given by Christ concerning the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews 
 experienced the truth of his words of warning, " With what 
 measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." ' 
 
 Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. 
 In the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the 
 temple ana the altar. Upon the clouds at sunset were pict- 
 ured chariots and men of war gathering for battle. The 
 priests ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified 
 by mysterious sounds ; the earth trembled, and a multitude 
 of voices were heard crying, "Let us depart hence." The 
 great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly 
 be shut by a score of men, and which was secured by im- 
 mense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid 
 stone, opened at midnight, without visible agency. 
 
 For seven years a man continued to go up and down the 
 streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come 
 upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild 
 dirge, "A voice from the east; a voice from the west; a voice 
 from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the 
 temple; a voice against the bridegroom and the bride; and 
 a voice against all the people." This strange being was 
 imprisoned and scourged; but no complaint escaped his lips. 
 To insult and abuse he answered only, " Woe to Jerusalem ! 
 woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof! " His warning cry 
 ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold. 
 
 Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 Christ had given his disciples warning, and all who believed 
 his words watched for the promised sign. " When ye shall 
 see Jerusalem compassed with armies," said Jesus, "then 
 know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let (hem 
 which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them 
 which are in the midst of it depart out." 2 After the Romans 
 under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly 
 abandoned the siege when everything seemed favorable for 
 
 1 Matt. 7:2. * Luke 21 :20, 21. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 31 
 
 an immediate attack. The besieged, despairing of successful 
 resistance, were on the point of surrender, when the Roman 
 general withdrew his forces, without the least apparent 
 reason. But God's merciful providence was directing events 
 for the good of his own people. The promised sign had 
 been given to the waiting Christians, and now an oppor- 
 tunity was afforded for all who would to obey the Saviour's 
 warning. Events were so overruled that neither Jews nor 
 Romans should hinder the flight of the Christians. Upon 
 the retreat of Cestius, the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, 
 pursued after his retiring army, and while both forces were 
 thus fully engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to 
 leave the city. At this time the country also had been 
 cleared of enemies who might have endeavored to intercept 
 them. At the time of the siege, the Jews were assembled at 
 Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and thus the 
 Christians throughout the land were able to make their 
 escape unmolested. Without delay they fled to a place of 
 safety, the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond 
 Jordan. 
 
 The Jewish forces, pursuing after Cestius and his army, 
 fell upon their rear with such fierceness as to threaten them 
 with total destruction. It was with great difficulty that the 
 Romans succeeded in making their retreat. The Jews es- 
 caped almost without loss, and with their spoils returned in 
 triumph to Jerusalem. Yet this apparent success brought 
 them only evil. It inspired them with that spirit of stub- 
 born resistance to the Romans which speedily brought un- 
 utterable woe upon the doomed city. 
 
 Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when 
 the siege was resumed by Titus. The city was invested at 
 the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were as- 
 sembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which 
 if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants 
 for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy 
 and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the hor- 
 
32 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 rors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat 
 was sold for a talent. So fierce were the pangs of hunger 
 that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals 
 and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the 
 people would steal out at night to gather wild plants grow- 
 ing outside the city walls, though many were seized and 
 put to death with cruel torture, and often those who returned 
 in safety were robbed of what they had gleaned at so great 
 peril. The most inhuman tortures were inflicted by those 
 in power, to force from the want-stricken people the last 
 scanty supplies which they might have concealed. And 
 these cruelties were not infrequently practiced by men who 
 were themselves well fed, and w r ho w^ere merely desirous of 
 laying up a store of provision for the future. 
 
 Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural 
 affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed 
 their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be 
 seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged par- 
 ents. The question of the prophet, "Can a woman forget 
 her sucking child?" 1 received the answer within the walls 
 of that doomed city, " The hands of the pitiful w r omen have 
 sodden their own children; they were their meat in the 
 destruction of the daughter of my people." ? Again was 
 fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen centuries be- 
 fore: "The tender and delicate woman among you, which 
 would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the 
 ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil 
 toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and 
 toward her daughter; . . . and toward her children 
 which she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all 
 things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine 
 enemy shall distress thee in thy gat 
 
 The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the 
 Jews, and thus cause them to surrender. Those prisoners 
 who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and cruci- 
 
 1 Isa. 49 : 15. 2 Lam. 4:10. Deut. 28 : 56, 57. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 33 
 
 fied before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put 
 to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued 
 until, along the valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, 
 crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was 
 scarcely room to move among them. So terribly was visited 
 that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment-seat of 
 Pilate: "His blood be on us, and on our children." 1 
 
 Titus would willingly have put an end to the fearful 
 scene, and thus have spared Jerusalem the full measure of 
 her doom. He was filled with horror as he saw the bodies 
 of the dead lying in heaps in the valleys. Like one en- 
 tranced, he looked from the crest of Olivet upon the mag- 
 nificent temple, and gave command that not one stone of it 
 be touched. Before attempting to gain possession of this 
 stronghold, he made an earnest appeal to the Jewish leaders 
 not to force him to defile the sacred place with blood. If 
 they would come forth and fight in any other place, no Ro- 
 man should violate the sanctity of the temple. Josephus 
 himself, in a most eloquent appeal, entreated them to sur- 
 render, to save themselves, their city, and their place of 
 worship. But his words were answered with bitter curses. 
 Darts were hurled at him, their last human mediator, as he 
 stood pleading with them. The Jews had rejected the en- 
 treaties of the Son of God, and now expostulation and en- 
 treaty only made them more determined to resist to the last. 
 In vain were the efforts of Titus to save the temple ; One 
 greater than he had declared that not one stone was to be 
 left upon another. 
 
 The blind obstinacy of the Jewish leaders, and the de- 
 testable crimes perpetrated within the besieged city, excited 
 the horror and -indignation of the Romans, and Titus at last 
 decided to take the temple by storm. He determined, how- 
 ever, that if possible it should be saved from destruction. 
 But his commands were disregarded. After he had retired 
 to his tent at night, the Jews, sallying from the temple, at- 
 
 Matt. 27 :25. 
 
34 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 tacked the soldiers without. In. the struggle, a, firebrand 
 was flung by a soldier through an opening in the porch, and 
 immediately the cedar-lined chambers about the holy house 
 were in a blaze. Titus rushed to the place, followed by his 
 generals and legionaries, and commanded the soldiers to 
 quench the flames. His words were unheeded. In their 
 fury the soldiers hurled blazing brands into the chambers 
 adjoining the temple, and then with their swords they 
 slaughtered in great numbers those who had found shelter 
 there. Blood flowed down the temple steps like water. 
 Thousands upon thousands of Jews perished. Above the 
 sound of battle, voices were heard shouting, " Ichabod ! " 
 the glory is departed. 
 
 "Titus found it impossible to check the rage of the sol- 
 diery; he entered with his officers, and surveyed the interior 
 of the sacred edifice. The splendor filled them with wonder- 
 and as the flames had not yet penetrated to the holy place, 
 he made a last effort to .save it, and springing forth, again 
 exhorted the soldiers to stay the progress of the conflagration. 
 The centurion Liberalis endeavored to enforce obedience with 
 his staff of office; but even respect for the emperor gave way 
 to the furious animosity against the Jews, to the fierce ex- 
 citement of battle, and to the insatiable hope of plunder. 
 The soldiers'saw everything around them radiant with gold, 
 which shone dazzlingly in the wild light of the flames ; they 
 supposed that incalculable treasures were laid up in the 
 sanctuary. A soldier, unperceived, thrust a lighted torch 
 between the hinges of the door; the whole building was in 
 flames in an instant. The blinding smoke and fire forced 
 the officers to retreat, and the noble edifice was left to its 
 fate. 
 
 "It was an appalling spectacle to the ftoinan; what was 
 it to the Jew? The whole summit of the hill which com- 
 manded the city blazed like a volcano. One after another 
 the buildings fell in, with a tremendous crash, and were 
 swallowed up in the fiery abyss. The roofs of cedar were 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 35 
 
 like sheets of flame, the gilded pinnacles shone like spikes 
 of red light; the gate towers sent up tall columns of flame 
 and smoke. The neighboring hills were lighted up; and 
 dark groups of people were seen watching in horrible anxiety 
 the progress of the destruction ; the walls and heights of the 
 upper city were crowded with faces, some pale with the 
 agony of despair, others scowling unavailing vengeance. 
 The shouts of the Roman soldiery as they ran to and fro, 
 and the howlings of the insurgents who were perishing in 
 the flames, mingled with the roaring of the conflagration 
 and the thundering sound of falling timbers. The echoes 
 of the mountains replied or brought back the shrieks of the 
 people on the heights; all along the walls resounded screams 
 and wailings; men who were expiring with famine rallied 
 their remaining strength to utter a cry of anguish and des- 
 olation. 
 
 " The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the 
 spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, 
 insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who en- 
 treated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. 
 The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The 
 legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on 
 the work of extermination." 
 
 After the destruction of the temple, the whole city soon 
 fell into the hands of the Romans. The leaders of the Jews 
 forsook their impregnable towers, and Titus found them sol- 
 itary. He gazed upon them with amazement, and declared 
 that God had given them into his hands; ior no engines, 
 however powerful, could have prevailed against those stu- 
 pendous battlements. Both the city and the temple were 
 razed to their foundations, and the ground upon which the 
 holy house had stood was "plowed like a field." 1 In the 
 siege and the slaughter that followed, more than a million 
 of the people perished; the survivors were carried away as 
 captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome to grace the con- 
 
 1 Jer. 26 : 18. 
 
36 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 queror's .triumph, thrown to wild beasts in the amphithea- 
 ters, or scattered as homeless wanderers throughout the earth. 
 
 The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for 
 themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction 
 that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that fol- 
 lowed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the 
 harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet, 
 "0 Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;" "for thou hast 
 fallen by thine iniquity." 1 Their sufferings are often rep- 
 resented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct 
 decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to 
 conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love 
 and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection ol God to be 
 withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them 
 according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the 
 destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vin- 
 dictive power over those who yield to his control. 
 
 We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace 
 and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power 
 of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the 
 control of Satan.' The disobedient and unthankful have 
 great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering 
 in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil 
 one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, 
 that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the 
 sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgres- 
 sion; but he leaves the rejecters of his mercy to themselves, 
 to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light 
 rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion 
 indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed 
 sown, which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of ( lod. 
 persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner. 
 Mini then there is left no power to control the evil passions 
 of the soul, and no protection from the maliee and enmity 
 of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and 
 
 i Hos. 13:9; 14:1. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 37 
 
 solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of 
 divine grace, and resisting the pleadings of divine mercv. 
 Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's 
 hatred of sin, and to the certain punishment that will fall 
 upon the guilty. 
 
 The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judg- 
 ments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of 
 which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In 
 the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a 
 world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon his 
 law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has 
 witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart 
 sickens and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Ter- 
 rible have been the results of rejecting the authority of 
 Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revela- \ 
 
 of the future. The records of the past, the long pro- 
 cession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions, the " battle of 
 the warrior, with confused noise, and garments rolled in 
 blood," 1 what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that 
 day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly with- 
 drawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the 
 outburst of human passion and Satanic wrath ! The world 
 will then behold, as never before, the results of Satan's rule. 
 But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, 
 God's people will be delivered, "every one that shall be 
 found written among the living." Christ has declared that 
 he will come the second time, to gather his faithful ones to 
 himself: "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, 
 and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his 
 angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shal] 
 gather together his elect from the four winds, from one en-^ 
 of heaven to the other." 2 Then shall they that obey not 
 the "gospel be consumed with the spirit of his mouth, and 
 be destroyed with the brightness of his coming. 3 Like Israel 
 
 1 Isa. 9 : 5. 2 Matt. 24 : 30, 31. 3 2 Thess. 2 : 8. 
 
38 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of old, the wicked destroy themselves; they fall by their 
 iniquity. By a life of sin, they have placed themselves so 
 out of harmony with God, their natures have become so 
 debased with evil, that the manifestation of his glory is to 
 them a consuming fire. 
 
 Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to 
 them in the words of Christ. As he warned his disciples of 
 Jerusalem's destruction, giving them a sign of the approach- 
 ing ruin, that they might make their escape, so he has 
 warned the world of the day of final destruction, and has 
 given them tokens of its approach, that all who will may 
 flee from the wrath to come. Jesus declares, " There shall 
 be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and 
 upon the earth distress of nations." 1 Those who behold 
 these harbingers of his coming are to " know that it is near, 
 even at the doors." 2 "Watch ye therefore," 3 are his words 
 of admonition. They that heed the warning shall not be 
 left in darkness, that that day should overtake them un- 
 awares. But to them that will not watch, " the day of the 
 Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." 4 
 
 The world is no more ready to credit the message for this 
 time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour's warning 
 concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God 
 will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on 
 in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, 
 in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious 
 lenders arc magnifying the world's progress and enlighten- 
 ment, and the people arc lulled in a false security, then, as 
 the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so 
 shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and un- 
 godly, "and they shall not escape." 4 
 
 Luke 21 : 25 ; Matt. 24 : 29; Mark 13 : 24-2(5 ; Rev. (\ : 12-17. 
 2 Matt. 24 : 33. 3 Mark 13 : 35. 4 1 Thess. 5 : 2-5. 
 

CHAPTER II. 
 
 PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 WHEN. Jesus revealed to his disciples the fate of Jerusalem 
 and the scenes of the second advent, he foretold also the ex- 
 perience of his people from the time when he should be 
 taken from them, to his return in power and glory for their 
 deliverance. From Olivet the Saviour beheld the storms 
 about to fall upon the apostolic church, and, penetrating 
 deeper into the future, his eye discerned the fierce, wasting 
 tempests that were to beat upon his followers in the coming 
 ages of darkness and persecution. In a few brief utterances, 
 of awful significance, he foretold the portion which the rul- 
 ers of this world would mete out to the church of God. 1 
 The followers of Christ must tread the same path of humili- 
 ation, reproach, and suffering which their Master trod. The 
 enmity that burst forth against the world's Redeemer, would 
 be manifested against all who should believe on his name. 
 
 The history of the early church testified to the fulfillment 
 of the Saviour's words. The powers, of earth and hell ar- 
 rayed themselves against Christ in the person of his follow- 
 ers. Paganism foresaw that should the gospel triumph, 
 her temples and altars would be swept away; therefore she 
 summoned her forces to destroy Christianity. The fires of 
 persecution were kindled. Christians were stripped of their 
 possessions, and driven from their homes. They " endured 
 a great fight of afflictions." 2 They " had trial of cruel mock 
 
 1 Matt. 24:9, 21, 22. * Heb. 10 : 32. 
 
 (39) 
 
40 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprison- 
 ment." 1 Great numbers sealed their testimony with their 
 blood. Noble and slave, rich and poor, learned and igno- 
 rant, were alike slain without mercy. 
 
 These persecutions, beginning under Nero about the time 
 of the martyrdom of Paul, continued with greater or less 
 fury for centuries. Christians were falsely accused of the 
 most dreadful crimes, and declared to be the cause of great 
 calamities famine, pestilence, and earthquake. As they 
 became the objects of popular hatred and suspicion, inform- 
 ers stood ready, for the sake of gain, to betray the innocent. 
 They were condemned as rebels against the empire, as foes 
 of religion, and pests to society. Great numbers were thrown 
 to wild beasts or burned alive in the amphitheaters. Some 
 were crucified ; others were covered with the skins of wild 
 animals, and thrust into the arena to be torn by dogs. 
 Their punishment was often made the chief entertainment 
 at public fetes. Vast multitudes assembled to enjoy the 
 sight, and greeted their dying agonies with laughter and 
 applause. 
 
 Wherever they sought refuge, the followers of Christ were 
 hunted like beasts of prey. They were forced to seek con- 
 cealment in desolate and solitary places. "Destitute, af- 
 flicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy; they 
 wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 
 caves of the earth." 1 The catacombs afforded shelter for 
 thousands. Beneath the hills outside the city of Rome, long 
 galleries had been tunneled through eartli and rock; the 
 dark and intricate network of passages extended for miles 
 beyond the city walls. In these underground retreats, the 
 followers of Christ buried their dead; and here also; when 
 suspected and proscribed, they found a home. When the 
 Lifegiver shall awaken those who have fought the good fight, 
 many a martyr for Christ's sake will come forth from those 
 gloomy caverns. 
 
 11:36,37,38. 
 
PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 41 
 
 Under the fiercest persecution, these witnesses for Jesift 
 kept their faith unsullied. Though deprived of every com- 
 fort, shut away from the light of the sun, making their 
 home in the dark but friendly bosom of the earth, they 
 uttered no complaint. With words of faith, patience, and 
 hope, they encouraged one another to endure privation and 
 distress. The loss of every earthly blessing could not force 
 them to renounce their belief in Christ. Trials and persecu- 
 tion w r ere but steps bringing them nearer their rest and 
 their reward. 
 
 Like God's servants of old, many were " tortured, not ac- 
 cepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resur- 
 rection." * These called to mind the w r ords of their Master, 
 that when persecuted for Christ's sake they were to be ex- 
 ceeding glad; for great would be their reward in Heaven; 
 for so the prophets had been persecuted before them. They 
 rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the 
 truth, and songs of triumph ascended from the midst of 
 crackling flames. Looking upward by faith,, they saw Christ 
 and angels leaning over the battlements of Heaven, gazing 
 upon them with the deepest interest, and regarding their 
 steadfastness with approval. A voice came down to them 
 from the throne of God, " Be. thou faithful unto death, and 
 I will give thee a crown of life." 2 
 
 In vain were Satan's efforts to destroy the church of Christ 
 by violence. The great controversy in which the disciples 
 of Jesus yielded up their lives, did not cease when these 
 faithful standard-bearers fell at their post. By defeat they 
 conquered. God's workmen were slain, but his work went 
 steadily forward. - The gospel continued to spread, and the 
 number of its adherents to increase. It penetrated into 
 regions that were inaccessible, even to the eagles of Rome- 
 Said a Christian, expostulating with the heathen rulers who 
 were urging forward the persecution : " You may torment 
 afflict, and vex us. Your wickedness puts our weakness to 
 'Heb. 11:35. 'Rev. 2: 10. 
 
42 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 thfc test, but your cruelty is of no avail. It is but a stronger 
 invitation to bring others to our persuasion. The more we 
 are mowed down, the more we spring up again. The blood 
 of the Christians is seed." 
 
 Thousands were imprisoned and slain ; but others sprung 
 up to fill their places. And those who were martyred for 
 their faith were secured to Christ, and accounted of him as 
 conquerors. They had fought the good fight, and they were 
 to receive the crown of glory when Christ should come. 
 The sufferings which they endured brought Christians nearer 
 to one another and to their Redeemer. Their living ex- 
 ample and dying testimony were a constant witness for the 
 truth ; and, where least expected, the subjects of Satan were 
 leaving his service, and enlisting under the banner of Christ. 
 
 Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully 
 against the government of God, by planting his banner in 
 the Christian church. If the followers of Christ could be 
 deceived, and led to displease God, then their strength, forti- 
 tude, and firmness would fail, and they would fall an easy 
 prey. 
 
 The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice 
 what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, 
 and in its stead were substituted the dangerous allurements 
 of temporal prosperity and worldly honor. Idolaters were 
 led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they re- 
 jected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus 
 as the Son of God, and to believe in his death and resurrec- 
 tion; but they had no conviction of sin, and felt no need 
 of repentance or of a change of heart. With some conces- 
 sions on their part, they proposed that Christians should 
 make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of 
 belief in Christ. 
 
 Now the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire, 
 and sword were blessings in comparison with this. Some of 
 the Christians stood firm, declaring that they could make no 
 compromise. Others were in favor of yielding or modifying 
 
PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 43 
 
 some features of their faith, and uniting with those who had 
 accepted a part of Christianity, urging that this might be 
 the means of their full conversion. That was a time of deep 
 anguish to the faithful followers of Christ. Under a cloak 
 of pretended Christianity, Satan was insinuating himself 
 into the church, to corrupt their faith, and turn their minds 
 from the Word of truth. 
 
 Most of the Christians at last consented to lower their 
 standard, and a union was formed between Christianity and 
 paganism. Although the worshipers of idols professed to be 
 converted, and united with the church, they still clung to 
 their idolatry, only changing the objects of their worship to 
 images of Jesus, and even of Mary and the saints. The foul 
 leaven of idolatry, thus brought into the church, continued 
 its baleful w^ork. Unsound doctrines, superstitious rites, and 
 idolatrous ceremonies were incorporated into her faith and 
 worship. As the followers of Christ united with idolaters, 
 the Christian religion became corrupted, and the church lost 
 her purity and power. There were some, however, who 
 were not misled by these delusions. They still maintained 
 their fidelity to the Author of truth, and worshiped God 
 alone. 
 
 There have ever been two classes among those who pro- 
 fess to be followers of Christ. While one class study the 
 Saviour's life, and earnestly .seek to correct their Defects and 
 to conform to the Pattern, the other class shun the plain, 
 practical truths which expose their errors. Even in her best 
 estate, the church was not composed wholly of the true, pure, 
 and sincere. Our Saviour taught that those who willfully 
 indulge in sin are not to be received into the church ; yet he 
 connected with himself men who were faulty in character, 
 and granted them the benefits of his teachings and example, 
 that they might have an opportunity to see their errors and 
 correct them. Among the twelve apostles was a traitor. 
 Judas was accepted not because of his defects of character, 
 but notwithstanding them. He was connected with the dis- 
 
44 THE GRJ1AT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ciples, that, through the instruction and example of Christ, 
 he might learn what constitutes Christian character, and 
 thus be led to see his errors, to repent, and, by the aid of di- 
 vine grace, to purify his soul " in obeying the truth." But 
 Judas did not walk in the light so graciously permitted to 
 shine upon him. By indulgence in sin, he invited the temp- 
 tations of Satan. His evil traits of character became pre- 
 dominant. He yielded his mind to the control of the powers 
 of darkness, he became angry when his faults were reproved 
 and thus he was led to commit the fearful crime of betraying 
 his Master. So do all who cherish evil under a profession 
 of godliness hate those who disturb their peace by condemn- 
 ing their course of sin. When a favorable opportunity is 
 presented, they will, like Judas, betray those who for their 
 good have sought to reprove them. 
 
 The apostles encountered those in the church who pro- 
 fessed godliness while they were secretly cherishing iniquity. 
 Ananias and Sapphira acted the part of deceivers, pretend- 
 ing to make an entire sacrifice for God, w r hen they were cov- 
 etously withholding a portion for themselves. The Spirit of 
 truth revealed to the apostles the real character of these 
 pretenders, and the judgments of God rid the church of this 
 foul blot upon its purity. This signal evidence of the 
 discerning Spirit of Christ in the church was a terror to 
 hypocrites and evil-doers. They could not long remain in 
 connection with those who were, in habit and disposition, 
 constant representatives of Christ; and as trials and perse- 
 cution came upon his followers, those only who were willing 
 to forsake all for the truth's sake desired to become his dis- 
 ciples. Thus, as long as persecution continued, the church 
 remained comparatively pure. But as it ceased, converts 
 \\cre added who were less sincere and devoted, and the way 
 was opened for Satan to obtain a foot-hold. 
 
 But there is no union between the Prince of light and the 
 prince of darkness, and there can be no union between their 
 followers. When Christians consented to unite with those 
 
PERSECUTION /A THE FIRST CENTURIES. 45 
 
 who were but half converted from paganism, they entered 
 upon a path which led farther and farther from the truth. 
 Satan exulted that he had succeeded in deceiving so large a 
 number of the followers of Christ. He then brought his 
 power to bear more fully upon these, and inspired them to 
 persecute those who remained true to God. None under- 
 stood so well how to oppose the true Christian faith as did 
 those who had once been its defenders; and these apostate 
 Christians, uniting with their half-pagan companions, di- 
 rected their warfare against the most essential features of 
 the doctrines of Christ. 
 
 It required a desperate struggle for those who would be 
 faithful to stand firm against the deceptions and abomina- 
 tions which were disguised in sacerdotal garments and in- 
 troduced into the church. The Bible was not accepted as 
 the standard of faith. The doctrine of religious freedom 
 was termed heresy, and its upholders were hated and pro- 
 scribed. 
 
 After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided 
 to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still 
 refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They 
 saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would 
 obey the Word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal 
 to their own souls, and set an example which would imperil 
 the faith of their children and children's children. To 
 secure peace and unity they were ready to make any con- 
 cession consistent with fidelity to God; but they felt that 
 even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of 
 principle. If unity could be secured only by the compro- 
 mise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, 
 and even war. 
 
 Well would it be for the church and the world if the prin- 
 ciples that actuated those steadfast souls were revived in the 
 hearts of God's professed people. There is an alarming in- 
 difference"in regard to the doctrines which are the pillars of 
 the Christian faith. The opinion is gaining ground, that, 
 
46 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 after all, these are not of vital importance. This degeneracy 
 is strengthening the hands of the agents of Satan, so that 
 false theories and fatal delusions which the faithful in ages 
 past imperiled their lives to resist and expose, are now re- 
 garded with favor by thousands who claim to be followers 
 of Christ. 
 
 The early Christians were indeed a peculiar people. Their 
 blameless deportment and unswerving faith were a continual 
 reproof that disturbed the sinner's peace. Though few in 
 numbers, without wealth, position, or honorary titles, they 
 were a terror to evil-doers wherever their character and doc- 
 trines were known. Therefore they were hated by the 
 wicked, even as Abel was hated by the ungodly Cain. For 
 the same reason that Cain slew Abel did those who sought 
 to throw off the restraint of the Holy Spirit, put to death 
 God's people. It was for the same reason that the Jews re- 
 jected and crucified the Saviour, because the purity and 
 holiness of his character was a constant rebuke to their self- 
 ishness and corruption. From the days of Christ until now, 
 his faithful disciples have excited the hatred and opposition 
 of those who love and follow the ways of sin. 
 
 How, then, can the gospel be called a message of peace? 
 When Isaiah foretold the birth of the Messiah, he ascribed 
 to him the title, " Prince of peace." When angels announced 
 to the shepherds that Christ was born, they sung above the 
 plains of Bethlehem, " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good will toward men." * There is a seeming 
 contradiction between these prophetic declarations and the 
 words of Christ, " I came not to send peace, but a sword." a 
 But rightly understood, the two are in perfect harmony. 
 The gospel is a message of peace. Christianity is a system, 
 which, received and obeyed, would spread peace, harmony, 
 and happiness throughout the earth. The religion of Christ 
 will unite in close brotherhood all who accept its teachings. 
 It was the mission of Jesus to reconcile men to God, and 
 1 Luke 2 : 14. 2 Matt. 10 : 34. 
 
PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES. 47 
 
 thus to one another. But the world at large are under tho 
 control of Satan, Christ's bitterest foe. The gospel presents 
 to them principles of life which are wholly at variance with 
 their habits and desires, and they rise in rebellion against 
 it. They hate the purity which reveals and condemns their 
 sins, and they persecute and destroy those who would urge 
 upon them its just and holy claims. It is in this sense 
 because the exalted truths it brings, occasion hatred and 
 strife that the gospel is called a sword. 
 
 The mysterious providence which permits the righteous 
 to suffer persecution at the hand of the wicked, has been a 
 cause of great perplexity to many who are weak in faith. 
 Some are even ready to cast away their confidence in God, 
 because he suffers the basest of men to prosper, while the 
 best and purest are afflicted and tormented by their cruel 
 power. How, it is asked, can One who is just and merciful, 
 and who is also infinite in power, tolerate such injustice and 
 oppression ? This is a question with which we have nothing 
 to do. God has given us sufficient evidence of his love, and 
 we are not to doubt his goodness because we cannot under- 
 stand the workings of his providence. Said the Saviour to 
 his disciples, foreseeing the doubts that would press upon 
 their souls in days of trial and darkness, "Remember the 
 word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than 
 his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also perse- 
 cute you." 1 Jesus suffered for us more than any of his 
 followers can be made to suffer through the cruelty of wicked 
 men. Those who are called to endure torture and martyrdom, 
 are but following in the steps of God's dear Son. 
 
 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise." 3 He 
 does not forget or neglect his children; but he permits the 
 wicked to reveal their true character, that none who desire 
 to do his will may be deceived concerning them. Again, 
 the righteous are placed in the furnace of affliction, that they 
 themselves may be purified; that their example may con- 
 1 John 15: 20. 2 2rcter3:9. 
 
48 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 vmce others of the reality of faith and godliness; and aiso 
 that their consistent course may condemn the ungodly and 
 unbelieving. 
 
 God permits the wicked to prosper, and to reveal their 
 enmity against him, that when they shall have filled up the 
 measure of their iniquity, all may see his justice and mercy 
 in their utter destruction. The day of his '"?ngeance hastens, 
 #hen all who have transgressed his la\^ and oppressed his 
 people will meet the just recompense of their deeds; when 
 every act of cruelty or injustice toward God's faithful ones 
 will be punished as though done to Christ himself. 
 
 There is another and more important question that should 
 engage the attention of the churches of to-day. The apostle 
 Paul declares that " all that will live godly in Christ Jesus 
 shall suffer persecution." 1 Why is it, then, that persecution 
 seems in a great degree to slumber? The only reason is. 
 that the church has conformed to the world's standard, and 
 therefore awakens no opposition. The religion which ic 
 current in our day is not of the pure and holy character 
 that marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and 
 'his apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise 
 with sin, because the great truths of the Word of God are 
 so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital rjod- 
 liness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so pop- 
 ular with the world. Let there be a revival of the faith and 
 power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution v/ill 
 be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled. 
 
 . 3:12. 
 
OF THE 
 
 /TV 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE APOSTASY. 
 
 THE apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalo- 
 nians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the 
 establishment of the papal power. He declared that the 
 day of Christ should not come, " except there come a falling 
 away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of per- . 
 dition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is 
 called God, or that is worshiped ; so ,that he as God sitteth 
 in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 1 
 And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that "the 
 mystery of iniquity doth already work." 1 Even at that 
 early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that 
 would prepare the way for the development of the papacy. 
 
 Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then 
 more openly as it increased in strength and gained control 
 of the minds of men, the mystery of iniquity carried for- 
 ward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imper- 
 ceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into 
 the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and con- 
 formity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions 
 which the church endured under paganism. But as perse- 
 cution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and pal- 
 aces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ 
 and his apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests 
 and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she 
 substituted human theories and traditions. Tjhe nominal 
 
 1 2Thess. 2:3,4, 7. 
 6 (49) 
 
50 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 conversion of Coiistantine, in the early part of the fourth 
 century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with 
 a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now 
 the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while 
 appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her 
 spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, 
 and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and wor- 
 ship of the professed followers of Christ. 
 
 This compromise between paganism and Christianity re- 
 sulted in the development of the "man of sin" foretold in 
 prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. 
 That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of 
 Satan's power, a monument of his efforts to seat himself 
 upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will. 
 
 Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. 
 He came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, 
 and, showing him all the kingdoms of the world and the 
 glory of them, offered to give all into his hands if he would 
 but acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of darkness. 
 Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter, and forced him 
 to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in present- 
 ing the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains 
 and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and sup- 
 port of the great men of earth, and having thus rejected 
 Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the represent- 
 ative of Satan, the bishop of Rome. 
 
 It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the 
 pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, 
 invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors 
 in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has 
 arrogated the very titles of Deity. He styles himself " Lord 
 God the Pope," assumes infallibility, and demands that all 
 men pay him homager Thus the same claim urged by 
 Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him 
 through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready 
 to yield him homage. 
 
 
THE APOSTASY. 51 
 
 But those who fear and reverence God meet this Heaven- 
 daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the 
 wily foe : " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
 only shalt thou serve." l God has never given a hint in his 
 Word that he has appointed any man to be the head of the 
 church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly op- 
 posed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can 
 have no power over Christ's church except by usurpation. 
 
 Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants 
 the charge of heresy, and willful separation from the true 
 church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. 
 They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ, and 
 departed from "the faith which was once delivered unto 
 the saints." 2 
 
 Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable 
 men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It 
 was by the Word that even the Saviour of the world had 
 resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the 
 shield of eternal truth, saying, "It is written." To every 
 suggestion of the adversary, he opposed the wisdom and 
 power of the Word. In order for Satan to maintain his 
 sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal 
 usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. 
 The Bible would exalt God, and place finite men in their 
 true position ; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed 
 and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman 
 Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible 
 was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to 
 have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates 
 interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus 
 the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as 
 the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority- 
 over Church and State. 
 
 The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked 
 according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the pa- 
 1 Luke 4: 8. 2 Jude 3. 
 
52 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 pacy was to "think to change times and laws." 1 This work 
 it was not slow to attempt. To afford converts from heathen- 
 ism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to pro- 
 mote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration 
 of images and relics was gradually introduced into the 
 Christian worship. The decree of a general council 2 finally 
 established this system of idolatry. To complete the sacri- 
 legious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of 
 God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, 
 and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve 
 the number. 
 
 The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for 
 a still further disregard of Heaven's authority. Satan tam- 
 pered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to 
 set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had 
 blessed and sanctified, 3 and in its stead to exalt the festival 
 observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." 
 This change was not at first attempted openly. In the first 
 centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. 
 They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that 
 his law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness 
 of its precepts. But with great subtlety, Satan worked 
 through his agents to bring about his object. That the 
 attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it 
 was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. 
 Religious services were held upon it ; yet it was regarded as 
 a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly ob- 
 served. 
 
 To prepare the way for the work which he designed to 
 accomplish, Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of 
 Christ, to load down the Sabbath with the most rigorous 
 exactions, making its observance a burden. Now, taking 
 advantage of the false light in which he had thus caused it 
 to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it as a Jewish insti 1 
 tution. While Christians continued to observe the Sunday 
 1 Dan. 7:26. * Second Council of Nice, A. D. 787. 3 Gen. 2 : 2, 3. 
 
THE APOSTASY. 53 
 
 as a joyous festival, he led them, in order to show their 
 hatred of Judaism, to make the Sabbath a fast, a day of 
 sadness and gloom. 
 
 In the early part of the fourth century, the emperor Con- 
 stantine issued a decree making Sunday a public festival 
 throughout the Roman Empire. 1 The day of the sun was 
 reverenced by his pagan subjects, and was honored by Chris- 
 tians; it was the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting 
 interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to 
 do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambi- 
 tion, and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was 
 observed by both Christians and the heathen, it would pro- 
 mote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans, and 
 thus advance the power and glory of the church. But while 
 Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possess- 
 ing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath 
 as the holy of the Lord, and observed it in obedience to the 
 fourth commandment. 
 
 The arch-deceiver had not completed his work. He was 
 resolved to gather the Christian world under his banner, 
 and to exercise his power through his vicegerent, the proud 
 pontiff who claimed to be the representative of Christ. 
 Through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, and 
 world-loving churchmen, he accomplished his purpose. 
 Vast councils were held, from time to time, in which the 
 dignitaries of the church were convened from all the world. 
 In nearly every council the Sabbath which God had insti- 
 tuted was pressed down a little lower, while the Sunday was 
 correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came 
 finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible 
 Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observ- 
 ers were declared to be accursed. 
 
 The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself 
 " above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." 2 He 
 had dared to change the only precept of the divine law that 
 unmistakably points all mankind to the true and living 
 
 i See Appendix, Note 1. 2 2 Thess. 2 : 4. 
 
54 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 God. In the fourth commandment, God is revealed as the 
 Creator of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby distin- 
 guished from all false gods. It was as a memorial of the 
 work of creation that the seventh day was sanctified as a 
 rest-day for man. It was designed to keep the living God 
 ever before the minds of men as the source of being anci 
 the object of reverence and worship. Satan strives to turn 
 men from their allegiance to God, and from rendering obe- 
 dience to his law; therefore he directs his efforts especially 
 against that commandment which points to God as the 
 Creator. 
 
 Protestants now urge that the resurrection of Christ on 
 Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath. But Scripture evi- 
 dence is lacking. No such honor was given to the day by 
 Christ or his apostles. The observance of Sunday as a 
 Christian institution had its origin in that " mystery of law- 
 lessness" 1 which, even in Paul's day, had begun its work. 
 Where and when die? tho Lord adopt this child of the 
 papacy? What valid reason can be given for a change 
 which the Scriptures do not sanction? 
 
 In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly estab- 
 lished. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, 
 and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over 
 the entire church. Paganism had given place to the pa- 
 pacy. The dragon had given to the beast "his power, and 
 his seat, and great authority." 2 And now began the 1260 
 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel 
 and the Revelation. 8 Christians were forced to choose, either 
 to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and 
 worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer 
 death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman's ax. Now 
 were fulfilled the words of Jesus, "Ye shall be betrayed 
 both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; 
 and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And 
 ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." 4 Perse- 
 
 1 2 The.s. 2:7, revised version. a Rev. 13:2; see Appendix, Note 2. 
 3 Dan. 7 : 25; Re v. 13 : 5-7. 4 Luke 21 : 16, 1 7. 
 
THE APOSTASY. 65 
 
 cution opened upon the faithful with greater fury than ever 
 before, and the world became a vast battle-field. For hun- 
 dreds of years the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion 
 and obscurity. Thus says the prophet: "The woman fled 
 into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, 
 that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and 
 threescore days." 1 
 
 The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the 
 beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the 
 darkness deepened. Faith was transferred from Christ, the 
 true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting 
 in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal sal- 
 vation, the people looked to the pope, and to the priests and 
 prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught 
 that the pope was their earthly mediator, and that* none 
 could approach God except through him, and, further, that 
 he stood in the place of God to them, and was therefore to 
 be implicitly obeyed. A deviation from his requirements 
 was sufficient cause for the severest punishment to be visited 
 upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. Thus the minds 
 of the people were turned away from God to fallible, erring, 
 and cruel men, nay more, to the prince of darkness himself, 
 who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised 
 in a garb of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, 
 and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look 
 only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity. With the 
 elevation of human laws and traditions, was manifest the 
 corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of 
 God. 
 
 Those were days of peril for the church of Christ. The 
 faithful standard-bearers were few indeed. Though the 
 truth was not left without witnesses, yet at times it seemed 
 that error and superstition would wholly prevail, and true 
 religion would be banished from the earth. The gospel was 
 lost sight of, but the forms of religion were multiplied, and 
 the people were burdened with rigorous exactions. 
 
 1 Rev. 12:6. 
 
56 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 They were taught not only to look to the pope as their 
 mediator, but to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. 
 Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the 
 erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of 
 large sums to the church, these and many similar acts 
 were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to secure his 
 favor; as if God were like men, to be angered at trifles, or 
 pacified by gifts or acts of penance ! 
 
 Notwithstanding that vice prevailed, even among the 
 leaders of the Romish Church, her influence seemed steadily 
 to increase. About the close of the eighth century, papists 
 put forth the claim that in the first ages of the church the 
 bishops of Rome had possessed the same spiritual power 
 which they now assumed. To establish this claim, some 
 means must be employed to give it a show of authority; and 
 this was readily suggested by the father of lies. Ancient 
 writings were forged by monks. Decrees of councils before 
 unheard of were discovered, establishing the universal su- 
 premacy of the pope from the earliest times. And a church 
 that had rejected the truth, greedily accepted these decep- 
 tions. 
 
 The few faithful builders upon the true foundation l were 
 perplexed and hindered, as the rubbish of false doctrine 
 obstructed the work. Like the builders upon the wall of 
 Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day, some were ready to say, " The 
 strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is 
 much rubbish, so that we are not able to build." 3 Wearied 
 with the constant struggle against persecution, fraud, iniquity, 
 and every other obstacle that Satan could devise to hinder 
 their progress, some who had been faithful builders became 
 disheartened ; and for the sake of peace and security for their 
 property and their lives they turned away from the true 
 foundation. Others, undaunted by the opposition of their 
 enemies, fearlessly declared, "Be not ye afraid of them; 
 remember the Lord, which is great and terrible ; 8 and they 
 1 1 Cor. 3 : 10, 11. 2 Neh. 4 : 10. Neh. 4 : 14. 
 
THE APOSTASY. 57 
 
 proceeded with the work, every one with his sword girded 
 by his side. 1 
 
 The same spirit of hatred and opposition to the truth has 
 inspired the enemies of God in every age, and the same 
 vigilance and fidelity have been required in his servants. 
 The words of Christ to the first disciples are applicable to 
 his followers to the close of time: "What I say unto you I 
 say unto all, Watch." 2 
 
 The darkness seemed to grow more dense. Image worship 
 became more general. Candles were burned before images, 
 and prayers were offered to them. The most absurd and 
 superstitious customs prevailed. The minds of men were so 
 completely controlled by superstition that reason itself seemed 
 to have lost her sway. While priests and bishops were them- 
 selves pleasure-loving, sensual, and corrupt, it could only be 
 expected that- the people who looked to them for guidance 
 would be sunken in ignorance and vice. 
 
 Another step in papal assumption was taken, when, in the 
 eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII. proclaimed the per- 
 fection of the Romish Church. Among the propositions 
 which he put forth, was one declaring that the church had 
 never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the Script- 
 ures. But the Scripture proofs did not accompany the as- 
 sertion. The proud pontiff next claimed the power to depose 
 emperors, and declared that no sentence which he pronounced 
 could be reversed by ariy one, but that it was his prerogative 
 to reverse the decisions of all others. 
 
 A striking illustration of the tyrannical character of this 
 advocate of infallibility was given in his treatment of the 
 German emperor, Henry IV. For presuming to disregard 
 the pope's authority, this monarch was declared to be ex- 
 communicated and dethroned. Terrified by the desertion 
 and threats of his own princes, who were encouraged in re- 
 bellion against him by the papal mandate, Henry felt .the 
 necessity of making his peace with Rome. In company 
 :17. 2 Mark 13: 37. 
 
58 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 with his wife and a faithful servant, lie crossed the Alps in 
 midwinter, that he might humble himself before the pope. 
 Upon reaching the castle whither Gregory had withdrawn, 
 he was conducted, without his guards, into an outer court, 
 and there, in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head 
 and naked feet, and in a miserable dress, he awaited the 
 pope's permission to come into his presence. Not until he 
 had continued three days fasting and making confession, 
 did the pontiff condescend to grant him pardon. Even then 
 it was only upon condition that the emperor should await 
 the sanction of the pope before resuming the insignia or 
 exercising the power of royalty. And Gregory, elated with 
 his triumph, boasted that it was his duty, " to pull down the 
 pride of kings." 
 
 How striking the contrast between the overbearing pride 
 of this haughty pontiff and the meekness and gentleness of 
 Christ, who represents himself as pleading at the door of the 
 heart for admittance, that he may come in to bring pardon 
 and peace, and who taught his disciples, " Whosoever will 
 be chief among you, let him be your servant." l 
 
 The advancing centuries witnessed a constant increase of 
 error in the doctrines put forth from Rome. Even before 
 the establishment of the papacy, the teachings of heathen 
 philosophers had received attention and exerted an influence 
 in the church. Many who professed conversion still clung 
 to the tenets of their pagan philosophy, and not only con- 
 tinued its study themselves, but urged it upon others as a 
 means of extending their influence among the heathen. 
 Serious errors were thus introduced into the Christian faith. 
 Prominent among these was the belief in man's natural 
 immortality and his consciousness in death. 'Phis doetrine 
 laid the foundation upon which Rome established the in- 
 vocation of saints and the adoration of the virgin ^lary. 
 From this sprung also the heresy of eternal torment for the 
 finally impenitent, whieh was early incorporated into the 
 papal faith. 
 
 Then the way was prepared for the introduction of still 
 
 i Matt. 20 : 27. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
THE APOSTASY. 69 
 
 another invention of paganism, which Rome named purga- 
 tory, and employed to terrify the credulous and superstitious 
 multitudes. By this heresy is affirmed the existence of a 
 place of torment, in which the souls of such as have not 
 merited eternal damnation are to suffer punishment for their 
 sins, and from which, when freed from impurity, they are 
 admitted to Heaven. 
 
 Still another fabrication was needed to enable Rome to 
 profit by the fears and the vices of her adherents. This was 
 supplied by the doctrine of indulgences. Full remission of 
 sins, past, prese'nt, and future, and release from all the pains 
 and penalties incurred, were promised to all who would 
 enlist in the pontiff's wars to extend his temporal dominion, 
 to punish his enemies, or to exterminate those who dared 
 deny his spiritual supremacy. The people were also taught 
 that by the payment of money to the church they might free 
 themselves from sin, and also release the souls of their de- 
 ceased friends who were confined in the tormenting flames. 
 By such means did Rome fill her coffers, and sustain the 
 magnificence, luxury, and vice of the pretended represent- 
 atives of Him who had not where to lay his head. 
 
 The scriptural ordinance of the Lord's supper had been 
 supplanted by the idolatrous sacrifice of the mass. Papist 
 priests pretended, by their senseless mummery, to convert 
 the simple bread and wine into the actual body and blood 
 of Christ. With blasphemous presumption, they openly 
 claimed the power of "creating God, the Creator of all 
 things." All Christians were required, on pain of death, 
 to avow their faith in this horrible, Heaven-insulting heresy. 
 Multitudes who refused were given to the flames. 
 
 In the thirteenth century was established that most terrible 
 of all the engines of the papacy, the Inquisition. The 
 prince of darkness wrought with the leaders of the papal 
 hierarchy. In their secret councils, Satan and his angels 
 controlled the minds of evil men, while unseen in the midst 
 stood an angel of God, taking the fearful record of their in- 
 iquitous decrees, and writing the history of deeds too hor- 
 
60 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 rible to appear to human eyes. " Babylon the great " was 
 " drunken with the blood of the saints." The mangled forms 
 of millions of martyrs cried to God for vengeance upon that 
 apostate power. 
 
 Popery had become the world's despot. Kings and emper- 
 ors bowed to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. The destinies 
 of men, both for time and for eternity, seemed under his con- 
 trol. For hundreds of years the doctrines of Rome had been 
 extensively and implicitly received, its rites reverently per- 
 formed> its festivals generally observed. Its clergy were hon- 
 ored and liberally sustained. Never since has the Roman 
 Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power. 
 
 The noontide of the papacy was the world's moral mid- 
 night. The Holy Scriptures were almost unknown, not only 
 to the people, but to the priests. Like the Pharisees of old, 
 the papist leaders hated the light which would reveal their 
 sins. God's law, the standard of righteousness, having been 
 removed, they exercised power without limit, and practiced 
 vice without restraint. Fraud, avarice, and profligacy pre- 
 vailed. Men shrank from no crime by which they could 
 gain wealth or position. The palaces of popes and prelates 
 were scenes of the vilest debauchery. Some of the reigning 
 pontiffs were guilty of crimes so revolting that secular rulers 
 endeavored to depose these dignitaries of the church as 
 monsters too vile to be tolerated. For centuries Europe had 
 made no progress in learning, arts, or civilization. A moral 
 and intellectual paralysis had fallen upon Christendom. 
 
 The condition of the world under the Romish power pre- 
 sented a fearful and striking fulfillment of the words of the 
 prophet Hosea : " My people are destroyed for lack of knowl- 
 edge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also 
 reject thee; . . . seeing thou hast forgotten the law of 
 thy God, I will also forget thy children." "There is no 
 truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By 
 swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and commit- 
 ting adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." 1 
 Such, were the results of banishing the Word of God. 
 J Hosea4:6,l,2, 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE 
 
 AMID the gloom that settled upon the earth during the 
 long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not 
 be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses 
 for God, men who cherished faith in Christ as the only 
 mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the 
 only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How 
 much the world owes to these men, posterity will never 
 know. They were branded as heretics, their motives im- 
 pugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, 
 misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from 
 age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred 
 heritage for the generations to come. 
 
 The history of God's people during the ages of darkness 
 that followed upon Rome's supremacy, is written in Heaven. 
 But they have little place in human records. Few traces 
 of their existence can be found, except in the accusations 
 of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliter- 
 ate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. 
 Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, was de- 
 stroyed. A single expression of doubt, a question as to the 
 authority of papal dogmas, was enough to forfeit the life of 
 rich or poor, high or low. Rome endeavored also to destroy 
 every record of her cruelty toward dissenters. Papal coun- 
 cils decreed that books and writings containing such records 
 should be committed to the flames. Before the invention 
 of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not 
 favorable for preservation ; therefore there was little to pre- 
 vent the Romanists from carrying out their purpose. 
 
 (61) 
 
62 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 No church within the limits of .Romish jurisdiction was 
 long left undisturbed in the enjoyment of freedom of con- 
 science. No sooner had the papacy obtained power than 
 she stretched out her arms to crush all that refused to ac- 
 knowledge her sway ; and one after another, the churches 
 submitted to her dominion. 
 
 In Great Britain, primitive Christianity had very early 
 taken root. The gospel received by the Britons in the first 
 centuries, was then uncorrupted by Romish apostasy. Per- 
 secution from pagan emperors, which extended even to these 
 far-off shores, was the only gift that the first churches of 
 Britain received from Rome. Many of the Christians, flee- 
 ing from persecution in England, found refuge in Scotland; 
 thence the truth was carried to Ireland, and in all these 
 countries it was received with gladness. 
 
 When the Saxons invaded Britain, heathenism gained 
 control. The conquerors disdained to be instructed by 
 their slaves, and the Christians were forced to retreat to the 
 mountains and the wild moors. Yet the light, hidden for 
 a time, continued to burn. In Scotland, a century later, it 
 shone out with a brightness that extended to far-distant 
 lands. From Ireland came the pious Columba and his co- 
 laborers, who, gathering about them the scattered believers 
 on the lonely island of lona, made this the center of their 
 missionary labors. Among these evangelists was an ob- 
 server of the Bible Sabbath, and thus this truth was intr> 
 duced among the people. A school was established at lona, 
 from which missionaries went out, not only to Scotland and 
 England, but to Germany, Switzerland, and even Italy. 
 
 But Rome had fixed her eyes on Britain, and resolved 
 to bring it under her supremacy. In the sixth century 
 her missionaries undertook the conversion of the heathen 
 Saxons. They were received with' favor by the proud bar- 
 barians, and they induced many thousands to profess the 
 Romish faith. As the work progressed, the papal leaders 
 and their converts encountered the primitive Christians. 
 
THE WALDENSES. 63 
 
 A striking contrast was presented. The latter were simple, 
 humble, and scriptural in character, doctrine, and manners, 
 while the former manifested the superstition, pomp, and 
 arrogance of popery. The emissary of -Rome demanded 
 that these Christian churches acknowledge the supremacy 
 of the sovereign pontiff. The Britons meekly replied that 
 they desired to love all men, but that the pope was not en- 
 titled to supremacy in the church, and they could render to 
 him only that submission which was due to every follower 
 of Christ. Repeated attempts were made to secure their 
 allegiance to Rome; but these humble Christians, amazed 
 at the pride displayed by her emissaries, steadfastly replied 
 that they knew no other master than Christ. Now the true 
 spirit of the papacy was revealed. Said the Romish leader, 
 mt If you will not receive brethren who bring you peace, you 
 shall receive enemies who will bring you war. If you will 
 not unite with us in showing the Saxons the way of life, 
 you shall receive from them the stroke of death." These 
 were no idle threats. War, intrigue, and deception were 
 employed against these witnesses for a Bible faith, until the 
 churches of Britain were destroyed, or forced to submit to 
 the authority of the pope. 
 
 In lands beyond the jurisdiction of Rome, there existed 
 for many centuries bodies of Christians wiio remained al- 
 most wholly free from papal corruption. They were sur- 
 rounded by heathenism, and in the lapse of ages were 
 affected by its errors ; but they continued to regard the Bible 
 as the only rule of faith, and adhered to many of its truths. 
 These Christians believed in the perpetuity of the law of 
 God, and observed the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. 
 Churches that held to this faith and practice, existed in 
 Central Africa and among the Armenians of Asia. 
 
 But of those who resisted the encroachments of the papal 
 power, the Waldenses stood foremost. In the very land 
 where popery had fixed its seat, there its falsehood and cor- 
 ruption were most steadfastly resisted. For centuries the 
 6 
 
64 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY 
 
 churches of Piedmont maintained their independence; but 
 the time came at last when Rome insisted upon their sub- 
 mission. After ineffectual struggles against her tyranny, 
 the leaders of these churches reluctantly acknowledged the 
 supremacy of the power to which the whole world seemed 
 to pay homage. There were some, however, who refused to 
 yield to the authority of pope or prelate. They were de- 
 termined to maintain their allegiance to God, and to preserve 
 the purity and simplicity of their faith. A separation took 
 place. Those who adhered to the ancient faith now with- 
 drew; some, forsaking their native Alps, raised the banner 
 of truth in foreign lands; others retreated to the secluded 
 glens and rocky fastnesses of the mountains, and there pre- 
 served their freedom to worship God. 
 
 The faith which for many centuries was held and taught 
 by the Waldensian Christians was in marked contrast to 
 the false doctrines put forth from Rome. Their religious 
 belief was founded upon the written word of God, the true 
 system of Christianity. But those humble peasants, in their 
 obscure retreats, shut away from the world, and bound to 
 daily toil among their flocks and their vineyards, had not 
 themselves arrived at the truth in opposition to the dogmas 
 and heresies of the apostate church. Theirs was not a faith 
 newly received. Their religious belief was their inheritance 
 from their fathers. They contended for the faith of the 
 apostolic church, "the faith which was once delivered to 
 the saints." "The church in the wilderness," and not the 
 proud hierarchy enthroned in the world's great, capital, was 
 the true church of Christ, the guardian of the treasures of 
 truth which God has committed to his people to be given 
 to the world. 
 
 Among the leading causes that had led 1o the separation 
 of the true church from 1 ionic, was the. hatred of the latter 
 toward tho Bible Sabbath. As foretold by prophecy, the 
 papal power cast down the truth to the ground. The law 
 of God was trampled in the dust, while the traditions and 
 
THE WALDENSES. 65 
 
 customs of men were exalted. The churches that \\vn> 
 under the rule of the papacy were early compellecl to honor 
 the Sunday as a holy day. Amid the prevailing error and 
 superstition, many, even of the true people of God, became 
 so be\vildcred that while they observed the Sabbath they 
 ivfrained from labor also on the Sunday. But this did not 
 satisfy the papal leaders. They demanded not only that 
 Sunday be hallowed, but that the Sabbath be profaned; and 
 they denounced in the strongest language those who dared 
 to show it honor. It was only by fleeing from the power of 
 Rome that any could obey God's law in peace. 
 
 The Waldenses were the first of all the peoples of Europe 
 to obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of 
 years before the Reformation, they possessed the Bible in 
 manuscript in their native tongue. They had the truth 
 unadulterated, and this rendered them the special objects 
 of hatred and persecution. They declared the Church of 
 Rome to be the apostate Babylon of the Apocalypse, and at 
 the peril of their lives they stood up to resist her corruptions. 
 While, under the pressure of long-continued persecuti6n, 
 some compromised their faith, little by little yielding its 
 distinctive principles, others held fast the truth. Through 
 ages of darkness and apostasy, there were Waldenses who 
 denied the supremacy of Rome, who rejected image worship 
 as idolatry, and who kept the true Sabbath. Under the 
 iiereest tempests of opposition they maintained their faith. 
 Though gashed by the Savoyard spear, and scorched by the 
 Romish fagot, they stood unflinchingly for God's Word and 
 his honor. 
 
 Behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains, in ;ill ;i 
 the refuge of the persecuted and oppressed, the \V;il< lenses 
 found a hiding-place. Here the light of truth was kept 
 burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here, for 
 a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the 
 ancient faith. 
 
 God had provided for his people a sanctuary of awful 
 
66 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 grandeur, befitting the mighty truths committed to their 
 trust. To those faithful exiles the mountains were an em- 
 blem of the immutable righteousness of Jehovah. They 
 pointed their children to the heights towering above them 
 in unchanging majesty, and cpoke to them of Him with 
 whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning, whose 
 word is as enduring as the everlasting hills. God had set 
 fast the mountains, and girded them with strength ; no arm 
 but that of infinite power could move them out of their 
 place. In like manner he had established his law, the 
 foundation of his government in Heaven and upon earth. 
 The arm of man might reach his fellow-men and destroy 
 their lives; but that arm could as readily uproot the mount- 
 ains from their foundations, and hurl them into the sea, as 
 it could change one precept of the law of Jehovah, or blot 
 out one of his promises to those who do his will. In their 
 fidelity to his law, God's servants should be as firm as the 
 unchanging hills. 
 
 The mountains that girded their lowly valleys were a 
 constant witness to God's creative power, and a never-failing 
 assurance of his protecting care. Those pilgrims learned 
 to love the silent symbols of Jehovah's presence. They in- 
 dulged no repining because of the hardships of their lot; 
 they were never lonely amid the mountain .solitudes. They 
 thanked God that he had provided for them an asylum from 
 the wrath and cruelty of men. They rejoiced in their freedom 
 to worship before him. Often when pursued by their ene- 
 mies, the strength of the hills proved a sure defense. From 
 many a lofty cliff they chanted the praise of God, and (lie 
 armies of Rome could not silence their songs of thanks- 
 giving 
 
 Pure, simple, and fervent was the piety of these followers 
 of Christ. The principles of truth they valued above houses 
 and lands, friends, kindred, even life itself. These principles 
 they earnestly sought to impress upon the hearts of the 
 young. From earliest childhood the youth were instructed 
 
THE WALDENSES- 67 
 
 in the Scriptures, and taught to sacredly regard the claims 
 of the law of God. Copies of the Bible were rare; therefore 
 its precious words were committed to memory. Many were 
 able to repeat large portions of both the Old and the New 
 Testament. Thoughts of God \\viv associated alike with 
 the sublime scenery of nature and with the humble bless- 
 ings of daily life. Little children learned to look with grati- 
 tude to God as the giver of every favor and every comfort. 
 
 Parents, tender and affectionate as they were, loved their 
 children too wisely to accustom them to self-indulgence. 
 Before them was a life of trial and hardship, perhaps a 
 martyr's death. They were educated from childhood to 
 endure hardness, to submit to control, and yet to think and 
 act for themselves. Very early they were taught to bear 
 responsibilities, to be guarded in speech, and to understand 
 the wisdom of silence. One indiscreet word let fall in the 
 hearing of their enemies, might imperil not only the life of 
 the speaker, but the lives of hundreds of his brethren ; for 
 as wolves hunting their prey did the enemies of truth pursue 
 those who dared to claim freedom of religious faith. 
 
 The Waldenses had sacrificed their worldly prosperity 
 for the truth's sake, and with persevering- patience they toiled 
 for their bread. Every spot of tillable land among the 
 mountains was carefully improved; the valleys and the less 
 fertile hillsides were made to yield their increase. Economy 
 and severe self-denial formed a part of the education which 
 the children received as their only legacy. They were taught 
 that God designs life to be a discipline, and that their wants 
 could be supplied only by personal labor, by forethought, 
 care, and faith. The process was laborious and wearisome, 
 but it was wholesome, just what man needs in his fallen 
 state, the school which God has provided for his training 
 and development. 
 
 While the youth were inured to toil and hardship,, the 
 culture of the intellect was not neglected. They were taught 
 that all their powers belonged to God, and that all were to 
 be improved and developed for his service. 
 
68 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The Vaudois churches, in their purity and simplicity, 
 resembled the church of apostolic times. Rejecting the 
 supremacy of pope and prelate, they held the Bible as 
 the only supreme, infallible authority. Their pastors, un- 
 like the lordly priests of Rome, followed the example of 
 their Master, who " came not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister." They fed the flock of God, leading them to the 
 green pastures and living fountains of his holy Word. Far 
 from the monuments of human pomp and pride, the people 
 assembled, not in magnificent churches or grand cathedrals, 
 but beneath the shadow of the mountains, in the Alpine 
 valleys, or, in time of danger, in some rocky stronghold, to 
 listen to the words of truth from the servants of Christ. The 
 pastors not only preached the gospel, but they visited the 
 sick, catechized the children, admonished the erring, and 
 labored to settle disputes and promote harmony and broth- 
 erly love. In times of peace they were sustained by the free- 
 will offerings of the people; but, like Paul the tent-maker, 
 each learned some trade or profession by which, if necessary, 
 to provide for his own support. 
 
 From their pastors the youth received instruction. AYhile 
 attention was given to branches of general learning, the 
 Bible was made the chief study. The Gospels of Matthew 
 and John they committed to memory, with many of the Epis- 
 tles. They were employed also in copying the Scriptures. 
 Some manuscripts contained tl'ie whole Bible, others only 
 brief selections, to wh e h some simple explanations of the 
 text were added by those who were able to expound the 
 Scriptures. Thus were brought forth the treasures of truth 
 so long concealed by those who sought to exalt themselves 
 above God. , 
 
 By patient, untiring labor, sometimes in the deep, dark 
 caverns of the earth, by the light of torches, the sacred 
 Scriptures \v:-re written out, verse by verse, chapter by 
 chapter. Thus the work went on, the revealed will c.'/ (lod 
 shining out like pure #>ld; how mueh brighter, clearer, 
 
THE WALDENSES. 69 
 
 and more powerful because of the trials undergone for its 
 sake, only those could realize who were engaged in the work. 
 Angels from Heaven surrounded these faithful workers. 
 
 Satan had urged on the papal priests and prelates to 
 bury the Word of truth beneath the rubbish of error, heresy, 
 and superstition; but in a most wonderful manner it was 
 preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of darkness. 
 It bore not the stamp of man, but the impress of God. 
 Men have been unwearied in their efforts to obscure the 
 plain, simple meaning of the Scriptures, and to make them 
 contradict their own testimony ; but, like the ark upon the 
 billowy deep, the Word of God outrides the storms that 
 threaten it with destruction. As tho mine has rich veins 
 of gold and silver hidden beneath the surface, so that all 
 must dig who would discover its precious stores, so the Holy 
 Scriptures have treasures of truth that are revealed only to 
 the earnest, humble, prayerful seeker. God designed the 
 Bible to be a lesson-book to all mankind, in childhood, 
 youth, and manhood, and to be studied through all time. 
 He gave his Word to men as a revelation of himself. Every 
 new truth discerned is a fresh disclosure of the character of 
 its Author. The study of the, Scriptures is the means di- 
 vinely ordained to bring men into closer connection with 
 their Creator, and to give them a clearer knowledge of his 
 will. It is the medium of communication between God and 
 man. 
 
 While the Waldenses regarded the fear of the Lord as the 
 beginning of wisdom, they were not blind to the importance 
 of a contact with the world, a knowledge of men and of 
 active life, in expanding the mind and quickening the per- 
 ceptions. From their schools in the mountains some of the 
 youth were sent to institutions of learning in the cities of 
 France or Italy, where was a more extended field for study, 
 thought, and observation than in their native Alps. The 
 youth thus sent forth were exposed to temptation, they wit- 
 nessed vice, they encountered Satan's wily agents, who urged 
 
70 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 upon them the most subtle heresies and the most dangerous 
 deceptions. But their education from childhood had been 
 of a character to prepare them for all this. 
 
 In the schools whither they went, they were not to make 
 confidants of any. Their garments were so prepared as to 
 conceal their greatest treasure, the precious manuscripts 
 of the Scriptures. These, the fruit of months and years of 
 toil, they carried with them, and, whenever they could do 
 so without exciting suspicion, they cautiously placed some 
 portion in the way of those whose hearts seemed open to 
 receive the truth. From their mother's knee the Walden- 
 sian youth had been trained with this purpose in view; they 
 understood their work, and faithfully performed it. Con- 
 verts to the true faith were won in these institutions of 
 learning, and frequently its principles were found to be 
 permeating the entire school; yet the papist leaders could 
 not, by the closest inquiry, trace the so-called corrupting 
 heresy to its source. 
 
 The spirit of Christ is a missionary spirit. The very first 
 impulse of the renewed heart is to bring others also to the 
 Saviour. Such was the spirit of the Vaudois Christians. 
 They felt that God required more of them than merely to 
 preserve the truth in its purity in their own churches; that 
 a solemn responsibility rested upon them to let their light 
 shine forth to those who were in darkness; by the mighty 
 power of God's Word they sought to break the bondage 
 which Rome had imposed. The Vaudois ministers were 
 trained as missionaries, every one who expected to enter the 
 ministry being required first to gain an . experience as an 
 evangelist. Eacli wsis to serve three years in some mission 
 field before taking charge of a church at home. This serv- 
 ice, requiring at the outset self-denial and sacrifice, was a 
 fitting introduction to the pastor's life in those times that 
 tried men's souls. The youth who received ordination to 
 the sacred office sa\v b<foro them, not the prospect of earthly 
 wealth and glory, but a 1 i fo of toil and danger, and possibly 
 
THE WALDENSES. 71 
 
 a martyr's fate. The missionaries went out two and two, as 
 Jesus sent forth his disciples. With every young man was 
 usually associated a man of age and experience, the youth 
 being under the guidance of his companion, who was held 
 responsible for his training, and whose instruction he was 
 required to heed. These co-laborers were not always to- 
 gether, but often met for prayer and counsel, thus strength- 
 ening each other in the faith. 
 
 To have made known the object of their mission would 
 have insured its defeat; therefore they carefully concealed 
 their real character. Every minister possessed a knowledge 
 of some trade or profession, and the missionaries prosecuted 
 their work under cover of a secular calling. Usually they 
 chose that of merchant or peddler. They dealt in choice and 
 costly articles, such as silks, laces, and jewels, which in 
 those times could not be readily procured, and thus they 
 found entrance where they would otherwise have been re- 
 pulsed. All the while their hearts were uplifted to God for 
 wisdom to present a treasure more precious than gold or 
 gems. They secretly carried about with them copies of the 
 Bible, in whole or in part, and whenever an opportunity 
 was presented, they called the attention of their customers 
 to these manuscripts. Often an interest to read God's Word 
 was thus awakened, and some portion was gladly left with 
 those who desired to receive it. 
 
 The work of these missionaries began in the plains and 
 valleys at the foot of their own mountains, but it extended 
 far beyond these limits. With naked feet and in garments 
 coarse arid travel-stained as were those of their Master, they 
 passed through great cities, and penetrated to distant lands. 
 Everywhere they scattered the precious seed. Churches 
 sprung up in their path, and the blood of martyrs wit- 
 nessed for the truth. The day of God will reveal a rich har- 
 vest of souls garnered by the labors of these faithful men. 
 Veiled and silent, the Word of (lod was making its way 
 through Christendom, and meeting a glad reception in the 
 homes and hearts of men. 
 
72 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 To the Waldenses the Scriptures were not merely a record 
 of God's dealings with men in the past, and a revelation of 
 the responsibilities and duties of the present, but an unfold- 
 ing of the perils and glories of the future. They believed 
 that the end of all things was not far distant; and as they 
 studied the Bible with prayer and tears, they were the more 
 deeply impressed with its precious utterances, and with their 
 duty to make known to others its saving truths. They saw 
 the plan of salvation clearly revealed in the sacred pages, 
 and they found comfort, hope, and peace in believing in 
 Jesus. As the light illuminated their understanding and 
 made glad their hearts, they longed to shed its beams upon 
 those who were in the darkness of papal error. 
 
 They saw that under the guidance of pope and priests, 
 multitudes were vainly endeavoring to obtain pardon by 
 afflicting their bodies for the sin of their* souls. Taught to 
 trust to their good works to save them, they were ever look- 
 ing to themselves, their minds dwelling upon their sinful 
 condition, seeing themselves exposed to the wrath of Clod, 
 afflicting soul and body, yet finding no relief. Thus con- 
 scientious souls were bound by the doctrines of Rome. 
 Thousands abandoned friends and kindred, and spent their 
 lives in convent cells. By oft-repeated fasts and cruel scourg- 
 ings, by midnight vigils, by prostration for weary hours 
 upon the cold, damp stones of their dreary abode, by long 
 pilgrimages, by humiliating penance and fearful torture, 
 thousands vainly sought to obtain peace of conscience. Op- 
 pressed with a sense of sin, and haunted with the fear of 
 God's avenging wrath, many suffered on, until exhausted 
 nature gave way, and without one ray of light or hope, they 
 sank into the tomb. 
 
 The Waldenses longed to break to these starving souls 
 the bread of life, to open to them the messages of peace in 
 the promises of God, and to point them to Christ as their 
 o;ily hope of salvation. The doctrine that good works can 
 atone for the transgression of God's law, they held to be 
 
THE WALDENSES. 73 
 
 based upon falsehood. Reliance upon human merit inter- 
 cepts the view of Christ's infinite love. Jesus died as a sac- 
 rifice for man because the fallen race can do nothing to 
 recommend themselves to God. The merits of a crucified 
 and risen Saviour are the foundation of the Christian's faith. 
 The dependence of the soul upon Christ is as real, and its 
 connection with him must be as close, as that of a limb to 
 the body, or of a branch to the vine. , 
 
 The teachings of popes and priests had led men to look 
 upon the character of God, and even of Christ, as stern, 
 gloomy, and forbidding. The Saviour was represented as 
 so far devoid of all sympathy with man in his fallen state 
 that the mediation of priests and saints must be invoked. 
 Those whose minds had been enlightened by the Word of 
 God longed to point these souls to Jesus as their compas- 
 sionate, loving Saviour, standing with outstretched arms 
 inviting all to come to him with their burden of sin, their 
 care and weariness. They longed to clear away the ob- 
 structions which Satan had piled up that men might not see 
 the promises, and come directly to God, confessing thei. 
 sins, and obtaining pardon and peace. 
 
 Eagerly did the Vaudois missionary unfold to the in- 
 quiring mind the precious truths of the gospel. Cautiously 
 he produced the carefully written portions of the Holy 
 Scriptures. It was his greatest joy to give hope to the con- 
 scientious, sin-stricken soul, who could see only a God of 
 vengeance, waiting to execute justice. With quivering lip 
 and tearful eye did he, often on bended knees, open to his 
 brethren the precious promises that reveal the sinner's only 
 hope. Thus the light of truth penetrated many a darkened 
 mind, rolling back the cloud of gloom, until the Sun of 
 Righteousness shone into the heart with healing in his 
 beams. It was often the case that some portion of Scripture 
 was read again and again, the hearer desiring it to be re- 
 peated, as if he would assure himself that he had heard 
 aright. Especially was the repetition of these words eagerly 
 
74 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 desired: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
 from all sin." l "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wil- 
 derness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that who- 
 soever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal 
 life." 2 
 
 Many were undeceived in regard to the claims of Rome. 
 They saw how vain is the mediation of men or angels in 
 behalf of the sinner. As the true light dawned upon their 
 minds, they exclaimed with rejoicing, "Christ is my priest; 
 his blood is my sacrifice; his altar is my confessional." 
 They cast themselves wholly upon the merits of Jesus, re- 
 peating the words, " Without faith it is impossible to please 
 him." 3 "There is none other name under heaven given 
 among men, whereby we must be saved." * 
 
 The assurance of a Saviour's love seemed too mucli for 
 some of these poor tempest-tossed souls to realize. So great 
 was the relief which it brought, such a flood of light was 
 shed upon them, that they seemed transported to Heaven. 
 Their hand was laid confidingly in the hand of Christ; their 
 feet were planted upon the Rock of Ages. All fear of deatli 
 was banished. They could now covet the prison and the 
 fagot if they might thereby honor the name of their Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 In secret places the "Word of God was thus 1) rough t forth 
 and read, sometimes to a single soul, sometimes to a little 
 company who were longing for light and truth. Often the 
 entire night was spent in this manner. So great would be 
 the wonder and admiration of the listeners that the mes- 
 senger of mercy was not, infrequently compelled to cease his 
 reading until the understanding could grasp the tidings of 
 salvation. Often would words like; these be uttered: "Will 
 God indeed accept my offering? Will he smile upon mef 
 Will he pardon me?" The answer was read, " Come unto 
 me, all ye that labor and niv heavy-laden, and I will 
 
 rest," 
 
 1 1 John 1 : 7. 'John 3 : 14, 15. 3 Heb. 11:6. 
 
 * Acts 4: 12. 6 Matt 11 :28. 
 
THE WALDENSES. 75 
 
 Faith grasped the promise, and the glad response \vas 
 heard, " No more long pilgrimages to make ; no more pain- 
 ful journeys to holy shrines. I may come to Jesus just as I 
 am, sinful and unholy, and he will not spurn the penitential 
 prayer. 'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' Mine, even mine, may 
 be forgiven ! " 
 
 A tide of sacred joy would fill the heart, and the name 
 of Jesus would be magnified by praise and thanksgiving. 
 Those happy souls returned to their homes to diffuse light, 
 to repeat to others, as well as they could, their new experi- 
 ence; that they had found the true and living Way. There 
 was a strange and solemn power in the words of Scripture 
 that spoke directly to the hearts of those who were longing 
 for the truth. It was the voice of God, and it carried con- 
 viction to those who heard. 
 
 The messenger of truth went on his way; but his appear- 
 ance of humility, his sincerity, his earnestness and deep 
 fervor, were subjects of frequent remark. In many instances 
 his hearers had not asked him whence he came, or whither 
 he went. They had been so overwhelmed, at first with sur- 
 prise, and afterward with gratitude and joy, that they had 
 not thought to question him. When they had urged him 
 to accompany them to their homes, he had replied that he 
 must visit the lost sheep of the flock. Could he have been 
 an angel from Heaven? they queried. 
 
 In many cases the messenger of truth was seen no more. 
 He had made his way to other lands, he was wearing out 
 his life in some unknown dungeon, or perhaps his bones 
 wore whitening on the spot where he had witnessed for the 
 truth. But the words lie had left behind could not be de- 
 stroyed. They were doing their work in the hearts of men; 
 the blessed results will be fully known only in the Judgment. 
 
 The Waldensian missionaries were invading the kingdom 
 of Satan, and the powers of darkness aroused to greater vigi- 
 lance. Every effort to advance the truth was watched by 
 the prince of evil, and he excited the fears of his 'agents. 
 
76 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The papal leaders saw a portent of danger to their cause 
 from the labors of these humble itinerants. If the light of 
 truth were allowed to shine unobstructed, it would sweep 
 away the heavy clouds of error that enveloped the people; it 
 would direct the minds of men to God alone, and would 
 eventually destroy the supremacy of Rome. 
 
 The very existence of this peonle, holding the faith of the 
 ancient church, was a constant testimony to Rome's apostasy, 
 and therefore excited the most bitter hatred and persecution. 
 Their refusal to surrender the Scriptures was also an offense 
 that Rome could not tolerate. She determined to blot them 
 from the earth. Now began the most terrible crusades 
 against God's people in their mountain homes. Inquisitors 
 were put upon their track, and the scene of innocent Abel 
 falling before the murderous Cain was often repeated. 
 
 Again and again were their fertile lands laid waste, their 
 dwellings and chapels swept away, so that where once were 
 flourishing fields and the homes of an innocent, industrious 
 people, there remained only a desert. As the ravenous beast 
 is rendered more furious by the taste of blood, so the rage of 
 the papists was kindled to greater intensity by the sufferings 
 of their victims. Many of these witnesses for a pure faith 
 were pursued across the mountains, and hunted down in the 
 valleys where they were hidden, shut in by mighty forests, 
 and pinnacles of rock. 
 
 No charge could be brought against the moral character 
 of this proscribed class. Even their enemies declared them 
 to be a peaceable, quiet, pious people. Their grand offense 
 was that they would not worship God according to the AVI 11 
 of the pope. For this crime, every humiliation, insult, and 
 torture that men or devils could invent was heaped upon 
 them. 
 
 When Rome at one time determined to exterminate the 
 hated sect, a bull was issued by the pope l condemning them 
 as heretics, and delivering them to slaughter. They were 
 
 1 Innocent VIII., A. D. 1487. 
 
TTIE WALDENSES. 77 
 
 not accused as idlers, or dishonest, or disorderty; but it was 
 declared that they had an appearance of piety and sanctity 
 that seduced "the sheep of the true fold." Therefore the 
 pope ordered "that the malicious and abominable sect of 
 malignants," if they refuse to abjure, "be crushed like ven- 
 omous snakes." Did this haughty potentate expect to meet 
 those words again? Did he know that they were registered 
 in the books of Heaven, to confront him at the Judgment? 
 " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
 my brethren," said Jesus, "ye -have done it unto me." 1 
 
 This bull called upon all members of the church to join 
 the crusade against th heretics. As an incentive to engage 
 in this cruel work, it "absolved from all ecclesiastical pains 
 and penalties, general and particular; it released all who 
 joined the crusade from any oaths they might have taken; 
 it legitimatized their title to any property which they might 
 have illegally acquired, and promised remission of all their 
 sins to such as should kill any heretic. It annulled all con- 
 tracts made in favor of the Vaudois, ordered their domestics 
 to abandon them, forbade all persons to give them any aid 
 whatever, and empowered all persons to take possession of 
 their property." This document clearly reveals the master- 
 spirit behind the scenes. It is the roar of the dragon, and 
 not the voice of Christ, that is heard therein. 
 
 The papal leaders would not conform their characters to 
 the great stancfard of God's law, but erected a standard to 
 suit themselves, and determined to compel all to conform to 
 this because Rome willed it. The most horrible tragedies 
 were enacted. Corrupt and blasphemous priests and popes 
 were doing the work which Satan appointed them. Mercy 
 had no place in their natures. The same spirit that crucified 
 Christ, and that slew the apostles, the same that moved the 
 blood-thirsty Nero against the faithful in his day, was at 
 work to rid the earth of those who were beloved of God. 
 
 The persecutions visited for many centuries upon this 
 
 i Matt. 25 : 40. 
 
78 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 God-fearing people were endured by them with a patience 
 and constancy that honored their Redeemer. Notwithstand- 
 ing the crusades against them, and the inhuman butchery 
 to which they were subjected, they continued to send out 
 their missionaries to scatter the precious truth. They were 
 hunted to the death; yet their blood watered the seed sown, 
 and it failed not of yielding fruit. Thus the Waldenses 
 witnessed for God, centuries before the birth of Luther. 
 Scattered over many lands, they planted the seeds of the 
 Reformation that began in the time of Wyclifte, grew broad 
 and deep in the days of Luther, and is to be carried forward 
 to the close of time by those who alsp are willing to suffer 
 all things for " the Word of God, and for the testimony of 
 Jesus Christ." 1 
 
 1 Rev. 1 : 9. 
 
 PASS OF P*tA DEL TOE IN WALDRNSIAN VALLEYS. 
 
Eugraved Expressly ior Ureat Controversy. 
 
 Huss. 
 
 \V V( I.IKI-K. 
 
 JEROME. 
 
 (KroLAMl'AIMUS. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 JOHN WYCLIFFB. 
 
 BEFORE the Reformation, there were at times but very 
 few copies of the Bible in existence; but God had not suf- 
 fered his Word to be wholly destroyed. Its 'truths were not 
 to be forever hidden. He could as easily unchain the words 
 of life as he could open prison doors and unbolt iron gates to 
 set his servants free. In the different countries of Europe, 
 men were moved by the Spirit of God to search for the truth 
 as for hid treasures. Providentially guided to the Holy 
 Scriptures, they studied the sacred pages with intense inter- 
 est. They^ were willing to accept the light, at any cost to 
 themselves. Though they did not see all things clearly, 
 they were enabled to perceive many long-buried truths. As 
 heaven-sent messengers they went forth, rending asunder 
 the chains of error and superstition, and calling upon those 
 who had been so long enslaved to arise and assert their 
 liberty. 
 
 Except among the Waldenses, the Word of God had for 
 ages been locked up in languages known only to the learned; 
 but the time had come for the Scriptures to be translated, 
 and given to the people of different lands in their native 
 tongue. The world had passed its midnight. The hours of 
 darkness were wearing away, and in many lands appeared 
 tokens of the coming dawn. 
 
 In the fourteenth century arose in England the " morning- 
 star of the Reformation." John Wycliffe was the herald of 
 reform, not.for England alone, but for all Christendom. The 
 great protest against Rome which it was permitted him to 
 utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the 
 
 (79) 
 
80 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individ- 
 uals, of churches, and of nations. 
 
 Wycliffe received a liberal education, and with him the 
 fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. He was 
 noted at college for his fervent piety as well as for his re- 
 markable talents and sound scholarship. In his thirst for 
 knowledge he sought to become acquainted with every 
 branch of learning. He was educated in the scholastic 
 philosophy, in the canons of the church, and in the civil law, 
 especially that of his own country. In his after-labors the 
 value of this early training was apparent. A thorough 
 acquaintance with the speculative philosophy of his time 
 enabled him to expose its errors; and by his study of na- 
 tional and ecclesiastical law he was prepared to engage in 
 the great struggle for civil and religious liberty. While he 
 could wield the weapons drawn from the Word of God, he 
 had acquired the intellectual discipline of the schools, and 
 he understood the tactics of the schoolmen. Tbe power of 
 his genius and the extent and thoroughness of his knowl- 
 edge commanded the respect of both friends and foes. His 
 adherents saw with satisfaction that their champion stood 
 foremost among the leading minds of the nation ; and his 
 enemies were prevented from casting contempt upon the 
 cause of reform by exposing the ignorance or weakness of 
 its supporter. 
 
 While WyclifFe was still at college, he entered upon the 
 study of the Scriptures. In those early times, when tin- 
 Bible existed only in the ancient languages, scholars were 
 enabled to find their way to the fountain of truth, which was 
 closed to the uneducated classes. Thus already the way had 
 been prepared for Wycliffe's future work as a reformer. Men 
 of learning had studied the Word of God, and had found 
 the great truth of his free grace there revealed. In their 
 teachings they had spread a knowledge of this truth, and 
 had led others to turn to the Living Oracles. 
 
 When Wycliffe's attention was directed to the Scriptures, 
 
JOHN WYCL1FFE. 81 
 
 he entered upon their investigation with the same thorough- 
 ness which had enabled him to master the learning of the 
 schools. Heretofore he had felt a great want, which neither 
 his scholastic studies nor the teaching of the church could 
 satisfy. In the Word of God he found that which he had 
 before sought in vain. Here he saw the plan of salvation 
 revealed, and Christ set forth as the only advocate for man. 
 He gave himself to the service of Christ, and determined to 
 proclaim the truths he had discovered. 
 
 Like after-reformers, Wycliffe did not, at the opening of 
 his work, foresee whither it would lead him. He did not 
 set himself deliberately in opposition to Rome. But devo- 
 tion to truth could not but bring him in conflict with false- 
 hood. The more clearly he discerned the errors of the 
 papacy, the more earnestly he presented the teaching of the 
 Bible. He saw that Rome had forsaken the Word of God 
 for human tradition ; he fearlessly accused the priesthood of 
 having banished the Scriptures, and demanded that the 
 Bible be restored to the people, and that its authority be 
 again established in the church. He was an able and ear- 
 nest teacher, and an eloquent preacher, and his daily life 
 was a demonstration of the truths he preached. His knowl- 
 edge of the Scriptures, the force of his reasoning, the purity 
 of his life, and his unbending courage and integrity, won for 
 him general esteem and confidence. Many of the people 
 had become dissatisfied with their former faith, as they 
 saw the iniquity that prevailed in the Roman Church, and 
 they hailed with unconcealed joy the truths brought to view 
 by Wycliffe; but the papist leaders were filled with rage 
 when they perceived that this reformer was gaining an in- 
 fluence greater than their own. 
 
 Wycliffe was a keen detector of error, and he struck fear- 
 lessly against many of the abuses sanctioned by the authority 
 of Rome. While acting as chaplain for the king, he took a 
 bold stand against the payment of tribute claimed by the 
 pope from the English monarch, and showed that the papal 
 
82 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVLESY. 
 
 assumption of authority over secular rulers was contrary to 
 both reason and revelation. The demands of the pope had 
 excited great indignation, and Wycliffe's teachings exerted 
 an influence upon the leading minds of the nation. The 
 king and the nobles united in denying the pontiff's claim to 
 temporal authority, and in refusing the payment of the 
 tribute. Thus an effectual blow was struck against the 
 papal supremacy in England. 
 
 Another evil against which the reformer waged long and 
 resolute battle, was the institution of the orders of mendicant 
 friars. These friars swarmed in England, casting a blight 
 upon the greatness and prosperity of the nation. Industry, 
 education, morals, all felt the withering influence. The 
 monks' life of idleness and beggary was not only a heavy 
 drain upon the resources of the people, but it brought useful 
 labor into contempt. The youth were demoralized and cor- 
 rupted. By the influence of the friars many were induced 
 to enter a cloister and devote themselves to a monastic life, 
 and this not only without the consent of their parents, but 
 even without their knowledge, and contrary to their com- 
 mands. One of the early fathers of the Romish Church, 
 urging the claims of monasticism above the obligations of 
 filial love and duty, had declared: "Though thy father 
 should lie before thy door, weeping and lamenting, and thy 
 mother should show thee the body that bare thee and the 
 breasts that nursed thee, see that thou trample them under 
 foot, and go onward straightway to Christ." " By this mon- 
 strous inhumanity," as Luther afterward styled it, "savor- 
 ing more of the wolf and the tyrant than of the Christian 
 and the man," were the hearts of children steeled against 
 their parents. Thus did the papal leaders, like the Phari- 
 sees of old, make the commandment of God of none effect by 
 their tradition. Thus homes were inado desolate, and par- 
 ents were deprived of the society of their sons an J daughters. 
 
 Even the students in the universities were deceived by 
 the false representations of the monks, and induced to join 
 
JOHN WYCLIPFE. 
 
 their orders. Many afterward repented this step, seeing that 
 they had blighted their own lives, and had brought sorrow 
 upon their parents; but once fast in the snare, it was impos- 
 sible for them to obtain their freedom. Many parents, fear- 
 ing the influence of the monks, refused to send their sons to 
 the universities. There was a manced falling off in the 
 number of students in attendance at the great centers of 
 learning. The schools languished, and ignorance prevailed. 
 
 The pope had bestowed on these monks the power to hear 
 confessions and to grant pardon. This became a source of 
 great evil. Bent on enhancing their gains, the friars were 
 so ready to grant absolution that criminals of all descriptions 
 resorted to them, and as a result, the worst vices rapidly 
 increased. The sick and the poor were left to suffer, while 
 the gifts that should have relieved their wants went to the 
 monks, who with threats demanded the alms of the people, 
 denouncing the impiety of those who should withhold gifts 
 from their orders. Notwithstanding their profession of pov- 
 erty, the wealth of the friars was constantly increasing, and 
 their magnificent edifices and luxurious tables made more 
 apparent the growing poverty of the nation. And while 
 spending their time in luxury and pleasure, they sent out in 
 their stead ignorant men, who could only recount marvelous 
 tales, legends, and jests to amuse the people, and make them 
 still more completely the dupes of the monks. Yet the 
 friars continued to maintain their hold on the superstitious 
 multitudes, and led them to believe that all religious duty 
 was comprised in acknowledging the supremacy of the pope, 
 adoring, the saints, and making gifts to the monks, and 
 that this was sufficient to secure them a place in Heaven. 
 
 Men of learning and piety had labored in vain to bring 
 about a reform in these monastic orders; but Wycliffe, 
 with clearer insight, struck at the root of the evil, declaring 
 that the system itself was false, and that it should be abol- 
 ished. Discussion and inquiry were awakening. As the 
 monks traversed the country, vending the pope's pardons, 
 
84 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 many were led to doubt the possibility of purchasing for- 
 giveness with money, and they questioned whether they 
 should not seek pardon from God rather than from the pon- 
 tiff of Rome. Not a few were alarmed at the rapacity of the 
 friars, whose greed seemed never to be satisfied. " The monks 
 and priests of Rome," said they, " are eating us away like a 
 cancer. God must deliver us, or the people will perish." 
 To cover their avarice, these begging monks claimed that 
 they were following the Saviour's example, declaring that 
 Jesus and his disciples had been supported by the charities 
 of the people. This claim resulted in injury to their cause, 
 for it led many to the Bible to learn the truth for them- 
 selves, a result which of all others was least desired by 
 Rome. The minds of men were directed to the Source of 
 truth, which it was her object to conceal. 
 
 Wycliffe began to write and publish tracts against the 
 friars, not, however, seeking so much to enter into dispute 
 with them as to call the minds of the people to the teachings 
 of the Bible and its Author. He declared that the power 
 of pardon or of excommunication is possessed by the pope in 
 no greater degree than by common priests, and that no man 
 can be truly excommunicated unless he has first brought 
 upon himself the condemnation of God. In no more effect- 
 ual way could he have undertaken the overthrow of that 
 mammoth fabric of spiritual and temporal dominion which 
 the pope had erected, and in which the souls and bodies 
 of millions were held captive. 
 
 Again Wycliffe was called to defend the rights of the En- 
 glish crown against the encroachments of Rome ; and being 
 appointed a royal .ambassador, he spent two years in the 
 Netherlands, in conference with the commissioners of the 
 pope. Here he was brought into communication with eccle- 
 siastics from France, Italy, and Spain, and he had an oppor- 
 tunity to look behind the scenes, and gain a knowledge of 
 many things which would have remained hidden from him 
 in England. He learned much that was to give point to 
 
JOHN WYCLIFFE. 85 
 
 his after-labors. In these representatives from the papal 
 court he read the true character and aims of the hierarchy. 
 He returned to England to repeat his former teachings more 
 openly and with greater zeal, declaring that covetousness, 
 pride, and deception were the gods of Rome. 
 
 In one of his tracts he said, speaking of the pope and 
 his collectors : " They draw out of our land poor men's live- 
 lihood, and many thousand marks by the year, of the king's 
 money, for sacraments and spiritual things, that is cursed 
 heresy of simony, and maketh all Christendom assert and 
 maintain his heresy. And certes though our realm had a huge 
 hill of gold, and never other man took thereof but only 
 this proud, worldly priest's collector, by process of time this 
 hill must be spended ; for he taketh ever money out of our 
 land, and sendeth naught again but God's curse for his 
 simony." 
 
 Soon after his return to England, Wycliife received from 
 the king the appointment to the rectory of Lutterworth. 
 This was an assurance that the monarch at least had not 
 been displeased by his plain speaking. Wycliffe's influence 
 was felt in shaping the action of the court, as well as in 
 moulding the belief of the nation. 
 
 The papal thunders were soon hurled against him. Three 
 bulls were dispatched to England, to the university, to the 
 king, and to the prelates, all commanding immediate and 
 decisive measures to silence the teacher of heresy. Before 
 the arrival of the bulls, however, the bishops, in their zeal, 
 had summoned Wycliffe before them for trial. But two of 
 the most powerful princes in the kingdom accompanied 
 him to the tribunal ; and the people, surrounding the build- 
 ing and rushing in, so intimidated the judges that the pro- 
 ceedings were for the time suspended, and he was allowed 
 to go his way in peace. A little later, Edward III., whom 
 in his old age the prelates were seeking to influence against 
 the reformer, died, and Wycliffe's former protector became 
 regent of the kingdom. 
 
86 THE ORE A T CONTROVERSY. 
 
 But the arrival of the papal bulls laid upon all England a 
 peremptory command for the arrest and imprisonment of the 
 heretic. These measures pointed directly to the stake. It 
 appeared certain that Wycliffe must soon fall a prey to the 
 vengeance of Rome. But He who declared to one of old, 
 "Fear not; I am thy shield," 1 again stretched out his hand to 
 protect his servant. Death came, not to the reformer, but 
 to the pontiff who had decreed his destruction. Gregory XI. 
 died, and the ecclesiastics who had assembled for WyclifFe's 
 trial, dispersed. 
 
 God's providence still further overruled events to give 
 opportunity for the growth of the Reformation. The death 
 of Gregory was followed by the election of two rival popes. 
 Two conflicting powers, each professedly infallible, now 
 claimed obedience. Each called upon the faithful to assist 
 him in making Avar upon the other, enforcing his demands 
 by terrible anathemas against his adversaries, and promises 
 of rewards in Heaven to his supporters. This occurrence 
 greatly weakened the power of the papacy. The rival 
 factions had all they could do to attack each other, and 
 Wycliffe for a time had rest. Anathemas and recrimina- 
 tions were flying from pope to pope, and torrents of blood were 
 poured out to support their conflicting claims. Crimes and 
 scandals flooded the church. Meanwhile . the reformer, in 
 the quiet retirement of his parish of Lutterworth, was labor- 
 ing diligently to point men from the contending popes to 
 Jesus, the Prince of peace. 
 
 The schism, with all the strife and corruption which it 
 caused, prepared the way for the Reformation, by enabling 
 the people to see what the papacy really w r as. In a tract 
 which he published, "On the Schism of the Popes," Wyc- 
 liffe called upon the people to consider whether these two 
 priests were not speaking the truth in condemning each 
 other as the antichrist. "The fiend," said ho, "no longer 
 reigns in one but in two priests, that men may the more 
 easily, in Christ's name, overcome them both." 
 
 l Gen. 15:1. 
 
JOHN WYCLIFFE. 87 
 
 Wycliffe, like his Master, preached the gospel to the poor. 
 Not content with spreading the light in their humble homes 
 in his own parish of Lutterworth, he determined that it 
 should be carried to every part of England. To accomplish 
 this he organized a body of preachers, simple, devout men, 
 who loved the truth and desired nothing so much as to 
 extend it. These men went everywhere, teaching in the 
 market-places, in the streets of the great cities, and in the 
 country lanes. They sought out the aged, the sick, and the 
 poor, and opened to them the glad tidings of the grace of 
 God. 
 
 As a professor of theology at Oxford, WyclifTe preached the 
 Word of God in the halls of the university. So faithfully did 
 he present the truth to the students under his instruction, 
 that he received the title of " The Gospel Doctor." But the 
 greatest work of his life was to be the translation of the 
 Scriptures into the English language. In a work on " The 
 Truth and Meaning of Scripture/' he expressed his inten- 
 tion to translate the Bible, so that every man in England 
 might read, in" the language in which he was born, the won- 
 derful works of God. 
 
 But suddenly his labors were stopped. Though not yet 
 sixty years of age, unceasing toil, study, and the assaults of 
 his enemies, had told upon his strength, and made him pre- 
 maturely old. He was attacked by a dangerous illness. The 
 tidings brought great joy to the friars. Now they thought 
 he would bitterly repent the evil he had done the church, 
 and they hurried to his chamber to listen to his confession. 
 Representatives from the four religious orders, with four civil 
 officers, gathered about the supposed dying man. " You have 
 death on your lips," they said ; " be touched by your faults, 
 and retract in our presence all you have said to our injury." 
 The reformer listened in silence; then he bade his attendant 
 raise him in his bed, and gazing steadily upon them as they 
 stood waiting for his recantation, he said, in the firm, strong 
 voice which had so often caused them to tremble, "I shall 
 
88 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 not die, but live, and declare the evil deeds of the friars." 
 Astonished and abashed, the monks hurried from the room. 
 
 \Y\vl iil'c's words were fulfilled. He lived to place in the 
 hands of his countrymen the most powerful of all weapons 
 against Rome; to give them the Bible, the Heaven-appointed 
 agent to liberate, enlighten, and evangelize the people. There 
 were many and great obstacles to surmount in the accom- 
 plishment of this work. Wycliffe was weighed down with 
 infirmities, he knew that only a few years for labor remained 
 for him, he saw the opposition which he must meet ; but, 
 encouraged by the promises of God's Word, he went for- 
 ward nothing daunted. In the full vigor of his intellectual 
 powers, rich in experience, he had been preserved and pre- 
 pared by God's special providence for this, the greatest of 
 his labors. While all Christendom was filled with tumult, 
 the reformer, in his rectory at Lutterworth, unheeding the 
 storm that raged without, applied himself to his chosen task. 
 
 At last the work was completed, the first English trans- 
 lation of the Bible ever made. The Word of God was opened 
 to England. The reformer feared not now the prison or 
 the stake. He had placed in the hands of the English peo- 
 ple a light which should never be extinguished. In giving 
 the Bible to his countrymen, he had done more to break the 
 fetters of ignorance and vice, more to liberate and elevat<- 
 his country, than was ever achieved by the most brilliant 
 victories on fields of battle. 
 
 The art of printing being still unknown, it was only by 
 slow and wearisome labor that copies of the Bible could be 
 multiplied. So great was the interest to obtain the book, 
 that many willingly engaged in the work of transcribing it, 
 but it was with difficulty that the copyists could supply the 
 demand. Some of the more wealthy purchasers desired the 
 whole Bible. Others bought only a portion. In many cases, 
 several families united to purchase a copy. Thus Wycliffe's 
 Bible soon found its way to the homes of the people. 
 
 The appeal to men's reason aroused them from their pas- 
 
JOHN WYCLIFFE. 
 
 sive submission to papal dogmas. Wycliffe now taught the 
 distinctive doctrines of Protestantism, salvation through 
 faith in Christ, and the sole infallibility of the Scriptures. 
 The preachers whom he had sent out circulated the Bible, 
 together with the reformer's writings, and with such success 
 that the new faith was accepted by nearly one-half of the 
 people of England. 
 
 The appearance of the Scriptures brought dismay to the 
 authorities of the church. They had now to meet an agency 
 more powerful than Wycliffe, an agency against which 
 their weapons w r ould avail little. There was at this time no 
 law in England prohibiting the Bible, for it had never before 
 been published in the language of the people. Such laws 
 were afterward enacted and rigorously enforced. Mean- 
 while, notwithstanding the efforts of the priests, there was for 
 a season opportunity for the circulation of the Word of God. 
 
 Again the papist leaders plotted to silence the reformer's 
 voice. Before three tribunals he was successively summoned 
 for trial, but without avail. First a synod of bishops de- 
 clared his writings heretical, and, winning the young king, 
 Richard II., to their side, they obtained a royal decree con- 
 signing to prison all who should hold the condemned 
 doctrines. 
 
 Wycliffe appealed from the synod to Parliament; he fear- 
 lessly arraigned the hierarchy before the national council, 
 and demanded a reform of the enormous abuses sanctioned 
 by the church. With convincing power he portrayed the 
 usurpations and corruptions of the papal see. His enemies 
 were brought to confusion. The friends and supporters of 
 Wycliffe had been forced to yield, and it had been confi- 
 dently expected that the reformer himself, in his old age, 
 alone and friendless, would bow to the combined authority 
 of the crown and the mitre. But instead of this the papists 
 saw themselves defeated. Parliament, roused by the stirring 
 appeals of Wycliffe, repealed the persecuting edict, and the 
 reformer was again at liberty. 
 
90 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 A third time he was brought to trial, and now before the 
 highest ecclesiastical tribunal in the kingdom. Here no 
 favor would be shown to heresy. Here at last Rome would 
 triumph, and the reformer's work would be stopped. So 
 thought the papists. If they could but accomplish their 
 purpose, Wycliffe would be forced to abjure his doctrines, or 
 would leave the court only for the flames. 
 
 But Wycliffe did not retract; he would not dissemble. He 
 fearlessly maintained his teachings, and repelled the accu- 
 sations of his persecutors. Losing sight of himself, of his 
 position, of the occasion, he summoned his hearers before 
 the divine tribunal, and weighed their sophistries and 
 deceptions in the balances of eternal truth. The power of 
 the Holy Spirit was felt in the council room. A spell from 
 God was upon the hearers. They seemed to have no power 
 to leave the place. As arrows from the Lord's quiver, the 
 reformer's words pierced their hearts. The charge of her- 
 esy, which they had brought against him, he with convincing 
 power threw back upon themselves. Why, he demanded, 
 did they dare to spread their errors? For the sake of gain, 
 to make merchandise of the grace of God. 
 
 "With whom, think you," he finally said, " are you con- 
 tending? With an old man on the brink of the grave? No! 
 with truth, truth which is stronger than you, and will 
 overcome you." So saying, he withdrew from the assembly, 
 and not one of his adversaries attempted to prevent him. 
 
 Wycliffe's work was almost done, the banner of truth which 
 he had so long borne was soon to fall from his hand; but 
 once more he was to bear witness for the gospel. The truth 
 was to be proclaimed from the very stronghold of the king- 
 dom of error. Wycliffe was summoned for trial before the 
 papal tribunal at Rome, which had so often shed the blood 
 of the saints. He was not blind to the danger that threat- 
 ened him, yet he would have obeyed the summons, had not 
 a shock of palsy made it impossible for him to perform the 
 journey. But though his voice was not to be heard at Rome, 
 he could speak by letter, and this he determined to do . 
 
JOHN WYCLIFFK 91 
 
 From his rectory the reformer wrote to the pope a letter, 
 which, while respectful in tone and Christian in spirit, was a 
 keen rebuke to the pomp and pride of the papal see. "Ver- 
 ily I do rejoice/' he said, "to open and declare unto every 
 man the faith which I do hold, and specially unto the 
 bishop of Rome ; the which forasmuch as I do suppose to 
 be sound and true, he will most willingly confirm my said 
 faith, or if it be erroneous, amend the same. First, I believe 
 that the gospel of Christ is the whole body of God's 
 law. ... I do give and hold the bishop of Rome,- foras- 
 much as he be the vicar of Christ here on earth, to be bound 
 most of all men unto that law of the gospel. For the great- 
 ness among Christ's disciples did not consist in worldly dig- 
 nity or honors, but in the near and exact following of Christ 
 in his life and manners. . . . Christ for the time of his 
 pilgrimage here was a most poor man, abjecting and casting 
 off all worldly rule and honor. 
 
 "No faithful man ought to follow either the pope himself, 
 or any of the holy men, but in such points as he hath fol- 
 lowed the Lord Jesus Christ. For Peter and the sons of Zeb- 
 edee, by desiring worldly honor, contrary to the following of 
 Christ's steps, did offend, and therefore in those errors they 
 are not to be followed. 
 
 "The pope ought to leave unto the secular power all tem- 
 poral dominion and rule, and thereunto* effectually move and 
 exhort his whole clergy; for so did Christ, and especially by 
 his apostles. 
 
 " If I have erred in any of these points, I will most hum- 
 bly submit myself unto correction even by death, if necessity 
 so require. If I could labor according to my will and desire 
 in mine own person, I would surely present myself before the 
 bishop of Rome. But the Lord hath otherwise visited me to 
 the contrary, and hath taught me to obey God rather than 
 men." 
 
 In closing he said : " Let us pray unto our God, that he 
 will so stir up our pope, Urban the Sixth, as he began, that 
 
92 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 he with his clergy may follow the Lord Jesus Christ in life 
 and manners, and that they may teach the people effect- 
 ually, and that they likewise may faithfully follow them in 
 the same." 
 
 Thus Wycliffe presented to the pope and his cardinals the 
 meekness and humility of Christ, exhibiting not only to 
 themselves but to all Christendom the contrast between them 
 and the Master whose representatives they professed to be 
 
 Wycliffe fully expected that his life would be the price of 
 his fidelity. The king, the pope, and the bishops were united 
 to accomplish his ruin, and it seemed certain that a few 
 months at most would bring him to the stake. But his 
 courage was unshaken. " Why do you talk of seeking the 
 crown of martyrdom afar?" he said. "Preach the gospel of 
 Christ to haughty prelates, and martyrdom will not fail you. 
 What I I should live and be silent? . . . Never! Let 
 the blow fall. I await its coming." 
 
 But God's providence still shielded his servant. The man 
 who for a whole lifetime had stood boldly in defense of the 
 truth, in daily peril of his life, was not to fall a victim to 
 the hatred of its foes. Wycliffe had never sought to shield 
 himself, but the Lord had been his protector; and now, 
 when his enemies felt sure of their prey, God's hand removed 
 him beyond their reach. In his church at Lutterworth, as 
 he was about to dispense the communion, he fell stricken 
 with palsy, and in a short time yielded up his life. 
 
 God had appointed to Wycliffe his work. He had put 
 the word of truth in his mouth, and he set a guard about 
 him that this word might come to the people. His life was 
 protected, and his labors prolonged, until a foundation was 
 laid for the great work of the Reformation. 
 
 Wycliffe came from the obscurity of the Dark Ages. 
 There were none who went before nim from whose work he 
 could shape his system of reform. Raised up like John the 
 Baptist to accomplish a special mission, he was the herald of 
 a new era. Yet in the system of truth which he presented 
 
JOHN WYCLIPFE. 93 
 
 there was a unity and completeness which reformers who 
 followed him did not exceed, and which some did not reach, 
 even a hundred years later. So broad and deep was laid the 
 foundation, so firm and true was the framework, that it 
 needed not to be reconstructed by those who came after him. 
 
 The great movement which Wycliffe inaugurated, which 
 was to liberate the conscience and the intellect, and set free 
 the nations so long bound to the triumphal car of Rome, 
 had its spring in the Bible. Here was the source of that 
 stream of blessing, which, like the water of life, has flowed 
 down the ages since the fourteenth century. Wycliffe ac- 
 cepted the Holy Scriptures with implicit faith as the inspired 
 revelation of God's will, a sufficient rule of faith and practice. 
 He had been educated to regard the Church of Rome as the 
 divine, infallible authority, and to accept with unquestioning 
 reverence the established teachings and customs of a thou- 
 sand years; but he turned away from all these to listen to 
 God's holy Word. This was the authority which he urged 
 the people to acknowledge. Instead of the church speaking 
 through the pope, he declared the only true authority to be 
 the voice of God speaking through his Word. And he 
 taught not only that the Bible is a perfect revelation of 
 God's will, but that the Holy Spirit is its only interpreter, 
 and that every man is, by the study of its teachings, to learn 
 his duty for himself. Thus he turned the minds of men 
 from the pope and the Church of Rome to the Word of God. 
 
 Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the reformers. In 
 breadth of intellect, in clearness of thought, in firmness to 
 maintain the truth, and boldness to defend it, he was equaled 
 by few who came after him. Purity of life, unwearying 
 diligence in study and in labor, incorruptible integrity, and 
 Christ-like love and faithfulness in his ministry, character- 
 ized the first of the reformers. And this notwithstanding 
 the intellectual darkness and moral corruption of the age 
 from which he emerged. 
 
 The character of Wycliffe is a testimony to the educating. 
 
94 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 transforming power of the Holy Scriptures. It was the 
 Bible that made him what he was. The effort to grasp the 
 great truths of revelation imparts freshness and vigor to all 
 the faculties. It expands the mind, sharpens the percep- 
 tions, and ripens the judgment. The study of the Bible will 
 ennoble every thought, feeling, and aspiration as no other 
 study can. It gives stability of purpose, patience, courage, 
 and fortitude; it refines the character, and sanctifies the soul. 
 An earnest, reverent study of the Scriptures bringing the 
 mind of the student in direct contact with the infinite mind 
 would give to the world men of stronger and more active 
 intellect, as well as of nobler principle, than has ever resulted 
 from the ablest training that human philosophy affords. 
 "The entrance of Thy words," says the psalmist, "giveth 
 light; it giveth understanding." 1 
 
 The doctrines which had been taught by Wycliffe con- 
 tinued for a time to spread; his followers, known as Wyc- 
 liffites and Lollards, not only traversed England, but scat- 
 tered to other lands, carrying the knowledge of the gospel. 
 Now that their leader was removed, the preachers labored 
 with even greater zeal than before, and multitudes flocked to 
 listen to their teachings. Some of the nobility, and even the 
 wife of the king, were among the converts. In many places 
 there was a marked reform in the manners of the people, 
 and the idolatrous symbols of Romanism were removed 
 from the churches. But soon the pitiless storm of persecu- 
 tion burst upon those who had dared to accept the Bible as 
 their guide. The English monarchs, eager to strengthen 
 their power by securing the support of Rome, did not Jiesi- 
 tate to sacrifice the reformers. For the first time in the his- 
 tory of England, the stake was decreed against the disciples 
 of the gospel. Martyrdom succeeded martyrdom. The 
 advocates of truth, proscribed and tortured, could only pour 
 their cries into the ear of the Lord of Sabaotli. limited as 
 foes of the church and traitors to the realm, they continued 
 
 1 Ps. 119:130. 
 
JOHN WYCLIFFE. 95 
 
 to preach in secret places, finding shelter as best they could 
 in the humble homes of the poor, and often hiding away 
 even in dens and caves. 
 
 Notwithstanding the rage of persecution, a calm, devout, 
 earnest, patient protest against the prevailing corruption of 
 religious faith continued for centuries to be uttered. The 
 Christians of that early time had only a partial knowledge 
 of the truth, but they had learned to love and obey God's 
 Word, and they patiently suffered for its sake. Like the 
 disciples in apostolic days, many sacrificed their worldly 
 possessions for the cause of Christ. Those who were per- 
 mitted to dwell in their homes, gladly sheltered their ban- 
 ished brethren, and when they too were driven forth, they 
 cheerfully accepted the lot of the outcast. Thousands, it is 
 true, terrified by the fury of their persecutors, purchased 
 their freedom at the sacrifice of their faith, and went out of 
 their prisons, clothed in penitents' robes, to publish their 
 recantation. But the number was not small and among 
 them were men of noble birth as well as the humble and 
 ..owly who bore fearless testimony to the truth in dungeon 
 eells, in "Lollard towers," and in the midst of torture and 
 flame, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to know "the 
 fellowship of His sufferings." 
 
 The papists had failed to work their will with Wycliffe 
 during his life, and their hatred could not be satisfied while 
 his body rested quietly in the grave. By the decree of the 
 Council of Constance, more than forty years after his death 
 his bones were exhumed and publicly burned, and the ashes 
 were thrown into a neighboring brook. " The brook," says 
 an old writer, " did convey his ashes into Avon, Avon into 
 Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main 
 ocean; and thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his 
 doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over." Little 
 did his enemies realize the significance of their malicious act. 
 
 It was through the writings of Wycliffe that John Huss, 
 
THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of Bohemia, was led to renounce many of the errors of Ro- 
 manism, and to enter upon the work of reform. Thus in 
 these two countries, so widely separated, the seed of truth was 
 sown. From Bohemia the work extended to other lands. 
 The minds of men were directed to the long-forgotten Word 
 of God. A divine hand was preparing the way for the Great 
 Reformation. 
 
 LUTTERWORTH CHURCH. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HUSS AND JEROME. 
 
 THE gospel had been planted in Bohemia as early as the 
 ninth century. The Bible was translated, and public wor- 
 ship was conducted in the language of the people. But as 
 the power of the pope increased, so the Word of God was 
 obscured. Gregory VII., who had taken it upon him "to 
 pull down the pride of kings," was. no less intent upon enslav- 
 ing the people, and accordingly a bull was issued forbidding 
 public worship to be conducted in the Bohemian tongue. 
 The pope declared that " God was pleased that his worship 
 should be celebrated in an unknown tongue, and that a 
 neglect of this rule had given rise to many evils and here- 
 sies." Thus Rome decreed that the light of God's Word 
 should be extinguished, and the people should be shut up 
 in darkness. But Heaven had provided other agencies for 
 the preservation of the church. Many of the Waldenses 
 and Albigenses, driven by persecution from their homes in 
 France and Italy, came to Bohemia. Though they dared 
 not teach openly, they labored zealously in secret. Thus the 
 true faith was preserved from century to century. 
 
 Before the days of Huss, there were men in Bohemia who 
 rose up to condemn openly the corruption in the church 
 and the profligacy of the people. Their labors excited wide- 
 spread interest. The fears of the hierarchy were roused, and 
 persecution was opened against the disciples of the gospel. 
 Driven to worship in the forests and the mountains, they 
 were hunted by soldiers, and many were put to death. After 
 a time it was decreed that all who departed from the Rom- 
 
 (97) 
 
98 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ish worship should be burned. But while the Christians 
 yielded up their lives, they looked forward to the triumph 
 of their cause. One of those who taught that "salvation 
 was only to be found by faith in the crucified Saviour," 
 declared when dying, " The rage of the enemies of truth now 
 prevails against us, but it will not be forever; there shall 
 arise one from among the common people, without sword 
 or authority, and against him they shall not be able to pre- 
 vail." Luther's, time was yet far distant; but already one 
 was rising, whose testimony against Rome would stir the 
 nations. 
 
 John Huss was of humble birth, and was early left an 
 orphan by the death of his father. His pious mother, regard- 
 ing education and the fear of God as the most valuable of 
 possessions, sought to secure this heritage for her son. Huss 
 studied at the provincial school, and then repaired to the uni- 
 versity at Prague, receiving admission as a charity scholar. 
 He was accompanied on the journey to Prague by his mother; 
 widowed and poor, she had no gift of worldly wealth to be- 
 stow upon her son, but as they drew near to the great city, 
 she kneeled down beside the fatherless youth, and invoked 
 for him the blessing of their Father in Heaven. Little did 
 that mother realize how her prayer was to be answered. 
 
 At the university, Huss soon distinguished himself by his 
 untiring application and rapid progress, while his blameless 
 life and gentle, winning deportment gained him universal 
 esteem. He was a sincere adherent of the Romish Church, 
 and an earnest seeker for the spiritual blessings which it 
 professes to bestow. On the occasion of a jubilee, he went 
 to confession, paid the last few coins in his scanty store, and 
 joined in tin 1 processions, that he might share in the absolu- 
 tion promised. After completing his college course, he 
 entered the priesthood, and, rapidly attaining to eminence, 
 he soon became attached to the court of the king. He was 
 also made professor and afterward rector of the university 
 where he lm<l received his education. In a few years the 
 
fftTSS AND JEROME. 99 
 
 humble charity scholar had become the pride of his country, 
 and his name was renowned throughout Europe. 
 
 But it was in another field that Huss began the work of 
 reform. Several years after taking priest's orders he was 
 appointed preacher of the chapel of Bethlehem. The 
 founder of this chapel had advocated, as a matter of great 
 importance, the preaching of the Scriptures in the language 
 of the people. Notwithstanding Rome's opposition to this 
 practice, it had not been wholly discontinued in Bohemia. 
 But there was great ignorance of the Bible, and the worst 
 vices prevailed among the people of all ranks. These evils 
 Huss unsparingly denounced, appealing to the Word of 
 God to enforce the principles of truth and purity which he 
 inculcated. 
 
 A citizen of Prague, Jerome, who afterward became so 
 closely associated with Huss, had, on returning from En- 
 gland, brought with him the writings of Wycliffe. The queen 
 of England, who had been a convert to Wycliffe's teachings, 
 was a Bohemian princess, and through her influence also the 
 reformer's works were widely circulated in her native coun- 
 try. These works Huss read w r ith interest; he believed their 
 author to be a sincere Christian, and was inclined to regard 
 with favor the reforms which he advocated. Already, 
 though he knew it not, Huss had entered upon a path 
 which was to lead him far away from Rome. 
 
 About this time there arrived in Prague two strangers 
 from England, men of learning, who had received the light, 
 and had come to spread it in this distant land. Beginning 
 with an open attack on the pope's supremacy, they were soon 
 silenced by the authorities ; but being unwilling to relinquish 
 their purpose, they had recourse to other measures. Being 
 artists as well as preachers, they proceeded to exercise their 
 skill. In a place open to the public they drew two pictures. 
 One represented the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, " meek, 
 and sitting upon an ass," 1 and followed by his disciples in 
 travel-worn garments and with naked feet. The other pict- 
 
 iMatt. 21:5. 
 
100 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ure portrayed a pontifical procession, the pope arreyed in 
 his rich robes and triple crown, mounted upon a horse mag- 
 nificently adorned, preceded by trumpeters, and followed by 
 cardinals and prelates in dazzling array. 
 
 Here was a sermon which arrested the attention of all 
 classes. Crowds came to gaze upon the drawings. None 
 could fail to read the moral, and many were deeply im- 
 pressed by the contrast between the meekness and humility 
 of Christ the Master, and the pride and arrogance of the 
 pope, his professed servant. There was great commotion in 
 Prague, and the strangers after a time found it necessary, 
 for their own safety, to depart. But the lesson they had 
 taught was not forgotten. The pictures made a deep im- 
 pression on the mind of Huss, and led him to a closer study 
 of the Bible and of Wycliffe's writings. Though he was not 
 prepared, even yet, to accept all the reforms advocated by 
 Wycliffe, he saw more clearly the true character of the 
 papacy, and with greater zeal denounced the pride, the 
 ambition, and the corruption of the hierarchy. 
 
 From Bohemia the light extended to Germany; for dis- 
 turbances in the University of Prague caused the withdrawal 
 of hundreds of German students. Many of them had re- 
 ceived from Huss their first knowledge of the Bible, and on 
 their return they spread the gospel in their fatherland. 
 
 Tidings of the work at Prague were carried to Rome, and 
 Huss was soon summoned to appear before the pope. To 
 obey would be to expose himself to certain death. The king 
 and queen of Bohemia, the university, members of the no- 
 bility, and officers of the government, united in an appeal to 
 the pontiff that Huss be permitted to remain at Prague, and 
 to answer at Rome by deputy. Instead of granting this 
 request, the pope proceeded to the trial and condemnation 
 of Huss, and then declared the city of Prague to be under 
 interdict. 
 
 In that age this sentence, whenever pronounced, created 
 widespread alarm. The ceremonies by which it was accom- 
 
HUSS AND JEROME. 101 
 
 panied were well adapted to strike terror to a people who 
 looked upon the pope as the representative of God himself, 
 holding the keys of Heaven and hell, and possessing power 
 to invoke temporal as well as spiritual judgments. It was 
 believed that the gates of Heaven were closed against the 
 region smitten with interdict ; that until it should please 
 the pope to remove the ban, the dead were shut out from 
 the abodes of bliss. In token of this terrible calamity, all 
 the services of religion were suspended. The churches Avere 
 closed. Marriages were solemnized in the church-yard. 
 The dead, denied burial in consecrated ground, were in- 
 terred, without the rites of sepulture, in the ditches or the 
 fields. Thus by measures which appealed to the imagina- 
 tion, Rome essayed to control the consciences of men. 
 
 The city of Prague was filled with tumult. A large class 
 denounced Huss as the cause of all their calamities, and 
 demanded that he be given up to the vengeance of Rome. 
 To quiet the storm, the reformer withdrew for a time to his 
 native village. Writing to the friends whom he had left at 
 Prague, he said : " If I have withdrawn from the midst of 
 you, it is to follow the precept and example of Jesus Christ, 
 in order not to give room to the ill-minded to draw on them- 
 selves eternal condemnation, and in order not to be to the 
 pious a cause of affliction and persecution. I have retired 
 also through an apprehension that impious priests might 
 continue for a longer time to prohibit the preaching of the 
 Word of God amongst you ; but I have not quitted you to 
 deny the divine truth, for which, with God's assistance, I am 
 willing to die." Huss did not cease his labors, but traveled 
 through the surrounding country, preaching to eager crowds. 
 Thus the measures to which the pope resorted to suppress 
 the gospel, were causing it to be the more widely extended. 
 "We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 1 
 
 " The mind of Huss, at this stage of his career, would seem 
 to have been the scene of a painful conflict. Although the 
 church was seeking to overwhelm him by her thunder-bolts, 
 
 12 Cor. 13:8. 
 
102 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 he had not renounced her authority. The Roman Church 
 was still to him the spouse of Christ, and the pope was the 
 representative and vicar of God. What Huss was warring 
 against was the abuse of authority, not the principle itself. 
 This brought on a terrible conflict between the convictions 
 of his understanding and the claims of his conscience. If 
 the authority w^as just and infallible, as he believed it to be, 
 how came it that he felt compelled to disobey it? To obey, 
 he saw, was to sin; but why should obedience to an infalli- 
 ble church lead to such an issue? This was the problem he 
 could not solve; this was the doubt that tortured him from 
 hour to hour. The nearest approximation to a solution, 
 which he was able to make, was that it had happened again, 
 as once before in the days of the Saviour, that the priests of 
 the church had become wicked persons, and w r ere using their 
 lawful authority for unlawful ends. This led him to adopt 
 for his own guidance, and to preach to others for theirs, the 
 maxim that the precepts of Scripture, conveyed through 
 the understanding, are to rule the conscience; in other 
 words, that God speaking in the Bible, and not the church 
 speaking through the priesthood, is the one infallible guide."' 
 
 When after a time the excitement in Prague subsided, 
 Huss returned to his chapel of Bethlehem, to continue with 
 greater zeal and courage the preaching of the Word of. God. 
 His enemies were active and powerful, but the queen and 
 many of the nobles were his friends, and the people in great 
 numbers sided with him. Comparing his pure and elevat- 
 ing teachings and holy life with the degrading dogmas 
 which the Romanists preached, and the avarice and de- 
 bauchery which they practiced, many regarded it an honor 
 to be on his side. 
 
 Hitherto Huss had stood alone in- his labors; but now 
 Jerome, who while in England had accepted the teachings 
 of Wycliffe, joined in the work of reform. The two were 
 hereafter united in their lives, and in death they were not 
 to be divided. 
 
HUSS AND JEROME. 
 
 103 
 
 Brilliancy of genius, eloquence and learning gifts that 
 win popular favor were possessed in a pre-eminent degree 
 by Jerome; but in those qualities which constitute real 
 strength of character, Huss was the greater. His calm judg- 
 ment served as a restraint upon the impulsive spirit of Je- 
 rome, who, with true humility, perceived his worth, and 
 yielded to his counsels. Under their united labors the reform 
 was more rapidly extended. 
 
 God permitted great light to shine upon the minds of 
 these chosen men, revealing to them many of the errors of 
 Eome ; but they did not receive all the light that was to be 
 given to the world. Through these, his servants, God was 
 leading the people out of the darkness of Romanism; but 
 there were many and great obstacles for them to meet, and 
 lie led them on, step by step, as they could bear it. They 
 were not prepared to receive all the light at once. Like the 
 full glory of the noontide sun to those who have long dwelt 
 in darkness, it would, if presented, have caused them to turn 
 away. Therefore he revealed it to the leaders, little by little, 
 as it could be received by the people. From century to 
 century other faithful workers were to follow, to lead the 
 people, on still farther in the path of reform. 
 
 The schism in the church still continued. Three popes 
 were now contending for the supremacy, and their strife 
 filled Christendom with crime and tumult. Not content 
 with hurling anathemas, they resorted to temporal weapons. 
 Each cast about him to purchase arms and to obtain soldiers. 
 Of course money must be had ; and to procure this,' all the 
 gifts, offices, and blessings of the church were offered fo^* 
 sale. The priests also, imitating their superiors, resorted to 
 simony and war to humble their rivals, and strengthen their 
 own power. With daily increasing boldness, Huss thundered 
 against the abominations which were tolerated in the name of 
 religion; and the people openly accused the Romish leaders 
 as the cause of the miseries that overwhelmed Christendom. 
 
 Again the city of Prague seemed on the verge of a 
 
104 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 bloody conflict. As in former ages, God's servant was accused 
 as "he that troubleth Israel." l The city was again placed 
 under interdict, and Huss withdrew to his native village. 
 The testimony so faithfully borne from his loved chapel of 
 Bethlehem was ended. He was to speak from a wider stage, 
 to all Christendom, before laying down his life as a witness 
 for the truth. 
 
 To cure the evils that were distracting Europe, a general 
 council was summoned to meet at Constance. The council 
 was called, at the desire of the emperor Sigismund, by one of 
 the three rival popes, John XXIII. The demand for a coun- 
 cil had been far from welcome to Pope John, whose character 
 and policy could ill bear investigation, even by prelates as 
 lax in morals as were the churchmen of those times. He 
 dared not, however, oppose the will of Sigismund. 
 
 The chief objects to be accomplished by the council were 
 to heal the schism in the church, and to root out heresy. 
 Hence the two anti-popes were summoned to appear before 
 it, as well as the leading propagator of the new opinions, 
 John Huss. The former, having regard to their own safety, 
 did not attend in person, but were represented by their dele- 
 gates. Pope John, while ostensibly the convoker of the 
 council, came to it with many misgivings, suspecting the 
 emperor's secret purpose to depose him, and fearing to 
 be brought to account for the vices which had disgraced 
 the tiara, as well as for the crimes which had secured it. 
 Yet he made his entry into the city of Constance with great 
 pomp, attended by ecclesiastics of the highest rank, and fol- 
 lowed by a train of courtiers. All the clergy and dignita- 
 ries of the city, with an immense crowd of citizens, went out 
 to welcome him. Above his head was a golden canopy, 
 borne by four of the chief magistrates. The host w;is car- 
 ried before him, and the rich dresses of the cardinals and 
 nobles made an imposing display* 
 
 Meanwhile another traveler was approaching Constance. 
 Huss was conscious of the dangers which threatened hint 
 
 1 1 Kings 18 1 17* 
 
8VSS AND JEROME. 105 
 
 He parted from his friends as if he were never to meet 
 them again, and went on his journey feeling that it was 
 leading him to the stake. Notwithstanding he had ob- 
 tained a safe-conduct from the king of Bohemia, and re- 
 ceived one also from the emperor Sigismund while on his 
 journey, he made all his arrangements in view of the prob- 
 ability of his death. 
 
 In a letter addressed to his friends at Prague he said: 
 " I arn departing, my brethren, with a safe-conduct from the 
 king, to meet my numerous and mortal enemies. ... I 
 confide altogether in the all-powerful God, in my Saviour; 
 I trust that he will listen to your ardent prayers, that he 
 will infuse his prudence and his wisdom into my mouth, in 
 order that I may resist them ; and that he will accord me 
 his Holy Spirit to fortify me in his truth, so that I may face 
 with courage, temptations, prison, and, if necessary, a cruel 
 death. Jesus Christ suffered for his well-beloved; and there- 
 fore ought we to be astonished that he has left us his exam- 
 ple, in order that we may ourselves endure with patience all 
 things for our own salvation? He is God, and we are his 
 creatures; he is the Lord, and we are his servants; he is 
 Master of the world, and we are contemptible mortals; yet 
 he suffered ! Why, then, should we not suffer, also, particu- 
 larly when suffering is for us a purification? Therefore, 
 beloved, if my death ought to contribute to his glory, pray 
 that it may come quickly, and that he may enable me to 
 support all my calamities with constancy. But if it be bet- 
 ter that I return amongst you, let us- pray to God that I 
 may return without stain, that is, that I may not suppress 
 one tittle of the truth of the gospel, in order to leave my 
 brethren an excellent example to follow. Probably, there- 
 fore, you will never more behold my face at Prague; but 
 should the will of the all-powerful God deign to restore me 
 to you, let us then advance with a firmer heart in the knowl- 
 edge and the love of his law." 
 
 In another letter, to a priest who had become a disciple of 
 9 
 
106 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the gospel, Huss spoke with deep humility of his own errors, 
 accusing himself of having felt pleasure in wearing rich 
 apparel, and of having wasted hours in trifling occupations. 
 He then added these touching admonitions : " May the glory 
 of God and the salvation of souls occupy thy mind, and not 
 the possession of benefices and estates. Beware of adorning 
 thy house more than thy soul; and above all, give thy care 
 to the spiritual edifice. Be pious and humble with the poor, 
 and consume not thy substance in feasting. Shouldst thou 
 not amend thy life and refrain from superfluities, I fear that 
 thou wilt be severely chastened, as I am myself. . . . 
 Thou knowest my doctrine, for thou hast received my in- 
 structions from thy childhood; it is therefore useless for me 
 to write to thee any further. But I conjure thee, by the 
 mercy of our Lord, not to imitate me in any of the vanities 
 into which thou hast seen me fall." On the cover of the 
 letter he added: "I conjure thee, my friend, not to break 
 this seal, until thou shalt have acquired the certitude that I 
 am dead." 
 
 On his journey, Huss everywhere beheld indications of 
 the spread of his doctrines, and the favor with which his 
 cause was regarded. The people thronged to meet him, and 
 in some towns the magistrates attended him through their 
 streets. 
 
 Upon arriving at Constance, Huss was granted full liberty. 
 To the emperor's safe-conduct was added a personal assur- 
 ance of protection by the pope. But in violation of these 
 solemn and repeated declarations, the reformer was in a 
 short time arrested, by order of the pope and cardinals, and 
 thrust into a loathsome dungeon. 
 
 The pope, however, profiting little by his perfidy, was soon 
 after committed to the same prison. He had been proved 
 before the council to be guilty of the basest crimes, besides 
 murder, simony, and adultery, "sins not fit to be named." 
 So the council itself declared ; and he was finally deprived 
 of the tiara, and thrown into prison. The anti-popes also 
 were deposed, and a new pontiff was chosen. 
 
SUSS AND JEROME. 107 
 
 Though the pope himself had been guilty of greater 
 crimes than Huss had ever charged upon the priests, and 
 for which he had demanded a reformation, yet the same 
 council which degraded the pontiff proceeded to crush the 
 reformer. The imprisonment of Huss excited great indig- 
 nation in Bohemia. Powerful noblemen addressed to the 
 council earnest protests against this outrage. The emperor, 
 who was loth to permit the violation of a safe-conduct, 
 opposed the proceedings against him. But the enemies of 
 the reformer were malignant and determined. They ap- 
 pealed to the emperor's prejudices, to his fears, to his zeal 
 for the church. They brought forward arguments of great 
 length to prove that he was "perfectly at liberty not to keep faith 
 trifh a heretic" and that the council, being above the emperor, 
 "could free him from his word." Thus they prevailed. 
 
 Enfeebled by illness and imprisonment-*-for the damp, 
 foul air of his dungeon had brought on a fever which nearly 
 ended his life Huss was at last brought before the council. 
 Loaded with chains he stood in the presence of the emperor, 
 whose honor and good faith had been pledged to protect him. 
 During his long trial he firmly maintained the truth, and 
 in the presence of the assembled dignitaries of Church and 
 State, he uttered a solemn and faithful protest against the 
 corruptions of the hierarchy. When required to choose 
 whether he would recant his doctrines or suffer death, he 
 accepted the martyr's fate. 
 
 The grace of God sustained him. During the weeks of 
 suffering that passed before his final sentence, Heaven's 
 peace filled his soul. "I write this letter," he said to a 
 friend, " in prison, and with my fettered hand, expecting my 
 sentence of death to-morrow. . . . When, with the as- 
 sistance of Jesus Christ, we shall meet again in the delicious 
 peace of the future life, you will learn how merciful God has 
 shown himself toward me how effectually he has supported 
 me in the midst of my temptations and trials." 
 
 In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of 
 
108 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 tin 1 true faith. Returning in his dreams to the chapel at 
 Prague where he had preached the gospel, he saw the pope 
 and his bishops effacing the pictures of Christ which he had 
 painted on its walls. He was deeply troubled at the sight ; 
 but the next day his grief was changed to joy, as he beheld 
 many artists come to replace the figures in greater numbers 
 and brighter colors. Their work ended, the painters ex- 
 claimed to the crowd gathered eagerly about them, " Now 
 let the popes and bishops come ! They shall never efface 
 them more!" Said the reformer, as he related his dream, 
 " I am certain that the image of Christ will never be effaced. 
 They have wished to destroy it, but it will be imprinted 
 anew on the hearts of men by much better preachers than 
 myself." 
 
 For the last time, Huss was brought before the council. 
 It was a vast and brilliant assembly, the emperor, the 
 princes of the empire, the royal deputies, the cardinals, bish- 
 ops, and priests, and an immense crowd who had come as 
 spectators of the events of the day. From all parts of Chris- 
 tendom had been gathered the witnesses of this first great 
 sacrifice in the long struggle by which liberty of conscience 
 was to be secured. 
 
 Being called upon for his final decision, Huss declared 
 his refusal to abjure, and fixing his penetrating glance upon 
 the monarch whose plighted word had been so shamelessly 
 violated, he declared that of his own free will* he had ap- 
 peared before the council, " un4er the public faith and pro- 
 tection of the emperor here present." A deep flush crim- 
 soned the face of Sigisrnund as the eyes of all in the assembly 
 turned upon him. 
 
 Sentence having been pronounced, the ceremony of degra- 
 dation began. The bishops clothed their prisoner in the 
 sacerdotal habit, and as he took the priestly robe, he said, 
 'Our Lord Jesus Christ was covered with a white robe by 
 way of insult, when Herod had him conducted before Pilate." 
 Being again exhorted to retract, he replied, turning toward 
 
H US 'S AND JEROME. 
 
 109 
 
 the people, " With what face, then, should . I behold the 
 heavens? How should I look on those multitudes of men 
 to whom I have preached the pure gospel? No; I esteem 
 their salvation more than this poor body, now appointed 
 unto death." The vestments were removed one by one, each 
 bishop pronouncing a curse as he performed his part of the 
 ceremony. Finally a crown or mitre, on which were painted 
 frightful figures of demons, and bearing the inscription, 
 "The Arch-Heretic," was placed upon his head. "Most joy- 
 fully," he said, "will I wear this crown of shame for thy 
 sake, Lord Jesus, who for me didst wear a crown of thorns." 
 
 When he was thus arrayed, the prelates devoted his soul 
 to Satan. Huss, looking heavenward, exclaimed, " I do com- 
 mend my spirit into thy hands, Lord Jesus, for thou hast 
 redeemed me." 
 
 He was now delivered up to the secular authorities, and 
 led away to the place of execution. An immense proces- 
 sion followed, hundreds of men at arms, priests and bishops 
 in their costly robes, and the inhabitants of Constance. 
 When he had been fastened to the stake, and all was ready 
 for the fire to be lighted, the martyr was once more exhorted 
 to save himself by renouncing his errors. " What errors," 
 said Huss, "shall I renounce? I know myself guilty of 
 none. I call God to witness that all that I have written or 
 preached has been with the view of rescuing souls from sin 
 and perdition; and, therefore, most joyfully will I confirm 
 with my blood that truth which I have written and 
 preached." 
 
 When the flames kindled about him, he began to sing, 
 " Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me," and so con- 
 tinued till his voice was silenced forever. 
 
 Even his enemies were struck with his heroic bearing. 
 A zealous papist, describing the martyrdom of Huss, and of 
 Jerome, who died soon after, said: "Both bor.e themselves 
 with constant mind when their last hour approached. They 
 prepared for the fire as if they were going to a marriage 
 
110 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 feast. They uttered no cry of pain. When the flames rose, 
 they began to sing hymns; and scarce could the vehemence 
 of the fire stop their singing." 
 
 When the body of Huss had been wholly consumed, his 
 ashes, with the soil upon which they rested, were gathered up 
 and cast into the Rhine, and thus borne onward to the ocean. 
 His persecutors vainly imagined that they had rooted out 
 the truths he preached. Little did they dream that the ashes 
 that day borne away to the sea were to be as seed scattered in 
 all the countries of the earth ; that in lands yet unknown it 
 would yield abundant fruit in witnesses for the truth. The 
 voice which had spoken in the council hall of Constance had 
 wakened echoes that would be heard through all coming 
 ages. Huss was no more, but the truths for which he died 
 could never perish. His example of faith and constancy 
 would encourage multitudes to stand firm for the truth, in 
 the face of torture and death. His execution had exhibited 
 to the whole world the perfidious cruelty of Rome. The 
 enemies of truth, though they knew it not, had been further- 
 ing the cause which they vainly sought to destroy. 
 
 Yet another stake was to be set up at Constance. The 
 blood of another witness must testify for the truth. Jerome, 
 upon bidding farewell to Huss on his departure for the 
 council, had exhorted him to courage and firmness, declaring 
 that if he should fall into any peril, he himself would fly to 
 his assistance. Upon hearing of the reformer's imprison- 
 ment, the faithful disciple immediately prepared to fulfill his 
 promise. Without a safe-conduct he set out, with a single 
 companion, for Constance. On arriving there he was con- 
 vinced that he had only exposed himself to peril, without 
 the possibility of doing anything for the deliverance of Huss. 
 He fled from the city, but was arrested on the homeward 
 journey, and brought back loaded with fetters, and under 
 the custody of a band of soldiers. At his first appearance 
 before the council, his attempts to reply to the accusations 
 brought against him were met with shouts, " To the flames 
 
AND JEROME. Ill 
 
 with him! to the flames! " He was thrown into a dungeon, 
 chained in a position which caused him great suffering, and 
 fed on bread and water. 
 
 After some months the cruelties of his imprisonment 
 brought upon Jerome an illness that threatened his life, and 
 his enemies, fearing that he might escape them, treated him 
 with less severity, though he remained in prison for one 
 year. The death of Huss had not resulted as the papists had 
 hoped. The violation of his safe-conduct had roused a storm 
 of indignation, and as the safer course the council deter- 
 mined, instead of burning Jerome, to force him, if possible, 
 to retract. He was brought before the assembly, and offered 
 the alternative to recant or to die at the stake. Death at the 
 beginning of his imprisonment would have been a mercy, 
 in comparison with the terrible sufferings which he had 
 undergone; but now, weakened by illness, by the rigors of 
 his. prison-house, and the torture of anxiety and suspense, 
 separated from his friends, and disheartened by the death 
 of Huss, Jerome's fortitude gave way, and he consented to 
 submit to the council. He pledged himself to adhere to 
 the Catholic faith, and accepted the action of the council in 
 condemning the doctrines of WyclifFe and Huss, excepting, 
 however, the "holy truths" which they had taught. 
 
 By this expedient, Jerome endeavored to silence the voice 
 of- conscience and escape his doom. But in the solitude of 
 his dungeon he saw more clearly what he had done. He 
 thought of the courage and fidelity of Huss, and in contrast 
 pondered upon his own denial of the truth. He thought of 
 the divine Master whom he had pledged himself to serve, 
 and who for his sake endured the death of the cross. Before 
 his retraction he had found comfort, amid all his sufferings, 
 in the assurance of God's favor ; but now remorse and doubt 
 tortured his soul. He knew that still other retractions must 
 be made before he could be at peace with Rome. The path 
 upon which he was entering could end only in complete 
 apostasy. His resolution was taken: to escape a brief period 
 of suffering he would not deny his Lord. 
 
112 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Soon he was again brought before the council. His sub- 
 mission had not satisfied his judges. Their thirst for blood, 
 whetted by the death of Huss, clamored for fresh victims. 
 Only by an unreserved surrender of the truth could Jerome 
 preserve his life. But he had determined to avow his faith, 
 and follow his brother martyr to the flames. 
 
 He renounced his former recantation, and, as a dying 
 man, solemnly required an opportunity to make his defense. 
 Fearing the effect of his words, the prelates insisted that he 
 should merely affirm or deny the truth of the charges 
 brought against him. Jerome protested against such cruelty 
 and injustice. "You have held me shut up three hundred 
 and forty days in a frightful prison," he said, " in the midst 
 of filth, noisomeness, stench, and the utmost want of every- 
 thing. You then bring me out before you, and lending an 
 ear to my mortal enemies, you refuse to hear me. If you be 
 really wise men, and the lights of the world, take care not 
 to sin against justice. As for me, I am only a feeble mortal; 
 my life is but of little importance; and when I exhort you 
 not to deliver an unjust sentence, I speak less for myself 
 than for you." 
 
 His request was finally granted. In the presence of his 
 judges, Jerome kneeled down and prayed that the Divine 
 Spirit might control his thoughts and words, that he might 
 speak nothing contrary to the truth or unworthy of his 
 Master. To him that day was fulfilled the promise of God 
 to the first disciples : " Ye shall be brought before governors 
 and kings for my sake; . . . but when they deliver you 
 up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it 
 shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak; 
 for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
 which speak eth in you." 1 The words of Jerome excited 
 astonishment and admiration, even in his enemies. For a 
 whole year he had been immured in a dungeon, unable to 
 read or even to see, in great physical suffering and mental 
 anxiety. Yet his arguments were presented with as much 
 
 10:18-20. 
 
BUSS AND JEROME. 113 
 
 clearness and power as if he had had undisturbed opportu- 
 nity for study. He pointed his hearers to the long line of 
 holy men who had been condemned by unjust judges. In 
 almost every generation have been those who, while seeking 
 to elevate the people of their time, have been reproached 
 and cast out, but who in later times have been shown to be 
 deserving of honor. Christ himself was condemned as a 
 malefactor at an unrighteous tribunal. 
 
 At his retraction, Jerome had assented to the justice of the 
 sentence condemning Huss; he now declared his repentance, 
 and bore witness to the innocence and holiness of the mar- 
 tyr. "I knew John Huss from his childhood," he said. 
 "He was a most excellent man, just and holy; he was con- 
 demned, notwithstanding his innocence. ... I also I 
 am ready to die. I will not recoil before the torments that 
 are prepared for me by my enemies and false witnesses, who 
 will one day have to render an account of their impostures 
 before the great God, whom nothing can deceive." 
 
 In self-reproach for his own denial of the truth, Jerome 
 continued : " Of all the sins that I have committed since my 
 youth, none weigh so heavily upon my mind, and cause me 
 such poignant remorse, as that which I committed in this 
 fatal place, when I approved of the iniquitous sentence 
 rendered against Wycliffe, and the holy martyr, John Huss, 
 my master. Yes, I confess it from my heart ; and declare 
 with horror that I disgracefully quailed, when, through a 
 dread of death, I condemned their doctrines. I therefore 
 supplicate Almighty God to deign to pardon me my sins, 
 and this one in particular, the most heinous of all." Point- 
 ing to his judges, he said firmly: " You condemned Wycliffe 
 and Huss, not for having shaken the doctrine of the church, 
 but simply because they branded with reprobation the scan- 
 dals of the clergy, their pomp, their pride, and all the vices 
 of the prelates and priests. The things that they have af- 
 firmed, and which are irrefutable. I also think and declare 
 like them." 
 
114 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 His words were interrupted. The prelates, trembling 
 with rage, cried out, "What need have we of further proof?" 
 "Away with the most obstinate of heretics!" 
 
 Unmoved by the tempest, Jerome exclaimed: "What! do 
 you suppose that I fear to die? You have held me a whole 
 year in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself. 
 You have treated me more cruelly than a Turk, Jew, or 
 pagan, and my flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive; 
 and yet I make no complaint, for lamentation ill becomes a 
 man of heart and spirit; but I cannot but express my aston- 
 ishment at such great barbarity toward a Christian." 
 
 Again the storm of rage burst out; and Jerome was hur- 
 ried away to prison. Yet there were some in the assembly 
 upon whom his words had made a deep impression, and 
 who desired to save his life. He was visited by dignitaries 
 of the church, and urged to submit himself to the council. 
 The most brilliant prospects were presented before him as 
 the reward of renouncing his opposition to Rome. But like 
 his Master, when offered the glory of the world, Jerome re- 
 mained steadfast. 
 
 " Prove to me from the Holy Writings that I am in error," 
 he said, "and I will abjure it." 
 
 "The Holy Writings!" exclaimed one of his tempters, "is 
 everything to be judged by them? Who can understand 
 them until the church has interpreted them?" 
 
 "Are the traditions of men more worthy of faith than the 
 gospel of our Saviour?" replied Jerome. "Paul did not 
 exhort those to whom he wrote to listen to the traditions of 
 men, but said, 'Search the Scriptures.'" 
 
 " Heretic," was the response, " I repent having pleaded so 
 long with you. I see that you are urged on by the devil." 
 
 Erelong sentence of condemnation was passed upon him. 
 He was led out to the same spot upon which Huss had 
 yielded up his life. He went singing on his way, his coun- 
 tenance lighted up with joy and peace. His gaze was fixed 
 upon Christ, and to him death had lost its terrors. When 
 
HVSS AND JEROME. 115 
 
 the executioner, about to kindle the pile, stepped behind 
 him, the mart}-r exclaimed, "Come forward boldly; apply 
 the fire before my face. Had I been afraid, I should not be 
 here." 
 
 His last words, uttered as the flames rose about him, were 
 a prayer. " Lord, Almighty Father," he cried, have pity 
 on me, and pardon me my sins, for thou knowest that I have 
 always loved thy truth." His voice ceased, but his lips 
 continued to move in prayer. 
 
 When the fire had done its work, the ashes of the mar- 
 tyr, with the earth upon which they rested, were gathered 
 up, and, like those of Huss, were thrown into the Rhine. 
 So >perished God's faithful light-bearers. But the light of 
 the truths which they proclaimed, the light of their heroic 
 example, could not be extinguished. As well might men 
 attempt to turn back the sun in its course as to prevent the 
 dawning of that day which was even then breaking upon 
 the world. 
 
 The execution of Huss had kindled a flame of indigna- 
 tion and horror in Bohemia. It was felt by the whole nation 
 that he had fallen a prey to the malice of the priests and 
 the treachery of the emperor. He was declared to have been 
 a faithful teacher of the truth, and the council that decreed 
 his death was charged with the guilt of murder. His doc- 
 trines now attracted greater attention than ever before. By 
 the papal edicts the writings of WyclifFe had been con- 
 demned to the flames. But those that had escaped destruc- 
 tion were now brought out from their hiding-places, and 
 studied in connection with the Bible, or such parts of it as 
 the people could obtain, and many were thus led to accept 
 the reformed faith. 
 
 The murderers of Huss did not stand quietly by and wit- 
 ness the triumph of his cause. .The pope and the emperor 
 united to crush out the movement, and the armies of Sigis- 
 mund were hurled upon Bohemia. 
 
 But a deliverer was raised up. Ziska, who soon after the 
 
116 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 opening of the war became totally blind, yet who was one of 
 the ablest generals of his age, was the leader of the Bohe- 
 M linns. Trusting in. the help of God and the righteousness 
 of their cause, that people withstood the mightiest armies 
 that could be brought against them. Again and again the 
 emperor, raising fresh armies, invaded Bohemia, to be igno- 
 miniously repulsed. The Hussites were raised above the 
 fenr of death, anJ nothing could stand against them. A 
 few years after the opening of the war, the brave Ziska 
 died; but his place was filled by Procopius, who was an 
 equally brave and skillful general, and in some respects a 
 more able leader. 
 
 The enemies of the Bohemians, knowing that the blind 
 warrior was dead, deemed the opportunity favorable for 
 recovering all that they had lost. The pope now proclaimed 
 a crusade against the Hussites, and again an immense force 
 was precipitated upon Bohemia, but only to suffer terrible 
 defeat. Another crusade was proclaimed. In all the papal 
 countries of Europe, men, money, and munitions of war 
 were raised. Multitudes flocked to the papal standard, 
 assured that at last an end would be made of the Hussite 
 heretics. Confident of victory, the vast force entered Bohe- 
 mia. The people rallied to repel them. The two armies 
 approached each other, until only a river lay between them. 
 The allies were greatly superior in numbers, yet instead of 
 advancing boldly to attack the Hussites, they stood as if 
 spell-bound, silently gazing upon them. Then suddenly a 
 mysterious terror fell upon the host. Without striking a 
 blow that mighty force broke and scattered, as if dispelled 
 by nn unseen power. Great numbers were slaughtered by 
 the Hussite army, which pursued the fugitives, and an im- 
 mense booty fell into the hands of the victors, so that the 
 war, instead of impoverishing, enriched the Bohemians. 
 
 A few years later, under n ne\v pope, still another crusade 
 w.-is set on foot. As before, men and means were drawn 
 from all the papist countries of Europe. Great were the 
 
H&SS AND JEROME. 117 
 
 inducements held out to those who should engage in this per- 
 ilous enterprise. Full forgiveness of the most heinous crimes 
 was insured to every crusader. All who died in the war 
 were promised a rich reward in Heaven, and those who sur- 
 vived were to reap honor and riches on the field of battle. 
 Again a vast army was collected, and crossing the frontier 
 they entered Bohemia. The Hussite forces fell back before 
 them, thus drawing the invaders farther and farther into 
 the country, and leading them to count the victory already 
 won. At last the army of Procopius made a stand, and, 
 turning upon the foe, advanced to give them battle. The 
 crusaders, now discovering their mistake, lay in their encamp- 
 ment awaiting the onset. As the sound of the approaching 
 force was heard, even before the Hussites were in sight, a 
 panic again fell upon the crusaders. Princes, generals, and 
 common soldiers, casting away their armor, fled in all direc- 
 tions. In vain the papal legate, who was the leader of the 
 invasion, endeavored to rally his terrified and disorganized 
 forces. Despite his utmost endeavors, he himself was swept 
 along in the tide of fugitives. The rout was complete, and 
 again an immense booty fell into the hands of the victors. 
 
 Thus the second time a vast army, sent forth by the most 
 powerful nations of Europe, a host of brave, warlike men, 
 trained and equipped for battle, fled without a blow, before 
 the defenders of a small and hitherto feeble nation. Here 
 was a manifestation of divine power. The invaders were 
 smitten with a supernatural terror. He who overthrew the 
 hosts of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, who put to flight the armies 
 of Midian before Gideon and his three hundred, who in one 
 night laid low the forces of the proud Assyrian, had again 
 stretched out his hand to wither the power of the oppressor. 
 "There were they in great fear, where no fear was; for God 
 hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee; 
 thou hast put them* to shame, because God hath despised 
 them." 1 
 
 The papal leaders, despairing of conquering by force, at 
 10 ! Pa. 53: 5. 
 
118 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 last resorted to diplomacy. A compromise was entered into, 
 that while professing to grant to the Bohemians freedom of 
 conscience, really betrayed them into the power of Rome. 
 The Bohemians had specified four points as the condition of 
 peace with Rome : The free preaching of the Bible ; the right 
 of the whole church to both the bread and the wine in the 
 communion, and the use of the mother-tongue in divine 
 worship; the exclusion of the clergy from all secular offices 
 and authority; and in cases of crime, the jurisdiction of the 
 civil courts over clergy and laity alike. The papal author- 
 ities at last agreed to accept the 'four articles, stipulating, 
 however, that the right of explaining them, of deciding upon 
 their exact meaning, should belong to the church. On this 
 basis a treaty was entered into, and Rome gained by dissim- 
 ulation and fraud what she had failed to gain by conflict; 
 for, placing her own interpretation upon the Hussite articles, 
 as upon the Bible, she could pervert their meaning to suit 
 her own purposes. 
 
 A large class in Bohemia, seeing that it betrayed their 
 liberties, could not consent to the compact. Dissensions and 
 divisions arose, leading to strife and bloodshed among them- 
 selves. In this strife the noble Procopius fell, and the lib- 
 erties of Bohemia perished. 
 
 Sigismund, the betrayer of Huss and Jerome, now became 
 king of Bohemia, and, regardless of his oath to support the 
 rights of the Bohemians, he proceeded to establish popery. 
 But he had gained little by his subservience to Rome. For 
 twenty years his life had been filled with labors and perils. 
 His armies had been wasted and his treasuries drained by a 
 long and fruitless struggle; and now, after reigning one 
 year, he died, leaving his kingdom on the brink of civil war, 
 and bequeathing to posterity a name branded with infamy. 
 
 Tumults, strife, and bloodshed were protracted. Again 
 foreign armies invaded Bohemia, and- internal dissension 
 continued to distract the nation. Those who remained 
 laithlul to the gospel were subjected to a bloody persecution. 
 
HUSS AND JEROME. 119 
 
 As their former brethren, entering into compact with Rome, 
 imbibed her errors, those who adhered to the ancient faith 
 had formed themselves into a distinct church, taking the 
 name of "United Brethren." This act drew upon them 
 maledictions from all classes. Yet their firmness was un- 
 shaken. Forced to find refuge in the woods and caves, they 
 still assembled to read God's Word and unite in his worship. 
 
 Through messengers secretly sent out into different coun- 
 tries, they learned that here and there were isolated con- 
 fessors of the truth a few in this city and a few in that, 
 the object, like themselves, of persecution; and that amid 
 the mountains of the Alps was an ancient church, resting 
 on the foundations of Scripture. This intelligence was re- 
 ceived with great joy, and a correspondence was opened 
 with the Waldensian Christians. 
 
 Steadfast to the gospel, the Bohemians waited through the 
 night of their persecution, in the darkest hour still turning 
 their eyes toward the horizon like men who watch for the 
 morning. "Their lot was cast in evil days, but they re- 
 membered the words first uttered by Huss, and repeated by 
 Jerome, that a century must revolve before the day should 
 break. These were to the Hussites what the words of Joseph 
 were to the tribes in the house of bondage: 'I die, and God 
 will surely visit you, and bring you out.'" About the year 
 1470 persecution ceased, and there followed a period of com- 
 parative prosperity. When "the end of the century arrived, 
 it found two hundred churches of the 'United Brethren' in 
 Bohemia and Moravia. "So goodly was the remnant which, 
 escaping the destructive fury of fire and sworjl, was per- 
 mitted to see the dawning of that day which Huss had fore- 
 told." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 
 
 FOREMOST among those who were called to lead the church 
 from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith, 
 stood Martin Luther. Zealous, ardent, and devoted, know- 
 ing no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foun- 
 dation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther 
 was the man for his time; through him, God accomplished 
 a great work for the reformation of the church and the en- 
 lightenment of the world. 
 
 Like the first heralds of the gospel, Luther sprung from 
 the ranks of poverty. His early years were spent in the 
 humble home of a German peasant. By daily toil as a 
 miner, his father earned the means for his education. He 
 intended him for a lawyer; but God purposed to make him 
 a builder in the great temple that was rising so slowly 
 through the centuries. Hardship, privation, and severe 
 discipline were the school in which Infinite Wisdom pre- 
 pared Luther for the important mission of his life. 
 
 Luther's father was a man of strong and active mind, 
 and great force of character, honest, resolute, and straight- 
 forward. He was true to his convictions of duty, lot the 
 consequences be' what they might. His sterling good sense 
 led him to regard the monastic- system with distrust. He 
 was highly displeased when Luther, without his eoiisent, 
 entered a monastery; ;m<l it was two years before the lather 
 was reconcile* 1 to his sou, and even then his opinions re- 
 mained the same. 
 
 Luther's parents bestowed great eare upon the education 
 and training of their children. They endeavored to instruct 
 
 (120) 
 
CALYIN. 
 MKLAXPTHOX. 
 
 LUTHER. 
 
 FARF.L. 
 
 Copyrighted 1890. 
 
 FREDERICK OF SAXOXY. 
 
LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM HOME. 121 
 
 them in the knowledge of God and the practice of Christian 
 virtues. The father's prayer often ascended in the hearing 
 of his son, that the child might remember the name of the 
 Lord, and one day aid in the advancement of his truth. 
 Every advantage for moral or intellectual culture which 
 their life of toil permitted them to enjoy, was eagerly ir.i- 
 proved by these parents. Their efforts were earnest ana 
 persevering to prepare their children for a life of piety and 
 usefulness. With their firmness and strength of character 
 they sometimes exercised too great severity ; but the reformer 
 himself, though conscious that in some respects they had 
 erred, found in their discipline more to approve than to con- 
 demn. 
 
 At school, where he was sent at an early age, Luther was 
 treated with harshness and even violence. So great was the 
 poverty of his parents, that upon going from home to school 
 in another town he was for a time obliged to obtain his food 
 by singing from door to door, and he often suffered from 
 hunger. The gloomy, superstitious ideas of religion then 
 prevailing filled him with fear. He would lie down at 
 night with a sorrowful heart, looking forward with trembling 
 to the dark future, and in constant terror at the thought of 
 God as a stern, unrelenting judge, a cruel tyrant, rather than 
 a kind heavenly Father. Yet under so many and so great 
 discouragements, Luther pressed resolutely forward toward 
 the high standard of moral and intellectual excellence which 
 attracted his soul. 
 
 He thirsted for knowledge, and the earnest and practical 
 character of his mind led him to desire the solid and useful 
 rather than the showy and superficial. When, at the age 
 of eighteen, he entered the University of Erfurt, his situa- 
 tion was more favorable and his prospects brighter than in 
 his earlier years. His parents having by thrift and industry 
 acquired a competence, they were able to render him all 
 needed assistance. And the influence of judicious friends 
 had somewhat lessened the gloomy effects of his former 
 
122 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 training. He applied himself to the study of the best 
 authors, diligently treasuring their most weighty thoughts, 
 and making the wisdom of the wise his own. Even under 
 the harsh discipline of his former instructors, he had early 
 given promise of distinction ; and with favorable influences 
 his mind rapidly developed. A retentive memory, a lively 
 imagination, strong reasoning powers, and untiring applica- 
 tion, soon placed him in the foremost rank among his asso- 
 ciates. Intellectual discipline ripened his understanding, and 
 aroused an activity of mind and a keenness of perception 
 that were preparing him for the conflicts of his life. 
 
 The fear of the Lord dwelt in the heart of Luther, ena- 
 bling him to maintain his steadfastness of purpose, and lead- 
 ing him to deep humility before God. He had an abiding 
 sense of his dependence upon divine aid, and he did not 
 fail to begin each day with prayer, while his heart was con- 
 tinually breathing a petition for guidance and support. " To 
 pray well," he often said, "is the better half of study." 
 
 While one day examining the books in the library of the 
 university, Luther discovered a Latin Bible. Such a book he 
 had never before seen. He was ignorant even of its exist- 
 ence. He had heard portions of the Gospels and Epistles, 
 which were read to the people at public worship, and he 
 supposed that these were the entire Bible. Now, for the 
 first time, he looked upon the whole of God's Word. With 
 mingled awe and wonder he turned the sacred pages; with 
 quickened pulse and throbbing heart he read for himself the 
 words of life, pausing now and then to exclaim, " Oh, if God 
 would give me such a book for my own ! " Angels of Heaven 
 were by his side, and rays of light from the throne of God 
 revealed the treasures of truth to his understanding. He 
 had ever feared to offend God, but now the deep conviction 
 of his condition as a sinner took hold upon him as never 
 before. 
 
 An earnest desire to be free from sin and to find peace 
 with God, led him at last to enter a cloister, and devote him- 
 
LUTHER'S SEPARA TION FROM ROMV. 
 
 self to a monastic life. Here he was required to perform the 
 lowest drudgery, and to beg from house to house. He was 
 at an age when respect and appreciation are most eagerly 
 craved, and these menial offices were deeply mortifying to 
 his natural feelings; but he patiently endured this humilia- 
 tion, believing that it was necessary because of his sins. 
 
 Every moment that could be spared from his daily duties 
 he employed in study, robbing himself of sleep, and grudg- 
 ing even the time spent at his scanty meals. Above every- 
 thing else he delighted in the study of God's Word. He 
 had found a Bible chained to the convent wall, and to this 
 he often repaired. As his convictions of sin deepened, he 
 sought by his own works to obtain pardon and peace. He 
 led a most rigorous life, endeavoring, by fasting, vigils, and 
 scourgings, to subdue the evils of his nature, from which 
 the monastic life had brought no release. He shrank from 
 no sacrifice by which he might attain to that purity of heart 
 which would enable him to stand approved before God. " I 
 was indeed a pious monk," he afterward said, " and followed 
 the rules of my order more strictly than I can express. If 
 ever monk could attain Heaven by his monkish works, I 
 should certainly have been entitled to it. If I had continued 
 much longer, I should have carried my mortifications even to 
 death." As the result of this painful discipline, he lost 
 strength, and suffered from fainting spasms, from the effects 
 of which he never fully recovered. But with all his efforts, 
 his burdened soul found no relief. He was at last driven to 
 the verge of despair. 
 
 When it appeared to Luther that all was lost, God raised 
 up a friend and helper for him. The pious Staupitz opened 
 the Word of God to Luther's mind, and bade him look away 
 from himself ; cease the contemplation of infinite punishment 
 for the violation of God's law, and look to Jesus, his sin- 
 pardoning Saviour. " Instead of torturing yourself on ac- 
 count of your sins, cast yourself into the arms of your Re- 
 deemer. Trust in him, in the righteousness of his life, in 
 
124 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the atonement of his death. Listen to the Son of God. He 
 became man to give you the assurance of divine favor." 
 " Love him who has first loved you." Thus spoke this mes- 
 senger of mercy. His words made a deep impression upon 
 Luther's mind. After many a struggle with long-cherished 
 errors, he was enabled to grasp the truth, and peace came to 
 his troubled soul. 
 
 Luther was ordained a priest, and was called from the 
 cloister to a professorship in the University of Wittenberg. 
 Here he applied himself to the study of the Scriptures in 
 the original tongues. He began to lecture upon the Bible; 
 and the book of Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles were 
 opened to the understanding of crowds of delighted listeners. 
 Staupitz, his friend and superior, urged him to ascend the 
 pulpit, and preach the Word of God. Luther hesitated, feel- 
 ing himself unworthy to speak to the people in Christ's 
 stead. It was only after a long struggle that he yielded to 
 the solicitations of his friends. Already he was mighty in 
 the Scriptures, and the grace of God rested upon him. His 
 eloquence captivated his hearers, the clearness and power 
 with which he presented the truth' convinced their under- 
 standing, and his fervor touched their hearts. 
 
 Luther was still a true son of the papal church, and had 
 no thought that he would ever be anything else. In the 
 providence of God he was led to visit Koine. He pursued 
 his journey on foot, lodging at the monasteries on the w r ay. 
 At a convent in Italy he was filled with wonder at the 
 wealth, magnificence, and luxury that he witnessed. En- 
 dowed with a princely revenue, the monks dwelt in splendid 
 apartments, attired themselves in the richest and most costly 
 robes, and feasted at a sumptuous table. With painful mis- 
 givings Luther contrasted this scene with the self-denial and 
 hardship of his own life. His mind was becoming perplexed. 
 
 At last he beheld in the distance the seven-hilled city. 
 With deep emotion he prostrated himself upon the earth, 
 exclaiming, "Holy Rome, I salute thee!" He entered the 
 
L OTHER'S SEPARA TION FR OM R OME. 1 25 
 
 city, visited the churches, listened to the marvelous tales 
 repeated by priests and monks, and performed all the cere- 
 monies required. Everywhere he looked upon scenes that 
 filled him with astonishment and horror. He saw that 
 iniquity existed among all classes of the clergy. He heard 
 indecent jokes from prelates, and was filled with horror at 
 their awful profanity, even .during mass. As he mingled 
 with the monks and citizens, he met dissipation, debauchery. 
 Turn where he would, in the place of sanctity he found prof- 
 anation. " It is incredible," he wrote, " what sins and atroc- 
 ities are committed in Rome; they must be seen and heard 
 to be believed. So that it is usual to say, 'If there be a hell, 
 Rome is built above it. It is an abyss whence all sins pro- 
 ceed.'" 
 
 By a recent decretal, ah indulgence had been promised by 
 the pope to all who should ascend upon their knees " Pilate's 
 staircase," said to have been descended by our Saviour on 
 leaving the Roman judgment-hall, and to have been mirac- 
 ulously conveyed from Jerusalem to Rome. Luther was 
 one day devoutly climbing these steps, when suddenly a 
 voice like thunder seemed to say to him, "The just shall 
 live by faith." 1 He sprung upon his feet, and hastened from 
 the place, in shame and horror. That text never lost its 
 power upon his soul. From that time he saw more clearly 
 than ever before the fallacy of trusting to human works for 
 salvation, and the necessity of constant faith in the merits of 
 Christ. His eyes had been opened, and were never again to 
 be closed, to the delusions of the papacy. When he turned 
 his face from Rome, he had turned away also in heart, and 
 from that time the separation grew wider, until he severed 
 all connection with the papal church. 
 
 After his return from Rome, Luther received at the Uni- 
 versity of "Wittenberg the degree of doctor of divinity. Now 
 he was at liberty to devote himself, as never before, to the 
 Scriptures that he loved. He had taken a solemn vow to 
 study carefully and to preach with fidelity the Word of God, 
 
 . 1 :17. 
 
126 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 not the sayings and doctrines of the popes, all the days of 
 his life. He was no longer the mere monk or professor, but 
 the authorized herald of the Bible. He had been called as 
 a shepherd to feed the flock of God, that were hungering 
 and thirsting for the truth. He firmly declared that Chris- 
 tians should receive no other doctrines than those which 
 rest on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures. These words 
 struck at the very foundation of papal supremacy. They 
 contained the vital principle of the Reformation. 
 
 Luther saw the danger of exalting human theories above 
 the Word of God. He fearlessly attacked the speculative 
 infidelity of the schoolmen, and opposed the philosophy and 
 theology which had so long held a controlling influence 
 upon the people. He denounced such studies as not only 
 worthless but pernicious, and sought io turn the minds of 
 his hearers from the sophistries of philosophers and theolo- 
 gians to the eternal truths set forth by prophets and apostles. 
 
 Precious was the message which he bore to the eager 
 crowds that hung upon his words. Never before had such 
 teachings fallen upon their ears. The glad tidings of a 
 Saviour's love, the assurance of pardon and peace thiough 
 his atoning blood, rejoiced their hearts, and inspired within 
 them an immortal hope. At Wittenberg a light was kin- 
 dled whose rays should extend to the uttermost parts of the 
 earth, and which was to increase in brightness to the close 
 of time, 
 
 1 But light and darkness cannot harmonize. Between truth 
 and error there is an irrepressible conflict. To uphold and 
 defend the one is to attack and overthrow the other. Our 
 Saviour himself declared, "I came not to send peace, but a 
 sword." 1 Said Luther, a few years after the opening of the 
 Reformation, " God does not conduct, but drives me forward. 
 I am not master of my own actions. I would gla'dly live in 
 ivpose, but I am thrown into the midst of tumults and rev- 
 olutions." He was now about to be urged into the contest. 
 
 Tin- Roman Church had mad<3 merchandise of the grace 
 
 1 Matt. 10 : 34. 
 
L UTHERS SEP A RA TION FR OM R OME. 1 27 
 
 of God. The tables of the money-changers 1 were set up 
 beside her altars, and the air resounded with the shouts of 
 buyers and sellers. Under the plea of raising funds for the 
 erection of St. Peter's church at Rome, indulgences for sin 
 were publicly offered for sale by the authority of the pope. 
 By the price of crime a temple was to be built up for God's 
 worship, the corner-stone laid with the wages of iniquity. 
 But the very means adopted for Rome's aggrandizement 
 provoked the deadliest blow to her power and greatness. It 
 was this that aroused the most determined and successful of 
 the enemies of popery, and led to the battle which shook 
 the papal throne, and jostled the triple crown upon the 
 pontiff's head. 
 
 The official appointed to conduct the sale of indulgences 
 in Germany Tetzel by name had been convicted of the 
 basest offenses against society and against the law of God; 
 but having escaped the punishment due to his crimes, he 
 was employed to further the mercenary and unscrupulous 
 projects of the pope. With great effrontery he repeated the 
 most glaring falsehoods, and related marvelous tales to de- 
 ceive an ignorant, credulous, and superstitious people. Had 
 they possessed the Word of God, they would not have been 
 thus deceived. It was to keep them under the control of 
 the papacy, in order to swell the power and wealth of her 
 ambitious leaders, that the Bible had been withheld from 
 them. 
 
 As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went before him, 
 announcing, "The grace of God and of the holy father is at 
 your gates." And the people welcomed the blasphemous 
 pretender as if he were God himself come down from Heaven 
 to them. The infamous traffic was set up in the church, and 
 Tetzel, ascending the pulpit, extolled indulgences as the most 
 precious gift of God. He declared that by virtue of his cer- 
 tificates of pardon, all the sins which the purchaser should 
 afterward desire to commit would be forgiven him, and that 
 "even repentance was not indispensable." More than this, 
 
 iMatt. 21 :12. 
 
128 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 he assured his hearers that the indulgences had power to 
 save not only the living but the dead ; that the very moment 
 the money should clink against the bottom of his chest, the 
 soul in whose behalf it had been paid would escape from 
 purgatory and make its way to Heaven. 
 
 When Simon Magus offered to purchase of the apostles 
 the power to work miracles, Peter answered him, "Thy 
 money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the 
 gift of God may be purchased with money." ] But Tetzel's 
 offer was grasped by eager thousands. Gold and silver flowed 
 into his treasury. A salvation that could be bought with 
 money was more easily obtained than that which requires 
 repentance, faith, and diligent effort to resist and overcome sin. 
 
 The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of 
 learning and piety in the Romish Church, and there were 
 many who had no faith in pretensions so contrary to both 
 reason and revelation. No prelate dared lift his voice 
 against this iniquitous traffic, but the minds of men were 
 becoming disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired 
 if God would not work through some instrumentality for the 
 purification of his church. 
 
 Luther, though still a papist of the straitest sort, was filled 
 with horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the indul- 
 gence-mongers. Many of his own congregation had purchased 
 certificates of pardon, and they soon began to come to their 
 pastor, confessing their various sins, and expecting absolu- 
 tion, not because they were penitent and wished to reform, 
 but on the ground of the indulgence. Luther refused them 
 absolution, and warned them that unless they should repent 
 and reform their lives, they must perish in their sins. In 
 great perplexity they repaired to Tetzel with the complaint 
 that their confessor had refused his certificates; and some 
 boldly demanded that their money be returned to them. 
 The friar was filled with rage. He uttered the most terrible 
 curses, caused fires to be lighted in the public squares, and 
 
 1 Acts 8 : 20. 
 
LUTHER'S SEPARA TION FROM ROME. 129 
 
 declared that he had orders from the pope " to burn the her- 
 etics who dared oppose his most holy indulgences." 
 
 Luther now entered boldly upon his work as a champion 
 of the truth. His voice was heard from the pulpit in earnest, 
 solemn warning. He set before the people the offensive char- 
 acter of sin, and taught them that it is impossible for man, 
 by his own works, to lessen its guilt or evade its punishment. 
 Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can 
 save the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased ; 
 it is a free gift. He counseled the people not to buy the 
 indulgences, but to look in faith to a crucified Redeemer. He 
 related his own painful experience in vainly seeking by 
 humiliation and penance to secure salvation, and assured 
 his hearers that it was by looking away from himself and 
 believing in Christ that he found peace and joy. 
 
 As Tetzel continued his traffic and his impious pretensions, 
 Luther determined upon a more effectual protest against these 
 crying abuses. An occasion soon offered. The castle church 
 of Wittenberg possessed many relics, which on certain holy 
 days were exhibited to the people, and full remission of sins 
 was granted to all who then visited the church and made 
 confession. Accordingly on these days the people in great 
 numbers resorted thither. One of the most important of 
 these occasions, the festival of "All-Saints," was approaching. 
 On the preceding day, Luther, joining the crowds that were 
 already making their way to the church, posted on its door 
 a paper containing ninety-five propositions against the doc- 
 trine of indulgences. He declared his willingness to defend 
 these theses next day at the university, against all who should 
 see fit to attack them. 
 
 His propositions attracted universal attention. They were 
 read and re-read and repeated in every direction. Great 
 excitement was created in the university and in the whole 
 city. By these theses it was shown that the power to grant 
 the pardon of sin, and to remit its penalty, had never been com- 
 mitted to the pope or to any other man. The whole scheme 
 
130 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 was a farce, an artifice to extort money by playing upon 
 the superstitions of the people, a device of Satan to destroy 
 the souls of all who should trust to its lying pretensions. It 
 was also clearly shown that the gospel of Christ is the most 
 valuable treasure of the church, and that the grace of God ; 
 therein revealed, is freely bestowed upon all who seek it by 
 repentance and faith. 
 
 Luther's theses challenged discussion; but no one dared 
 accept the challenge. The questions which he proposed had 
 in a few days spread through all Germany, and in a few 
 weeks they had sounded throughout Christendom. Many 
 devoted Romanists, who had seen and lamented the terrible 
 iniquity prevailing in the church, but had not known how 
 to arrest its progress, read the propositions with great joy, 
 recognizing in them the voice of God. They felt that the 
 Lord had graciously set his hand to arrest the rapidly swell- 
 ing tide of corruption that was issuing from the see of Rome. 
 Princes and magistrates secretly rejoiced that a check was to 
 be put upon the arrogant power which denied the right of 
 appeal from its decisions. 
 
 But the sin-loving and superstitious multitudes were terri- 
 fied as the sophistries that had soothed their fears were swept 
 away. Crafty ecclesiastics, interrupted in their work of sanc- 
 tioning crime, and seeing their gains endangered, were enraged, 
 and rallied to uphold their pretensions. The reformer had 
 bitter accusers to meet. Some charged him with acting 
 hastily and from impulse. Others accused him of presump- 
 tion, declaring that he was not directed of God, but was act- 
 ing from pride and forwardness. " Who does not know," he 
 responded, "that one can seldom advance a new idea with- 
 out having some appearance of pride, and without being 
 accused of exciting quarrels? Why were Christ and all the 
 martyrs put to death? Because they appeared proud despis- 
 ers of the wisdom of the times in which they lived, and 
 because they brought forward new truths without having 
 first consulted the oracles of the old opinions." 
 
L UTHER'S SEPARA TION FROM ROME. 131 
 
 Again he declared: " What I am doing will not be effected 
 by the prudence of man, but by the counsel of God. If the 
 work be of God, who shall stop it? If it be not, who shall 
 forward it? Not my will, not theirs, not ours, but thy will, 
 holy Father who art in Heaven ! " 
 
 Though Luther had been moved by the Spirit of God to 
 begin his work, he was not to carry it forward without severe 
 conflicts. The reproaches of his enemies, their misrepresen- 
 tation of his purposes, and their unjust and malicious reflec- 
 tions upon his character and motives, came in upon him 
 like an overwhelming flood; and they were not without 
 effect. He had felt confident that the leaders of the people, 
 both in the church and in the schools, would gladly unite 
 with him in efforts for reform. Words of encouragement 
 from those in high position had inspired him with joy and 
 hope. Already in anticipation he had seen a brighter day 
 dawning for the church. But encouragement had changed 
 to reproach jand condemnation. Many dignitaries, both of 
 Church and State, were convicted of the truthfulness of his 
 theses; but they soon saw that the acceptance of these truths 
 would involve great changes. To enlighten and reform the 
 people would be virtually to undermine the authority of 
 Rome, to stop thousands of streams now flowing into her 
 treasury, and thus greatly to curtail the extravagance and 
 luxury of the papal leaders. Furthermore, to teach the peo- 
 ple to think and act as responsible beings, looking to Christ 
 alone for salvation, would overthrow the pontiff's throne, and 
 eventually destroy their own authority. For this reason 
 they refused the knowledge tendered them of God, and ar- 
 rayed themselves against Christ and the truth by their 
 opposition to the man whom he had sent to enlighten them. 
 
 Luther trembled as he looked upon himself, one man 
 opposed to the mightiest powers of earth. He sometinies 
 doubted whether he had indeed been led of God to set him- 
 self against the authority of the church. "Who was I," he 
 writes, " to oppose the majesty of the pope, before whom the 
 
132 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 kings of the earth and the whole world trembled?" "No 
 one can know what I suffered in those first two years, and 
 into what dejection and even despair I was often plunged." 
 But lie was not left to become utterly disheartened. When 
 human support failed, he looked to God alone, and learned 
 that he could lean in perfect safety upon that all-powerful 
 arm. 
 
 To a friend of the Reformation Luther *vrote : " We cannot 
 attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or 
 by strength of intellect. Therefore your first duty must be 
 to begin -with prayer. Entreat the Lord to deign to grant 
 you, in his rich mercy, rightly to understand his Word. 
 There is no other interpreter of the Word but the Author of 
 that Word himself. Even as he has said, 'They shall all be 
 taught of God.' Hope nothing from your study and the 
 strength of your intellect ; but simply put your trust in God, 
 and in the guidance of his Spirit. Believe one who has 
 made trial of this matter." Here is a lesson of vital impor- 
 tance to those who feel that God has called them to present 
 to others the solemn truths for this time. These truths will 
 stir the enmity of Satan, and of men who love the fables that 
 he has devised. In the conflict with the powers of evil, 
 there is need of something more than strength of intellect 
 and human wisdom. 
 
 When enemies appealed to custom and tradition, or to 
 the assertions and authority of the pope, Luther met them 
 with the Bible, and the Bible only. Here were arguments 
 which they could not answer; therefore the slaves of formal- 
 ism and superstition clamored for his blood, as the Jews had 
 clamored for the blood of Christ. "He is a heretic," cried 
 the Roman zealots ; " it is a sin to allow him to live an hour 
 longer! Away with him at once to the scaffold I" But 
 Luther did not fall a prey to their fury. God had a work 
 for him to do, and angels of Heaven were sent to protect 
 him. Many, however, who had received from Luther the 
 previous light, were made the objects of Satan's wrath, and 
 for the truth's sake fearlessly suffered torture and death. 
 
L (TTHER'S SEPARA TION FR OM R OME. 133 
 
 Luther's teachings attracted the attention of thoughtful 
 minds throughout all Germany. From his sermons and 
 writings issued beams of light which awakened and illumi- 
 nated thousands. A living faith was taking the place of 
 the dead formalism in which the church had so long been 
 held. The people were daily losing confidence in the super- 
 stitions of Romanism. The barriers of prejudice were giving 
 way. The Word of God, by which Luther tested every 
 doctrine and every claim, was like a two-edged sword, cut- 
 ting its way to the hearts of the people. Everywhere there 
 was awakening a desire for spiritual progress. Everywhere 
 was such a hungering and thirsting after righteousness as 
 had not been known for ages. The eyes of the people, so 
 long directed to human rites and earthly mediators, were 
 now turning, in penitence and faith, to Christ arid him cru- 
 cified. 
 
 This widespread interest aroused still further the fears of 
 the papal authorities. Luther received a summons to ap- 
 pear at Rome to answer to. the charge of heresy. The com- 
 mand filled his friends with terror. They knew full well 
 the danger that threatened him in that corrupt city, already 
 drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. They pro- 
 tested against his going to Rome, and requested that he 
 receive his examination in Germany. 
 
 This arrangement was finally effected, and the pope's 
 legate was appointed to hear the case. In the instructions 
 communicated by the pontiff to this official, it was stated 
 that Luther had already been declared a heretic. The legate 
 was therefore charged to " prosecute and reduce him to sub- 
 mission without delay." If he should remain steadfast, and 
 the legate should fail to gain possession of his person, he 
 was empowered.to "proscribe him in all places in Germany, 
 to put away, curse, and excommunicate all who were 
 attached to him." And further, the pope directed his 
 legate, in order entirely to root out the pestilent heresy, to 
 excommunicate all, of whatever dignity in Church or State, 
 
134 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 r\<vpt the emperor, who should neglect to seize Luther and 
 his adherents, and deliver them up to the vengeance of Rome. 
 
 Here is displayed the true spirit of popery. Not a trace 
 of Christian principle, or even of common justice, is to be 
 seen in the whole document. Luther was at a great dis- 
 tance from Rome; he had had no opportunity to explain or 
 defend his position; yet before his case had been investigated, 
 he was summarily pronounced a heretic, and, in the same 
 day, exhorted, accused, judged, and condemned; and all this 
 by the self-styled holy father, the only supreme, infallible 
 authority in Church or State ! 
 
 At this time, when Luther so much needed the sympathy 
 and counsel of a true friend, God's providence sent Melanc- 
 thon to Wittenberg. Young in years, modest and diffident 
 in his manners, Melancthon's sound judgment, extensive 
 knowledge, and winning eloquence, combined with the 
 purity and uprightness of his character, won universal admi- 
 ration and esteem. The brilliancy of his talents was not 
 more marked than his gentleness of disposition. He soon 
 became an earnest disciple of the gospel, and Luther's most 
 trusted friend and valued supporter; his gentleness, caution, 
 and exactness serving as a complement to Luther's courage 
 and energy. Their union in the work added strength to the 
 Reformation, and was a source of great encouragement to 
 Luther. 
 
 Augsburg had been fixed upon as the place of trial, and 
 the reformer set out on foot to perform the journey thither. 
 Serious fears were entertained in his behalf. Threats had 
 IK < n made openly that he would be sri/rd and murdered on 
 the way, and his friends begged him not to venture. They 
 even entreated him to leave Wittenberg for a time, and find 
 safety with those who would gladly protect him. But he 
 would not leave the position where God had placed him. 
 He must continue faithfully to maintain the truth, notwith- 
 standing the storms that wcro beating upon him. His 
 language was: "lam like Jeremiah, a man of strife and 
 
LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 135 
 
 contention ; but the more they increase their threatenings, 
 the more they multiply my joy. . . . They have already 
 torn to pieces my honor and my good name. All I have 
 left is my wretched body ; let them have it ; they will then 
 shorten my. life by a few hours. But as to my soul, they 
 shall not have that. He who resolves to bear the word of 
 Christ to the world, must expect death at every hour." 
 
 The tidings of Luther's arrival at Augsburg gave great 
 satisfaction to the papal legate. The troublesome heretic 
 who was exciting the attention of the whole world seemed 
 now in the power of Rome, and the legate determined that 
 he should not escape. The reformer had failed to provide 
 himself with a safe-conduct. His friends urged him not to 
 appear before the legate without one, and they themselves 
 undertook to procure it from the emperor. The legate in- 
 tended to force Luther, if possible, to retract, or, failing in 
 this, to cause him to be conveyed to Rome, to share the fate 
 of Huss and Jerome. Therefore through his agents he 
 endeavored to induce Luther to appear without a safe-con- 
 duct, trusting himself to his mercy. This the reformer firmly 
 declined to do. Not until he had received the document 
 pledging him the emperor's protection, did he appear in the 
 presence of the papal ambassador. 
 
 As a matter of policy, the Romanists had decided to 
 attempt to win Luther by an appearance of gentleness. The 
 legate, in his interviews with him, professed great friendli- 
 ness ; but he demanded that Luther submit implicitly to the 
 authority of the church, and yield every point, without argu- 
 ment or question. He had not rightly estimated the character 
 of the man with whom he had to deal. Luther, in reply, 
 expressed his regard for the church, his desire for the truth, 
 his readiness to answer all objections to what he had taught, 
 and to submit his doctrines to the decision of certain lead- 
 ing universities. But at the same time he protested against 
 the cardinal's course in requiring him to retract without 
 having proved him in error. 
 
136 Till-: GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The only response was, " Recant, recant." The reformer 
 showed that his position was sustained by the Scriptures, 
 and firmly declared that he could not renounce the truth. 
 The legate, unable to reply to Luther's arguments, over- 
 whelmed him with a storm of reproaches, gibes, and flat- 
 tery, interspersed with quotations from tradition and the say- 
 ings of the Fathers, granting the reformer no opportunity to 
 speak. Seeing that the conference, thus continued, would be 
 utterly futile, Luther finally obtained a reluctant permission 
 to present his answer in writing. 
 
 " In so doing," said he, writing to a friend, " the oppressed 
 find double gain ; first, what is written may be submitted to 
 the judgment of others; and second, one has a better chance 
 of working on the fears, if not on the conscience, of an arro- 
 gant and babbling despot, who would otherwise overpower 
 by his imperious language." At the next interview, Luther 
 presented a clear, concise, and forcible exposition of his 
 views, fully supported by many quotations from Scripture. 
 This paper, after reading aloud, he handed to the cardinal, 
 who, however, cast it contemptuously aside, declaring it to 
 be a mass of idle words and irrelevant quotations. Luther, 
 fully roused, now met the haughty prelate on his own 
 ground, the traditions and teachings of the church, and 
 utterly overthrew his assumptions. 
 
 When the prelate saw that Luther's reasoning was unan- 
 swerable, he lost all self-control, and in a rage cried out: 
 "Retract, or I will send you to Rome, there to appear before 
 the judges commissioned to take cognizance of your case. I 
 will excommunicate you and all your partisans, and all who 
 shall at any time countenance you, and will cast them out 
 of the church." And he finally declared, in a haughty and 
 angry tone, " Retract, or return no more." 
 
 The reformer promptly withdrew with his friends, thus 
 declaring plainly that no retraction was to be expected from 
 him. This was not what the cardinal had purposed. He had 
 flattered himself that by violence he could awe Luther to 
 
LUTHER \S SEPARATION FROM ROME. 137 
 
 submission. Now, left alone with his supporters, he looked 
 from one to another, in utter chagrin at the unexpected 
 failure of his schemes. 
 
 Luther's efforts on this occasion were not without good 
 results. The large assembly present had opportunity to 
 compare the two men, and to judge for themselves of the 
 spirit manifested by them, as well as of the strength and 
 truthfulness of their positions. How marked the contrast! 
 The reformer, simple, humble, firm, stood up in the strength 
 of God, having truth on his side; the pope's representative, 
 self-important, overbearing, haughty, and unreasonable, was 
 without a single argument from the Scriptures, yet vehe- 
 mently crying, "Retract, or be sent to Rome for punishment." 
 
 Notwithstanding Luther had secured a safe-conduct, the 
 Romanists were plotting to seize an 1 imprison him. His 
 friends urged that as it was useless for him to prolong his 
 stay, he should return to Wittenberg without delay, and that 
 the utmost caution should be observed in order to conceal 
 his intentions. He accordingly left Augsburg before day- 
 break, on horseback, accompanied only by a guide furnished 
 him by the magistrate. With many forebodings he secretly 
 made his way through the dark and silent streets of the city. 
 Enemies, vigilant and cruel, were plotting his destruction. 
 Would he escape the snares prepared for him? Those were 
 moments of anxiety and earnest prayer. He reached a small 
 gate in the wall of the city. It was opened for him, and 
 with his guide he passed through without hindrance. Once 
 safely outside, the fugitives hastened their flight, and before 
 the legate learned of Luther's departure, he was beyond the 
 reach of his persecutors. Satan and his emissaries were 
 defeated. The man whom they had thought in their power 
 was gone, escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowler. 
 
 At the news of Luther's escape, the legate was over- 
 whelmed with surprise and anger. He had expected to 
 receive great honor for his wisdom and firmness in dealing 
 with this disturber of the church; but his hope was disap- 
 
138 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 pointed. He gave expression to his wrath in a letter to 
 Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, bitterly denouncing Lu- 
 ther, and demanding that Frederick send the reformer to 
 Rome or banish him from Saxony. 
 
 In defense, Luther urged that the legate or the pope show 
 him his errors from the Scriptures, and pledged himself in 
 the most solemn manner to renounce his doctrines if they 
 could be shown to contradict the Word of God. And he 
 expressed his gratitude to God- that he had been counted 
 worthy to suffer in so holy a cause. 
 
 The elector had, as yet, little knowledge of the reformed 
 doctrines, but he was deeply impressed by the candor, force, 
 and clearness of Luther's words; and, until the reformer 
 should be proved to be in error, Frederick resolved to stand 
 as his protector. In reply to the legate's demand he wrote: 
 " Since Doctor Martin has appeared before you at Augsburg, 
 you should be satisfied. We did not expect that you would 
 endeavor to make him retract without having convinced 
 him of his errors. None of the learned men in our prin- 
 cipality have informed us that Martin's doctrine is im- 
 pious, antichristian, or heretical. We must refuse, therefore, 
 either to send Luther to Rome or to expel him from our 
 States." 
 
 The elector saw that there was a general breaking down 
 of the moral restraints of society. A great work of reform 
 was needed. The complicated and expensive arrangements 
 to restrain and punish crime would be unnecessary if men 
 but acknowledged and obeyed the requirements of God and 
 the dictates of an enlightened conscience. He saw that Lu- 
 ther was laboring to secure this object, and he secretly 
 rejoiced that a better influence was making itself felt in the 
 church. 
 
 He saw also that as a professor in the university Luther 
 was eminently successful. Only a year had passed since 
 tin- reformer posted his theses on the castle church, yet there 
 was already a great falling off in the number of pilgrims 
 
L UTHERS SEPARA TION FROM ROME. 139 
 
 that visited the church at the festival of All-Saints. Rome 
 had been deprived of worshipers and offerings, but their 
 place was filled by another class, who now came to Witten- 
 berg, not pilgrims to adore her relics, but students to fill 
 her halls of learning. The writings of Luther had kindled 
 everywhere a new interest in 'the Holy Scriptures, and not 
 only from all parts of Germany, but from other lands, 
 students flocked to the university. Young men, coming in 
 sight of Wittenberg for the first time, would " raise their 
 hands to heaven, and bless God for having caused the 
 light of truth to shine forth from Wittenberg, as in former 
 ages from Mount Zion, that it might penetrate to the most 
 distant lands." 
 
 Luther was as yet but partially converted from the errors of 
 Romanism. But as he compared the Holy Oracles with the 
 papal decrees and constitutions, he was filled with wonder. 
 " I am reading," he wrote, " the decretals of the popes, and 
 . . . . I know not whether the pope is antichrist him- 
 self, or whether he is his apostle; so misrepresented and even 
 crucified does Christ appear in them." Yet at this time 
 Luther was still a supporter of the Roman Church, and 
 had no thought that he would ever separate from her com- 
 munion. 
 
 The reformer's writings and his doctrine were extending to 
 every nation in Christendom. The work spread to Switzer- 
 land and Holland. Copies of his writings found their way 
 to France and Spain. In England his teachings were 
 received as the word of life. To Belgium and Italy also the 
 truth had extended. Thousands were awakening from their 
 death-like stupor to the joy and hope of a life of faith. 
 
 Rome became more and more exasperated by the attacks of 
 Luther, and it was declared by some of his fanatical oppo- 
 nents, even by doctors in Catholic universities, that he who 
 should kill the rebellious monk would be without sin. One 
 day a stranger, with a pistol hidden under his cloak, ap- 
 proached the reformer, and inquired why he went thus 
 
140 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 alone. " I am in the hands of God/' answered Luther. "He 
 is my help and my shield. What can man do unto me?" 
 Upon hearing these words, the stranger turned pale, and fled 
 away, as from the presence of the angels of Heaven. 
 
 Rome was bent upon the destruction of Luther; but God 
 was his defense. His doctrines were heard everywhere, in 
 convents, in cottages, in the castles of the nobles, in the uni- 
 versities, in the palaces of kings; and noble men were rising 
 on every hand to sustain his efforts. 
 
 It was about this time that Luther, reading the works of 
 Huss, found that the great truth of justification by faith, 
 which he himself was seeking to uphold and teach, had been 
 held by the Bohemian reformer. " We have all," said Luther, 
 " Paul, Augustine, and myself, been Hussites without know- 
 ing it." " God will surely visit it upon the world," he con- 
 tinued, "that the truth was preached to it a century ago, and 
 burned." 
 
 In an appeal to the emperor and nobility of Germany in 
 behalf of the Reformation of Christianity, Luther wrote 
 concerning the pope: "It is monstrous to see him who is 
 called the vicar of Christ, displaying a magnificence un- 
 rivaled by that of any emperor. Is this to represent the 
 poor and lowly Jesus or the humble St. Peter? The pope, 
 say they, is the lord of the world! But Christ, whose vicar 
 he boasts of being, said, ' My kingdom is not of this world.' 
 Can the dominions of a vicar extend beyond those of his 
 superior?" 
 
 He wrote thus of the universities: "I fear much that the 
 universities will be found to be great gates leading down to 
 hell, unless they take diligent care to explain the Holy 
 Scriptures, and to engrave them in 1 lie hearts of our youth. 
 I advise no one to place his child where the Holy Scriptures 
 are not regarded as the rule of life. Every institution where 
 the Word of God is not diligently studied, must become 
 corrupt." 
 
 This appeal was rapidly circulated throughout Germany, 
 
L OTHERS SEPARA TION FR OM R OME. 141 
 
 and exerted a powerful influence upon the people. The 
 whole nation w-as stirred, and multitudes were roused to 
 rally around the standard of reform. Luther's opponents, 
 burning with a desire for revenge, urged the pope to take 
 decisive measures against him. It was decreed that his 
 doctrines should be immediately condemned. Sixty days 
 were granted the reformer and his adherents, after which, if 
 they did not recant, they were all to be excommunicated. 
 
 That was a terrible crisis for the Reformation. For cent- 
 uries Rome's sentence of excommunication had struck terror 
 to powerful monarchs; it had filled mighty empires with 
 woe and desolation. Those upon whom its condemnation 
 fell, were universally regarded with dread and horror; they 
 were cut off from intercourse with their fellows, and treated 
 as outlaws, to be hunted to extermination. Luther was not 
 blind to the tempest about to burst upon him ; but he stood 
 firm, trusting in Christ to be his support and shield. With 
 a martyr's faith and courage he wrote : " What is about to 
 happen I know not, and I care not to know." " Wherever 
 the blow may reach me, I fear not. Not so much as a leaf 
 falls without the will of our Father; how much rather will 
 he care for us ! It is a light matter to die for the Word, 
 since this Word, that was made flesh for us, hath himself 
 died. If we die with him, we shall live with him; and, 
 passing through that which he has passed through before 
 us, we shall be where he is, and dwell with him forever." 
 
 When the papal bull reached Luther, he said: "I despise 
 it, and resist it, as impious and false. . . . It is Christ 
 himself who is condemned therein." "I glory in the pros- 
 pect of suffering for the best of causes. Already I feel 
 greater liberty; for I know now that the pope is antichrist, 
 and that his throne is that of Satan himself." 
 
 Yet the mandate of Rome, was not without effect. Prison, 
 torture, and sword were weapons potent to enforce obedience. 
 The weak and superstitious trembled before the decree of the 
 pope, and while there was general sympathy for Luther, 
 
142 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 many felt that life was too dear to be risked in the cause of 
 reform. Everything seemed to indicate that the reformer's 
 work was about to close. 
 
 But Luther was fearless still. Rome had hurled her 
 anathemas against him, and the world looked on, nothing 
 doubting that he would perish or be forced to yield. But 
 with terrible power he flung back upon herself the sentence 
 of condemnation, and publicly declared his determination 
 to abandon her forever. In the presence of a crowd of 
 students, doctors, and citizens of all ranks, Luther burned 
 the pope's bull, with the canon laws, the decretals, and cer- 
 tain writings sustaining the papal power. "My enemies 
 have been able by burning my books," he said, "to injure 
 the cause of truth in the minds of some, and to destroy souls; 
 for this reason I consume their books in return. A serious 
 struggle has just commenced. Hitherto I have been playing 
 with the pope; now I wage open war. I began this work 
 in God's name; it will be ended without me, and by his 
 might," 
 
 To the reproaches of his enemies, who taunted him with 
 the weakness of his cause, Luther answered : " Who knows 
 if God has not chosen and called me to perform this needed 
 work, and if these babblers ought not to fear that by despis- 
 ing me, they despise God himself? They say I am alone; 
 no, for Jehovah is with me. In their sense, Moses was alone 
 at the departure from Egypt; Elijah was alone in the reign 
 of King Ahab; Isaiah was alone in Jerusalem; Ezekiel was 
 alone in Babylon. Hear this, Rome: God never selected 
 as a prophet either the high priest or any great personage; 
 but rather, he chose low and despised men, once even the 
 shepherd Amos. In every age the saints have been com- 
 pel led to rebuke kings, princes, recreant priests, and wise 
 mm at the peril of their lives." "I do not say that I also 
 am a prophe.t; but I do say that they ought to fear precisely 
 because I am alone, while on the side of the oppressor arc 
 numbers, caste, wealth, and mocking letters. Yes, I am 
 
LUTHER'S SEPARA TION FROM ROME, 143 
 
 alone; but I stand serene, because side by side with me is 
 the Word of God; and with all their boasted numbers, this, 
 the greatest of powers, is not with them." 
 
 Yet it was not without a terrible struggle with himself 
 that Luther decided upon a final separation from the church. 
 It was about this time that he wrote: "I feel more and more 
 every day how difficult it is to lay aside the scruples which 
 one has imbibed in childhood. Oh, how much pain it cost 
 me, though I had the Scriptures on my side, to justify it to 
 myself that I should dare to make a stand alone against the 
 pope, and hold him forth as antichrist! What have the 
 tribulations of my heart not been ! How many times have 
 I asked myself with bitterness that question which was so 
 frequent on the lips of the papists: 'Art thou alone wise? 
 Can every one else be mistaken? How will it be, if, after 
 all, it is thyself who art wrong, and who art involving 
 in thy error so many souls, who will then be eternally 
 damned?' 'Twas so I fought with myself and with Satan, 
 till Christ, by his infallible Word, fortified my heart against 
 these doubts." 
 
 The pope had threatened Luther with excommunication 
 if he did not recant, and the threat was now fulfilled. A 
 new bull appeared, declaring the reformer's final separation 
 from the Romish Church, denouncing him as accursed of 
 Heaven, and including in the same condemnation all who 
 should receive his doctrines. The great contest had been 
 fully entered upon. 
 
 Opposition is the lot of all whom God employs to present 
 truths specially applicable to their time. There was a pres- 
 ent truth in the days of Luther, a truth at that time of 
 special importance ; there is a present truth for the church 
 to-day. He who does all things according to the counsel of 
 his will, has been pleased to place men under various cir- 
 cumstances, and to enjoin upon them duties peculiar to the 
 times in which they live, and the conditions under which 
 they are placed. If they would prize the light given them, 
 
144 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 broader views of truth would be opened before them. But 
 truth is no more desired by the majority to-day than it was 
 by the papists who opposed Luther. There is the same 
 disposition to accept the theories and traditions of men in- 
 stead of the Word of God as in former ages. Those who 
 present the truth for this time should not expect to be re- 
 ceived with greater favor than were earlier reformers. The 
 great controversy between truth and error, between Christ 
 and Satan, is to increase in intensity to the close of this 
 world's history. 
 
 Said Jesus to his disciples: "If ye were of the world, the 
 world would love his own; but because ye are not of the 
 world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the 
 world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto 
 you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they 
 have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they 
 have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." 1 And on 
 the other hand our Lord declared plainly: " Woe unto you, 
 when all men shall speak well of you ! for so did their fathers 
 to the false prophets." 2 The spirit of the world is no more 
 in harmony with the Spirit of Christ to-day than in earlier 
 times; and those who preach the Word of God in its purity 
 will be received with no greater favor now than then. The 
 forms of opposition to the truth may change, the enmity 
 maybe less open because it is more subtle; but the same 
 antagonism still exists, and will be manifested to the end of 
 time. 
 
 1 John 15 : 19, 20. ' Luke 6 : 26. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 UJTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 
 
 A NEW emperor, Charles V., had ascended the throne of 
 Germany, and the emissaries of Rome hastened to present 
 their congratulations, and induce the monarch to employ his 
 power against the Reformation. On the other hand, the 
 Elector of Saxony, to whom Charles was in great degree 
 indebted for his crown, entreated him to take no step against 
 Luther until he should have granted him a hearing. The 
 emperor was thus placed in a position of great perplexity 
 and embarrassment. The papists would be satisfied with 
 nothing short of an imperial edict sentencing Luther to 
 death. The elector had declared firmly that " neither his 
 imperial majesty nor any one else had yet made it appear to 
 him that the reformer's writings had been refuted ; " there- 
 fore he requested "that Doctor Luther be furnished with a 
 safe-conduct, so that he might answer for himself before a 
 tribunal of learned, pious, and impartial judges." 
 
 The attention of all parties was now directed to the assem- 
 bly of the German States which convened at Worms soon 
 after the accession of Charles to the empire. There were 
 important political questions and interests to be considered 
 by this national council; for the first time the princes of 
 Germany were to meet their youthful monarch in deliber- 
 ative assembly. From all parts of the Fatherland had come 
 the dignitaries of Church and State. Secular lords, high- 
 born, powerful, and jealous of their hereditary rights; 
 princely ecclesiastics, flushed with their conscious superiority 
 in rank and power; courtly knights and their armed re- 
 tainers; and ambassadors from foreign and distant lands all 
 12 (U5) 
 
146 Till: (iUKAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 gathered at Worms. Yet in that vast assembly the subject 
 that excited the deepest interest, was the cause of the Saxon 
 reformer. 
 
 Charles had previously directed the elector to bring Lu- 
 ther with him to the Diet, assuring him of protection, and 
 promising a free discussion, with competent persons, of the 
 questions in dispute. Luther was anxious to appear before 
 the emperor. His health was at this time much impaired; 
 yet he wrote to the elector: "If I cannot perform the jour- 
 ney to Worms in good health, 1 will be carried there, sick as 
 I am. For, since the emperor has summoned me, I cannot 
 doubt that it is the call of God himself. If they intend to 
 use violence against me, as they probably do, for assuredly 
 it is with no view of gaining information that they require me 
 to appear before them, I place the matter in the Lord's hands. 
 He still lives and reigns who preserved the three Israelites 
 in the fiery furnace. If it be not his will to save me. my 
 life is of little consequence. Let us only take care that the 
 gospel be not exposed to the scorn of the ungodly, and let 
 us shed our blood in its defense rather than allow them to 
 triumph. Who shall say whether my life or my death 
 would contribute most to the salvation of my brethren?" 
 " Expect anything from me but flight or recantation. Fly 
 I cannot; still less can I recant." 
 
 As the news was circulated at Worms that Luther was to 
 appear before the Diet, a general excitement was created. 
 Aleander, the papal legate to whom the case had been spe- 
 cially intrusted, was alarmed and enraged. He saw that the 
 result would be disastrous to the papal cause. To institute 
 inquiry into a case in which the pope had already pronounced 
 sentence of condemnation, would be to cast contempt 11} ton 
 the authority of the sovereign pontiff. Furthermore, he was 
 apprehensive that the eloquent and powerful arguments of 
 this man might turn away many of the princes from the 
 cause of the pope. He therefore, in the most urgent manner, 
 remonstrated with Charles against Luther's appearance at 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 147 
 
 
 
 Worms. About this time the bull declaring Luther's excom- 
 munication was published ; and this, coupled with the repre- 
 sentations of the legate, induced the emperor to yield. He 
 wrote to the elector that if Luther would not retract, he must 
 remain at Wittenberg. 
 
 Not content with this victory, Aleander labored with all 
 the power and cunning at his command to secure Luther's 
 condemnation. With a persistence worthy of a better cause, 
 he urged the matter upon the attention of princes, prelates, 
 and other members of the assembly, accusing the reformer 
 of sedition, rebellion, impiety, and blasphemy. But the 
 vehemence and passion manifested by the legate revealed 
 too plainly the spirit by which he was actuated. " Hatred 
 and thirst for vengeance," said a papist writer, " are his mo- 
 tives, rather than true zeal for religion." The majority of 
 the Diet were more than ever inclined to regard Luther's 
 cause with favor. 
 
 With redoubled zeal, Aleander urged upon the emperor 
 the duty of executing the papal edicts. But under the laws 
 of Germany this could not be done without the concurrence 
 of the princes, and, overcome at last by the legate's importu- 
 nity, Charles bade him present his case to the Diet. " It 
 was a proud day for the nuncio. The assembly was a great 
 one ; the cause was even greater. Aleander was to plead for 
 Rome, the mother and mistress of all churches ; he was to 
 vindicate the princedom of Peter before the assembled prin- 
 cipalities of Christendom. He had the gift of eloquence, 
 and he rose to the greatness of the occasion. Providence 
 ordered it that Rome should appear and plead by the ablest 
 of her orators in the presence of the most august of tri- 
 bunals, before she was condemned." With some misgiv- 
 ings those who favored the reformer looked forward to the 
 effect of Aleander 's speech. The Elector of Saxony was not 
 present, but by his direction some of his councillors attended, 
 to take notes of the nuncio's address. 
 
 With all the power of learning and eloquence, Aleander 
 
148 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 set himself to overthrow the truth. Charge after charge he 
 hurled against Luther as an enemy of the Church and the 
 State, the living and the dead, clergy and laity, councils 
 and private Christians. "There is enough in the errors of 
 Luther/' he declared, "to warrant the burning of a hundred 
 thousand heretics." 
 
 In conclusion, he endeavored to cast contempt upon the 
 adherents of the reformed faith : " What are all these Luther- 
 ans? A motley rabble of insolent grammarians, corrupt 
 priests, dissolute monks, ignorant lawyers, and degraded 
 nobles, with the common people whom they have misled 
 and perverted. How greatly superior is the Catholic party 
 in numbers, intelligence, and power! A unanimous decree 
 from this illustrious assembly will open the eyes of the 
 simple, show the unwary their danger, determine the wa- 
 vering, and strengthen the weak-hearted." 
 
 With such weaqons the advocates of truth in every age 
 have been attacked. The same arguments are still urged 
 against all who dare to present, in opposition to established 
 errors, the plain and direct teachings of God's Word. " Who 
 are these preachers of new doctrines?" exclaim those who 
 desire a popular religion. "They are unlearned, few in 
 numbers, and of the poorer class. Yet they claim to have 
 the truth, and to be the chosen people of God. They are 
 ignorant and deceived. How greatly superior in numbers 
 and influence is our church! How many great and learned 
 men are among us! How much more power is on our side! " 
 These are the arguments that have a telling influence upon 
 the world; but they are no more conclusive now than in 
 the days of the reformer. 
 
 The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with 
 Luther. It is to be continued to the close of this world's 
 history. Luther had a great work to do in reflecting to 
 others the light which God had permitted to shine upon 
 him; yet he did not receive all the light which was to be 
 given to the world. From that time to this, new light has 
 
LUTHER BEFORE TITE DIET. 149 
 
 been continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new 
 truths have been constantly unfolding. 
 
 The legate's address made a deep impression upon the 
 Diet. There was no Luther present, with the clear and con- 
 vincing truths of God's Word, to vanquish the papal cham- 
 pion. No attempt was made to defend the reformer. There 
 was manifest a general disposition not only to condemn him 
 and the doctrines which he taught, but if possible to uproot 
 the heresy. Rome had enjoyed the most favorable oppor- 
 tunity to defend her cause. All that she could say in her 
 own vindication had been said. But the apparent victory 
 was the signal of defeat. Henceforth the contrast between 
 truth and error would be more clearly seen, as they should 
 take the field in open warfare. Never from that day would 
 Rome stand as secure as she had stood. 
 
 While most of the members of the Diet would not have 
 hesitated to yield up Luther to the vengeance of Rome, many 
 of them saw and deplored the existing depravity in the 
 church, and desired a suppression of the abuses suffered by 
 the German people in consequence of the corruption and 
 greed of the hierarchy. The legate had presented the papal 
 rule in the most favorable light. Now the Lord moved 
 upon a member of the Diet to give a true delineation of the 
 effects of papal tyranny. With noble firmness, Duke George 
 of Saxony stood up in that princely assembly, and specified 
 with terrible exactness the deceptions and abominations of 
 popery, and their dire results. In closing he said: 
 
 "These are but a few of the abuses which cry out against 
 Rome for redress. All shame is laid aside, and one object 
 alone incessantly pursued : money ! evermore money ! so that 
 the very men whose duty it is to teach the truth, utter noth- 
 ing but falsehoods, and are not only tolerated but rewarded; 
 because the greater their lies, the greater are their gains. 
 This is the foul source from which so many corrupt streams 
 flow out on every side. Profligacy and avarice go hand in 
 hand." "Alas! it is the scandal caused by the clergy that 
 
150 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 plunges so many poor souls into everlasting perdition. A 
 thorough reform must be effected." 
 
 A more able and forcible denunciation of the papal abuses 
 could not have been presented by Luther himself; and the 
 fact that the speaker was a determined enemy of the re- 
 former, gave greater influence to his words. 
 
 Had the eyes of the assembly been opened, they would 
 have beheld angels of God in the midst of them, shedding 
 beams of light athwart the darkness of error, and opening 
 minds and hearts to the reception of truth. It was the 
 power of the God of truth and wisdom that controlled even 
 the adversaries of the Reformation, and thus prepared the 
 way for the great work about to be accomplished. Martin 
 Luther was not present; but the voice of One greater than 
 Luther had been heard in that assembly. 
 
 A committee was at once appointed by the Diet to prepare 
 an enumeration of the papal oppressions that weighed so 
 heavily on the German people. This list, containing a 
 hundred and one specifications, was presented to the emperor, 
 with a request that he would take immediate measures for 
 the correction of these abuses. "What a loss of Christian 
 souls," said the petitioners, "what injustice, what extortion, 
 are the daily fruits of those scandalous practices to which 
 the spiritual head of Christendom affords his countenance. 
 The ruin and dishonor of our nation must be averted. We 
 therefore very humbly, but very urgently, beseech you to 
 sanction a general Reformation, to undertake the work, and 
 to carry it through." 
 
 The council now demanded the reformer's appearance 
 before them. Notwithstanding the entreaties, protests, and 
 threats of Aleander, the emperor at last consented, and 
 Luther was summoned to appear before the Diet. With the 
 summons was issued a safe-conduct, insuring his return to a 
 place of security. These were borne to Wittenberg by a 
 herald, who was commissioned to conduct him to Worms. 
 The friends of Luther were terrified and distressed. 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 151 
 
 Knowing the prejudice and enmity against him, they 
 feared that even his safe-conduct would not be respected, 
 and they entreated him not to imperil his life. He replied: 
 "The papists have little desire to see me at Worms, but they 
 long for my condemnation and death. It matters riot. 
 Pray not for me, but for the Word of God. . . . Christ 
 will give me his Spirit to overcome these ministers of Satan. 
 I despise them while I live; I will triumph over them by 
 my death. They are busy at Worms about compelling me 
 to recant. My recantation shall be this: I said formerly 
 that the pope was Christ's vicar; now I say that he is the 
 adversary of the Lord, and the apostle of the devil." 
 
 Luther was not to make his perilous journey alone. Be- 
 sides the imperial messenger, three of his firmest friends 
 determined to accompany him. Melaiicthon earnestly de- 
 sired to join them. His heart was knit to Luther's, and he 
 yearned to follow him, if need be, to prison or to death. 
 But his entreaties were denied. Should Luther perish, the 
 hopes of the Reformation must center upon his youthful 
 co-laborer. Said the reformer as he parted front Melancthon, 
 " If I do not return, and my enemies put me to death, con- 
 tinue to teach; stand fast in the truth. Labor in my stead; 
 ... if thy life be spared, my death will matter little." 
 Students and citizens who had gathered to witness Luther's 
 departure were deeply moved. A multitude whose hearts 
 had been touched by the gospel, bade him farewell with 
 weeping. Thus the reformer and his companions set out 
 from Wittenberg. 
 
 On the journey they saw that the minds of the people 
 were oppressed by gloomy forebodings. At some towns no 
 honors were proffered them. As they stopped for the night, 
 a friendly priest expressed his fears by holding up before 
 Luther the portrait of an Italian reformer who had suffered 
 martyrdom. The next day they learned that Luther's writ- 
 ings had been condemned at Worms. Imperial messengers 
 were proclaiming the emperor's decree, and calling upon 
 
152 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the people to bring the proscribed works to the magistrates. 
 The herald, fearing for Luther's safety at the council, and 
 thinking that already his resolution might be shaken, asked 
 if he still wished to go forward. He answered, " I will go on, 
 though I should be put under interdict in every town." 
 
 At Erfurt, Luther was received with honor. Surrounded 
 by admiring crowds, he passed through the streets that he 
 had often traversed with his beggar's wallet. He visited his 
 convent cell, and thought upon the struggles through which 
 the light now flooding Germany had been shed upon his 
 soul. He was urged to preach. This he had been forbidden 
 to do, but the herald granted him permission, and the friar 
 who had once been made the drudge of the convent, now 
 entered the pulpit. 
 
 To a crowded assembly he spoke from the words of Christ, 
 "Peace be unto you." "Philosophers, doctors, and writers," 
 he said, " have endeavored to teach men the way to obtain 
 everlasting life, and they have not succeeded. I will now 
 tell it to you." "God has raised one Man from the dead, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that he might destroy death, expiate sin, 
 and shut the gates of hell. This is the work of salvation. 
 Christ has vanquished! This is the joyful news! And we 
 are saved by his work, and not by our own. . . . Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ said, 'Peace be unto you! behold my 
 hands' that is to say, Behold, man! it is I, I alone, who 
 have taken away thy sins, an<J ransomed thee; and now 
 thou hast peace, saith the Lord." 
 
 He continued, showing that true faith will be manifested 
 by a holy life. "Since God has saved us, let us so order our 
 works that he may take pleasure in them. Art thou rich? 
 let thy riches be the supply of other men's poverty. Art 
 thou poor? let thy service minister to the rich. If thy 
 labor is for thyself alone, the service thou offerest to God is 
 a mere pretense." 
 
 The people listened as if spell-bound. The bread of life 
 was broken to those starving souls. Christ was lifted up 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 153 
 
 before them as above popes, legates, emperors, and kings. 
 Luther made no reference to his own. perilous position. He 
 did not seek to make himself the object of thought or sym- 
 pathy. In the contemplation of Christ, he had lost sight of 
 self. Ho hid behind the Man of Calvary, seeking only to 
 present Jesus as the sinner's Redeemer. 
 
 As the reformer proceeded on his journey, he was every- 
 where regarded with great interest. An eager multitude 
 thronged about him ; and friendly voices warned him of the 
 purpose of the Romanists. " You will be burned alive," said 
 they, " and your body reduced to ashes, as was that of John 
 Huss." Luther answered, "Though they should kindle a 
 fire all the way from Worms to Wittenberg, whose flames 
 should rise up to heaven, I would go through it in the name 
 of the Lord, and stand before them; I would enter the jaws 
 of this behemoth, and break his teeth, confessing the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 The news of his approach to Worms created great com- 
 motion. His friends trembled for his safety; his enemies 
 feared for the success of their cause. Strenuous efforts were 
 made to dissuade him from entering the city. At the insti- 
 gation of the papists he was urged to repair to the castle of 
 a friendly knight, where, it was declared, all difficulties could 
 be amicably adjusted. Friends endeavored to excite his 
 fears by describing the dangers that threatened him. All 
 their efforts failed. Luther, still unshaken; declared, " Though 
 there should be as many devils at Worms as there are tiles 
 on its roofs, I would enter." 
 
 Upon his arrival at Worms, a vast crowd flocked to the 
 gates to welcome him. So great a concourse had not as- 
 sembled to greet the emperor himself. The excitement was 
 intense, and from the midst of the throng a shrill and plaint- 
 ive voice chanted a funeral dirge, as a warning to Luther of 
 the fate that awaited him. " God will be my defense," said 
 he, as he alighted from his carriage. 
 
 The papists had not believed that Luther would really 
 
154 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 venture to appear at Worms, and his arrival filled them 
 with consternation. The emperor immediately summoned 
 his councillors to consider what course should be pursued. 
 One of the bishops, a rigid papist, declared : " We have long 
 consulted on this matter. Let your majesty rid yourself of 
 this man at once. Did not Sigismund bring John Huss to 
 the stake? We are under no obligation either to give or to 
 observe the safe-conduct of a heretic." "Not so," said the 
 emperor; "we must keep our promise." It was therefore 
 decided that the reformer should be heard. 
 
 All the city were eager to see this remarkable man, and 
 a throng of visitors soon filled his lodgings. Luther had 
 scarcely recovered from his recent illness; he was wearied 
 from the journey, which had occupied two full weeks; he 
 must prepare to meet the momentous events of the morrow, 
 and he needed quiet and repose. But so great was the 
 desire to see him, that he had enjoyed only a few hours' 
 rest, when noblemen, knights, priests, and citizens gathered 
 3agerly about him. Among these were many of the nouies 
 who had so boldly demanded of the emperor a reform of 
 ecclesiastical abuses, and who, says Luther, " had all been 
 freed by my gospel." Enemies, as well as friends, came to 
 look upon the dauntless monk, but he received them with 
 unshaken calmness, replying to all with dignity and wisdom. 
 His bearing was firm and courageous. His pale, thin face, 
 marked with the traces of toil and illness, wore a kindly 
 and even joyous expression. The solemnity and deep ear- 
 nestness of his words gave him a power that even his ene- 
 mies could not wholly withstand. Both friends and foes 
 were filled with wonder. Some were convinced that a divine 
 influence attended him; others declared, as had the Phari- 
 sees concerning Christ, " He hath a devil." 
 
 On the following day, Luther was summoned to attend 
 the Diet. An imperial officer was appointed to conduct him 
 t< the hall of audience; yet it was with difficulty that he 
 reached the place. Every avenue was crowded with spec- 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 155 
 
 tators, eager to look upon the monk who had dared resist 
 the authority of the pope. 
 
 As he was about to enter the presence of his judges, an 
 old general, the hero of many battles, said to him kindly, 
 " Poor monk ! poor monk ! thou hast a march and a struggle 
 to go through, such as neither I nor many other captains 
 have ever known in our most bloody battles. But if thy 
 cause be just, and thou art sure of it, go forward in God's 
 name, and fear nothing ! He will not forsake thee." 
 
 At length Luther stood before the council. The emperor 
 occupied the throne. He was surrounded by the most illus- 
 trious personages in the empire. Never had any man ap- 
 peared in the presence of a more imposing assembly than 
 that before which Martin Luther was to answer for his faith. 
 "This appearance was of itself a signal victory over the 
 papacy. The pope had condemned the man, and he was 
 now standing before a tribunal which, by this very act, set 
 itself above the pope. The pope had laid him under an 
 interdict, and cut him off from all human society, and yet 
 he was summoned in respectful language, and received 
 before the most august assembly in the world. The pope 
 had condemned him to perpetual silence, and he was now 
 about to speak before thousands of attentive hearers drawn 
 together from the furthest parts of Christendom. An immense 
 revolution had thus been effected by Luther's instrumen- 
 tality. Rome was already descending from her throne, and 
 it was the voice of a monk that caused this humiliation." 
 
 In the presence of that powerful and titled assembly, the 
 low r ly-born reformer seemed awed and embarrassed. Sev- 
 eral of the princes, observing his emotion, approached him, 
 and one of them whispered, " Fear not them which kill the 
 body, but are not able to kill the soul." Another said, 
 "When ye shall be brought before governors and kings for 
 My sake, it shall be given you, by the Spirit of your Father, 
 what ye shall say." Thus the words of Christ were brought 
 by the world's great men to strengthen his servant in the 
 hour of trial 
 
156 THE GREAT C 
 
 Luther was conducted to a position directly in front of 
 the emperor's throne. A deep silence fell upon the crowded 
 assembly. Then an imperial officer arose, and, pointing to 
 a collection of Luther's writings, demanded that the reformer 
 answer two questions, whether he acknowledged them as 
 his, and whether he proposed to retract the opinions which 
 he had therein advanced. The titles of the books having 
 been read, Luther replied that as to the first question, he 
 acknowledged the books to be his. " As to the second," he 
 said, " seeing it is a question which concerns faith, the sal- 
 vation of souls, and the Word of God, which is the greatest 
 and most precious treasure either in Heaven or earth, it 
 would be rash and perilous for me to reply without reflec- 
 tion. I might affirm less than the circumstances demand, 
 or more than truth requires; in either case I should fall 
 under the sentence of Christ: 'Whosoever shall deny me 
 before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is 
 in Heaven.' 1 For this reason I entreat your imperial 
 majesty, with all humility, to allow me time, that I may 
 answer without offending against the Word of God." 
 
 In making this request, Luther moved wisely. His course 
 convinced the assembly that he did not act from passion or 
 impulse. Such calmness and self-command, unexpected in 
 one who had shown himself bold and uncompromising, 
 added to his power, and enabled him afterward to answer 
 with a prudence, decision, wisdom, and dignity, that sur- 
 prised and disappointed his adversaries, and rebuked their 
 insolence and pride. 
 
 The next day he was to appear to render his final answer. 
 For a time his heart sunk within him as he contemplated 
 the forces that were C9mbined against the truth. His faith 
 faltered; fearfulness and trembling came upon him, and 
 horror overwhelmed him. Dangers multiplied before him, 
 his enemies seemed about to triumph, and the powers of 
 darkness to prevail. Clouds gathered about him, and seemed 
 to separate him from God. lie longed for the assurance 
 
 1 Matt. 10:33. 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 157 
 
 that the Lord of hosts would be with him. In anguish of 
 spirit he threw himself with his face upon the earth, and 
 poured out those broken, heart-rending cries, which none 
 but God can fully understand. 
 
 "0 God," he pleaded, "Almighty God everlasting! How 
 dreadful is the world! Behold how it opens its mouth to 
 swallow me up, and how small is my faith in thee ! ... If 
 I am to depend upon any strength of this world all is 
 over. . . . The knell is struck. . . . Sentence is 
 gone forth. ... thou my God! help me against all 
 the wisdom of this world. Do this, I beseech thee . . . 
 by thine own mighty power. . . . The work is not mine, 
 but thine. I have no business here. ... I have nothing 
 to contend for with the great men of the world. . . . But 
 the cause is thine, . . . and it is righteous and everlasting. 
 ... faithful and unchangeable God ! I lean not upon 
 man. . . . Whatever is from man is tottering, whatever 
 proceeds from him must fall. . . . Thou hast chosen me 
 for this work. . . . Therefore, God, accomplish thine 
 own will ; forsake me not, for the sake of thy well-beloved 
 Son, Jesus Christ, my defense, my buckler, and my strong- 
 hold." 
 
 An all-wise Providence had permitted Luther to realize his 
 peril, that he might not trust to his own strength, and rush 
 presumptuously into danger. Yet it was not the fear of per- 
 sonal suffering, a dread of torture or death, which seemed 
 immediately impending, that overwhelmed him with its ter- 
 ror. He had come to the crisis, and he felt his insufficiency 
 to meet it. Through his weakness the cause of truth might 
 suffer loss. Not for his own safety, but for the triumph of 
 the gospel did he wrestle with God. Like Israel's, in that 
 night struggle beside the lonely stream, was the anguish and 
 conflict of his soul. Like Israel, he prevailed with God. In 
 his utter helplessness his faith fastened upon Christ, the 
 mighty deliverer. He was strengthened with the assurance 
 that he would not appear alone before the council. Peace 
 
THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 returned to his soul, and he rejoiced that he was permitted 
 to uplift the Word of God before the rulers of the nation. 
 
 With his mind stayed upon God, Luther prepared for the 
 struggle before him. He thought upon the plan of his an- 
 swer, examined passages in his own writings, and drew from 
 the Holy Scriptures suitable proofs to sustain his positions. 
 Then, laying his left hand on the sacred volume, which was 
 open before him, he lifted his right hand to heaven, and 
 \-owed "to adhere constantly to the gospel, and to confess his 
 faith freely, even though he should be called to seal his tes- 
 timony with his blood." 
 
 AY hen he was again ushered into the presence of the Diet, 
 his countenance bore no trace of fear or embarrassment. 
 Calm and peaceful, yet grandly brave and noble, he stood 
 as God's witness among the great ones of the earth. The 
 imperial officer now demanded his decision as to whether 
 he desired to retract his doctrines. Luther made his an- 
 swer in a subdued and humble tone, without violence or 
 passion. His demeanor was diffident and respectful; yet he 
 manifested a confidence and joy that surprised the assembly. 
 
 "Most serene emperor, illustrious princes, most clement 
 lords," said Luther, " I this day appear before you in all hu- 
 mility, according to your command; and I implore your 
 majesty, and your august highnesses, by the mercies of God, 
 to listen with favor to the defense of a cause which I am 
 well assured is just and right. If in my reply I do not use 
 the just ceremonial of a court, pardon me, for I am not 
 familiar with its usages. I am but a poor monk, a child of 
 the cell, and I have labored only for the glory of God." 
 
 Then, proceeding to the question, he stated that his pub- 
 lished works were not all of the same character. In some 
 he had treated of faith and good works, and even his ene- 
 mies declared them not only harmless but profitable. To 
 retract these would-be to condemn truths" which all parties 
 confessed. The second class consisted of \\rilingsexposing 
 the corruptions and abuses of the papacy. To revoke these 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 159 
 
 works would strengthen the tyranny of Home, and open a 
 wider door to many and great impieties. In the third class 
 of his books he had attacked individuals who had defended 
 existing evils. Concerning these he freely confessed that he 
 had been more violent than was becoming. He did not 
 claim to be free from fault; but even these books he could 
 not revoke, for such a course would embolden the enemies 
 of truth, and they would then take occasion to crush God's 
 people with still greater cruelty. 
 
 "But as I am a mere man, and not God," he continued, 
 " I will defend myself as did Christ, who said, ' If I have 
 spoken evil, bear witness of the evil/ By the mercy of God, 
 I implore your imperial 'majesty, or any one else who 
 can, whoever he may be, to prove to me from the writ- 
 ings of the prophets and apostles that I am in error. As 
 soon as I shall be convinced, I will instantly retract all my 
 errors, and will be the first to cast my books into the fire. 
 "What I have just said, will show that I have considered 
 and weighed the dangers to which I am exposing myself; 
 but far from being dismayed by them, I rejoice exceedingly 
 to see the gospel this day, as of old, a cause of trouble and 
 dissension. This is the character, the destiny, of God's 
 Word. Said Christ, ' I came not to send peace, but a sword/ l 
 God is wonderful and terrible in his counsels. Let us have 
 a care lest in our endeavors to arrest discords we be found to 
 fight against the holy Word of God, and bring down upon 
 our heads a frightful deluge of inextricable dangers, pres- 
 ent disaster, and everlasting desolation. ... I might 
 cite examples drawn from the oracles of God. I might 
 speak of Pharaohs, of kings of Babylon, or of Israel, who 
 were never more contributing to their own ruin than when, 
 by measures in appearance most prudent, they thought to 
 establish their authority. God ' removeth the mountains, and 
 they know not.'" 2 
 
 Luther had spoken in German; he was now requested to 
 
 13 * Matt. 10: 34. a Job 9:5. 
 
160 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 repeat the same words in Latin. Though exhausted by the 
 previous effort, he complied, and again delivered his speech, 
 with the same clearness and energy as at the first. God's 
 providence directed in this matter. The minds of many of 
 the princes were so blinded by error and superstition that 
 at the first delivery they did not see the force of Luther's 
 reasoning; but the repetition enabled them to perceive clearly 
 the points presented. 
 
 .Those who stubbornly closed their eyes to the light, and 
 determined not to be convinced of the truth, were enraged 
 at the power of Luther's words. As he ceased speaking, 
 the spokesman of the Diet said angrily, " You have not an- 
 swered the question. A clear and express reply is demanded. 
 "Will you or will you not retract?" 
 
 The reformer answered : " Since your most serene majesty 
 and the princes require a simple, clear, and direct answer, I 
 will give one, and it is this : I cannot submit my faith either to 
 the pope or to the councils, because it is as clear as noonday 
 that they have often fallen into error, and even into glaring 
 inconsistency with themselves. If, then, I am not convinced 
 by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons; if I am 
 not satisfied by the very texts that I have cited, and if my 
 judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's 
 Word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot 
 be right for a Christian to speak against his conscience. 
 Here I take my stand; I cannot do otherwise. God be my 
 help ! Amen." 
 
 Thus stood this righteous man, upon the sure foundation 
 of the Word of God. The light of Heaven illuminated 
 his countenance. His greatness and purity of character, his 
 peace and joy of heart, were manifest to all as he testified 
 against the power of error, and witnessed to the superiority 
 of that faith that overcomes the world. 
 
 The whole assembly were for a time speechless with 
 amazement. At his first answer, Luther had spoken in a 
 low tone, with a respectful, almost submissive bearing. The 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 161 
 
 Romanists had interpreted this as evidence that his courage 
 was beginning to fail. They regarded the request for delay 
 as merely the prelude to his recantation. Charles himself, 
 noting, half contemptuously, the monk's worn frame, his 
 plain attire, and tne simplicity of his address, had declared, 
 " This man will never make a heretic of me." The courage 
 and firmness which he now displayed, as well as the power 
 and clearness of his reasoning, filled all parties with sur- 
 prise. The emperor, moved to admiration, exclaimed, "The 
 monk speaks with intrepid heart and unshaken courage." 
 Many of the German princes looked with pride and joy 
 upon this representative of their nation. 
 
 The partisans of Rome had been worsted; their cause 
 appeared in a most unfavorable light. They sought to 
 maintain their power, not by appealing to the Scriptures, 
 but by a resort to threats, Rome's unfailing argument. 
 Said the spokesman of the Diet, " If you do not retract, the 
 emperor and the States of the empire will proceed to con- 
 sider how to deal with an obstinate heretic." 
 
 Luther's friends, who had with great joy listened to his 
 noble defense, trembled at these words ; but the doctor him- 
 self said calmly, " May God be my helper ! for I can retract 
 nothing." 
 
 He was directed to . withdraw from the Diet, while the 
 princes consulted together. It was felt that a great crisis 
 had come. Luther's persistent refusal to submit, might 
 affect the history of the church for ages. It was decided to 
 give him one more opportunity to retract. For the last 
 time he was brought into the assembly. Again the question 
 was put, whether he would renounce his doctrines. " I have 
 no other answer to give," he said, "than I have already 
 given." It was evident that he could not be induced, either 
 by promises or threats, to yield to the mandate of Rome. 
 
 The papist leaders were chagrined that their power, which 
 had caused kings and nobles to tremble, should be thus 
 despised by a humble monk; they longed to make him feel 
 
162 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 their wrath by torturing his life away. But Luther, under- 
 standing his danger, had spoken to all with Christian dig- 
 nity and calmness. His words had been free from pride, 
 passion, and misrepresentation. He had lost sight of him- 
 self, and of the great men surrounding .him, and felt only 
 that lie was in the presence of One infinitely superior to 
 popes, prelates, kings, and emperors. Christ had spoken 
 through Luther's testimony with a power and grandeur that 
 for the time inspired both friends and foes with awe and 
 wonder. The Spirit of God had been present in that council, 
 impressing the hearts of the chiefs of the empire. Several 
 of the princes boldly acknowledged the justice of Luther's 
 cause. Many were convinced of the truth ; but with some the 
 impressions received were not lasting. There was another 
 class who did not at the time express their convictions, but 
 who, having searched the Scriptures for themselves, at a 
 future time became fearless supporters of the Reformation. 
 
 The elector Frederick had looked forward anxiously to 
 Luther's appearance before the Diet, and with deep emotion 
 he listened to his speech. With joy and pride he witnessed 
 the doctor's courage, firmness, and self-possession, and deter- 
 mined to stand more firmly in his defense. He contrasted 
 the parties in contest, and saw that the wisdom of popes, 
 kings, and prelates had been brought to naught by the 
 power of truth. The papacy had sustained a defeat which 
 would be felt among all nations and in all ages. 
 
 As the legate perceived the effect produced by Luther's 
 speech, he feared, as never before, for the security of the 
 Romish power, and resolved to employ every means at his 
 command to effect the reformer's overthrow. With all the 
 eloquence and diplomatic skill for which he was so emi- 
 nently distinguished, he represented to the youthful emperor 
 the folly and danger of sacrificing, in the cause of an insig- 
 nificant monk, the friendship and support of the powerful 
 see of Rome. 
 
 His words were not without effect. On the day following 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 163 
 
 Luther's answer, Charles caused a message to be presented 
 to the Diet, announcing his determination to carry out the 
 policy of his predecessors to maintain and protect the Cath- 
 olic religion. Since Luther 'had refused to renounce his 
 errors, the most vigorous measures should be employed 
 against him and the heresies he taught. "A single monk, 
 led astray by his own madness, erects himself against the 
 faith of Christendom. I will sacrifice my kingdoms, my 
 power, my friends, my treasure, my body and blood, my 
 thoughts, and my life, to stay the further progress of this 
 impiety. I am about to dismiss the Augustine Luther, for- 
 bidding him to cause the least disturbance among the peo- 
 ple. I will then take measures against him and his adher- 
 ents, as open heretics, by excommunication, interdict, and 
 every means necessary to their destruction. I call on the 
 members of the States to comport themselves like faithful 
 Christians." Nevertheless the emperor declared that Lu- 
 ther's safe-conduct must be respected, and that before proceed- 
 ings against him could be instituted, he must be allowed to 
 reach his home in safety. 
 
 Two conflicting opinions were now urged by the members 
 of the Diet. The emissaries and representatives of the pope 
 again demanded that the reformer's safe-conduct should be 
 disregarded. "The Rhine," they said, "should receive his 
 ashes, as it received those of John Huss a century ago." But 
 princes of Germany, though themselves papists and avowed 
 enemies to Luther, protested against such a breach of public 
 faith, as a stain upon the honor of the nation. They pointed 
 to the calamities which had followed the death of Huss, 
 and declared that they dared not call down upon Germany, 
 and upon the head of their youthful emperor, a repetition 
 of these terrible evils. 
 
 Charles himself, in answer to the base proposal, said that 
 though faith should be banished from all the earth, it ought 
 to find refuge with princes. * He was still further urged by 
 the most bitter of Luther's popish enemies to deal with the 
 
164 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 reformer as Sigismund- had dealt with Huss abandon him 
 to the mercies of the church; but, recalling the scene when 
 Huss in public assembly had pointed to his chains and 
 reminded the monarch of his plighted faith, Charles V. 
 declared, "I would not like to blush like Sigismund." 
 
 Yet Charles had deliberately rejected the truths presented 
 by Luther. " I am firmly resolved to tread in the footsteps 
 of my ancestors," wrote the monarch. He had decided that 
 he would not step out of the path of custom, even to walk in 
 the ways of truth and righteousness. Because his fathers 
 did, he would uphold the papacy, with all its cruelty and 
 corruption. Thus he took his position, refusing to accept 
 any light in advance of what his fathers had received, or 
 to perform any duty that they had not performed. 
 
 There are many at the present day thus clinging to the 
 customs and traditions of their fathers. When the Lord 
 sends them additional light, they refuse to accept it, because, 
 not having been granted to their fathers, it was not receive 
 by them. We are not placed where our fathers were ; con- 
 sequently our duties and responsibilities are not the same 
 as theirs. We shall not be approved of God in looking to 
 the example of our fathers to determine our duty instead of 
 searching the Word of truth for ourselves. Our responsi- 
 bility is greater than was that of our ancestors. We are 
 accountable for the light which they received, and which 
 was handed down as an inheritance for us, and we are ac- 
 countable also for the additional light which is now shining 
 upon us from the Word of God. 
 
 Said Christ of the unbelieving Jews, ' If I had not come 
 and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but now they 
 have no cloak for their sin." l The same divine power had 
 spoken through Luther to the emperor and princes of Ger- 
 many. And as the light shone forth from God's Word, his 
 Spirit pleaded for the last time with many in that assembly. 
 As Pilate, centuries before, permitted pride and popularity 
 to close his heart against the world's Redeemer; as the 
 
 iJolm 15:22. 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 165 
 
 trembling Felix bade the messenger of truth, " Go thy way 
 for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call 
 for thee;" 1 as the proud Agrippa confessed, " Almost thou 
 persuadest me to be a Christian," 2 yet turned away from the 
 Heaven-sent message, so had Charles V., yielding to the 
 dictates of worldly pride and policy, decided to reject the 
 light of truth. 
 
 Rumors of the designs against Luther were widely circu- 
 lated, causing great excitement throughout the city. The 
 reformer had made many friends, who, knowing the treach- 
 erous cruelty of Rome toward all that dared expose her cor- 
 ruptions, resolved that he should not be sacrificed. Hundreds 
 of nobles pledged themselves to protect him. Not a few 
 openly denounced the royal message as evincing a weak 
 submission to the controlling power of Rome. On the gates 
 of houses and in public peaces, placards were posted, some 
 condemning and others sustaining Luther. On one of these 
 were written merely the significant words of the wise man, 
 "Woe to thee, land, when thy king is a child." 3 The pop- 
 ular enthusiasm in Luther's favor throughout all Germany 
 convinced both the emperor and the Diet that any injustice 
 shown him would endanger the peace of the empire, and 
 even the stability of the throne. 
 
 Frederick of Saxony maintained a studied reserve, care- 
 fully concealing his real feelings toward the reformer, while 
 at the same time he guarded him with tireless vigilance, 
 watching all his movements and all those of his enemies. 
 But there were many who made no attempt to conceal 
 their sympathy with Luther. He was visited by princes, 
 counts, barons, and other persons of distinction, both lay 
 and ecclesiastical. " The doctor's little room," wrote Spalatin, 
 "could not contain all who presented themselves." The peo^ 
 pie gazed upon him as if he were more than human. Even 
 those who had no faith in his doctrines, could not but admire 
 that lofty integrity which led him to brave death rather 
 than violate his conscience. 
 
 :25. 2 Acts 26:28. 3 Eccl. 10:16. 
 
166 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Earnest efforts were made to obtain Luther's consent to a 
 compromise with Rome. Nobles and princes represented to 
 him that if he persisted in setting up his own judgment 
 against that of the church and the councils, he would soon 
 be banished from the empire, and then would have no de- 
 fense. To this appeal Luther answered : " It is impossible 
 to preach the gospel of Christ without offense. Why, then, 
 should the fear of danger separate me from the Lord and 
 that divine Word which alone is truth? No ; I would rather 
 give up my body, my blood, and my life." 
 
 Again he was urged to submit to the judgment of the 
 emperor, and then he would have nothing to fear. " I con- 
 sent," said he in reply, "with all my heart, that the emperor, 
 the princes, and even the humblest Christian, should exam- 
 ine and judge my writings; but on one condition, that they 
 take God's Word for their guide. Men have nothing to do 
 but to render obedience to that. My conscience is in de- 
 pendence upon that Word, and I am the bounden subject of 
 its authority." 
 
 To another appeal he said, " I consent to forego my safe- 
 conduct, and resign my person and my life to the emperor's 
 disposal; but as to the Word of God never!" He stated 
 his willingness to submit to the decision of a general coun- 
 cil, but only on condition that the council be required to 
 decide according to the Scriptures. "In what concerns the 
 Word of God and the faith," he added, "every Christian is 
 as good a judge as the pope, though supported by a million 
 councils, can be for him." Both friends and foes were at last 
 convinced that further effort for reconciliation would be 
 useless. 
 
 Had the reformer yielded a single point, Satan and his 
 hosts would have gained the victory. But his unwavering 
 firmness was the means of emancipating the church, and 
 beginning a new and better era. The influence of this one 
 man, who dared to think and act for himself in religious 
 matters, was to affect the church and the world, not only in 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 167 
 
 his own time, but in all future generations. His firmness 
 and fidelity would strengthen all, to the close of time, who 
 should pass through a similar experience. The power and 
 majesty of God stood forth above the counsel of men, above 
 the mighty power of Satan. 
 
 Luther was soon commanded by the authority of the em- 
 peror to return home, and he knew that this notice would be 
 speedily followed by his condemnation. Threatening clouds 
 overhung his path; but as he departed from Worms, his 
 heart was filled with joy and praise. "Satan himself," said 
 he, " kept the pope's citadel ; but Christ has made a wide 
 breach in it, and the devil has been compelled to confess that 
 Christ is mightier than he." 
 
 After his departure, still desirous that his firmness should 
 not be mistaken for rebellion, Luther wrote to the em- 
 peror. " God is my witness, who knoweth the thoughts," he 
 said, "that I am ready with all my heart to obey your 
 majesty through good or evil report, in life or in death, with 
 no one exception, save the Word of God, by which man 
 liveth. In all the affairs of this life my fidelity shall be 
 unshaken ; for, in these, loss or gain has nothing to do with 
 salvation. But it is contrary to the will of God, that man 
 should be subject to man in that which pertains to eternal 
 life. Subjection in spirituals is a real worship, and should 
 be rendered only to the Creator." 
 
 On the journey from Worms, Luther's reception was even 
 more flattering than during his progress thither. Princely 
 ecclesiastics welcomed the excommunicated monk, and civil 
 rulers honored the man whom the emperor had denounced. 
 He was urged to preach, and, notwithstanding the imperial 
 prohibition, he again entered the pulpit. "I have never 
 pledged myself to chain up the Word of God," he said, " nor 
 will I." 
 
 He had not been long absent from Worms, when the 
 papists prevailed upon the emperor to issue an edict against 
 him. In this decree Luther was denounced as "Satan him- 
 
168 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 self under the semblance of a man in a monk's hood." It 
 was commanded that as soon as his safe-conduct should ex- 
 pire, measures be taken to stop his work. All persons were 
 forbidden to harbor him, to give him food or drink, or by 
 word or act, in public or private, to aid or abet him. He was 
 to be seized wherever he might be, and delivered to the 
 authorities. His adherents also were to be imprisoned, and 
 their property confiscated. His writings were to be destroyed, 
 and finally, all who should dare to act contrary to this 
 decree were included in its condemnation. The Elector of 
 Saxony, and the princes most friendly to Luther, had left 
 Worms soon after his departure, and the emperor's decree 
 received the sanction of the Diet. Now the Romanists were 
 jubilant. They considered the fate of the Reformation sealed. 
 
 God had provided a way of escape for his servant in this 
 hour of peril. A vigilant eye had followed Luther's move- 
 ments, and a true and noble heart had resolved upon his 
 rescue. It was plain that Rome would be satisfied with 
 nothing short of his death ; only by concealment could he 
 be preserved from the jaws of the lion. God gave wisdom 
 to Frederick of Saxony to devise a plan for the reformer's 
 preservation. With the co-operation of true friends, the 
 elector's purpose was carried out, and Luther was effectually 
 hidden from friends and foes. Upon his homeward journey, 
 he was seized, separated from his attendants, and hurriedly 
 conveyed through the forest to the castle of Wartburg, an 
 isolated mountain fortress. Both his seizure and his con- 
 cealment were so involved in mystery that even Frederick 
 himself for a long time knew not whither he had been con- 
 ducted. This ignorance was not without design ; so long as 
 the elector knew nothing of Luther's whereabouts, he could 
 reveal nothing. He satisfied himself that the reformer was 
 safe, and with this knowledge he was content. 
 
 Spring, summer, and autumn passed, and winter came, 
 and Luther still remained a prisoner. Aleander and his 
 partisans exulted as the light of the gospel seemed about 
 
LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET. 169 
 
 to be extinguished. But instead of this, the reformer was 
 filling his lamp from the store-house of truth; and its light 
 was to shine forth with brighter radiance. 
 
 In the friendly security of the Wartburg, Luther for a 
 time rejoiced in his release from the heat and turmoil of 
 battle. But he could not long find satisfaction in quiet and 
 repose. Accustomed to a life of activity and stern conflict, 
 he could ill endure to remain inactive. In those solitary 
 days, the condition of the church rose up before him, and 
 he cried in despair, " Alas ! there is no one, in this latter day 
 of His anger, to stand like a wall before the Lord, and save 
 Israel ! " Again, his thoughts returned to himself, and he 
 feared being charged with cowardice in withdrawing from 
 the contest. Then he reproached himself for his indolence 
 and self-indulgence. Yet at the same time he was daily ac- 
 complishing more than it seemed possible for one man to do. 
 His pen was never idle. While his enemies flattered them- 
 selves that he was silenced, they were astonished and con- 
 fused by tangible proof that he was still active. A host of 
 tracts, issuing from his pen, circulated throughout Germany. 
 He also performed a nmst important service for his coun- 
 trymen by translating the New Testament into the German 
 tongue. From his rocky Patmos he continued for nearly a 
 whole year to proclaim the gospel, and rebuke the sins and 
 errors of the times. 
 
 But it was not merely to preserve Luther from the wrath 
 of his enemies, nor even to afford him a season of quiet for 
 these important labors, that God had withdrawn his servant 
 from the stage of public life. There were results more pre- 
 cious than these to be secured. In the solitude and ob- 
 scurity of his mountain retreat, Luther was removed from 
 earthly supports, and shut out from human praise. He was 
 thus saved from the pride and self-confidence that are so 
 often caused by success. By suffering and humiliation he 
 was prepared again to walk safely upon the dizzy heights to 
 which he had been so suddenly exalted. 
 
170 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 As inen rejoice in the freedom which the truth brings 
 them, they are inclined to extol those whom God has em- 
 ployed to break the chains of error and superstition. Satan 
 seeks to divert men's thoughts and affections from God, and 
 to fix them upon human agencies; he leads them to honor the 
 mere instrument, and to ignore the Hand that directs all the 
 events of providence. Too often, religious leaders who are 
 thus praised and reverenced lose sight of their dependence 
 upon God, and are led to trust in themselves. As a result, 
 they seek to control the minds and consciences of the peo- 
 ple, who are disposed to look to them for guidance instead 
 of looking to the Word of God. The work of reform is often 
 retarded because of this spirit indulged by its supporters. 
 From this danger, Gad would guard the cause of the Ref- 
 ormation. He desired that work to receive, not the impress 
 of man, but that of God. The eyes of men had been turned to 
 Luther as the expounder of the truth ; he was removed that 
 all eyes might be directed to the eternal Author of truth. 
 
 OF WORMS. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SWISS REFORMER. 
 
 IN the choice of instrumentalities for the reforming of the 
 church, the same divine plan is seen as in that for the plant- 
 ing of the church. The heavenly Teacher passed by the 
 great men of earth, the titled and wealthy, who were accus- 
 tomed to receive praise and homage as leaders of the people. 
 They were so proud and self-confident in their boasted supe- 
 riority that they could not be moulded to sympathize with 
 their fellow-men, and to become co-laborers with the humble 
 Man of Nazareth. To the unlearned, toiling fishermen of 
 Galilee was the call addressed, " Follow me, and I will make 
 you fishers of men." 1 These disciples were humble and 
 teachable. The less they had been influenced by the false 
 teaching of their time, the more successfully could Christ 
 instruct and train them for his service. So in the days of 
 the Great Reformation. The leading reformers were men 
 from humble life, men who were most free of any of their 
 time from pride of rank, and from the influence of bigotry 
 and priestcraft. It is God's plan to employ humble instru- 
 ments to accomplish great results. Then the glory will not 
 be given to men, but to Him who works through them to 
 will and to do of his own good pleasure. 
 
 A few weeks after the birth of Luther in a miner's cabin 
 in Saxony, Ulric Zwingle was born in a herdsman's cottage 
 among the Alps. Zwingle's surroundings in childhood, and 
 his early training, were such as to prepare him for his future 
 mission. Reared amid scenes of natural grandeur, beauty, 
 and awful sublimity, his mind was early impressed with a 
 sense of the greatness, the power, and the majesty of God. 
 
 1 Matt. 4:19. (171) 
 
172 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The history of the brave deeds achieved upon his native 
 mountains, kindled his youthful aspirations. And at the 
 side of his pious grandmother he listened to the few precious 
 Bible stories which she had gleaned from amid the legends 
 and traditions of the church. With eager interest he heard 
 of the grand deeds of patriarchs and prophets, of the shep- 
 herds who watched their flocks on the hills of Palestine 
 where angels talked with them, of the Babe of Bethlehem 
 and the Man of Calvary. 
 
 Like John Luther, Zwingle's father desired an education 
 for his son, and the boy was early sent from his native val- 
 ley. His mind rapidly developed, and it soon became a 
 question where to find teachers competent to instruct him. 
 At the age of thirteen he went to Bern, which then possessed 
 the most distinguished school in Switzerland. Here, how- 
 ever, a danger arose which threatened to blight the promise 
 of his life. Determined efforts were put forth by the friars 
 to allure him into a monastery. . The Dominican and Fran- 
 ciscan monks were in rivalry for popular favor. This they 
 endeavored to secure by the showy adornments of their 
 churches, the pomp of their ceremonials, and the attractions 
 of famous relics and miracle-working images. The Domin- 
 icans of Bern saw that if they could win this talented young 
 scholar, they would secure both gain and honor. His ex- 
 treme youth, his natural ability as a speaker and a writer, 
 and his genius for music and poetry, would be more effective 
 than all their pomp and display, in attracting the people to 
 their services and increasing the revenues of their order. 
 By deceit and flattery they endeavored to induce Zwingle to 
 enter their convent. Luther while a student at school had 
 buried himself in a convent cell, and he would have been 
 lost to the world hud not God's providence released him. 
 X \\ingle was not permitted to encounter the same peril. 
 Providentially his father received information of the designs 
 of the friars. He had no intention of allowing his son to 
 follow the idle and worthless life of the monks. He saw 
 
THE SWISS REFORMER. 173 
 
 that his future usefulness was at stake, and directed him to 
 return home without delay. 
 
 The command was obeyed; but the* youth could not be 
 long content in his native valley, and he soon resumed his 
 studies, repairing, after a time, to Basel. It was here that 
 Zwingle first heard the gospel of God's free grace. Wittem- 
 bach, a teacher of the ancient languages, had, while studying 
 Greek and Hebrew, been led to the Holy Scriptures, and 
 thus rays of divine light were shed into the minds of the 
 students under his instruction. He declared that there was 
 a truth more ancient, and of infinitely greater worth, than 
 the theories taught by schoolmen and philosophers. This 
 ancient truth was that the death of Christ is the sinner's 
 only ransom. To Zwingle these words were as the first ray 
 of light that precedes the dawn. 
 
 Zwingle was soon called from Basel, to enter upon his 
 life-work. His first field of labor was in an Alpine parish, 
 not far distant from his native valley. Having received 
 ordination as a priest, " he devoted himself with his whole 
 soul to the search after divine truth; for he was well aware," 
 says a fellow-reformer, "how much he must know to whom 
 the flock of Christ is intrusted." The more he searched the 
 Scriptures the clearer appeared the contrast between their 
 truths and the heresies of Rome. He submitted himself to 
 the Bible as the word of God, the only sufficient, infallible 
 rule. He saw that it must be its own interpreter. He dared 
 not attempt to explain Scripture to sustain a preconceived 
 theory or doctrine, but held it his duty to learn what is its 
 direct and obvious teaching. He sought to avail himself of 
 every help to obtain a full and correct understanding of its 
 meaning, and he invoked the aid of the Holy Spirit, which 
 would, he declared, reveal it to all who sought it in sincerity . 
 and with prayer. 
 
 "The Scriptures," said Zwingle, "come from God, not 
 from man. Even that God who enlightens will give thee to 
 understand that the speech comes from God. The Word of 
 14 
 
174 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 God . . . cannot fail. It is bright, it teaches itself, dis- 
 closes itself, it illumines the soul with all salvation and 
 grace, comforts it in God, humbles it, so that it loses and 
 even forfeits itself and embraces God." The truth of these 
 words Zwingle himself had proved. Speaking of his ex- 
 perience at this time, he afterward wrote. "When I began 
 to give myself wholly up to the Holy Scriptures, philosophy 
 and theology (scholastic) would always keep suggesting 
 quarrels to me. At last I came to this, that I thought, 
 'Thou must let all that lie, and learn the meaning of God 
 purely out of his own simple Word.' Then 1 began to ask 
 God for his light, and the Scriptures began to be much 
 easier to me." 
 
 The doctrine preached by Zwingle was not received from 
 Luther. It was the doctrine of Christ. " If Luther preaches 
 Christ," said the Swiss reformer, " he does what I do. He 
 has led to Christ many more souls than I; be it so. Yet 
 will I bear no other name than that of Christ, whose soldier 
 I am, and who alone is my head. Never has a single line 
 been addressed by me to Luther, or by Luther to me. And 
 why? That it might be manifest to all how uniform is the 
 testimony of the Spirit cf God, since we, who have had no 
 communication with each other, agree so closely in the 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ." 
 
 In 1516 Zwingle was invited to become a preacher in the 
 convent at Einsiedeln. Here he was to have a closer view 
 of the corruptions of Rome, and was to exert an influence 
 as a reformer that would be felt far beyond his native Alps. 
 Among the chief attractions of Einsiedeln was an image of 
 the virgin which was said to have the power of working 
 miracles. Above the gateway of the convent was the in- 
 scription, " Here may be obtained complete remission of 
 sins.'' Pilgrims at all seasons resorted to the shrine of 
 the virgin, but at the great yearly festival of its consecra- 
 tion, multitudes came from all parts of Switzerland, and even 
 from France and Germany. Zwingle, greatly afflicted at 
 
THE SWISS REFORMER. 175 
 
 the sight, seized the opportunity to proclaim liberty through 
 the gospel to these bond-slaves of superstition. 
 
 " Think not," he said, " that God is in this temple more 
 than in any other part of creation. Wherever he has fixed 
 your dwelling he encompasses you, and hears you. , . . 
 What power can there be in unprofitable works, weary pil- 
 grimages, offerings, prayers to the virgin and the saints, to 
 secure you the favor of God? What signify the multiplying 
 of words in prayer? What efficacy in the cowl or shaven 
 crown, or priestly garments falling, and adorned with gold? 
 God looks upon the heart and our heart is far off from God." 
 " Christ," he said, " who offered himself on the cross once for 
 all, is the sacrifice and victim that satisfies for all eternity, 
 for the sins of all believers." 
 
 To many listeners these teachings were unwelcome. It was 
 a bitter disappointment to them to be told that their toilsome 
 journey had been made in vain. The pardon freely offered 
 to them through Christ they could not comprehend. They 
 were satisfied with the old way to Heaven which Rome 
 had marked out for them. They shrank from the perplexity 
 of searching for anything better. It was easier to trust their 
 salvation to the priests and the pope than to seek for purity 
 of heart. 
 
 But another class received with gladness the tidings of 
 redemption through Christ. The observances enjoined by 
 Rome had failed to bring peace of soul, and in faith they 
 accepted the Saviour's blood as their propitiation. These 
 returned to their homes to reveal to others the precious 
 light which they had received. The truth was thus carried 
 from hamlet to hamlet, from town to town, and the number 
 of pilgrims to the virgin's shrine greatly lessened. There 
 was a falling off in the offerings, and consequently in the 
 salary of Zwingle, which was drawn from them. But this 
 caused him only joy as he saw that the power of fanaticism, 
 and superstition was being broken. 
 
 The authorities of the church were not blind to the work 
 
176 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 which Zwingle was accomplishing; but for the present they 
 forbore to interfere. Hoping yet to secure him to their cause, 
 they endeavored to win him by flatteries; and meanwhile 
 the truth was gaining a hold upon the hearts of the people. 
 
 Zwingle's labors at Einsiedeln had prepared him for a 
 wider field, and this he was soon to enter. After three years 
 here, he was called to the office of preacher in the cathedral 
 at Zurich. This was then the most important town of the 
 Swiss confederacy, and the influence exerted here would be 
 widely felt. The ecclesiastics by whose invitation he came 
 to Zurich were, however, desirous of preventing any inno- 
 vations, and they accordingly proceeded to instruct him as 
 to his duties. 
 
 "You will use your utmost diligence," they said, "in 
 collecting the revenues of the chapter not overlooking the 
 smallest item. You will exhort the faithful, both from the 
 pulpit and in the confessional, to pay all dues and tithes, and 
 to testify by their offerings the love which they bear to the 
 church. You will be careful to increase the income that 
 arises from the sick, from masses, and in general from all 
 ecclesiastical ordinances." " As to the administration of the 
 sacraments, preaching, and personally watching over the 
 flock," added his instructors, " these also are among the du- 
 ties of the priest. But for the performance of these, you may 
 employ a vicar to act in your stead, especially in preaching. 
 You are to administer the sacraments only to persons of 
 distinction, and when especially called upon; you are not 
 allowed to administer them indiscriminately to people of 
 all ranks." 
 
 Zwingle listened in silence to this charge, and in reply, 
 after expressing his gratitude for the honor of a call to this 
 important station, he proceeded to explain the course which 
 he proposed to adopt. "The history of Jesus," he said, "has 
 !><( 11 too long kept out of the people's view. It is my pur- 
 pose to lecture upon the whole of the Gospel according to 
 St. Matthew, drawing from the fountains of Scripture alone, 
 
 
THE SWISS REFORMER. 177 
 
 sounding all its depths, comparing text with text, and put- 
 ting up earnest and unceasing prayers, that I may be per- 
 mitted to discover what is the mind of the Holy Spirit. It 
 is to the glory of God, to the praise of his only Son, to the 
 salvation of souls, and their instruction in the true faith, that 
 I desire to consecrate my ministry." Though some of the 
 ecclesiastics disapproved his plan, and endeavored to dis- 
 suade him from it, Zwingle remained steadfast. He declared 
 that he was about to introduce no new method, but the old 
 method employed by the church in earlier and purer times. 
 
 Already an interest had been awakened in the truths he 
 taught; and the people nocked in great numbers to listen to 
 his preaching. Many who had long since ceased to attend 
 service were among his hearers. He began his ministry by 
 opening the Gospels, and reading and explaining to his 
 hearers the inspired narrative of the life, teachings, and 
 death of Christ. Here, as at Einsiedeln, he presented the 
 Word of God as the only infallible authority, and the death 
 of Christ as the only complete sacrifice. " It is to Christ," 
 he said, "that I wish to guide you, to Christ, the true 
 spring of salvation." Around the preacher crowded the 
 people of all classes, from statesmen and scholars to the 
 artisan and the peasant. With deep interest they listened 
 to his words. He not only proclaimed the offer of a free 
 salvation, but fearlessly rebuked the evils and corruptions 
 of the times. Many returned from the cathedral praising 
 God. "This man," they said, "is a preacher of the truth. 
 He will be our Moses, to lead us forth from this Egyptian 
 darkness." 
 
 But though at first his labors were received with great 
 enthusiasm, after a time opposition arose. The monks set 
 themselves to hinder his work and condemn his teachings. 
 Many assailed him with gibes and sneers ; others resorted 
 to insolence and threats. But Zwingle bore all with pa- 
 tience, saying, "If we would win souls to Christ, we must 
 learn to shut our eyes against many things that meet us in 
 our way." 
 
178 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 About this time a new agency came in to advance the 
 work of reform. One Lucian was sent to Zurich with some 
 of Luther's writings by a friend of the reformed faith at 
 Basel, who suggested that the sale of these books might be a 
 powerful means of scattering the light. "Ascertain," he 
 wrote to Zwingle, " whether this Lucian possesses a sufficient 
 share of discretion and address; if it shall appear that he 
 does, let him go from city to city, from town to town, from 
 village to village, nay, from house to house, all over Switzer- 
 land, carrying with him the writings of Luther, and espe- 
 cially the exposition of the Lord's prayer written for the 
 laity. The more it is known, the more purchasers will it 
 find." Thus the light found entrance. 
 
 At the time when God is preparing to break the shackles 
 of ignorance and superstition, then it is that Satan works 
 with greatest power to enshroud men in darkness, and to 
 bind their fetters still more firmly. As men were rising up 
 in different lands to present to the people forgiveness and 
 justification through the blood of Christ, Rome proceeded 
 with renewed energy to open her market throughout Chris- 
 tendom, offering pardon for money. 
 
 Every sin had its price, and men were granted free license 
 for crime, if the treasury of the church* was kept well filled. 
 Thus the two movements advanced, one offering forgive- 
 ness of sin for money, the other forgiveness through Christ; 
 Rome licensing sin, and making it her source of revenue ; 
 the reformers condemning sin, and pointing to Christ as the 
 propitiation and deliverer. 
 
 In Germany the sale of indulgences had been committed 
 to the Dominican friars, and was conducted by the infamous 
 Trtzel. In Switzerland the traffic was put into the hands of 
 the Franciscans, under the control of Sampson, an Italian 
 monk. Sampson had already done good service to the 
 church, having secured immense sums from Germany and 
 Switzerland to fill the papal treasury. Now he traversed 
 Switzerland, attracting great crowds, despoiling the poor 
 
THE SWISS REFORMER. 179 
 
 peasants of their scanty earnings, and exacting rich gifts 
 from the wealthy classes. But the influence of the reform 
 already made itself felt in curtailing, though it could not 
 stop, the traffic. Zwingle was still at Einsiedeln when Sam- 
 son, soon after entering Switzerland, arrived with his wares 
 at a neighboring town. Being apprised of his mission, the 
 reformer immediately set out to oppose him. The two did 
 not meet, but such was Zwingle's success in exposing the 
 friar's pretensions that he was obliged to leave for other 
 quarters. 
 
 At Zurich, Zwingle preached zealously against the pardon- 
 mongers, and when Samson approached the place he was 
 met by a messenger from the council, with an intimation 
 that he was expected to pass on. He finally secured an en- 
 trance by stratagem, but was sent away without the sale of a 
 single pardon, and he soon after left Switzerland. 
 
 A strong impetus was given to the reform, by the appear- 
 ance of the plague, or the " great death," which swept over 
 Switzerland in the year 1519. As men were thus brought 
 face to face with the destroyer, many were led to feel how 
 vain and worthless were the pardons which they had so 
 lately purchased; and they longed for a surer foundation 
 for their faith. Zwingle at Zurich was smitten down; he 
 was brought so low that all hope of his recovery was relin- 
 quished, and the report was widely circulated that he was 
 dead. In that trying hour his hope and courage were un- 
 shaken. He looked in faith' to the cross of Calvary, trusting 
 in the all-sufficient propitiation for sin. When he came 
 back from the gates of death, it was to preach the gospel 
 with greater fervor than ever before ; and his words exerted 
 an unwonted power. The people welcomed with joy their 
 beloved pastor, returned to them from the brink of the 
 grave. They themselves had come from attending upon 
 the sick and the dying, and they felt, as never before, the 
 value of the gospel. 
 
 Zwingle had arrived at a clearer understanding of its 
 
180 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 truths, and had more fully experienced in himself its renew- 
 ing power. The fall of man and the plan of redemption 
 were the subjects upon which he dwelt. "In Adam," he 
 said, "we are all dead, sunk in corruption and condemna- 
 tion." "But Christ has purchased for us an everlasting 
 deliverance." " His passion is an eternal sacrifice, and has 
 a perpetual efficacy; it satisfies the divine justice forever 
 upon behalf of all who rely upon it with a firm, unshaken 
 faith." Yet he clearly taught that men are not, because of 
 the grace of Christ, free to continue in sin. " Wheresoever 
 there is faith in God, there God himself abides; and where- 
 soever God is, there is awakened a zeal which urges and 
 constrains men to good works." 
 
 Such was the interest in Zwingle's preaching that the 
 cathedral was filled to overflowing with the crowds that 
 came to listen to him. Little by little, as they could bear 
 it, he opened the truth to his hearers. He was careful not 
 to introduce, at first, points which would startle them and 
 create prejudice. His first work was to win their hearts to 
 the teachings of Christ, to soften them by his love, and keep 
 before them his example; and as they should receive the 
 principles of the gospel, their superstitious beliefs and prac- 
 tices would inevitably be overthrown. 
 
 Step by step the Reformation advanced in Zurich. In alarm 
 its enemies aroused to active opposition. One year before, 
 the monk of Wittenberg had uttered his "No" to the pope 
 and the emperor at Worms, and now everything seemed to 
 indicate a similar withstanding of the papal claims at Zu- 
 rich. Repeated attacks were made upon Zwingle. In the 
 popish cantons, from time to time, disciples of the gospel 
 were brought to the stake, but this was not enough; the 
 teacher of heresy must be silenced. Accordingly the Bishop 
 of Constance dispatched three deputies to the Council of Zu- 
 rich, accusing Zwingle of teaching the people to transgress the 
 laws of the church, thus endangering the peace and good order 
 of society. If the authority of the church were to be set aside, 
 
THE SWISS REFORMER. 181 
 
 he urged, universal anarchy would result. Zwingle replied 
 that he had been for four years teaching the gospel in Zu- 
 rich, "which was more quiet and peaceful than any other 
 town in the confederacy." " Is not then," he said, " Chris- 
 tianity the best safeguard of the general security?" 
 
 The deputies had admonished the councillors to continue 
 in the church, out of which, they declared, there was no sal- 
 vation. Zwingle responded : " Let not this accusation move 
 you. The foundation of the church is the same Rock, the 
 same Christ, that gave Peter his name because he confessed 
 him faithfully. In every nation whoever believes with all 
 his heart in the Lord Jesus is accepted of God. Here, truly, 
 is the church, out of which no one can be saved." As a 
 result of the conference, one of the bishop's deputies accepted 
 the reformed faith. 
 
 The council declined to take action against Zwingle, and 
 Rome prepared for a fresh attack. The reformer, when ap- 
 prised of the plots of his enemies, exclaimed, "Let them 
 come on; I fear them as the beetling cliff fears the waves 
 that thunder at its feet." The efforts of the ecclesiastics only 
 furthered the cause which they sought to overthrow. The 
 truth continued to spread. In Germany its adherents, cast 
 down by Luther's disappearance, took heart again, as they 
 saw the progress of the gospel in Switzerland. 
 
 As the Reformation became established in Zurich, its 
 fruits were more fully seen in the suppression of vice, and 
 the promotion of order and harmony. " Peace has her hab- 
 itation in our town," wrote Zwingle; "no quarrel, no hypoc- 
 risy, no envy, no strife. Whence can such union come but 
 from the Lord, and our doctrine, which fills us with the 
 fruits of peace and piety?" 
 
 The victories gained by the Reformation stirred the Ro- 
 manists to still more determined efforts for its overthrow. 
 Seeing how little had been accomplished by persecution in 
 suppressing Luther's work in Germany, they decided to meet 
 the reform with its own weapons. They would hold a dis- 
 
182 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 putation with Zwingle, and having the arrangement of 
 matters, they would make sure of victory by choosing, them- 
 selves, not only the place of the combat, but the judges that 
 should decide between the disputants. And if they could 
 once get Zwingle into their power, they would take care that 
 he did not escape them. The leader silenced, the move- 
 ment could speedily be crushed. This purpose, however, 
 was carefully concealed. 
 
 The disputation was appointed to be held at Baden ; but 
 Zwingle was not present. The Council of Zurich, suspect- 
 ing the designs of the papists, and warned by the burning 
 piles kindled in the popish cantons for confessors of the gos- 
 pel, forbade their pastor to expose himself to this peril. At 
 Zurich he was ready to meet all the partisans that Rome 
 might send; but to go to Baden, where the blood of martyrs 
 for the truth had just been shed, was to go to certain death. 
 (Ecolampadius and Haller were chosen to represent the 
 reformers, while the famous Doctor Eck, supported by a host 
 of learned doctors and prelates, was the champion of Rome. 
 
 Though Zwingle was not present at the conference, his 
 influence was felt. The secretaries were all chosen by the 
 papists, and others were forbidden to take notes, on pain of 
 death. Notwithstanding this, Zwingle received daily a faith- 
 ful account of what was said at Baden. A student in attend- 
 ance at the disputation, made a record each evening of the 
 arguments that day presented. These papers two other stu- 
 dents undertook to deliver, with the daily letters of (Eco- 
 lampadius, to Zwingle at Zurich. The reformer answered, 
 giving counsel and suggestions. His letters were written by 
 night, and the students returned with them to Baden in the 
 morning. To elude the vigilance of the guard stationed at 
 the city gates, these messengers brought baskets of poultry 
 on their heads, and they were permitted to pass without 
 hindrance. 
 
 Thus Zwingle maintained the battle with his wily antag- 
 
THE SWISS REFORMER. 183 
 
 onists. "He has labored more," said Myconius, "in medi- 
 tating upon and watching the contest, and transmitting his 
 advice to Baden, than he could have done by disputing in 
 the midst of his enemies." 
 
 The Romanists, flushed with anticipated triumph, had 
 come to Baden attired in their richest robes, and glittering 
 with jewels. They fared luxuriously, their tables spread 
 with the most costly delicacies and the choicest wines. The 
 burden of their ecclesiastical duties was lightened by gayety 
 and reveling. In marked contrast appeared the reformers, 
 who were looked upon by the people as little better than a 
 company of beggars, and whose frugal fare kept them but 
 short time at table. (Ecolampadius' landlord, taking occa- 
 sion to watch him in his room, found him always engaged 
 in study or at prayer, and, greatly wondering, reported that 
 "the heretic was at least very pious." 
 
 At the conference, "Eck haughtily ascended a pulpit 
 superbly decorated, while the humble (Ecolampadius, meanly 
 clad, sat facing his adversary, upon a rudely constructed 
 platform." Eck's stentorian voice and unbounded assur- 
 ance never failed him. His zeal was stimulated by the hope 
 of gold as well as fame ; for the defender of the faith was to 
 be rewarded by a handsome fee. When better arguments 
 failed, he had resort to insults, and even to oaths. 
 
 CEcolampadius, modest and self-distrustful, had shrunk 
 from the combat, and he entered upon it. with the solemn 
 avowal, " I recognize no other rule of judgment than the 
 Word of God." Though gentle and courteous in demeanor, 
 he proved himself able and unflinching. While the Roman- 
 ists, according to their wont, appealed for authority to the 
 customs of the church, the reformer adhered steadfastly to 
 the Holy Scriptures. " In our Switzerland," he said, " custom 
 is of no force unless it be according to the constitution; now 
 in all matters of faith, the Bible is our constitution." 
 
 The contrast between the two disputants was not without 
 
184 
 
 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 effect. The calm, clear reasoning of the reformer, so gently 
 and modestly presented, appealed to minds that turned in 
 disgust from Eck's boastful and boisterous assumptions. 
 
 The discussion continued eighteen days. At its close, the 
 papists with great confidence claimed the victory. Most of 
 the deputies sided with Rome, and the Diet pronounced the 
 reformers vanquished, and declared that they, together with 
 Zwingle, their leader, were cut off from the church. But 
 the fruits of the conference revealed on which side the 
 advantage lay. The contest resulted in a strong impetus 
 to the Protestant cause, and it was not long afterward 
 that the important cities of Bern and Basel declared for 
 the Reformation. 
 
 VIEW IN ZURICH. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 
 
 LUTHER'S mysterious disappearance excited consternation 
 throughout all Germany. Inquiries concerning him were 
 heard everywhere. The wildest rumors were circulated, and 
 many believed that he had been murdered. There was 
 great lamentation, not only by his avowed friends, but by 
 thousands who had not openly taken their stand with the 
 Reformation. Many bound themselves by a solemn oath to 
 avenge his death. 
 
 The Romish leaders saw with terror to what a pitch had 
 risen the feeling against them. Though at first exultant at 
 the supposed death of Luther, they soon desired to hide 
 from the wrath of the people. His enemies had not been 
 so troubled by his most daring acts while*among them as 
 they were at his removal. Those who in their rage had 
 sought to destroy the bold reformer, were filled with fear 
 now that he had become a helpless captive. " The only way 
 of extricating ourselves," said one, "is to light our torches, 
 and go searching through the earth for Luther, till we can 
 restore him to the nation that will have him." The edict 
 of the emperor seemed to fall powerless. The papal legates 
 were filled with indignation as they saw that it commanded 
 far less attention than did the fate of Luther. 
 
 The tidings that he was safe, though a prisoner, calmed 
 the fears of the people, while it still further aroused their 
 enthusiasm in his favor. His writings were read with greater 
 eagerness than ever before. Increasing numbers joined the 
 cause of the heroic man who had, at such fearful odds, de- 
 fended the Word of God. The Reformation was constantly 
 
 (185) 
 
186 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 gaining in strength. .The seed which Luther had sown 
 sprung up everywhere. His absence accomplished a work 
 which his presence would have failed to do. Other laborers 
 felt a new responsibility, now that their great leader was 
 removed. With new faith and earnestness they pressed for- 
 ward to do all in their power, that the work so nobly begun 
 might not be hindered. 
 
 But Satan was not idle. He now attempted what he has 
 attempted in every other reformatory movement, to deceive 
 and destroy the people by palming off upon them a counter- 
 feit in place of the true work. As there were false christs in 
 the first century of the Christian church, so there arose false 
 prophets in the sixteenth century. 
 
 A few men, deeply affected by the excitement in the re- 
 ligious world, imagined themselves to have received special 
 revelations from Heaven, and claimed to have been divinely 
 commissioned to carry forward to its completion the Refor- 
 mation which, they declared, had been but feebly begun 
 by Luther. In truth, they were undoing the very work 
 which he had accomplished. They rejected the great prin- 
 ciple which was the very foundation of the Reformation, 
 that the Word of God is the all-sufficient rule of faith and 
 practice; and for that unerring guide they substituted the 
 changeable, uncertain standard of their own feelings and 
 impressions. By this act of setting aside the great detector 
 of error and falsehood, the way was opened for Satan to con- 
 trol minds as best pleased himself. 
 
 One of these prophets claimed to have been instructed by 
 the angel Gabriel. A student who united with him forsook 
 his studies, declaring that he had been endowed by God 
 himself with wisdom to expound his Word. Others who 
 were naturally inclined to fanaticism -united with them. 
 The proceedings of these enthusiasts created no little excite- 
 ment. The preaching r>f Luther had aroused the people 
 everywhere to feel the necessity of reform, and now some 
 really honest persons were misled by the pretensions of the 
 new prophets. 
 
PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 187 
 
 The leaders of the movement proceeded to Wittenberg, and 
 urged their claims upon Melancthon and his co-laborers. 
 Said they : " We are sent by God to teach the people. We 
 have received special revelations from God himself, and 
 therefore know what is coming to pass. We are apostles and 
 prophets, and appeal to Doctor Luther as to the truth of 
 what we say." 
 
 The reformers were astonished and perplexed. This was 
 such an element as they had never before encountered, and 
 they knew not what course to pursue. Said Melancthon: 
 "There are indeed spirits of no ordinary kind in these men; 
 but what spirits?" "On the one hand, let us beware of 
 quenching the Spirit of God, and on the other, of being 
 seduced by the spirit of Satan." 
 
 The fruit of the new teaching soon became apparent. The 
 people were led to neglect the Bible or to wholly cast it aside. 
 The schools were thrown into confusion. Students, spurn- 
 ing all restraint, abandoned their studies, and withdrew 
 from the university. The men who thought themselves 
 competent to revive and control the work of the Reforma- 
 tion, succeeded only in bringing it to the verge of ruin. The 
 Romanists now regained their confidence, and exclaimed 
 exultfngly, " One more effort, and all will be ours." 
 
 Luther at the Wartburg, hearing of what had occurred? 
 said with deep concern, " I always expected that Satan would 
 send us this plague." He perceived the true character of 
 those pretended prophets, and saw the danger that threat- 
 ened the cause of truth. The opposition of the pope and 
 the emperor had not caused him so great perplexity and 
 distress as he now experienced. From the professed friends 
 of the Reformation had risen its worst enemies. The very 
 truths which had brought him so great joy and consolation 
 were being employed to stir up strife and create confusion in 
 the church. 
 
 In the work of reform, Luther had been urged forward 
 by the Spirit of God, and had been carried beyond himself. 
 15 
 
188 Till-: (i UK AT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 He had not purposed to take such positions as he did, or to 
 make so radical changes. He had been but the instrument 
 in the hand of infinite power. Yet he often trembled for 
 the result of his work. He had once said, "If I knew that 
 my doctrine had injured one human being, however poor 
 and unknown, which it could not, for it is the very gos- 
 pel, I would rather face death ten times over than not 
 retract it." 
 
 And now Wittenberg itself, the very center of the Refor- 
 mation, was fast falling under the power of fanaticism and 
 lawlessness. This terrible condition had not resulted from 
 the teachings of Luther ; but throughout Germany his ene- 
 mies were charging it upon him. In bitterness of soul he 
 sometimes asked, " Can such be the end of this great work 
 of the Reformation?" Again, as he wrestled with God in 
 prayer, peace flowed into his heart. "The work is not 
 mine, but thine own," he said; "thou wilt not suffer it to be 
 corrupted by superstition or fanaticism. ; ' But the thought 
 of remaining longer from the conflict in such a crisis, became 
 insupportable. He determined to return to Wittenberg. 
 
 Without delay he set out on his perilous journey. He 
 was under the ban of the empire. Enemies were at liberty 
 to take his life; friends were forbidden to aid or shelter him. 
 The imperial government was adopting tho most stringent 
 measures against his adherents. But he saw that the work 
 of the gospel was imperiled, and in the name of tho Lord he 
 went out fearlessly to battle for the truth. 
 
 In a letter to the elector, after stating his purpose to leave 
 the Wartburg, Luther said : " Be it known to your highness 
 that I am repairing to Wittenberg under a protection more, 
 powerful than that of an elector. I have no thought of so- 
 liciting the aid of your highness; and am so far from desiri ML: 
 your protection that it is rather my purpose to protect your 
 holiness. If I knew Hint your lii^lmrss could or would 
 take up my defense, I would not conic to Wittenberg. No 
 secular sword can advance this cause; Ood must do all, 
 
PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 189 
 
 without the aid or co-operation of man. He who has most 
 faith is the most availing defense." 
 
 In a second letter, written on the way to Wittenberg, 
 Luther added: "Behold me ready to bear your highness' 
 disapprobation, and the anger of the wholo world. Are not 
 the Wittenbergers my own sheep? Has not God committed 
 them to my care? and ought I not, if need be, to lay down 
 my life for them? Besides, I dread lest we should see, 
 throughout Germany, a revolt by which God shall punish 
 our nation." 
 
 With great caution and humility, yet with decision and 
 firmness, he entered upon his work. " By the Word," said 
 he, " we must refute and expel what has gained a place and 
 influence by violence. I would not resort to force against 
 the superstitious and unbelieving." " Let thero be no com- 
 pulsion. I have been laboring for liberty of conscience. 
 Liberty is of the very essence of faith." 
 
 It was soon noised through Wittenberg that Luther had 
 returned, and that he was to preach. The people flocked 
 from all directions, and the church was filled to overflowing. 
 Ascending the pulpit he with great wisdom and gentleness 
 instructed, exhorted, and reproved. Touching the course of 
 some who had resorted to violent measures in abolishing 
 the mass, he said : 
 
 , "The mass is a bad thing. God is opposed to it. It ought 
 to be abolished, and I would that everywhere the supper 
 of the gospel were established in its stead. But let none be 
 torn from it by force. We must leave results to God. It is 
 not we that must work, but his Word. 'And why so?' you 
 will ask. Because the hearts of men are not in my hand 
 as clay in the hand of the potter. We have a right to speak, 
 but none whatever to compel. Let us preach ; the rest belongs 
 to God. If I resort to force, what shall I gain? Grimace, 
 fair appearances, cramped uniformity, and hypocrisy. But 
 there will be no hearty sincerity, no faith, no love. Where 
 these are wanting, all is wanting, and I would not give a 
 
190 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 straw for such a victory. God does more by the simple 
 power of his Word than you and I and the whole world 
 could effect by all our efforts put together. God arrests the 
 heart, and that once taken, all is won." 
 
 " I am ready to preach, argue, write ; but I will not con- 
 strain any one, for faith is but a voluntary act. Call to 
 mind what I have already done. I stood up against pope, 
 indulgences, and papists; but without violence or tumult. 
 I brought forward God's Word; I preached and wrote, and 
 then I stopped. And while I laid me down and slept, . . . 
 the Word I had preached brought down the power of the 
 pope to the ground, so that never prince or emperor had 
 dealt it such a blow. For my part I did next to nothing; 
 the power of the Word did the whole business. Had I % 
 appealed to force, Germany might have been deluged with 
 blood. But what would have been the consequence? Ruin 
 and destruction of soul and body. Accordingly I kept quiet, 
 and let the Word run through the length and breadth of the 
 land." 
 
 Day after day, for a whole week, Luther continued to" 
 preach to eager crowds. The Word of God broke the spell 
 of fanatical excitement. The power of the gospel brought 
 back the misguided people into the way of truth. 
 
 Luther had no desire to encounter the fanatics whose 
 course had been productive of so great evil. He knew them 
 to be men of unsound judgment and undisciplined passions, 
 'who, while claiming to be especially illuminated from Heaven, 
 would not endure the slightest contradiction, or even the 
 kindest reproof or counsel. Arrogating to themselves su- 
 preme authority, .they required every one, without a ques- 
 tion, to acknowledge their claims. But as they demanded 
 an interview with him, he consented to meet them ; and so 
 successfully did he expose their pretensions, that the impos- 
 tors at once departed from Wittenberg. 
 
 The fanaticism was checked for a time ; but several years 
 later it broke out with greater violence and more terrible 
 
PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 191 
 
 results. Said Luther, concerning the leaders in this move- 
 ment : " To them the Holy Scriptures were but a dead letter, 
 and they all began to cry, ' The Spirit! the Spirit! 7 But 
 most assuredly I will not follow where their spirit leads them. 
 May God in his mercy preserve me from a church in which 
 there are none but such saints. I wish to be in fellowship 
 with the humble, the feeble, the sick, who know and feel 
 their sins, and who sigh and cry continually to God from 
 the bottom of their hearts to obtain his consolation and 
 support." 
 
 Thomas Munzer, the most active of the fanatics, was a man 
 of considerable ability, which, rightly directed, would have 
 enabled him to do good; but he had not learned the first 
 principles of true religion. He imagined himself ordained 
 of God to reform the world, forgetting, like many other 
 enthusiasts, that the reform should begin with himself. He 
 w r as ambitious to obtain position and influence, and was un- 
 willing to be second, even to Luther. He declared that the 
 reformers, in substituting the authority of Scripture for that 
 of the pope, were only establishing a different form of popery. 
 He himself, he claimed, had been divinely commissioned to 
 introduce the true reform. " He who hath the Spirit," said 
 Munzer, "hath true faith, although he should never once in 
 all his life see the Holy Scriptures." 
 
 The fanatical teachers gave themselves up to be governed 
 by impressions, regarding every thought and impulse as the 
 voice of God; consequently they went to great extremes. 
 Some even burned their Bibles, exclaiming, "The letter 
 killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Munzer's teaching ap- 
 pealed to men's desire for the marvelous, while it gratified 
 their pride by virtually placing human ideas and opinions 
 above the Word of God. His doctrines were received by 
 thousands. He soon denounced all order in public worship, 
 and declared that to obey princes was to attempt to serve 
 both God and Belial. 
 
 The minds of the people, already beginning to throw off 
 
192 Till: GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the yoke of the papacy, \\viv also becoming impatient under 
 the restraints of civil authority. Munzer's revolutionary 
 teachings, claiming divine sanction, led them to break away 
 from all control, and give the rein to their prejudices and 
 passions. The most terrible scenes of sedition and strife fol- 
 lowed, and the fields of Germany were drenched with blood. 
 
 The agony of soul which Luther had so long before ex- 
 perienced at Erfurt, now pressed upon him with redoubled 
 power as he saw the results of fanaticism charged upon the 
 Reformation. The papist princes declared and many were 
 ready to credit the statement that the rebellion was the 
 legitimate fruit of Luther's doctrines. Although this charge 
 was without the slightest foundation, it could not but cause 
 the reformer great distress. That the cause of truth should 
 be thus disgraced by being ranked with the basest fanaticism, 
 seemed more than he could endure. On the other hand, 
 the leaders in the revolt hated Luther because he had not 
 only opposed their doctrines and denied their claims to 
 divine inspiration, but had pronounced them rebels against 
 the civil authority. In retaliation they denounced him as a 
 base pretender. He seemed to have brought upon himself 
 the enmity of both princes and people. 
 
 The Romanists exulted, expecting to witness the speedy 
 downfall of the Reformation; and they blamed Luther, even 
 for the errors which he had been most earnestly endeavoring 
 to correct. The fanatical party, by falsely claiming to have 
 been treated with great injustice, succeeded in gaining the 
 sympathies of a large class of the people, and, as is often the 
 case with those who take the wrong side, they came to be 
 regarded as martyrs. Thus the ones who were exerting 
 every energy in opposition to the Reformation were pitied 
 and lauded as the victims of cruelty and oppression. This 
 \\ ,is the work of Satan, prompted by the same spirit of re- 
 bellion which was first manifested in Heaven. 
 
 Satan is constantly seeking to deceive men, and lead them 
 to call sin righteousness, and righteousness sin. How sue- 
 
PROGRESS OF REFORM JK GERMANY. 193 
 
 cessiul lias been his work! How often censure and reproach 
 are cast upon God's faithful servants because they will stand 
 fearlessly in defense of the truth! Men who are hut agents 
 of Satan are praised and nattered, and even looked upon as 
 martyrs, while those who should be respected and sustained 
 for their fidelity to God, are left to- stand alone, under sus- 
 picion and distrust. 
 
 Counterfeit holiness, spurious sanctification, is still doing 
 its work of deception. Under various forms it exhibits the 
 same spirit as in the days of Luther, diverting minds from 
 the Scriptures, and leading men to follow their own feelings 
 and impressions rather than to yield obedience to the law of 
 God. This is one of Satan's most successful devices to cast 
 reproach upon purity and truth. 
 
 Fearlessly did Luther defend the gospel from the attacks 
 which came from every quarter. The Word of God proved 
 itself a weapon mighty in every conflict. With that Word 
 he warred, against the usurped authority of the pope, and 
 the rationalistic philosophy of the schoolmen, while he stood 
 firm as a rock against the fanaticism that sought to ally 
 itself with the Reformation. 
 
 Each of these opposing elements was in its own way set- 
 ting aside the Holy Scriptures, and exalting human wisdom 
 as the source of religious truth and knowledge. Rationalism 
 idolizes reason, and makes this the criterion for religion. 
 Romanism, claiming for her sovereign pontiff an inspiration 
 descended in unbroken line from the apostles, and unchange- 
 able through all time, gives ample opportunity for every 
 species of extravagance and corruption to be concealed under 
 the sanctity of the apostolic commission. The inspiration 
 claimed by Munzer and his associates proceeded from no 
 higher source than the vagaries of the imagination, and its 
 influence was subversive of all authority, human or divine. 
 True Christianity receives the Word of God as the great treas- 
 ure-house of inspired truth, and the test of all inspiration. 
 
 Upon his return from the Wartburg, Luther completed 
 
194 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 his translation of the New Testament, and the gospel was 
 soon after given to the people of Germany in their own 
 language. This translation was received with great joy by all 
 who loved the truth; but it was scornfully rejected by those 
 who chose human traditions and the commandments of men. 
 
 The priests were alarmed at the thought that the common 
 people would now -be able to discuss with them the precepts 
 of God's Word, and that their own ignorance would thus be 
 exposed. The weapons of their carnal reasoning were power- 
 less against the sword of the Spirit. Rome summoned all 
 her authority to prevent the circulation of the Scriptures; 
 but decrees, anathemas-, and tortures were alike in vain. 
 The more she condemned and prohibited the Bible, the 
 greater was the anxiety of the people to know what it really 
 taught. All who could read were eager to study the Word 
 of God for themselves. They carried it about with them, 
 and read and re-read, and could not be satisfied until they 
 had committed large portions to memory. Seeing, the favor 
 with which the New Testament was received, Luther imme- 
 diately began the translation of the Old, and published it in 
 parts as fast as completed. 
 
 Luther's writings were welcomed alike in city and in ham- 
 let. "Whatever Luther and his friends composed, others 
 disseminated far and wide. Monks who had been led to see 
 the unlawfulness of the monastic obligations, desirous of 
 exchanging a life of indolence for one of activity, but too 
 ignorant to be able themselves to proclaim the Word of God, 
 traversed . the provinces, selling the writings of the reformer 
 and his friends. Germany was erelong overrun with these 
 enterprising col porters." 
 
 These writings were studied with deep interest by rich and 
 poor, the learned and the ignorant. At night the teachers of 
 the village schools read them aloud to little groups gathered 
 at the fireside. With every effort, some souls would l>e con- 
 victed of the truth, and, receiving the word with gladness, 
 would in their turn tell the good news to others. 
 
PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY. 195 
 
 The words of inspiration were verified : " The entrance of 
 thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the 
 simple." 1 The study of the Scriptures was working a 
 mighty change in the minds and hearts of the people. The 
 papal rule had placed upon its subjects an iron yoke which 
 held them in ignorance and degradation. A superstitious 
 observance of forms had been scrupulously maintained; but 
 in all their service the heart and intellect had had little part. 
 The preaching of Luther, setting forth the plain truths of 
 God's Word, and then the Word itself, placed in the hands of 
 the common people, had aroused their dormant powers, not 
 only purifying and ennobling the spiritual nature, but im- 
 parting new strength and vigor to the intellect. 
 
 Persons of all ranks were to be seen with the Bible in 
 their hands, defending the doctrines of the Reformation. 
 The papists who had left the study of the Scriptures to the 
 priests and monks, now called upon them to come forward 
 and refute the new teachings. But, ignorant alike of the 
 Scriptures and of the power of God, priests and friars were 
 totally defeated by those whom they had denounced as 
 unlearned and heretical. "Unhappily," said a Catholic 
 writer, "Luther had persuaded his followers that their faith 
 ought only to be founded on the oracles of Holy Writ." 
 Crowds would gather to hear the truth advocated by men 
 of little education, and even discussed by them with learned 
 and eloquent theologians. The shameful ignorance of these 
 great men was made apparent as their arguments were met 
 by the simple teachings of God's Word. Laborers, soldiers, 
 women, and even children, were better acquainted with the 
 Bible teachings than were the priests and learned doctors. 
 
 The contrast between the disciples of the gospel and the 
 upholders of popish superstition was no less manifest in the 
 ranks of scholars than among the common people. "Op- 
 posed to the old defenders of the hierarchy, who had neg- 
 lected the acquirement of the languages and the cultivation 
 of literature, were generous-minded youths, most of them 
 
 ^s. 119:130. 
 
196 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 devoted to study and the investigation of the Scriptures, and 
 acquainted with the literary treasures of antiquity. Gifted 
 with quickness of apprehension, elevation of soul, and in- 
 trepidity of heart, these youths soon attained such proficiency 
 that none could compete with them." " So that on public 
 occasions, on which these youthful defenders of the Refor- 
 mation encountered the Romish doctors, their assaults were 
 carried on with an ease and confidence that embarrassed 
 the dullness of their adversaries, and exposed them before 
 all to deserved contempt." 
 
 As the Romish clergy saw their congregations diminish- 
 ing, they invoked the aid of the magistrates, and by every 
 means in their power endeavored to bring back their hear- 
 ers. But the people had found in the new teachings that 
 which supplied the w r aiits of their souls, and they turned 
 away from those who had so long fed them with the worth- 
 less husks of superstitious rites and human traditions. 
 
 When persecution was kindled against the teachers of the 
 truth, they gave heed to the words of Christ, " When they 
 persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." l The light 
 penetrated everywhere. The fugitives would find some- 
 where a hospitable door opened to them, and there abiding, 
 they would preach Christ, sometimes in the church, or, if 
 denied that privilege, in private houses or in the open air. 
 Wherever they could obtain a hearing was a consecrated 
 temple. The truth, proclaimed with such energy and assur- 
 ance, spread with irresistible power. 
 
 In vain both ecclesiastical and civil authorities were in- 
 voked to crush the heresy. In vain they resorted to impris- 
 onment, torture, fire, and sword. Thousands of believers 
 sealed their faith with their blood, and yet the work went 
 on. Persecution served only to extend the truth; and the 
 fanaticism which Satan- endeavored to unite with it, resulted 
 in making more clear the contrast between the w^rk of Satan 
 and the work of God. 
 
 iMatt. 10:23. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 
 
 ONE of the noblest testimonies ever uttered for the Refor- 
 mation, was the Protest offered by the Christian princes of 
 Germany at the Diet of Spires in 1529. The courage, faith, 
 and firmness of those men of God, gained for succeeding 
 ages liberty of thought and of conscience. Their Protest 
 gave to the reformed church the name of Protestant; its 
 principles are the very essence of Protestantism. 
 
 A dark and threatening day had come for the Reforma- 
 tion. Notwithstanding the edict of Worms, declaring Luther 
 to be an outlaw, and forbidding the teaching or belief of his 
 doctrines, religious toleration had thus far prevailed in the 
 empire. God's providence had held in check the forces that 
 opposed the truth. 'Charles V. was bent on crushing the 
 Reformation, but often as he raised his hand to strike, he 
 had been forced to turn aside the blow. Again and again 
 the immediate destruction of all who dared to oppose them- 
 selves to Rome appeared inevitable; but at the critical mo- 
 ment the armies of the Turk appeared on the eastern frontier, 
 or the king of France, or even the pope himself, jealous of 
 the increasing greatness of the emperor, made war upon 
 him; and thus, amid the strife and tumult of nations, the 
 Reformation had been left to strengthen and extend. 
 
 At last, however, the papal sovereigns had stifled their 
 feuds, that they might make common cause against the 
 reformers. The Diet of Spires in 1526 had given each State 
 full liberty in matters of religion until the meeting of a 
 general council; but no sooner had the dangers passed which 
 secured this concession, than the emperor summoned a sec- 
 
 (197) 
 
198 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ond Diet to convene at Spires in 1529 for the purpose of 
 crushing heresy. The princes were to be induced, by peace- 
 able means if possible, to side against the Reformation; but 
 if these failed, Charles was prepared to resort to the sword. 
 
 The papists were exultant. They appeared at Spires in 
 great numbers, and openly manifested their hostility toward 
 * the reformers and all who favored them. Said Melancthon, 
 " We are the execration and the sweepings of the earth ; 
 but Christ will look down on his poor people, and will pre- 
 serve them." The evangelical princes in attendance at the 
 Diet were forbidden even to have the gospel preached in 
 their dwellings. But the people of Spires thirsted for the 
 Word of God, and, notwithstanding the prohibition, thou- 
 sands flocked to the services held in the chapel of the Elector 
 of Saxony. 
 
 This hastened the crisis. An imperial message announced 
 to the Diet that as the- resolution granting liberty of con- 
 science had given rise to great disorders, the emperor re- 
 quired that it be annulled. This arbitrary act excited the 
 indignation and alarm of the evangelical Christians. Said 
 one, " Christ has again fallen into the hands of Caiaphas and 
 Pilate." The Romanists became more violent. A bigoted 
 papist declared, "The Turks are better than the Lutherans; 
 for the Turks observe fast-days, and the Lutherans violate 
 them. If we must choose between the Holy Scriptures of 
 God and the old errors of the church, we should reject the 
 former." Said Melancthon, "Every day, in full assembly, 
 Faber casts some new stone against the Gospellers." 
 
 Religious toleration had been legally established, and the 
 evangelical States were resolved to oppose the infringement 
 of their rights. Luther, being still under the ban imposed 
 by the edict of Worms, was not permitted to be present at 
 Spires; but his place was supplied by his co-laborers and 
 the princes whom God had raised up to defend his cause in 
 this emergency. The noble Frederick of Saxony, Luther's 
 former protestor, had been removed by death; but Duke 
 
PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 199 
 
 John, his brother and successor, had joyfully welcomed the 
 Reformation, and while a friend of peace, he displayed great 
 energy and courage in all matters relating to the interests 
 of the faith. 
 
 The priests demanded that the States which had accepted 
 the Reformation submit implicitly to Romish jurisdiction. 
 The reformers, on the other hand, claimed the liberty which 
 had previously been granted. They could not consent that 
 Rome should again bring under her control those States 
 that had with so great joy received the Word of God. 
 
 As a compromise it was finally proposed that where the 
 Reformation had not become established, the edict of Worms 
 should be rigorously enforced ; and that in the evangelical 
 States, where there would be danger of revolt, no new 
 reform should be introduced, there should be no preaching 
 upon disputed points, the celebration of the mass should not 
 be opposed, and no Roman Catholic should be permitted to 
 embrace Lutheranism. This measure passed the Diet, to 
 the great satisfaction of the popish priests and prelates. 
 
 If this edict were enforced, the Reformation could neither 
 be extended where as yet it had not reached, nor be estab- 
 lished on a firm foundation where it already existed. Lib- 
 erty of speech would be prohibited. No conversions would 
 be allowed. And to these restrictions and prohibitions the 
 friends of the Reformation were required at once to submit. 
 The hopes of the world seemed about to be extinguished. 
 The re-establishment of the papal worship would inevitably 
 cause a revival of the ancient abuses; and an occasion would 
 readily be found for completing the destruction of a work 
 that had already been shaken by fanaticism arid dissension. 
 
 As the evangelical party met for consultation, one looked 
 to another in blank dismay. From one to another passed 
 the inquiry, "What is to be done?" Mighty issues for the 
 world were at stake. " Should the chiefs of the Reformation 
 submit, and accept the edict? How easily might the reform- 
 ers at this crisis, which was truly a tremendous one, have 
 
200 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 argued themselves into a wrong course ! How many plaus- 
 ible pretexts and fair reasons might they have found for 
 submission! The Lutheran princes were guaranteed the 
 free exercise of their religion. The same boon was extended 
 to all those of their subjects who, prior to the passing of the 
 measure, had embraced the reformed views. Ought not 
 this to content them? How many perils would submission 
 avoid! On what unknown hazards and conflicts would 
 opposition launch them! Who knows what opportunities 
 the future may bring? Let us embrace peace; let us seize 
 the olive-branch Rome holds out, and close the wounds of 
 Germany. With arguments like these might the reformers 
 have justified their adoption of a course which would have 
 assuredly issued in no long time in the overthrow of their 
 cause. * 
 
 "Happily they looked at the principle on which this arrange- 
 ment was based, and they acted in faith. What was that prin- 
 ciple? It was the right of Rome to coerce conscience and for- 
 bid free inquiry. But w r ere not themselves and their Prot- 
 estant subjects to enjoy religious freedom? Yes, as a favor, 
 specially stipulated for in the arrangement, but not as a 
 right. As to all outside that arrangement, the great prin- 
 ciple of authority was to" rule; conscience was out of court, 
 Rome was infallible judge, and must be obeyed. The accept- 
 ance of the proposed arrangement would have been a virtual 
 admission that religious liberty ought to be confined, to 
 reformed Saxony ; and as to all the rest of Christendom, free 
 inquiry and the profession of the reformed faith were crimes, 
 and must be visited with the dungeon and the stake. 
 Could they consent to localize religious liberty? to have it 
 proclaimed that the Reformation had made its last convert, 
 had subjugated its last acre? and that wherever Rome bore 
 sway at this hour, there her dominion was to be perpetu- 
 ated? Could the reformers have pleaded that they were 
 innocent of the blood of those hundreds and thousands who, 
 in pursuance of this arrangement, would have to yield up 
 
PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 201 
 
 _________^ * - 
 
 their lives in popish lands? This would have been to betray 
 at that supreme hour, the cause of the gospel, and the liber- 
 ties of Christendom." Rather would they sacrifice their 
 dominions, their titles, and their own lives. 
 
 "Let us reject this decree," said the princes. "In matters 
 of conscience the majority has no power." The deputies 
 declared that Germany was indebted to the decree of tolera- 
 tion for the peace which she enjoyed, and that its abolition 
 would fill the empire with troubles and divisions. "The 
 Diet is incompetent," said they, "to do more than preserve 
 religious liberty until a council meets." To protect liberty 
 of conscience is the duty of the State, and this is the limit of 
 its authority in matters of religion. Every secular govern- 
 ment that attempts to regulate or enforce religious observ- 
 ances by civil authority is sacrificing the very principle for 
 which the evangelical Christians so nobly struggled. 
 
 The papists determined to put down what they termed 
 daring obstinacy. They began by endeavoring to cause 
 divisions among the supporters of the Reformation, and to 
 intimidate all who had not openly declared in its favor. The 
 representatives of the free cities were at last summoned before 
 the Diet, and required to declare whether they would accede 
 to the terms of the proposition. They pleaded for delay, 
 but in vain. When brought to the test, nearly one-half their 
 number sided with the reformers. Those who thus refused 
 to sacrifice liberty of conscience and the right of individual 
 judgment well knew that their position marked them for 
 future criticism, condemnation, and persecution. Said one 
 of the delegates, " We must either deny the Word of God 
 or be burned." 
 
 King Ferdinand, the emperor's representative at the Diet, 
 saw that the decree would cause serious divisions unless the 
 princes could be induced to accept and sustain it. He there- 
 fore tried the art of persuasion, well knowing that to employ 
 force with such men would only render them the more deter- 
 mined. He begged them to accept the decree, assuring them 
 
202 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 jfc 
 
 that such an act would be highly gratifying to the emperor. 
 But these faithful men acknowledged an authority above 
 that of earthly rulers, and they answered calmly, " We will 
 obey the emperor in everything that may contribute to 
 maintain peace and the honor of God." 
 
 In the presence of the Diet, the king at last announced 
 that the decree was about to be published as an imperial 
 edict, and that the only course remaining for the elector and 
 his friends was to submit to the majority. Having thus 
 spoken, he withdrew from the assembly, giving the reformers 
 no opportunity for deliberation or reply. In vain they sent 
 messengers entreating him to return. To their remonstrances 
 he answered only, "It is a settled affair; submission is all 
 that remains." 
 
 The imperial party were convinced that the Christian 
 princes would adhere to the Holy Scriptures as superior to 
 human doctrines and requirements; and they knew that 
 wherever this principle was accepted, the papacy would 
 eventually be overthrown. But, like thousands since their 
 time, looking only "at the things which are seen," they flat- 
 tered themselves that the cause of the emperor and the pope 
 was strong, and that of the reformers weak. Had the re- 
 formers depended upon human aid alone, they would have 
 been as powerless as the papists supposed. But thougli 
 weak in numbers, and at variance with Rome, they had 
 their strength. They appealed from the decision of the 
 Diet to the Scriptures of truth, and from the emperor of Ger- 
 many to the King of Heaven and earth. 
 
 As Ferdinand had refused to regard their conscientious 
 convictions, the princes decided not to heed his absence, but 
 to bring their Protest before the national council without 
 delay. A solemn declaration was therefore drawn up, and 
 presented to the Diet: 
 
 "We protest by these presents, before God, our only Crea- 
 tor, Preserver, Redeemer, and Saviour, and \\li<> will one day 
 be our Judge, as well as before all men and all creatures, 
 
PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 203 
 
 that we, for us and our people, neither consent nor adhere in 
 any manner whatever to the proposed decree in anything 
 that is contrary to God, to his Word, to our right conscience, 
 or to the salvation of our souls. . . . We cannot assert 
 that when Almighty God calls a man to his knowledge, he 
 dare not embrace that divine knowledge. . . . There is 
 no true doctrine but that which conforms to the Word of God. 
 The Lord forbids the teaching of any other faith. The 
 Holy Scriptures, with one text explained by other and 
 plainer texts, are, in all things necessary for the Christian, 
 easy to be understood, and adapted to enlighten. We are 
 therefore resolved by divine grace to maintain the pure 
 preaching of God's only Word, as it is contained in the script- 
 ures of the Old and New Testaments, without anything 
 added thereto. This word is the only truth. It is the sure 
 rule of all doctrine and life, and can never fail or deceive 
 us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against 
 all the powers of hell, whilst all the vanities that are set up 
 against it shall fall before the face of God." "We therefore 
 reject the yoke that is imposed upon us." "At the same 
 time we are in expectation that his imperial majesty will 
 behave toward us like a Christian prince who loves God 
 above all things; and we declare ourselves ready to pay 
 unto him, as well as unto you, gracious lords, all the affec- 
 tion and obedience that are our just and legitimate duty." 
 
 A deep impression was made upon the Diet. The major- 
 ity were filled with amazement and alarm at the boldness of 
 the protesters. The future appeared to them stormy and 
 uncertain. Dissension, strife, and bloodshed seemed inevit- 
 able. But the reformers, assured of the justice of their 
 cause, and relying upon the arm of Omnipotence, were full 
 of courage and firmness. 
 
 The Protest denied the right of civil rulers to legislate in 
 matters between the soul and God, and declared with proph- 
 ets and apostles, " We ought to obey God rather than men." 
 It rejected also the arbitrary power of the church, and set 
 
204 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 forth the unerring principle that all human teaching should 
 be in subjection to the oracles of God. The protesters had 
 thrown off the yoke of man's supremacy, and had exalted 
 Christ as supreme in the church, and his Word in the pulpit. 
 The power of conscience was set above the State, and the 
 authority of the Holy Scriptures above the visible church. 
 The crown of Christ was uplifted above the pope's tiara 
 and the emperor's diadem. The protesters had moreover 
 affirmed their right to freely utter their convictions of truth. 
 They would not only believe and obey, but teach what the 
 Word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest 
 or magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a sol- 
 emn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion 
 of the right of all men to worship God according to the dic- 
 tates of their own consciences. 
 
 The declaration had been made. It was written in the 
 memory of thousands, and registered in the books of Heaven, 
 where no effort of man could erase it. All evangelical 
 Germany adopted the Protest as the expression of its faith. 
 Everywhere men beheld in this declaration the promise of a 
 new and better era. Said one of the princes to the Prot- 
 estants of Spires, " May the Almighty, who has given you 
 grace to confess energetically, freely, and fearlessly, preserve 
 you in that Christian firmness until the day of eternity." 
 
 Had the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, 
 consented to temporize to secure favor with the world, it 
 would have been untrue to God and to itself, and would thus 
 have insured its own destruction. The experience of those 
 noble reformers contains a lesson for all succeeding ages. Sa- 
 t aii's manner of working against God and his Word has 
 not changed; he is still as much opposed to the Scriptures 
 1 M-ing made the guide of life as in the sixteenth century. In 
 our time there is a wide departure from their doctrines and 
 precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Prot- 
 estanl principle, the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule 
 of faith and duty. Satan is still working through every 
 
PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 205 
 
 means which he can control to- destroy religious liberty. 
 The antichristian power which the protesters of Spires 
 rejected, is now with renewed vigor seeking to re-establish 
 its lost supremacy. The same unswerving adherence to the 
 Word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation, is 
 the only hope of reform to-day. 
 
 There appeared tokens of danger to the Protestants. There 
 were tokens, also, that the divine hand was stretched out to 
 protect the faithful. It was abcut this time that Melancthon 
 hurried his friend Grynaras through the streets of Spires to 
 the Rhine, and urged him to cross the river without delay. 
 Grynaaus, in astonishment, desired to know the reason for 
 this sudden flight. Said Melancthon, "An old man of grave 
 and solemn aspect, but who is unknown to me, appeared before 
 me, and said, ' In a minute the officers of justice will be 
 sent by Ferdinand to arrest Grynseus.'" On the banks of 
 the Rhine, Melancthon waited until the waters of that stream 
 interposed between his beloved friend and those who sought 
 his life. When he saw him on the other side at last, he 
 said, " He is torn from the cruel jaws of those who thirst for 
 innocent blood." 
 
 Grynseus had been on intimate terms with a leading papist 
 doctor; but, having been shocked at one of his sermons, he 
 went to him, and entreated that he would no longer war 
 against the truth. The papist concealed his anger, but im- 
 mediately repaired to the king, and obtained from him 
 authority to arrest the protester. When Melancthon re- 
 turned to his house, he was informed that after his depart- 
 ure officers in pursuit of Gryn^us had searched it from top 
 to bottom. He ever believed that the Lord had saved his 
 friend by sending a holy angel to give him warning. 
 
 The Reformation was to be brought into greater prom- 
 inence before the mighty ones of the earth. The evangelical 
 princes had been denied a hearing by King Ferdinand; but 
 they were to be granted an opportunity to present their 
 cause in the presence of the emperor and the assembled 
 
206 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 dignitaries of Church and State. To quiet the dissensions 
 which disturbed the empire, Charles V., in the year follow- 
 ing the Protest of Spires; convoked a Diet at Augsburg, over 
 which he announced his intention to preside in person. 
 Thither the Protestant leaders were summoned. 
 
 Great dangers threatened the Reformation ; but its advo- 
 cates still trusted their cause with God, and pledged them- 
 selves to be firm to the gospel. The Elector of Saxony was 
 urged by his councillors not to appear at the Diet. The 
 emperor, they said, required the attendance of the princes 
 in order to draw them into a snare. " Was it not risking 
 everything to shut oneself up within the walls of a city with 
 a powerful enemy?" But others nobly declared, "Let the 
 princes only comport themselves with courage, and God's 
 cause is saved." " Our God is faithful ; he will not abandon 
 us," said Luther. The elector set out, with his retinue, for 
 Augsburg. All were acquainted with the dangers that 
 menaced him, and many went forward with gloomy counte- 
 nance and troubled heart. But Luther who accompanied 
 them as far as Coburg revived their sinking faith by sing- 
 ing the hymn, written on that journey, "A strong tower is 
 our God." Many an anxious foreboding was banished, 
 many a heavy heart lightened, at the sound of the inspiring 
 strains. 
 
 The reformed princes had determined upon having a 
 statement of their views in systematic form, with the evi- 
 dence from the Scriptures, to present before the Diet; and 
 the task of its preparation was committed to Luther, Melanc- 
 thon, and their associates. This Confession was accepted by 
 the Protestants as an exposition of their faith, and they 
 assembled to affix their names to the important document. 
 1 1 was a solemn and trying time. The reformers were solic- 
 itous that their cause should not be confounded with polit- 
 ic) questions; they felt that the Reformation should exer- 
 cise no other influence than that which proceeds from 
 the Word of God. As the Christian princes advanced to 
 
PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 207 
 
 sign the Confession, Melancthon interposed, saying, "It is 
 for the theologians and ministers to propose these things, 
 while the authority of the mighty ones of earth is to be 
 reserved for other matters." " God forbid," replied John of 
 Saxony, "that you should exclude me. I am resolved to 
 do my duty, without being troubled about my crown. I 
 desire to confess the Lord. My electoral hat and robes are 
 not so precious to me as the cross of Jesus Christ." Having 
 thus spoken he wrote down his name. Said another of the 
 princes as he took the pen, " If the honor of my Lord Jesus 
 Christ requires it, I am ready to leave my goods and life 
 behind me." " Rather would I renounce my subjects and 
 my States, rather would I quit the country of my fathers, 
 staff in hand," he continued, "than to receive any other doc- 
 trine than is contained in this Confession." Such was the 
 faith and daring of those men of God. 
 
 The appointed time came to appear before the emperor. 
 Charles V., seated upon his throne, surrounded by the 
 electors and the princes, gave audience to the Protestant re- 
 formers. The confession of their faith was read. In that au- 
 gust assembly the truths of the gospel were clearly set forth, 
 and the errors of the papal church were pointed out. Well 
 has that day been pronounced " the greatest day of the Refor- 
 mation, and one of the most glorious in the history of Chris- 
 tianity and of the world." 
 
 But a few years had passed since the monk of- Witten- 
 berg stood alone at Worms beforq the national council. 
 Now in his stead were the noblest and most powerful princes 
 of the empire. Luther had been forbidden to appear at 
 Augsburg, but he had been present by his words and 
 prayers. " I thrill with joy/' he wrote, " that I have lived until 
 this hour, in which Christ has been publicly exalted by such 
 illustrious confessors, and in so glorious an assembly. Herein 
 is fulfilled what the Scripture saith, ' I will declare thy testi- 
 mony in the presence of kings.'" . 
 
 In the days of Paul, the gospel for which he was impris- 
 
208 T11K GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 oned was thus brought before the princes and nobles of 
 the imperial city. So on this occasion, "that which the em- 
 peror had forbidden to be preached from the pulpit, was pro- 
 claimed in the palace; what many had regarded as unfit 
 even for servants to listen to, was heard with wonder by the 
 masters and lords of the empire. Kings and great men 
 were the auditory, crowned princes were the preachers, and 
 the sermon was the royal truth of God." " Since the apos- 
 tolic age," says a writer, "there has never been a greater 
 work, or a more magnificent confession of Jesus Christ." 
 
 "All that the Lutherans have said is true, and we cannot 
 deny it," declared a papist bishop. " Can you by sound rea- 
 sons refute the Confession made by the elector and his 
 allies?" asked another, of Doctor Eck. "Not with the writ- 
 ings of the apostles and prophets," was the reply ; " but with 
 the Fathers and councils I can." "I understand, then," 
 responded the questioner, "that the Lutherans are entrenched 
 in the Scriptures, and we are only outside." Some of the 
 princes of Germany were won to the reformed faith. The 
 emperor himself declared that the Protestant articles were 
 but the truth. The Confession was translated into many 
 languages, and circulated through all Europe, and it has 
 been accepted by millions in succeeding generations as the 
 expression of their faith. 
 
 God's faithful servants were not toiling alone. While 
 " principalities and powers and wicked spirits in high places " 
 were leagued against ^hem, the Lord did not forsake his 
 people. Could their eyes have been opened, they would 
 have seen as marked evidence of divine presence and aid 
 as was granted to a prophet of old. When Elisha's servant 
 pointed his master to the hostile army surrounding them, 
 n 1 1< I cutting off all opportunity for escape, the prophet prayed, 
 "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." 1 And, 
 lo, the mountain was filled with chariots and horses of fire, the 
 am iy of I leaven stationed to protect the man of God. Thus 
 did angels guard the workers in the cause of the Reformation. 
 
 1 2 Kings 6: 17. ' 
 
PROTEST OF THE PRINCES. 201) 
 
 One of the principles most firmly maintained by Luther 
 was that there should be no resort to secular power in sup- 
 port of the Reformation, and no appeal to arms for its de- 
 fense. He rejoiced that the gospel was confessed by princes 
 of the empire ; but when they proposed to unite in a defensive 
 league, he declared that " the doctrine of the gospel should 
 be defended by God alone. The less men meddle in the 
 w r ork, the more striking would be God's intervention in its 
 behalf. All the political precautions suggested were, in his 
 view, attributable to unworthy fear and sinful mistrust." 
 
 When powerful foes were uniting to overthrow the re- 
 formed faith, and thousands of swords seemed about to be 
 unsheathed against it, Luther wrote: "Satan is raging; 
 ungodly priests take counsel together, and we are threatened 
 with war. Exhort the people to contend earnestly before 
 the throne of the Lord, by faith and prayer, that our adver- 
 saries, being overcome by the Spirit of God, may be con- 
 strained to peace. The most urgent of our wants the very 
 first thing we have to do, is to pray; let the people, know 
 that they are at this hour exposed to the edge of the sword 
 and the rage of the devil; let them pray" 
 
 Again, at a later date, referring to the league contemplated 
 by the reformed princes, he declared that the only weapon 
 employed in this warfare should be "the sword of the 
 Spirit." He wrote to the Elector of Saxony: "We cannot 
 in our conscience approve of the proposed alliance. Our 
 Lord Christ is mighty enough and can well find ways and 
 means to rescue us from danger, and bring the thoughts of 
 the ungodly princes to nothing. . . . Christ is only try- 
 ing us w r hether we are willing to obey his word or no, and 
 whether we hold it for certain truth or not. We would 
 rather die ten times over than that the gospel should be a 
 cause of blood or hurt by any act of ours. Let us rather 
 patiently suffer, and, as the psalmist says, be accounted as 
 sheep for the slaughter; and instead of avenging or defend- 
 ing ourselves, leave room for God's wrath." " The cross of 
 
210 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Christ must be borne. Let your highness be without fear. 
 We shall do more by our prayers than all our enemies Hy 
 their boastings. Only let not your hands be stained with 
 the blood of your brethren. If the emperor requires us to 
 be given up to his tribunals, we are ready to appear. You 
 cannot defend the faith; each one should believe at his own 
 risk and peril." 
 
 From the secret place of prayer came the power that shook 
 the world in the Great Reformation. There, with holy calm- 
 ness, the servants of the Lord set their feet upon the rock of 
 his promises. During the struggle at Augsburg, Luther did 
 not fail to devote three hours each day to prayer; and these 
 were taken .from that portion of tbe day most favorable to 
 study. In the privacy of his chamber he was heard to 
 pour out his soul before God in words full of adoration, 
 fear, and hope, as if speaking to a friend. "I know that 
 thou art our Father and our God," he said, " and that thou 
 wilt scatter the persecutors of thy children; for thou art thy- 
 self endangered with us. All this matter is thine, and it is 
 only by thy constraint that we have put our hands to it. 
 Defend us, then, Father!" To Melancthon, who was 
 crushed under the burden of anxiety and fear, he wrote: 
 "Grace, and peace in Christ i In Christ, I say, and not in the 
 world, Amen! I hate with exceeding hatred those extreme 
 cares which consume you. If the cause is unjust, abandon 
 it; if the cause is just, why should we belie the promises of 
 Him who commands us to sleep without fear?" "Christ 
 will not be wanting to the work of justice and truth. He 
 lives, he reigns; what fear, then, can we have?" 
 
 God did listen to the cries of his servants. He gave to 
 princes and ministers grace and courage to maintain the 
 truth against the rulers of the darkness of this world. 
 Saith the Lord, " Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, 
 elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be 
 confounded." l The Protestant reformers had built on Christ, 
 and the gates of hell could not prevail against them. 
 
 *1 Peter 2: 6. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 
 
 THE Protest of Spires and the Confession at Augsburg, 
 which marked the triumph of the Reformation in Germany, 
 were followed by years of conflict and darkness. Weakened 
 by divisions among its supporters, and assailed by powerful 
 foes, Protestantism seemed destined to be utterly destroyed. 
 Thousands sealed their testimony with their blood. Civil 
 war broke out ; the Protestant cause was betrayed by one of 
 its leading adherents; the noblest of the reformed princes 
 fell into the hands of the emperor, and were dragged as 
 captives from town to town. But in the moment of his 
 apparent triumph, the emperor was smitten with defeat. 
 He saw the prey wrested from his grasp, and he was forced 
 at last to grant toleration to the doctrines which it had been 
 the ambition of his life to destroy. He had staked his king- 
 dom, his treasures, and life itself, upon the crushing out of 
 the heresy. Now he saw his armies wasted by battle, his 
 treasuries drained, his many kingdoms threatened by revolt, 
 while everywhere the faith which he had vainly endeavored 
 to suppress, was extending, Charles V. had been battling 
 against omnipotent power. God had said, "Let there be 
 light," but the emperor had sought to keep the darkness 
 unbroken. His purposes had failed, and in premature old 
 age, worn out with the long struggle, he abdicated the 
 throne, and buried himself in a cloister. 
 
 In Switzerland, as in Germany, there came dark days for 
 the Reformation. While many cantons accepted the re- 
 formed faith, others clung with blind persistence to the 
 creed of Rome. Their persecution of those who desired to 
 receive the truth, finally gave rise to civil war. Zwingle 
 
 (211) 
 
2.12 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and many who had united with him in reform, fell on the 
 bloody field of Cappel. (Ecolampadius, overcome by these 
 terrible disasters, soon after died. Rome was triumphant, 
 and in many places seemed about to recover all that she had 
 lost. But He whose counsels are from everlasting had not 
 forsaken his cause or his people. His hand would bring 
 deliverance for them. In other lands he had raised up 
 laborers to carry forward the reform. 
 
 In France, before the name of Luther had been heard as 
 a reformer, the day had already begun to break. One of 
 the first to catch the light was the aged Lefevre, a man of 
 extensive learning, a professor in the University of Paris, 
 and a sincere and zealous papist. In his researches into 
 ancient literature his attention was directed to the Bible, 
 and he introduced its study among his students. Lefevre 
 was an enthusiastic adorer of the saints, and he had under- 
 taken to prepare a history of the saints and martyrs as 
 given in the legends of the church. This was a work 
 which involved great labor, but he had already made con- 
 siderable progress in it, when, thinking that he might obtain 
 useful assistance from the Bible, lie began its study with 
 this object. Here indeed "he found saints brought to view, 
 but not such as figured in the Romish calendar. A flood of 
 divine light broke in upon his mind. In amazement and 
 disgust he turned away from his self-appointed task, and 
 devoted himself to the Word of God. The precious truths 
 which he there discovered he soon began to teach. In 1512, 
 before either Luther or Zwingle had begun the work oi 
 reform, Lefevre wrote: "It is God who gives us, by faith, 
 that righteousness which by grace justifies unto eternal life." 
 Dwelling upon the mysteries of redemption, he exclaimed, 
 "Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange, the Sin- 
 less One is condemned, and lie who is guilty goes free; the 
 Blessing bears the curse and the curse is brought into bless- 
 ing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed 
 in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face 
 is clothed with glory." 
 
THE FRENCH RE FOR MA TION. 213 
 
 And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs 
 solely to God, he also declared that the duty of obedience 
 belongs to man. " If thou art a member of Christ's church," 
 he said, " thou art a member of his body ; if thou art of his 
 body, then thou art full of the divine nature." " Oh, if men 
 could but enter into the understanding of this privilege, 
 how purely, chastely, and holily, would they live, and how 
 contemptible, when compared with the glory within them, 
 that glory which the eye of flesh cannot see, would they 
 deem all the glory of this world." 
 
 There were some among Lefevre's students who listened 
 eagerly to his words, and who, long after the * teacher's voice 
 should be silenced, were to continue to declare the truth. 
 Such was William Farel. The son of pious parents, and 
 educated to accept with implicit faith the teachings of the 
 church, he might, with the apostle Paul, have declared con- 
 cerning himself, "After the most straitest sect of our religion 
 I lived a Pharisee." 1 A devoted Romanist, he burned with 
 zeal to destroy all who should dare to oppose the church. 
 " I would gnash my teeth like a furious wolf," he afterward 
 said, referring to this period of his life, "when I heard any 
 one speaking against the pope." He had been untiring in 
 his adoration of the saints, in company with Lefevre making 
 the round of the churches of Paris, worshiping at the altars, 
 and adorning with gifts the holy shrines. But these observ- 
 ances could not bring peace of soul. Conviction of sin 
 fastened upon him, which all the acts of penance that he 
 practiced, failed to banish. As a voice from Heaven, he 
 listened to the reformer's words: "Salvation is of grace. 
 The Innocent One is condemned, and the criminal is acquit- 
 ted." " It is the cross of Christ alone that openeth the gates 
 of Heaven, and shutteth the gates of hell." 
 
 Farel joyfully accepted the truth. By a conversion like 
 that of Paul, he turned from the bondage of tradition to the 
 liberty of the sons of God. " Instead of the murderous heart 
 of a ravening wolf," he came back, he says, " quietly, like a 
 
 Acts 26 : 5. 
 
214 THE GREA T CONTRO VERSY . 
 
 meek and harmless lamb, having his heart entirely with- 
 drawn from the pope, and given to Jesus Christ." 
 
 While Lefevre continued to spread the light among his 
 students, Farel, as zealous in the cause of Christ as he had 
 been in that of the pope, went forth to declare the truth in 
 public. A dignitary of the church, the bishop of Meaux, 
 soon after united with them. Other teachers who ranked 
 high for their ability and learning, joined in proclaiming 
 the gospel, and it won adherents among all classes, from the 
 homes of artisans and peasants to the palace of the king. 
 The sister of Francis I., then the reigning monarch, ac- 
 cepted the reformed faith. The king himself, and the queen 
 mother, appeared for a time to regard it with favor, and with 
 high hopes the reformers looked forward to the time when 
 France should be won to the gospel. 
 
 But their hopes were not to be realized. Trial and per- 
 secution awaited the disciples of Christ. This, however, 
 was mercifully veiled from their eyes. A time of peace 
 intervened, that they might gain strength to meet the tem- 
 pest; and the Reformation made rapid progress. The bishop 
 of Meaux labored zealously in his own diocese to instruct 
 both the clergy and the people. Ignorant and immoral 
 priests were removed, and, so far as possible, replaced by men 
 of learning and piety. The bishop greatly desired that his 
 people might have access to the Word of God for themselves, 
 and this was soon accomplished. Lefevre undertook the 
 translation of the New Testament, and at the very time 
 when Luther's German Bible was issuing from the press in 
 Wittenberg, the French New Testament was published at 
 Meaux. The bishop spared no labor or expense to circulate 
 it among his parishes, and soon the peasants of Meaux were 
 in possession of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 As travelers perishing from thirst welcome with joy a 
 living water-spring, so did these souls receive the message of 
 Heaven. The laborers in the field, the artisans in the work- 
 shop, cheered their daily toil by talking of the precious 
 
THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 215 
 
 truths of the Bible. At evening, instead of resorting to the 
 wine shops, they assembled in each other's homes to read 
 God's Word and join in prayer and praise. A great change 
 was soon manifest in these communities. Though belong- 
 ing to the humblest class, an unlearned and hard-working 
 peasantry, the reforming, uplifting power of divine grace was 
 seen in their lives. Humble, loving, and holy, they stood as 
 witnesses to what the gospel will accomplish for those who 
 receive it in sincerity. 
 
 The light kindled at Meaux shed its beams afar. Every 
 day the number of converts was increasing. The rage of 
 the hierarchy was for a time held in. check by the king, who 
 despised the narrow bigotry of the monks; but the papist 
 leaders finally prevailed. Now the stake was set up. The 
 bishop of Meaux, forced to choose between the fire and recan- 
 tation, accepted the easier path; but notwithstanding the 
 leader's fall, his flock remained steadfast. Many witnessed 
 for the truth amid the flames. By their courage and fidelity 
 at the stake, these humble Christians spoke to thousands 
 who in days of peace had never heard their testimony. 
 
 It was not alone the humble and the poor, that amid 
 suffering and scorn dared to bear witness for Christ. In the 
 lordly halls of the castle and the palace, there were kingly 
 souls by whom truth was valued above wealth or rank or 
 even life. Knightly armor concealed a loftier and more 
 steadfast spirit than did the bishop's robe and mitre. Louis 
 de Berquin was of noble birth. A brave and courtly knight, 
 he was devoted to study, polished in manners, and of blame- 
 less morals. " He was," says a writer, " a great follower of 
 the papistical constitutions, and a great hearer of masses 
 and sermons." "And he crowned all his other virtues by 
 holding Lutheranism in special abhorrence." But, like so 
 many others, providentially guided to the Bible, he was 
 amazed to find there, not the teachings of popery, but the 
 doctrines of Luther. Henceforth he gave himself, with 
 entire devotion, to the cause of the gospel. 
 
216 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 "The most learned of the nobles of France," his genius 
 and eloquence, his indomitable courage and heroic zeal, and 
 his influence at court for he was a favorite with the king 
 caused him to be* regarded by many as one destined to be the 
 reformer of his country. Said Beza, " Berquin would have 
 been a second Luther, had he found in Francis I. a second 
 elector." "He is worse than Luther," cried the papists. 
 More dreaded he was indeed by the Romanists of France. 
 They thrust him in prison as a heretic, but he was set at 
 liberty by the king. For years the struggle continued* 
 Francis, wavering between Rome and the Reformation, 
 alternately tolerated and restrained the fierce zeal of the 
 monks. Berquin was three times imprisoned by the papist 
 authorities, only to be released by the monarch, who, in 
 admiration of his genius and his nobility of character, 
 refused to sacrifice him to the malice of the hierarchy. 
 
 Berqtfin was repeatedly warned of the danger that threat- 
 ened him in France, and urged to follow the steps of those 
 who had found safety in voluntary exile. The timid and 
 time-serving Erasmus who with all the splendor of his 
 scholarship failed of that moral greatness which holds life 
 and honor subservient to truth wrote to Berquin: "Ask to 
 be sent as ambassador to some foreign country; go and 
 travel in Germany. You "know Beda and such as he he is 
 a thousand-headed monster, darting venom on every side. 
 Your enemies are named legion. Were your cause better 
 than that of Jesus Christ, they will not let you go till they 
 have miserably destroyed you. Do not trust too much to 
 the king's protection. At all events, do not compromise me 
 with the faculty of theology." 
 
 But as dangers thickened, Berquin's zeal only waxed the 
 stronger. So far from adopting the politic and self-serving 
 counsel of Erasmus, he determined upon still bolder meas- 
 ures. He would not only stand in defense of the truth, but 
 he would attack error. The charge of lieivsy which the 
 Romanists were seeking to fasten upon him, he would rivet 
 
THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 217 
 
 upon them. The most active and bitter of his opponents 
 were the learned doctors and monks of the theological 
 department in the great university of Paris, one of the high- 
 est ecclesiastical authorities both in the city and the nation. 
 From the writings of these doctors, Berquin drew twelve 
 propositions which he publicly declared to be contrary to 
 the Bible, and therefore heretical ; and he appealed to the 
 king to act as judge in the controversy. 
 
 The monarch, not loth to bring in contrast the power and 
 acuteness of the opposing champions, and glad of an oppor- 
 tunity of humbling the pride of these haughty monks, bade 
 the Romanists defend their cause by the Bible. This weapon, 
 they well knew, would avail them little; imprisonment, tort- 
 ure, and the stake were arms which they better understood 
 to wield. Now the tables were turned, and they saw them- 
 selves about to fall into the pit into which they had hoped 
 to plunge Berquin. In amazement they looked about them 
 for some way of escape. 
 
 Just at this time an image of the virgin, standing at the 
 corner of one of the public streets, was found mutilated. 
 There was great excitement in the city. Crowds of people 
 flocked to the place, with expressions of mourning and 
 indignation. The king also was deeply moved. Here was 
 an advantage which the monks could turn to good account, 
 and they were quick to improve it. " These are the fruits 
 of the doctrines of Berquin," they cried. "All is about to be 
 overthrown, religion, the laws, the throne itself, by this 
 Lutheran conspiracy." 
 
 Again Berquin was apprehended. The king withdrew 
 from Paris, and the monks were thus left free to work their 
 will. The reformer was tried, and condemned to die, and lest 
 Francis should even yet interpose to save him, the sentence 
 was executed on the very- day it was pronounced. At noon 
 Berquin was conducted to the place of death. An immense 
 throng gathered to witness the event, and there were many 
 
 who saw with astonishment and misgiving that the victim 
 17 
 
21 R THE ORE A T CONTROVERSY. 
 
 had been chosen from the best and bravest of the noble 
 families of France. Amazement, indignation, scorn, and 
 bitter hatred darkened the faces of that surging crowd; but 
 upon one face no shadow rested. The martyr's thoughts 
 were far from that scene of tumult; he was conscious only 
 of the presence of his Lord. 
 
 The wretched tumbril upon which he rode, the frowning 
 faces of his persecutors, the dreadful death to which lie was 
 going, these he heeded not; He who liveth and was dead, 
 and is alive forevermore, and hath the keys of death and 
 of hell, was beside him. Berquin's countenance was ra- 
 diant with the light and peace of Heaven. He had attired 
 himself in goodly raiment, wearing /'a cloak of velvet, a 
 doublet of satin and damask, and golden hose." He was 
 about to testify to his faith in presence of the King of kings 
 and the witnessing universe, and no token of mourning 
 should belie his joy. 
 
 As the procession moved slowly through the crowded 
 streets, the people marked with wonder the unclouded peace, 
 the joyous triumph, of his look and bearing. "He is," they 
 said, "like one who sits in a temple, and meditates on holy 
 things." 
 
 At the stake, Berquin endeavored to address a few words 
 to the people, but the monks, fearing the result, began to 
 shout, and the soldiers to clash their arms, and their clamor 
 drowned the martyr's voice. Thus in 1529, the highest 
 literary and ecclesiastical authority of cultured Paris "set 
 the populace of 1793 the base example of stifling on the 
 scaffold the sacred words of the dying." 
 
 Berquin was strangled, and his body was consumed in 
 the flames. The tidings of his death caused sorrow to the 
 friends of the Reformation throughout France. But his ex- 
 ample was not lost. "We too are ready," said the witnesses 
 for the truth, "to meet death cheerfully, setting our eyes on 
 the life that is to come." 
 
 During the persecution at Meaux, the teachers of the 
 
THE FRENCH REFORMA TION. 219 
 
 reformed faith were deprived of their license to preach, and 
 they departed to other fields. Lefevre after a time made his 
 way to Germany. Farel returned to his native town in East- 
 ern France, to spread the light in the home of his childhood. 
 Already tidings had been received of what was going on at 
 Meaux, and the truth, which he taught with fearless zeal, 
 found listeners. Soon the authorities were roused to silence 
 him, and he was banished from the city. Though he could 
 no longer labor publicly, he traversed the plains and vil- 
 lages, teaching in private dwellings and in secluded mead- 
 ows, and finding shelter in the forests and among the rocky 
 caverns which had been his haunts in boyhood. God was 
 preparing him for greater trials. "Crosses, persecution, and 
 the lying-in-wait of Satan, of which I had intimation, were 
 not wanting," he said; "they were eve,n much more than I 
 could have borne in my own strength; but God is my Fa- 
 ther; he has ministered, and will forever minister, to me all 
 needful strength." 
 
 As in apostolic days, persecution had "fallen out rather 
 unto the furtherance of the gospel." 1 Driven from Paris 
 and Meaux, "they that were scattered abroad went every- 
 where preaching the word." 2 And thus the light found its 
 way into many of the remote provinces of France. 
 
 God was still preparing workers to extend his cause. In. 
 one of the schools of Paris was a thoughtful, quiet youth, 
 already giving evidence of a powerful and penetrating mind, 
 and no less marked for the blamelessness of his life than for 
 intellectual ardor and religious devotion. His genius and 
 application soon made him the pride of the college, and it . 
 was confidently anticipated that John Calvin would become 
 one of the ablest and most honored defenders of the church. 
 But a ray of divine light penetrated even within the walls 
 of scholasticism and superstition by which Calvin was 
 inclosed. He heard of the new doctrines with a shudder, 
 nothing doubting that the heretics deserved the fire to which 
 l Phil. 1:12. 2 Acts 8: 4. 
 
220 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 they were given. Yet all unwittingly he was brought face 
 to face with the heresy, and forced to test the power of Rom- 
 ish theology to combat the Protestant teaching. 
 
 A cousin of Calvin's, who had joined the reformers, was in 
 Paris. The two kinsmen often met, and discussed together 
 the matters that w r ere disturbing Christendom. " There are 
 but two religions in the world," said Olivetan, the Protestant. 
 "The one class of religions are those which men have 
 invented, in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies 
 and good works; the other is that one religion which is 
 revealed in the Bible, and which teaches men to look for 
 salvation solely to the free grace of God." " I will have 
 none of your new doctrines," exclaimed Calvin; "think you 
 that I have lived in error all my days?" 
 
 But thoughts had been awakened in his mind which he 
 could not banish at will. Alone in his chamber he pon- 
 dered upon his cousin's words. Conviction of sin fastened 
 upon him; he saw himself, without an intercessor, in the 
 presence of a holy and just Judge. The mediation of saints, 
 good works, the ceremonies of the church, all were powerless 
 to atone for sin. He could see before him nothing but the 
 blackness of eternal despair. In vain the doctors of the 
 church endeavored to relieve his woe. Confession, penance, 
 were resorted to in vain; they could not reconcile the soul 
 with God. 
 
 While still engaged in these fruitless struggles, Calvin, 
 chancing one day to visit one of the public squares, wit- 
 nessed there the burning of a heretic. He as filled with 
 wonder at the expression of peace which rested upon the 
 martyr's countenance. Amid the tortures of that dreadful 
 death, and under the more terrible condemnation of the 
 church, he manifested a faith and courage which the young 
 student painfully contrasted with his own despair and 
 darkness, while living in strictest obedience to the church. 
 Upon the Bible, he kne\v, the hereties rested their faith. lie 
 determined to study it, and discover, if he could, the secret 
 of their joy. 
 
THE FRENCH REFORMA TION. 221 
 
 In the Bible he found Christ. " Father," he cried, " his 
 sacrifice has appeased thy wrath; his blood has washed 
 away my impurities; his cross has borne my curse; his death 
 has atoned for me. We had devised for ourselves many use- 
 less follies, but thou hast placed thy Word before me like a 
 torch, and thou hast touched my heart, in order that I may 
 hold in abomination all other merits save those of Jesus." 
 
 Calvin had been educated for the priesthood. When 
 only twelve years of age he had been appointed to the 
 chaplaincy of a small church, and his head had been shorn 
 by the bishop in accordance with the canon of the church. 
 He did not receive consecration, nor did he fulfill the duties 
 of a priest, but he became a member of the clergy, holding 
 the title of his office, and receiving an allowance in consider- 
 ation thereof. 
 
 Now, feeling that he could never become a priest, he 
 turned for a time to the study of law, but finally abandoned 
 this purpose, and determined to devote his life to the gospel. 
 But he hesitated to become a public teacher. He was nat- 
 urally timid, and was burdened with a sense of the weighty 
 responsibility of the position, and he desired to still devote 
 himself to study. The earnest entreaties of his friends, how- 
 ever, at last won his consent. " Wonderful it is," he said. 
 " that one of so lowly an origin should be exalted to so great 
 dignity." 
 
 Quietly did Calvin enter upon his work, and his words 
 were as the dew falling to refresh the earth. He had left 
 Paris, and was now in a provincial town under the protection 
 of the princess Margaret, who, loving the gospel, extended 
 her protection to its disciples. Calvin, was still a youth, of 
 gentle, unpretentious bearing. His work began with the 
 people at their homes. Surrounded by the members of the 
 household, he read the Bible, and opened the truths of salva- 
 tion. Those who heard the message, carried the good news 
 to others, and soon the teacher passed beyond the city to the 
 outlying towns and hamlets. To both the castle and the 
 
222 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 cabin he found entrance, and he went forward, laying the 
 foundation of churches that were to yield fearless witnesses 
 for the truth. 
 
 A few months and he was again in Paris. There was 
 unwonted agitation in the circle of learned men and schol- 
 ars. The study of the ancient languages had led men to 
 the Bible, and many whose hearts were untouched by its 
 truths were eagerly discussing them, and even giving battle 
 to the champions of Romanism. Calvin, though an able 
 combatant in the fields of theological controversy, had a 
 higher mission to accomplish than that of these noisy school- 
 men. The minds of men were stirred, and now was the 
 time to open to them the truth. While the halls of the uni- 
 versities were filled with the clamor of theological disputa- 
 tion, Calvin was making his way from house to house, 
 opening the Bible to the people, and speaking to them of 
 Christ and him crucified. 
 
 In God's providence, Paris was to receive another invita- 
 tion to accept the gospel. The call of Lefevre and Farel 
 had been rejected, but again the message was to be heard 
 by all classes in that great capital. The king, influenced by 
 political considerations, had not yet fully sided with Rome 
 against the Reformation. Margaret still clung to the hope 
 that Protestantism was to triumph in France. She resolved 
 that the reformed faith should be preached in Paris. Dur- 
 ing the absence of the king, she ordered a Protestant min- 
 ister to preach in the churches of the city. This being for- 
 bidden by the papal dignitaries, the princess threw open the 
 palace. An apartment was fitted up as a chapel, and it was 
 announced that every day, at a specified hour, a sermon 
 would be preached, and the people of every rank and sta- 
 tion were invited to attend. Crowds flocked to the service. 
 Not only the chapel, but the ante-chambers and halls were 
 thronged. Thousands every day assembled, nobles, states- 
 men, lawyers, merchants, and artisans. The king, instead of 
 forbidding the assemblies, ordered that two of the churches 
 of Paris should be opened. Never before had the city been 
 
THE FRENCH REFORM A TION. 223 
 
 so moved by the Word of God. The spirit of life from 
 Heaven seemed to be breathed upon the people. Temper- 
 ance, purity, order, and industry were taking the place of 
 drunkenness, licentiousness, strife, and idleness. 
 
 But the hierarchy were not idle. The king still refused 
 to interfere to stop the preaching, and they turned to the 
 populace. No means were spared to excite the fears, the 
 prejudices, and the fanaticism of the ignorant and supersti- 
 tious multitudes. Yielding blindly to her false teachers, 
 Paris, like Jerusalem of old, knew not the time of her visita- 
 tion, nor the things which belonged unto her peace. For 
 two years the Word of God was preached in the capital ; but 
 while there were many who accepted the gospel, the majority 
 of the people rejected it. Francis had made a show of toler- 
 ation, merely to serve his own purposes, and the papists suc- 
 ceeded in regaining the ascendency. Again the churches 
 were closed, and the stake was set up. 
 
 Calvin was still in Paris, preparing himself by study, 
 meditation, and prayer, for his future labors, and continuing 
 to spread the light. At last, however, suspicion fastened 
 upon him. The authorities determined to bring him to the 
 flames. Regarding himself as secure in his seclusion, he 
 had no thought of danger, when friends came hurrying to 
 his room with the news that officers were on their way to 
 arrest him, At the instant a loud knocking was heard at 
 the outer entrance. There was not a moment to be lost. 
 Some of his friends detained the officers at the door, while 
 others assisted the reformer to let himself down from a 
 window, and he rapidly made his way to the outskirts of the 
 city. Finding shelter in the cottage of a laborer who was a 
 friend to the reform, he disguised himself in the garments 
 of his host, and, shouldering a hoe, started on his journey. 
 Traveling southward he again found refuge in the domin- 
 ions of Margaret. 
 
 Here for a few months he remained, safe under the pro- 
 tection of powerful friends, and engaged, as before, in study. 
 But his heart was set upon the evangelization of France, and 
 
224 T2U-: GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 he could not long, remain inactive. As soon as the storm 
 had somewhat abated, he sought a new field of labor in 
 Poitiers, where was a university, and where already the 
 new opinions had found favor. Persons of all classes gladly 
 listened to the gospel. There was no public preaching, but 
 in the home of the chief magistrate, in his own lodgings, 
 and sometimes in a public garden, Calvin opened the words 
 of eternal life to those who desired to listen. After a time, 
 as the number of hearers increased, it was thought safer to 
 assemble outside the city. A cave in the side of a deep 
 and narrow gorge, where trees and overhanging rocks made 
 the seclusion still more complete, was chosen as the place of 
 meeting. Little companies, leaving the city by different 
 routes, found their way hither. In this retired spot the Bible 
 was read and explained. Here the Lord's Supper was cele- 
 brated for the first time by the Protestants of France. From 
 this little church several faithful evangelists were sent out. 
 
 Once more Calvin returned to Paris. He could not even 
 yet relinquish the hope that France as a nation would 
 accept the Reformation, But he found almost every door 
 of labor closed. To teach the gospel was to take the direct 
 road to the stake, and he at last determined to depart to 
 Germany. Scarcely had he left France when a storm burst 
 over the Protestants, that, had he remained, must surely 
 have involved him in the general ruin. 
 
 The French reformers, eager to see their country keeping 
 pace with Germany and Switzerland, determined to strike a 
 bold blow against the superstitions of Rome, that should 
 arouse the whole nation. Accordingly placards attacking 
 the mass were in one night posted all over France. Instead 
 of advancing the reform, this zealous but ill-judged move- 
 ment brought ruin, not only upon its propagators, but 
 upon the friends of the reformed faith throughout France. 
 It gave the Romanists what they had long desired, a 
 pretext for demanding the utter destruction of the heretics 
 as agitators dangerous to the stability of the throne and 
 the peace of the nation. 
 
77/7:7 'FKKXCir KKFOKMA TTON. 225 
 
 By some secret hand whether of indiscreet friend or wily 
 foe was never known one of the placards was attached to 
 the door of the king's private chamber. The monarch was 
 filled with horror. In this paper, superstitions that had 
 receive^ the veneration of ages were attacked with an un- 
 sparing hand. And the unexampled boldness of obtruding 
 these plain and startling utterances into the royal presence, 
 aroused the wrath of the king. In his amazement he stood 
 for a little time trembling and speechless. Then his rage 
 found utterance in the terrible words: "Let all be seized; 
 and let Lutheranism be totally exterminated." The die was 
 cast. The king had determined to throw himself fully on 
 the side of Rome. 
 
 Measures were at once taken for the arrest of every Lu- 
 theran in Paris. A poor artisan, an adherent of the reformed 
 faith, who had been accustomed to summon the believers 
 to their secret assemblies, was seized; and with the threat of 
 instant death at the stake, was commanded to conduct the 
 papist emissary to the home of every Protestant in the city. 
 He shrunk in horror from the base proposal, but at last fear 
 of the flames prevailed, and he consented to become the 
 betrayer of his brethren. Preceded by the host, and sur- 
 rounded by a train of priests, incense-bearers, monks, and 
 soldiers, Morin, the royal detective, with the traitor, slowly 
 and silently passed through the streets of the city. The 
 demonstration was ostensibly in honor of the "holy sacra- 
 ment," an act of expiation for the insult put upon the mass 
 'by the protesters. But beneath this pageant a deadly pur- 
 pose was concealed. On arriving opposite the house of a 
 Lutheran, the betrayer made a sign, but no word was uttered. 
 The procession halted, the house was entered, the family were 
 dragged forth and chained, and the terrible company went 
 forward in search of fresh victims. " No house was spared, 
 great or small, not even the colleges of the University of 
 Paris. Morin made the whole city quake." "The reign of 
 terror had begun." 
 
 The victims were put to death with cruel torture, it being 
 
226 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 specially ordered that the fire should be lowered, in order to 
 prolong their agony. But they died as conquerors. Their 
 constancy was unshaken, their peace unclouded. Their per- 
 secutors, powerless to move their inflexible firmness, felt 
 themselves defeated. "The scaffolds were distributed over 
 all the quarters of Paris, and the burnings followed on suc- 
 cessive days, the design being to spread the terror of hen sy 
 by spreading the executions. The advantage," however, in 
 the end, remained with the gospel. All Paris was enabled 
 to see what kind of men the new opinions could produce. 
 There is no pulpit like the martyr's pile. The serene joy 
 that lighted up the faces of these men as they passed along 
 to the place of execution, their heroism as they stood amid 
 the bitter flames, their meek forgiveness of injuries, trans- 
 formed, in instances not a few, anger into pity, and hate into 
 love, and pleaded with resistless eloquence in behalf of the 
 gospel." 
 
 The priests, bent upon keeping the popular fury at its 
 height, circulated the most terrible accusations against the 
 Protestants. They were charged with plotting to massacre 
 the Catholics, to overthrow the government, and to murder 
 the king. Not a shadow of evidence could be produced in 
 support of the allegations. Yet these prophecies of evil were 
 to have a fulfillment; under far different circumstances, 
 however, and from causes of an opposite character. The 
 cruelties that were inflicted upon the innocent Protestants by 
 the Catholics accumulated in a weight of retribution, and in 
 after-centuries wrought the very doom they had predicted 
 to be impending, upon the king, his government, and sub- 
 jects; but it was brought about by infidels, and by the papists 
 themselves. It was not the establishment, but the suppres- 
 sion of Protestantism, that, three hundred years later, was 
 to bring upon France these dire calamities. 
 
 Suspicion, distrust, and terror now pervaded all classes of 
 society. Amid the general alarm it was seen how deep a hold 
 the Lutheran teaching had gained upon the minds of men 
 
THE FRENCH REFORM A T10N. 227 
 
 who stood highest for education, influence, and excellence of 
 character. Positions of trust and honor were suddenly found 
 vacant. Artisans, planters, scholars, professors in the uni- 
 versities, authors, and even courtiers, disappeared. Hundreds 
 fled from Paris, self-constituted exiles from their native land, 
 in many cases thus giving the first intimation that they 
 favored the reformed faith. The papists looked about them 
 in amazement at thought of the unsuspected heretics that 
 had been tolerated among them. Their rage spent itself 
 upon the multitudes of humbler victims who were within 
 their power. The prisons were crowded, and the very air 
 seemed darkened with the smoke of burning piles, kindled 
 for the confessors of the gospel. 
 
 Francis I. had gloried in being a leader in the great 
 movement for the revival of learning which marked the 
 opening of the sixteenth century. He had delighted to 
 gather at his court men of letters from every country. To 
 his love of learning and his contempt for the ignorance and 
 superstition of the monks was due, in part, at least, the degree 
 of toleration that had been granted to the reform. But, 
 inspired with zeal to stamp out heresy, this patron of learn- 
 ing issued an edict declaring printing abolished all over 
 France! Francis I. presents one among the many exam- 
 ples on record showing that intellectual culture is not a 
 safeguard against religious intolerance and persecution. 
 
 France by a solemn and public ceremony was to commit 
 herself fully to the destruction of Protestantism. The priests 
 demanded that the affront offered to high Heaven in the 
 condemnation of the mass, be expiated in blood, and that 
 the king, in behalf of his people, publicly give his sanction 
 to the dreadful work. 
 
 The 21st of January, 1535, was fixed upon for the awful 
 ceremonial. The superstitious fears and bigoted hatred of 
 the whole nation had been roused. Paris was thronged 
 with the multitudes that from all the surrounding country 
 crowded her streets. The day was to be ushered in by a 
 
228 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 vast and imposing procession. Along the line of march the 
 houses were draped in mourning. At intervals altars were 
 erected, and before every door was a lighted torch in honor 
 of the " holy sacrament." Before daybreak the procession 
 formed, at the palace of the king. After the crosses and 
 banners of the parishes, came citizens, walking two and two, 
 and bearing lighted torches. The four orders of friars fol- 
 lowed, each in its own peculiar dress. Then came a vast 
 collection of famous relics. Following these rode lordly 
 ecclesiastics in their purple and scarlet robes and jeweled 
 adornings, a gorgeous and glittering array. 
 
 The host was borne under a splendid canopy, supported 
 by four princes of highest rank. After them walked the 
 monarch, divested of his crown and royal robe, with uncov- 
 ered head and downcast eyes, and bearing in his hand a 
 lighted taper. Thus the king of France appeared publicly 
 as a penitent. At every altar he bowed down in humilia- 
 tion, not for the vices that denied his soul, nor the innocent 
 blood that stained his hands, but for the deadly sin of his 
 subjects who had dared to condemn the mass. Following 
 him came the queen and the dignitaries of State, also walk- 
 ing two and two, each with a lighted torch. 
 
 As a part of the services of the day, the monarch him- 
 self addressed the high officials of the kingdom in the great 
 hall of the bishop's palace. With a sorrowful countenance 
 he appeared before them, and in words of moving eloquence 
 bewailed the " crime, the blasphemy, the day of sorrow and 
 disgrace," that had come upon the nation. And he called 
 upon every loyal subject to aid in the extirpation of the 
 pestilent heresy that threatened France with ruin. " As true, 
 Messieurs, as I am your king," he said, " if I knew one of my 
 own limbs spotted or infected with this detestable rottenness, 
 I would give it to you to cut off. ... And, further, if I 
 saw one of my children denied by it, I would not spare 
 him. ... I would deliver him up myself, and would 
 sacrifice him to God." Tears choked his utterance, and the 
 
THE FRENCH REFORM A TION. 229 
 
 whole assembly wept, with one accord exclaiming, "We will 
 live and die in the Catholic religion." 
 
 Terrible had become the darkness of the nation that had 
 rejected the light of truth. " The grace that bringeth salva- 
 tion " had appeared; but France, after beholding its power 
 and holiness, after thousands had been drawn by its divine 
 beauty, after cities and hamlets had been illuminated by its 
 radiance, had turned away, choosing darkness rather than 
 light. They had put from them the iieavenly gift, when it 
 was offered them. They had called evil good, and good evil, 
 till they had fallen victims to their willful self-deception. 
 Now, though they might actually believe that they were doing 
 God service in persecuting his people, yet their sincerity did* 
 not render them guiltless. The light that would have saved 
 them from deception, from staining their souls with blood- 
 guiltiness, they had willfully rejected. 
 
 A solemn oath to extirpate heresy was taken, in the great 
 cathedral where, nearly three centuries later, the " Goddess of 
 Reason " was to be enthroned by a nation that had forgotten 
 the living God. Again the procession formed, and the rep- 
 resentatives of France set out to begin the work which they 
 had sworn to do. At intervals along the homeward route, 
 scaffolds had been erected for the execution of heretics, and 
 it was arranged that at the approach of the king the pile 
 should be lighted, that he might thus be witness to the whole 
 terrible spectacle. The details of the tortures endured by 
 these witnesses for Christ are too harrowing for recital ; but 
 there was no wavering on the part of the victims. On being 
 urged to recant, one answered, " I only believe in what the 
 prophets and apostles formerly preached, and what all the 
 company of the saints believed. My faith has a confidence 
 in God which will resist all the power of hell." 
 
 Again and again the procession halted at the places of 
 torture. Upon reaching their starting-point at the royal pal- 
 ace, the crowd dispersed, and the king and the prelates with- 
 drew, well satisfied with the day's proceedings, and congrat- 
 
230 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ul ating themselves that the work now begun would be con- 
 tinued to the complete destruction of heresy. 
 
 The gospel of peace which France had rejected was to be 
 only too surely rooted out, and terrible would be the results. 
 On the 21st of January, 1793, two hundred and fifty-eight 
 years from the very day that fully committed France to the 
 persecution of the reformers, another procession, with a far 
 different purpose, passed through the streets of Paris. "Again 
 the king was the chief figure; again there were tumult 
 and shouting; again there was heard the cry for more vic- 
 tims; again there were black scaffolds; and again the scenes 
 of the day were closed by horrid executions; Louis XVI., 
 * struggling hand to hand with his jailers and executioners, 
 was dragged forward to the block, and there held down by 
 main force till the ax had fallen, and his dissevered head 
 fell on the scaffold." Nor was the king the only victim; 
 near the same spot two thousand and eight hundred human 
 beings perished by the guillotine during the bloody days of 
 the reign of terror. 
 
 The Reformation had presented to the world an open 
 Bible, unsealing the precepts of the law of God, and urging 
 its claims upon the consciences of the people. Infinite 
 love had unfolded to men the statutes and principles of 
 Heaven. God had said, " Keep therefore and do them ; for 
 this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of 
 the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, 
 Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding peo- 
 ple." 1 When France rejected the gift of Heaven, she 
 sowed the seeds of anarchy and ruin; and the inevitable 
 outworking of cause and effect resulted in the Revolution 
 and the ivi-n of terror. 
 
 Long before the persecution excited by the placards, the 
 bold and ardent Farel had been forced to flee from the land 
 of his birth, lie r. -paired to Switzerland, and by his labors, 
 seconding the work of Zwingle, he helped to turn the scale 
 in favor of the Reformation. His later years were to be 
 
 *Deut.4:6. 
 
THE FRENCH REFORMATION. 231 
 
 spent here, yet he continued to exert a decided influence 
 upon the reform in France. During the first years of his 
 exile, his efforts were especially directed to spreading the 
 gospel in his native country. He spent considerable time in 
 preaching among his countrymen near the frontier, where 
 with tireless vigilance he watched the conflict, and aided 
 by his words of encouragement and counsel. With the 
 assistance of other exiles, the writings of the German reform- 
 ers were translated into the French language, and, together 
 with the French Bible, were printed in large quantities. By 
 colporters, these works were sold extensively in France. 
 They were furnished to the colporters at a low price, and 
 thus the profits of the work enabled them to continue it. 
 
 Farel entered upon his work in Switzerland in the humble 
 guise of a school-master. Repairing to a secluded parish, 
 he devoted himself to the instruction of children. Besides 
 the usual branches of learning, he cautiously introduced 
 the truths of the Bible, hoping through the children to 
 reach their parents. There were some who believed, but 
 the priests came forward to stop the work, and the super- 
 stitious country people were roused to oppose it. "That 
 cannot be the gospel of Christ," urged the priests, "seeing 
 the preaching of it does not bring peace but war." Like 
 the first disciples, when persecuted in one city he fled to 
 another. From village to village, from city to city, he went; 
 traveling on foot, enduring hunger, cold, and weariness, and 
 everywhere in peril of his life. He preached in the market- 
 places, in the churches, sometimes in the pulpits of the ca- 
 thedrals. Sometimes he found the church empty of hearers; 
 at times his preaching was interrupted by shouts and jeers, 
 again he was pulled violently out of the pulpit. More than 
 once he was set upon by the rabble, and beaten almost to 
 death. Yet he pressed forward. Though often repulsed, 
 with unwearying persistence he returned to the attack ; and, 
 one after another, he saw towns and cities which had been 
 strongholds of popery, opening their gates to the gospel. 
 
 18 
 
232 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The little parish where he fiad first labored, soon accepted 
 the reformed faith. The cities of Morat and Neuchatel also 
 renounced the Eomish rites, and removed the idolatrous 
 images from their churches. 
 
 Farel had long desired to plant the Protestant standard 
 in Geneva. If this city could be won, it would be a center 
 for the Reformation in France, in Switzerland, and iii Italy. 
 With this object before him, he had continued his labors 
 until many of the surrounding towns and hamlets had been 
 gained. Then with a single companion he entered Geneva. 
 But only two sermons was he permitted to preach. The 
 priests, having vainly endeavored to secure his condemna- 
 tion by the civil authorities, summoned him before an eccle- 
 siastical council, to which they came with arms concealed 
 under their robes, determined to take his life. Outside the 
 hall, a furious mob, with clubs and swords, was gathered to 
 make sure of his death if he should succeed in escaping 
 the council. The presence of magistrates and an armed 
 force, however, saved him. Early next morning he was 
 conducted, with his companion, across the lake to a place of 
 safety. Thus ended his first effort to evangelize Geneva. 
 
 For the next trial a lowlier instrument was chosen, a 
 young man, so humble in appearance that he was coldly 
 treated even by the professed friends of reform. But what 
 could such a one do where Farel had been rejected? How 
 could one of little courage and experience withstand the 
 tempest before which the strongest and bravest had been 
 forced to flee? "Not by might, nor by power, but by my 
 Spirit, saith the Lord." l " God hath chosen the weak things 
 of the world to confound the things which are mighty." 
 "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the 
 weakness of God is stronger than men." 2 
 
 Froment began his work as a school-master. The truths 
 which he taught the children at school, they repeated at 
 their homes. Soon the parents came to hear the Bible 
 explained, until the school-room was filled with attentive 
 
 iZech. 4:6. H Cor. 1 :27, 25. 
 
THE FRENCH RE FORMA TION. 233 
 
 listeners. New Testaments and tracts were freely distributed, 
 and they reached many who dared not come openly to 
 listen to the new doctrines. After a time this laborer also 
 was forced to flee ; but the truths he taught had taken hold 
 upon the minds of the people. The Reformation had been 
 planted, and it continued to strengthen and extend. The 
 preachers returned, and through their labors the Protestant 
 worship w r as finally established in Geneva. 
 
 The city had already declared for the Reformation, when 
 Calvin, after various wanderings and vicissitudes, entered 
 its gates. Returning from a last visit to his birthplace, he 
 was on his way to Basel, when, finding the direct road occu- 
 pied by the armies of Charles V., he was forced to take the 
 circuitous route by Geneva. 
 
 In this visit, Farel recognized the hand of God. Though 
 Geneva had accepted the reformed faith, yet a great work 
 remained to be accomplished here. It is not as communi- 
 ties but as individuals that men are converted to God; 
 the work of regeneration must be wrought in the heart 
 and conscience by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by 
 the decrees, of councils. While the people of Geneva had 
 cast off the authority of Rome, they were- not so ready to 
 renounce the vices that had flourished under her rule. To 
 establish here the pure principles of the gospel, and to pre- 
 pare this people to fill worthily the position to which Provi- 
 dence seemed calling them, was no light task. 
 
 Farel was confident that he had found in Calvin one 
 whom he could unite with himself in this work. In the 
 name of God he solemnly adjured the young evangelist to 
 remain and labor here. Calvin drew back in alarm. Timid 
 and peace-loving, he shrank from contact with the bold, 
 independent, and even violent spirit of the Genevese. The 
 feebleness of his health, together with his studious habits, 
 led him to seek retirement. Believing that by his pen he 
 could best serve the cause of reform, he desired to find a 
 quiet retreat for study, and there, through the press, instruct 
 
234 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and build up the churches. But Farel's solemn admonition 
 came to him as a call from Heaven, arfd he dared not refuse. 
 It seemed to him, he said, "that the hand of God was 
 stretched down from Heaven, that it laid hold of him, 
 and fixed him irrevocably to the place he was so impatient 
 to leave." 
 
 At this time great perils surrounded the Protestant cause. 
 The anathemas of the pope thundered against Geneva, and 
 mighty nations threatened it with destruction. How was 
 this little city to resist the powerful hierarchy that had so 
 often forced kings and emperors to submission? How could 
 it stand against the armies of the world's great conquerors? 
 
 Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by 
 formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Eeformation 
 past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its 
 destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was cre- 
 ated, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the 
 champions of popery. Cut off from every earthly tie and 
 human interest, dead to the claims of natural affection, rea- 
 son and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no 
 tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its 
 power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to 
 meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hun- 
 ger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face 
 of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these 
 forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that 
 enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the 
 power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no 
 crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for 
 them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. 
 Vowed to perpetual poverty ami humility, it was their 
 studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the 
 overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of 
 the papal supremacy. 
 
 When appearing as members of (heir order, they wore a 
 garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering 
 
THE FRENCH REFORM A TION. 235 
 
 to the sick and thfe poor, professing to have renounced the 
 world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went 
 about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the 
 most criminal and deadly purposes were concealed. It was 
 a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies 
 the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, 
 were not only pardonable but commendable, when they 
 served the interests of the church. Under various disguises 
 the Jesuits worked their way into offices of State, climbing 
 up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of 
 nations. They became servants, to act as spies upon their 
 masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes 
 and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the 
 children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance 
 of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the 
 Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind, 
 and dazzle and captivate the imagination ; and thus the lib- 
 erty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed 
 by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over 
 Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of 
 popery. 
 
 To give them greater power, a bull was issued re-estab- 
 lishing the Inquisition. Notwithstanding the general abhor- 
 rence with which it was regarded, even in Catholic countries, 
 this terrible tribunal was again set up by popish rulers, and 
 atrocities too terrible to bear the light of day were repeated 
 in its secret dungeons. In many countries, thousands upon 
 thousands of the very flower of the nation, the purest and 
 noblest, the most* intellectual and highly educated, pious and 
 devoted pastors, industrious and patriotic citizens, brilliant 
 scholars, talented artists, skillful artisans, were slain, or forced 
 to flee to other lands. 
 
 Such were the means which Rome had invoked to quench 
 the light of the Reformation, to withdraw from men the 
 Bible, and to restore the ignorance v) and superstition of the 
 Dark Ages. But under God's blessing and the labors of those 
 
236 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 noble men whom he had raised up to succeed Luther, Protest- 
 antism was not overthrown. Not to the favor or arms of 
 princes was it to owe its strength. The smallest countries, the 
 humblest and least powerful nations, became its strongholds. 
 It was little Geneva in the midst of mighty foes plotting her 
 destruction; it was Holland on her sand-banks by the North- 
 ern Sea, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain, then the 
 greatest and most opulent of kingdoms ; it was bleak, sterile 
 Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation. 
 
 For nearly thirty years, Calvin labored at Geneva ; first 
 to establish there a church adhering to the morality of the 
 Bible, and then for the advancement of the Reformation 
 throughout Europe. His course as a public leader was not 
 faultless, nor were his doctrines free from error. But he was 
 instrumental in promulgating truths that were of special 
 importance in his time, in maintaining the principles of 
 Protestantism against the fast-returning tide of popery, and 
 in promoting in the reformed churches simplicity and purity 
 of life, in place of the pride and corruption fostered under 
 the Romish teaching. 
 
 From Geneva, publications and teachers went out to 
 spread the reformed doctrines. .To this point the persecuted 
 of all lands looked for instruction, counsel, and encourage- 
 ment. The city of Calvin became a refuge for the hunted 
 reformers of all Western Europe. Fleeing from the awful 
 tempests that continued for centuries, the fugitives came 
 to the gates of Geneva. Starving, wounded, bereft of home 
 and kindred, they were warmly welcomed and tenderly cared 
 for; and finding a home here they blessed the city of their 
 adoption by their skill, their learning, and their piety. Many 
 who sought here a refuge returned to their own countries to 
 resist the tyranny of Rome. John Knox, the brave Scotch 
 reformer, not a few of the English Puritans, the Protestants 
 of Holland, and the Huguenots of France, carried from 
 Geneva the torch of truth to lighten the darkness of their 
 native land. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA. 
 
 IN the Netherlands the papal tyranny very early called 
 forth resolute protest. Seven hundred years before Luther's 
 time, the Roman pontiff was thus fearlessly impeached by 
 two bishops, who, having been sent on an embassy to Rome, 
 had learned the true character of the " holy see : " " God has 
 made his 'queen and spouse, the church, a noble and ever- 
 lasting provision for her family, with a dowry that is neither 
 fading nor corruptible, and given her an eternal crown and 
 scepter; all which benefits, you, like a thief, intercept. You 
 set up yourself in the temple as God; instead of a shepherd, 
 you have become as a wolf to the sheep. You would have 
 us believe you supreme bishop; you are rather a tyrant. . . 
 Whereas you ought to be a servant of servants, as you call 
 yourself, you intrigue to become lord of lords. ... You 
 bring the commands of God into contempt. . . . The 
 Holy Ghost is the builder of all churches as far as the earth 
 extends. The city of our God, of which we are citizens, 
 reaches to all parts of the heavens; and it is greater than 
 the city, by the holy prophets named Babylon, which pre- 
 tends to be divine, equals herself to Heaven, and boasts that 
 her wisdom is immortal; and finally, though without reason, 
 that she never did err, nor ever can." 
 
 Others arose from century to century to echo this protest. 
 And those early teachers, who, traversing different lands, 
 and known by various names, bore the character of the 
 Vaudois missionaries, and spread everywhere the knowledge 
 of the gospel, penetrated to the Netherlands. Their doctrines 
 spread rapidly. The Waldensian Bible they translated in 
 
 (237) 
 
238 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 verse into the Dutch language. "There is," they said, 
 "great advantage in it; no jests, no fables, no trifles, no 
 deceits, naught but words -of truth. There is, indeed, here 
 and there a hard crust, but even in this the marrow and 
 sweetness of what is good and holy may easily be dis- 
 covered." Thus wrote the friends of the ancient faith, in 
 the twelfth century. 
 
 Now began the Romish persecutions, but in the midst of 
 fagots and torture the believers continued to multiply, stead- 
 fastly declaring that the Bible is the only infallible author- 
 ity in religion, and that "no man should be coerced to 
 believe, but should be won by preaching." 
 
 The teachings of Luther found a congenial soil in the 
 Netherlands, and earnest and faithful men arose to preach 
 the gospel. From one of the provinces of Holland came 
 Menno Simons. Educated a Roman Catholic, and ordained 
 to the priesthood, he was wholly ignorant of the Bible, and 
 he would not read it, for fear of being beguiled into heresy. 
 When a doubt concerning the doctrine of transubstantiation 
 forced itself upon him, he regarded it as a temptation from 
 Satan, and by prayer and confession sought to free himself 
 from it; but in vain. By mingling in scenes of dissipation 
 .tie endeavored to silence the accusing voice of conscience; 
 but without avail. After a time he was led to the study of 
 the New Testament, and this with Luther's writings caused 
 him to accept the reformed faith. He soon after witnessed 
 in a neighboring village the beheading of a man who was 
 put to death for having been rebaptized. This led him to 
 study the Bible in regard to infant baptism. He could find 
 no evidence for it in the Scriptures, but saw that repentance 
 and faith are everywhere required as the condition of receiv- 
 ing baptism. 
 
 Menno withdrew from the Roman Church, and devoted 
 his life to teaching the truths which he had received. In 
 both Germany and the Netherlands a class of fanatics had 
 risen, advocating absurd and seditious doctrines, outraging 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINA VIA. 239 
 
 order and decency, and proceeding to violence and insurrec- 
 tion. Meiino saw the horrible results to which these move- 
 ments would inevitably lead, and he strenuously opposed 
 the erroneous teachings and wild schemes of the fanatics. 
 There were many, however, who had been misled by these 
 fanatics but who had renounced their pernicious doctrines; 
 and there were still remaining many descendants of the 
 ancient Christians, the fruits of the Waldensian teaching. 
 Among these classes Menno labored with great zeal and 
 success. 
 
 For twenty-five years he traveled, with his wife and chil- 
 dren, enduring great hardships and privations, and fre- 
 quently in peril of his life. He traversed the Netherlands 
 and Northern Germany, laboring chiefly among the humbler 
 classes, but exerting a widespread influence. Naturally 
 eloquent, though possessing a limited education, he was a 
 man of unwavering integrity, of humble spirit and gentle 
 manners, and of sincere and earnest piety, exemplifying in 
 his own life the precepts which he taught, and he com- 
 manded the confidence of the people. His followers were 
 scattered and oppressed. They suffered greatly from being 
 confounded with the fanatical Munsterites. Yet great num- 
 bers were converted under his labors. 
 
 Nowhere were the reformed doctrines more generally 
 received than in the Netherlands. In few countries did 
 their adherents endure more terrible persecution. In Ger- 
 many Charles V. had banned the Reformation, and he would 
 gladly have brought all its adherents to the stake; but the 
 princes stood up as a barrier against his tyranny. In the 
 Netherlands his power was greater, and persecuting edicts 
 followed each other in quick succession. To read the Bible, 
 to hear or preach it or even to speak concerning it, was to 
 incur the penalty of death by the stake. To pray to God in 
 secret, to refrain from bowing to an image, or to sing a psalm, 
 was also punishable with death. Even those who should 
 abjure their errors, were condemned, if men, to die by the 
 
240 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 sword ; if women, to be buried alive. Those who remained 
 steadfast, sometimes suffered the same punishment. Thou- 
 sands perished under the reign of Charles and of Philip II 
 
 At one time a whole family was brought before the inquis- 
 itors, charged with remaining away from mass, and worship- 
 ing at home. On his examination as to their practices in 
 secret, the youngest son answered, " We fall on our knees, 
 and pray that God will enlighten our minds and pardon 
 our sins. We pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be 
 prosperous and his life happy. We pray for our magistrates, 
 that God may preserve them." Some of the judges were 
 deeply moved, yet the father and one of his sons were 
 condemned to the stake. 
 
 The rage of the persecutors was equaled by the faith of 
 the martyrs. Not only men but delicate women and young 
 maidens displayed unflinching courage. "Wives would 
 take their stand by their husband's stake, and while he was 
 enduring the fire they would whisper words of solace, or 
 sing psalms to cheer him." "Young maidens would lie 
 down in their living grave as if they were entering into 
 their chamber of nightly sleep ; or go forth to the scaffold 
 and the fire dressed in their best apparel, as if they were 
 going to their marriage." 
 
 As in the days when paganism sought to destroy the 
 gospel, "the blood of the Christians was seed." Persecution 
 served to increase the number of witnesses for the truth. 
 Year after year the monarch, stung to madness by the un- 
 conquerable determination of the people, urged on his cruel 
 work; but in vain. Under the noble William of Orange, 
 the Revolution at last brought to Holland freedom to wor- 
 ship God. 
 
 In the mountains of Piedmont, on the plains of France 
 and the shores of Holland, the progress of the gospel was 
 marked with the blood of its disciples. But in the countries 
 of the North it found a peaceful entrance. Students at 
 Wittenberg, returning to their homes, carried the reformed 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SCANDTNA VIA. 241 
 
 faith to Scandinavia. The publication of Luther's writings 
 also spread the light. The simple, hardy people of the 
 North turned from the corruption, the pomp, and the super- 
 stitions of Rome, to welcome the purity, the simplicity, and 
 the life-giving truths of the Bible. 
 
 Tausen, "the reformer of Denmark," was a peasant's son, 
 The boy early gave evidence of vigorous intellect; he thirsted 
 for an education ; but this was denied him by the circum- 
 stances of his parents, and he entered a cloister. Here the 
 purity of his life^ together with his diligence and fidelity, 
 won the favor of his superior. Examination showed him to 
 possess talent that promised at some future day good service 
 to the church. It was determined to give him an education 
 at some one of the universities of Germany or the Nether- 
 lands. The young student was granted permission to choose 
 a school for himself, with the one proviso, that he must not 
 go to Wittenberg. The scholar of the church was not to 
 be endangered by the poison of heresy. So said the friars. 
 
 Tausen went to Cologne, which was then as now one of 
 the strongholds of Romanism. Here he soon became dis- 
 gusted with the mysticisms of the schoolmen. About the 
 same time he' obtained Luther's writings. He read them 
 with wonder and delight, and greatly desired to enjoy the 
 personal instruction of the reformer. But to do so he must 
 risk giving offense to his monastic superior, and forfeiting 
 his support. His decision was soon made, and erelong he 
 was enrolled as a student at Wittenberg. 
 
 On returning to Denmark he again repaired to his cloister. 
 No one as yet suspected him of Lutheranism; he did not 
 reveal his secret, but endeavored, without exciting the preju- 
 dices of his companions, to lead them to a purer faith and a 
 holier life. He opened the Bible, and explained its true 
 meaning, and at last preached Christ to them as the sinner's 
 righteousness and his only hope of salvation. Great was the 
 wrath of the prior, who had built high hopes upon him as a 
 valiant defender of Rome. He was at once removed from 
 
242 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 his own monastery to another, and confined to his cell, under 
 strict supervision. 
 
 To the terror of his new guardians, several of the monks 
 soon declared themselves converts to Protestantism. Through 
 the bars of his cell, Tausen had communicated to his com- 
 panions a knowledge of the truth. Had those Danish 
 fathers been skilled in the church's plan of dealing with 
 heresy, Tausen's voice would never again have been heard; 
 but instead of consigning him to a tomb in some under- 
 ground dungeon, they expelled him from the monastery. 
 Now they were powerless. A royal edict, just issued, offered 
 protection to the teachers of the new doctrine. Tausen 
 began to preach. The churches were opened to him, and the 
 people thronged to listen. Others also were preaching the 
 Word of God. The New Testament, translated into the 
 Danish tongue, was widely circulated. The efforts made by 
 papists to overthrow the work resulted in extending it, and 
 erelong Denmark declared its acceptance of the reformed 
 faith. 
 
 In Sweden, also, young men who had drunk from the well 
 of Wittenberg carried the water of life to thei r countrymen. 
 Two of the leaders in the Swedish Reformation, Olaf and 
 Laurentius Petri, the sons of a blacksmith of Orebro, studied 
 under Luther and Melancthon, and the truths which they 
 thus learned they were diligent to teach. Like* the great 
 reformer, Olaf aroused the people by his zeal and elo- 
 quence, while Laurentius, like Melancthon, was learned, 
 thoughtful, and calm. Both were men of ardent piety, of 
 high theological attainments, and of unflinching courage in 
 advancing the truth. Papist opposition was not lacking. 
 The Catholic priests stirred up the ignorant and superstitious 
 people. Olaf Petri was often assailed by the. mob, and upon 
 several occasions barely escaped with his life. These reform- 
 ers were, however, favored and protected by the king. Un- 
 der the rule of the Romish Church, the people were sunken 
 in poverty, and ground down by oppression. They were 
 
IN THE NETHERLANDS AND SOANDINA VIA. 243 
 
 destitute of the Scriptures, and having a religion of mere 
 signs and ceremonies, which conveyed no light to the mind, 
 they were returning to the superstitious beliefs and pagan 
 practices of their heathen ancestors. The nation was divided 
 into contending factions whose perpetual strife increased the 
 misery of all. The king determined upon a reformation in 
 the State and the church, and he welcomed these able assist- 
 ants in the battle against Rome. 
 
 In the presence of the monarch and the leading men of 
 Sweden, Olaf Petri with great' ability defended the doc- 
 trines of the reformed faith against the Romish champions. 
 He declared that the teachings of the Fathers are to be 
 received only when in accordance with the Scriptures; that 
 the essential doctrines of the faith are presented in the Bible 
 in a clear and simple manner, so that all men may under- 
 stand them. Christ said, " My doctrine is not mine, but His 
 that sent me," l and Paul declared that should he preach 
 any other gospel than that which he had received, he would 
 be accursed. 2 " How, then," said the reformer, " shall others 
 presume to enact dogmas at their pleasure, and impose them 
 as things necessary to salvation?" He showed that the 
 decrees of the church are of no authority when in opposi- 
 tion to the commands of God, and maintained the great 
 Protestant principle, that " the Bible and the Bible only," is 
 the rule of faith and practice. 
 
 This contest, though conducted upon a stage compara- 
 tively obscure, serves to "show us the kind of men that 
 formed the rank and file of the army of the reformers. 
 When we confine our attention to such brilliant centers as 
 Wittenberg and Zurich, and to such illustrious names as 
 those of Luther and Melancthon, of Zwingle and (Ecolampa- 
 dius, we are apt to be told that these were the leaders of the 
 movement, but the subordinates were not like them. Well, 
 we turn to the obscure theater of Sweden, and the humble 
 names of Olaf and Laurentius Petri from the masters to the 
 1 John 7: 16. 'Gal. 1 8. 
 
244 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 disciples what do we find? Not illiterate, sectarian, noisy 
 controversialists far from it ; we see men who had studied 
 the Word of God, and who knew well how to wield the weap- 
 ons with which the armory of the Bible supplied them; 
 scholars and theologians, who won an easy victory over the 
 sophists of the schools, and the dignitaries of Rome." 
 
 As the result of this disputation, the king of Sweden 
 accepted the Protestant faith, and not long afterward the 
 national assembly declared in its favor. The New Testa- 
 ment had been translated by Olaf Petri into the Swedish 
 language, and at the desire of the king the two brothers 
 undertook the translation of the whole Bible. Thus for the 
 first time the people of Sweden received the Word of God 
 in their native tongue. It was ordered by the Diet that 
 throughout the kingdom ministers should explain the Script- 
 ures, and that the children in the schools should be taught 
 to read the Bible. 
 
 Steadily and surely the darkness of ignorance and super- 
 stition was dispelled by the blessed light of the gospel. 
 Freed from Romish oppression, the nation attained to 
 strength and greatness it had never reached before. Swe- 
 den became one of the bulwarks of Protestantism. A cent- 
 ury later, at a time of sorest peril, this small and hitherto 
 feeble nation the only one in Europe that dared lend a 
 helping hand came to the deliverance of Germany in the 
 terrible struggles of the thirty years' war. All Northern 
 Europe seemed about to be brought again under the tyr- 
 anny of Rome. It was the armies of Sweden that enabled 
 Germany to turn the tide of popish success, to win toleration 
 for the Protestants Calvinists as well as Lutherans and to 
 restore liberty of conscience to those countries that had 
 accepted the Reformation. 
 

.u k 'r:ive.l Kxinvssly f..i Great Controversy. 
 
 1 V \ DALK. 
 L.\ II M KK. 
 \\' lah LBT. 
 
 K N i X . 
 
 RIDLEY. 
 
 CKANM KK. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 
 
 WHILE Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people 
 of Germany, Tyndale was impelled by the Spirit of God to 
 do the same for England. Wycliffe's Bible had been trans- 
 lated from the Latin text, which contained many errors. It 
 had never been printed, and the cost of manuscript copies 
 was so great that few but wealthy men or nobles could pro- 
 cure it, and, furthermore, being strictly proscribed by the 
 church, it had had a comparatively narrow circulation. In 
 1516, a year before the appearance of Luther's theses, Erasmus 
 had published his Greek and Latin version of the New 
 Testament. Now for the first time the Word of God was 
 printed in the original tongue. In this work many errors 
 of former versions were corrected, and the sense was more 
 clearly rendered. It led many among the educated classes 
 to a better knowledge of the truth, and gave a new impetus 
 to the work of reform. But the common people were still, 
 to a great extent, debarred from God's Word. Tyndale was 
 to complete the work of Wycliffe in giving the Bible to his 
 countrymen. 
 
 A diligent student and an earnest seeker for truth, he had 
 received the gospel from the Greek Testament of Erasmus. 
 He fearlessly preached his convictions, urging that all doc-, 
 trines be tested by the Scriptures. To the papist claim that 
 the church had given the Bible, and the church alone could 
 explain it, Tyndale responded, " Do you know who taught 
 the eagles to find their prey ? That same God teaches his 
 hungry children to find their Father in his Word. Far from 
 having given us the Scriptures, it is you who have hidden 
 
 19 (246) 
 
246 THE (IK EAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 tin-in from us; it is you who bum those who teach them; 
 and if you could, you would burn the Scriptures them- 
 selves." 
 
 Tyndale's preaching excited great interest ; many accepted 
 the truth. But the priests were on the alert, and no sooner 
 had he left the field than they by their threats and misrep- 
 resentations endeavored to destroy his w r ork. Too often they 
 succeeded. "Alas!" he exclaimed, "what is to be done? 
 While I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the 
 field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. Oh! if 
 Christians possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue, 
 they could of themselves withstand these sophists. With- 
 out the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the 
 truth." 
 
 A new purpose now took possession of his mind. "It was 
 in the language of Israel," said he, " that the psalms were 
 sung in the temple of Jehovah; and shall not the gospel 
 speak the language of England among us? ... Ought 
 the church to have less light at noonday than at the dawn ? 
 . . . Christians must read the New Testament in their 
 mother-tongue." The doctors and teachers of the church 
 disagreed among themselves. Only by the Bible could men 
 arrive at the truth. "One holdeth this doctrine, another 
 that. . . . Now each of these authors contradicts the 
 other. How then can we distinguish him who says right 
 from him who says wrong? . . . How? . . . Verily, 
 by God's Word." 
 
 It was not long after that a learned Catholic doctor, 
 engaging in controversy with him, exclaimed, "It were bet- 
 ter for us to be without God's law than without the pope's." 
 Tyndale replied, "I defy the pope and all his laws; and if 
 God spafe my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who 
 driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures tlian you do." 
 
 The purpose which he had begun to cherish, of giving to 
 the people the New-Testament Scriptures in their own lan- 
 guage, was now confirmed, and he immediately applied him- 
 
LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 247 
 
 self to the work. Driven from his home by persecution, he 
 went to London, and there for a time pursued his labors 
 undisturbed. But again the violence of the papists forced 
 him to flee. All England seemed closed against him, and 
 he resolved to seek shelter in Germany. Here he began the 
 printing of the English New Testament. Twice the work 
 was stopped; but when forbidden tc print in one city, he 
 went to another. At last he made his way to Worms, where, 
 a few years before, Luther had defended the gospel before 
 the Diet. In that ancient city were many friends of the 
 Reformation, and Tyndale there prosecuted his work with- 
 out further hindrance. Three thousand copies of the New 
 Testament were soon finished, and another edition followed 
 in the same year. 
 
 With great earnestness and perseverance he continued his 
 labors. Notwithstanding the English authorities had guarded 
 their ports with the strictest vigilance, the Word of God 
 was in various ways secretly conveyed to London, and thence 
 circulated throughout the country. The papists attempted 
 to suppress the truth, but in vain. The bishop or Durham 
 at one time bought of a bookseller who was a iriend of 
 Tyndale, his whole stock of Bibles, for the purpose 01 destroy- 
 ing them, supposing that this would greatly hinder the 
 work. But, on the contrary, the money thus furnished, pur- 
 chased material for a new and better edition, which, but for 
 this, could not have been published. When Tyndale was 
 afterward made a prisoner, his liberty was offered him on 
 condition that he would reveal the names of those who had 
 helped him meet the expense of printing his Bibles. He 
 replied that the bishop of Durham had done more than 
 any other person; for by paying a large price for the books 
 left on hand, he had enabled him to go on with good courage. 
 
 Tyndale was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and 
 at one time suffered imprisonment for many months. He 
 finally witnessed for his faith by a martyr's death; but the 
 weapons which he prepared have enabled other soldiers to do 
 battle through all the centuries even to our time. 
 
248 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Latimer maintained from the pulpit that the Bible ought 
 to be read in the language of the people. "The Author of 
 Holy Scripture/' said he, "is God himself, and this Scripture 
 partakes of the might and eternity of its Author. There is 
 neither king nor emperor that is not bound to obey it. Let 
 us beware of those by-paths of human tradition, full of 
 stones, brambles, and uprooted trees. Let us follow the 
 straight road of the Word. It does not concern us what the 
 Fathers have done, but rather what they ought to have 
 done." 
 
 Barnes and Frith, the faithful friends of Tyndale, arose to 
 defend the truth. The Bidleys and Cranmer followed. 
 These leaders in the English Reformation were men of 
 learning, and most of them had been highly esteemed for 
 zeal or piety in the Romish communion. Their opposition 
 to the papacy was the result of their knowledge of the errors 
 of the " holy see." Their acquaintance with the mysteries of 
 Babylon, gave greater power to their testimonies against her. 
 
 "Do you know," said Latimer, "who is the most diligent 
 bishop in England? I see you listening and hearkening 
 that I should name him. I will tell you. It is the devil. 
 He is never out of his diocese; you shall never find him 
 idle. Call for him when you will, he is ever at home, he is 
 ever at the plow. You shall never find him remiss, I Avar- 
 rant you. Where, the devil is resident, there away with 
 books, and up with candles; away with Bibles, and up with 
 beads ; away with the light of the gospel, and up with the 
 light of wax tapers, yea, at noonday; down with Christ's 
 cross, up with the purgatory pick-purse; away with clothing 
 the naked, the poor, the impotent; up with the decking of 
 images and the gay garnishing of stones and stocks; down 
 with God and his most holy Word; up with traditions, 
 human councils, and a blinded pope. Oh that our prelates 
 would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine as 
 Satan is to sow cockle and darnel!' 7 
 
 The grand principle maintained by these reformers the 
 
 
LA TER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 249 
 
 same that had been held by the Waldenses, by Wycliffe, by 
 John Huss, by Luther, Zwingle, and those who united with 
 them was the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures 
 as a rule of faith and practice, They denied the right of 
 popes, councils, Fathers, and kings, to control the conscience 
 in matters of religion. The Bible was their authority, and 
 by its teaching they tested all doctrines and all claims. 
 
 Faith in God and his Word sustained these holy men as 
 they yielded up their lives at the stake. "Be of good com- 
 fort," exclaimed Latimer to his fellow-martyr as the flames 
 were about to silence their voices, " we shall this day light 
 such a candle in England as, I trust, by God's grace shall 
 never be put out." 
 
 In Scotland the seeds of truth scattered by Columba ancf 
 his co-laborers had never been wholly destroyed. For hun- 
 dreds of years after the churches of England submitted to 
 Rome, those of Scotland maintained their freedom. In the 
 twelfth century, however, popery became established here, 
 and in no country did it exercise a more absolute sway. 
 Nowhere was the darkness deeper. Still there came rays of 
 light to pierce the gloom, and give promise of the coming 
 day. The Lollards, corning from England with the Bible 
 and the teachings of Wycliffe, did much to preserve the 
 knowledge of the gospel, and every century had its witnesses 
 and martyrs. 
 
 With the opening of the Great Reformation came the 
 writings of Luther, and then Tyndale's English New Testa- 
 ment. Unnoticed by the hierarchy, these messengers silently 
 traversed the mountains and valleys, kindling into new life 
 tKe torch of truth so nearly extinguished in Scotland, and 
 undoing the work which Rome for four centuries of oppres- 
 sion had done. 
 
 . Then the blood of martyrs gave fresh impetus to the 
 movement. The papist leaders, suddenly awakening to the 
 danger that threatened their cause, brought to the stake 
 some of the noblest and most honored of the sons of Scotland. 
 
250 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 They did but erect a pulpit, from which the words of these 
 dying witnesses were heard throughout the land, thrilling 
 the souls of the people with an undying purpose to cast off' 
 the shackles of Rome. 
 
 Hamilton and Wishart, princely in character as in birth, 
 with a long line of humbler disciples, yielded up their lives 
 at the stake. But from the burning pile of Wishart there 
 came one whom the flames were not to silence, one who 
 under God was to strike the death-knell of popery in Scot- 
 land. 
 
 John Knox had turned away from the traditions and 
 mysticisms of the church, to feed upon the truths of God's 
 Word, and the teaching of Wishart had confirmed his 
 determination to forsake the communion of Rome, and join 
 himself to the persecuted reformers. 
 
 Urged by his companions to take the office of preacher, 
 he shrunk with trembling from its responsibility, and it was 
 only after days of seclusion and painful conflict with himself 
 that he consented. But having once accepted the position, 
 he pressed forward with inflexible determination and un- 
 daunted courage as long as life continued. This true-hearted 
 reformer feared not the face of man. The fires of martyr- 
 dom, blazing around him, served only to quicken his zeal to 
 greater intensity. With the tyrant's ax held menacingly 
 over his head, he stood his ground, striking sturdy blows 
 on the right hand and on the left to demolish idolatry. 
 
 When brought face to face with the queen of Scotland, in 
 whose presence the zeal of many a leader of the Protestants 
 had abated, John Knox bore unswerving witness for the 
 truth. He was not to be won by caresses; he quailed not 
 before threats. The queen charged him with heresy. He 
 had taught the people to receive a religion prohibited by 
 the State, she declared, and had thus transgressed God's 
 command enjoining subjects to obey their princes. Knox 
 answered firmly: 
 
 "As right religion received neither its origin nor its 
 
LATER KXdLIXH REFORMERS. 251 
 
 authority from princes, but from the eternal God alone, so 
 are not subjects bound to frame their religion according to 
 the tastes of their princes. For oft it is that princes, of all 
 others, are the most ignorant of God's true religion. If all 
 the seed of Abraham had been of the religion of Pharaoh, 
 whose subjects they long were, I pray you, madam, what 
 religion would there have been in the world? And if all in 
 the days of the apostles had been of the religion of the 
 Roman emperors, I pray you, madam, what religion would 
 there have been now upon the earth? . . . And so, 
 madam, you may perceive that subjects are not bound to 
 the religion of their princes, although they are commanded 
 to give them reverence." 
 
 Said Mary, " You interpret the Scripture in one way, and* 
 they [the Romish teachers] interpret it in another; whom 
 shall I believe, and who shall be judge?" 
 
 "You shall believe God, w r ho plainly speaketh in his 
 Word," answered the reformer; "and farther than the Word 
 teaches you, ye shall believe neither the one nor the other. 
 The Word of God is plain in itself, and if in any one place 
 there be obscurity, the Holy Ghost, who never is contrary to 
 himself, explains the same more clearly in other places, so 
 that there can remain no doubt but unto such as are obsti- 
 nately ignorant." Such were the truths that the fearless 
 reformer, at the peril of his life, spoke in the ear of royalty. 
 With the same undaunted courage he kept to his purpose, 
 praying and fighting the battles of the Lord, until Scotland 
 was free from popery. 
 
 In England the establishment of Protestantism as the 
 national religion diminished, but did not wholly stop perse- 
 cution. While many of the doctrines of Rome had been 
 renounced, not a few of its forms were retained. The su- 
 premacy of the pope was rejected, but in his place the mon- 
 arch was. enthroned as the head of the church. In the 
 service of the church there was still a wide departure from 
 the purity and simplicity of the gospel. The great principle 
 
252 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of religious toleration was not as yet understood. Though 
 the horrible cruelties which Rome employed against heresy 
 were resorted to but rarely by Protestant rulers, yet the right 
 of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his 
 own conscience was not acknowledged. All were required 
 to accept the doctrines and observe the forms of worship 
 prescribed by the established church. Dissenters suffered 
 persecution, to a greater or less extent, for hundreds of years. 
 
 In the seventeenth century thousands of pastors were 
 expelled from, their positions. The people were forbidden, 
 on pain of heavy fines, imprisonment, and banishment, to 
 attend any religious meetings except such as were sanc- 
 tioned by the church. Those faithful souls who could not 
 refrain from gathering to worship God. were compelled to 
 meet in dark alleys, in obscure garrets, and, at some seasons, 
 in the woods at midnight. In the sheltering depths of the 
 forest, a temple of God's own building, those scattered and 
 persecuted children of the Lord assembled to pour out their 
 souls in prayer and praise. But despite all their precautions, 
 many suffered for their faith. The jails were crowded. Fam- 
 ilies were broken up. Many were banished to foreign lands. 
 Yet God was with his people, and persecution could not pre- 
 vail to silence their testimony. Many were driven across 
 the ocean to America, and here laid the foundations of 
 civil and religious liberty which have been the bulwark 
 and glory of this country. 
 
 Again, as in apostolic days, persecution turned out to the 
 furtherance of the gospel. In a loathsome dungeon crowded 
 with profligates and felons, John Bunyan breathed the very 
 atmosphere of Heaven, and there he wrote his wonderful 
 allegory of the pilgrim's journey from the land of destruc- 
 tion to the celestial city. For two hundred years that voice 
 from Bedford jail has spoken with thrilling power to the 
 hearts of men. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Grace 
 Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" have guided many feet 
 into the path of life. 
 
uJ Kxi>rc.-ly fur Great Controversy. 
 
 BAXTER. 
 MILLEK. 
 
 Copyrighted 
 
 WESLEY. 
 
 BUNYAN. 
 
 "VVnTTEFIELD. 
 
LATER EtfGLISB REFORMERS. 253 
 
 Baxter, Flavel, Alleine, and othor men of talent, educa- 
 tion, and deep Christian experience, stood up in valiant de- 
 fense of the faith which was once delivered to the saints. 
 The work accomplished by these men, proscribed and out- 
 lawed by the rulers of this world, can never perish. Flavel 's 
 "Fountain of Life" and "Method of Grace" have taught 
 thousands how to commit the keeping of their souls to 
 Christ. Baxter's " Reformed Pastor " has proved a blessing 
 to many who desire a revival of the work of God, and his 
 "Saint's Everlasting Rest" has done its work in leading souls 
 to the "rest that remaineth for the people of God." 
 
 A hundred years later, in a day of great spiritual dark- 
 ness, Whitefield and the Wesley s appeared as light-bearers 
 for God. Under the rule of the established church, the peo- 
 ple of England had lapsed into a state of religious declen- 
 sion hardly to be distinguished from heathenism. Natural 
 religion was the favorite study of the clergy, and included 
 most of their theology. The higher classes sneered at piety, 
 and prided themselves on being above what they called its 
 fanaticism. The lower classes were grossly ignorant, and 
 abandoned to vice, while the church had no courage or faith 
 to any longer support the downfallen cause of truth. 
 
 The great doctrine of justification by faith, so clearly 
 taught by Luther, had been almost wholly lost sight of, and 
 the Romish principle of trusting to good works for salvation, 
 had taken its place. Whitefield and the Wesleys, who were 
 members of the established church, were sincere seekers for 
 the favor of God, and this they had been taught was to be 
 secured by a virtuous life and an observance of the ordi- 
 nances of religion. 
 
 When Charles Wesley at one time fell ill, and anticipated 
 that death was approaching, he was asked upon what lie 
 rested his hope of eternal life. His answer was, " I have used 
 my best endeavors to serve God." As the friend who had 
 put the question seemed not to be fully satisfied with his 
 answer, Wesley thought, "What! are not my endeavors a 
 
254 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 sufficient ground of hope? Would he rob me of my endeav- 
 ors? I have nothing else to trust to." Such was the dense 
 darkness that had settled down on the church, hiding the 
 atonement, robbing Christ of his glory, and turning the 
 minds of men from their only hope of salvation, the blood 
 of the crucified Redeemer. 
 
 Wesley and his associates were led to see that true religion 
 is seated in the heart, and that God's law extends to the 
 thoughts as well as to the words and actions. Convinced of 
 the necessity of holiness of heart, as well as correctness of 
 outward deportment, they set out in earnest upon a new life. 
 By the most diligent and prayerful efforts they endeavored 
 to subdue the evils of the natural heart. They lived a life 
 of self-denial, charity, and humiliation, observing with great 
 rigor and exactness every measure which they thought 
 could be helpful to them in obtaining what they most de- 
 sired, that holiness which could secure the favor of God. 
 But they did not obtain the object which they sought. In 
 vain were their endeavors to free themselves from the con- 
 demnation of sin or to break its power. It was the same 
 struggle which Luther experienced in his cell at Erfurt. It 
 was the same question which had tortured his soul, " How 
 should man be just before God?" 
 
 The fires of divine truth, well-nigh extinguished upon 
 the altars of Protestantism, were to be rekindled from the 
 ancient torch handed down the ages by the Bohemian Chris- 
 tians. After the Reformation, Protestantism in Bohemia had 
 been trampled out by the hordes of Rome. All who refused 
 to renounce the truth were forced to flee. Some of these, 
 finding refuge in Saxony, there maintained the ancient faith. 
 It was from the descendants of these Christians that light 
 came to Wesley and his associates. 
 
 John and Charles Wesley, after being ordained to the 
 ministry, were sent on a mission to America. On board the 
 ship was a company of Moravians. Violent storms were 
 encountered on the passage, and John Wesley, brought face 
 
 l - lob 9: 2. 
 
LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 255 
 
 to face with death, felt that he had not the assurance of 
 peace with God. But the Germans, on the contrary, mani- 
 fested a calmness and trust to which he was a stranger. 
 
 " I had long before," he says, " observed the great seriousness 
 of their behavior. Of their humility they had given con- 
 tinual proof, by performing those servile offices for the other 
 passengers which none of the English would undertake; for 
 which they desired and would receive no pay, saying, it 
 was good for their proud hearts, and their loving Saviour 
 had done more for them. And every day had given them 
 occasion of showing a meekness which no injury could 
 move. If they were pushed, struck, or thrown down, they 
 rose again and went away; but no complaint was found in 
 their mouth. There was now an opportunity of trying 
 whether they were delivered from the spirit of fear, as well 
 as from that *of pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of 
 the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, 
 split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured 
 in between the deck as if the great deep had already 
 swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the 
 English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of 
 them afterward, 'Were you not afraid ?' He answered, 'I 
 thank God, no/ I asked, 'But were not your women and 
 children afraid?' He replied mildly, 'No; our women and 
 children are not afraid to die.'" 
 
 Upon arriving in Savannah, Wesley for a short time abode 
 with the Moravians, and was deeply impressed" with their 
 Christian deportment. Of one of their religious services, 
 in striking contrast to the lifeless formalism of the Church 
 of England, he wrote: " The great simplicity as well as solem- 
 nity of the whole almost made me forget the seventeen 
 hundred years between, and imagine myself in one of those 
 assemblies where form and state were not; but Paul, the 
 tent-maker, or Peter, the fisherman, presided ; yet with the 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power." 
 
 On his return to England, Wesley, under the instruction 
 
256 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of a Moravian preacher, arrived at a clearer understanding 
 of Bible faith. He was convinced that he must renounce all 
 dependence upon his own works for salvation, and must 
 trust wholly to the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
 of the world." At a meeting of the Moravian society in 
 London, a statement was read from Luther, describing the 
 change which the Spirit of God works in the heart of the 
 believer. As Wesley listened, faith was kindled in his soul. 
 " I felt my heart strangely warmed," he says. " I felt I did 
 trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance 
 was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, 
 and saved me from the law of sin and death." 
 
 Through long years of wearisome and comfortless striving, 
 years of rigorous self-denial, of reproach and humiliation, 
 Wesley had steadfastly adhered to his one purpose of 
 seeking God. Now he had found him ; and he found that 
 the grace which he had toiled to win by prayers and fasts, 
 by almsdeeds and self-abnegation, was a gift, "without 
 money, and without price." 
 
 Once established in the faith of Christ, his whole soul 
 burned with the desire to spread Everywhere a knowledge of 
 the glorious gospel of God's free grace. "I look upon all 
 the world as my parish," he said,-" in whatever part of it I 
 am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare 
 unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of sal- 
 vation." 
 
 He continued his strict and self-denying life, not now as 
 the ground, but the result of faith ; not the root, but the fruit 
 of holiness. The grace of God in Christ is the foundation 
 of the Christian's hope, and that grace will be manifested 
 in obedience. Wesley's life was devoted to the preaching 
 of the great truths which he had received, justification 
 through faith in the atoning blood of Christ, and the 
 renewing power of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, bringing 
 ibrth fruit in a life eniiinnncd to the example of Christ. 
 
 Whiteiiula and the Wesleys had been prepared for their 
 
LA TER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 257 
 
 work by long and sharp personal convictions of their own 
 lost condition; and that they might be able to endure hard- 
 ness as good soldiers of Christ, they had been subjected to 
 the fiery ordeal of scorn, derision, and persecution, both in 
 the university and as they were entering the ministry. They 
 and a few others who sympathized with them were con- 
 temptuously called Methodists by their ungodly fellow-stu- 
 dents, a name which is at the present time regarded as 
 honorable by one of the largest denominations in England 
 and America. 
 
 As members of the Church of England, they were strongly 
 attached to her forms of worship, but the Lord had presented 
 before them in his Word a higher standard. The Holy 
 Spirit urged them to preach Christ and him crucified. The 
 power of the Highest attended their labors. Thousands 
 were convicted and truly converted. It was necessary that 
 these sheep be protected from ravening wolves. Wesley had 
 no thought of forming a new denomination, but he organ- 
 ized them under what was called the Methodist Connection. 
 
 Mysterious and trying was the opposition which these 
 preachers encountered from the established church ; yet God, 
 in his wisdom, had overruled events to cause the reform to 
 begin within the church itself. Had it come wholly from 
 without, it would not have penetrated where it was so much 
 needed. But as the revival preachers were churchmen, and 
 labored within the pale of the church wherever they could 
 find opportunity, the truth had an entrance where the doors 
 would otherwise have remained closed. Some of the clergy 
 were roused from their moral stupor, and became zealous 
 preachers in their own parishes. Churches that had been 
 petrified by formalism were quickened into life. 
 
 In Wesley's time, as in all ages of the church's history, 
 men of different gifts performed their appointed work. 
 They did not harmonize upon every point of doctrine, but 
 all were moved by the Spirit of God, and united in the ab- 
 sorbing aim to win souls to Christ. The differences between 
 
258 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Whitefield and the Wesleys threatened at one time to create 
 alienation; but as they learned meekness in the school of 
 Christ, mutual forbearance and charity reconciled them. 
 They had no time to dispute, while error and iniquity were 
 teeming everywhere, and sinners were going dow r n to ruin. 
 
 The servants of God trod a rugged path. Men of influ- 
 ence and learning employed their powers against them. After 
 a time many of the clergy manifested determined hostility, 
 and the doors of the churches were closed against a pure 
 faith, and those who proclaimed it. The course of the clergy 
 in denouncing them from the pulpit, aroused the elements of 
 darkness, ignorance, and iniquity. Again and again did 
 John Wesley escape death by a miracle of God's mercy. 
 When the rage of the mob was excited against him, and 
 there seemed no way of escape, an angel in human form 
 came to his side, the mob fell back, and the servant of Christ 
 passed in safety from the place of danger. 
 
 Of his deliverance from the enraged mob upon one of 
 these occasions, Wesley said: "Many endeavored to throw 
 me down while we were going down hill on a slippery path 
 to the town; as well judging that if I were once on the 
 ground, I should hardly rise any more. But I made no 
 stumble at all, nor the least slip, till I was entirely out of 
 their hands. Although many strove to lay hold on my 
 collar or clothes, to pull me down, they could not fasten at 
 all ; only one got fast hold of the flap of my waistcoat, which 
 was soon left in his hand ; the other flap, in the pocket of 
 which was a bank-note, was torn but half off. A lusty man 
 just behind, struck at me several times, with a large oaken 
 stick ; with which if he had struck me once on the back part 
 of my head, it would have saved him further trouble. But 
 every time the blow was turned aside, I know not how; for 
 I could not move the right hand nor the left. Another 
 came rushing through the press, and raising his arm to 
 strike, on a sudden let it drop, and only stroked my head ? 
 saying, * What soft hair he has.' . . . The very first men 
 
LA TEH ENGLISH REFORMERS. 259 
 
 whose hearts were turned were the heroes of the town, the 
 captains of the rabble on all occasions, one of them having 
 been a prize fighter at the bear garden. 
 
 " By how gentle degrees does God prepare us for his will ! 
 Two years ago, a piece of brick grazed my shoulders. It 
 was a year after that the stone struck me between the eyes. 
 Last month I received one blow, and this evening two; one 
 before we came into the town, and one after we were gone 
 out; but both were as nothing; for though one man struck 
 me on the breast with all his might, and the other on the 
 mouth with such force that the blood gushed out immedi- 
 ately, I felt no more pain from either of the blows than if 
 they had touched me with a straw." 
 
 The Methodists of those early days people as well as 
 preachers endured ridicule and persecution, alike from 
 church-members and from the openly irreligious who were 
 inflamed by their misrepresentations. They were arraigned 
 before courts of justice such only in name, for justice was 
 rare in the courts of that time. Often they suffered vio- 
 lence from their persecutors. Mobs went from house to 
 house, destroying furniture and goods, plundering whatever 
 they chose, and brutally abusing men, women, and children. 
 In some instances, public notices were posted, calling upon 
 those who desired to assist in breaking the windows and 
 robbing the houses of the Methodists to assemble at a given 
 time and place. These open violations of both human and 
 divine law were allowed to pass without a reprimand. A 
 systematic persecution was carried on against a people whose 
 only fault was that of seeking to turn the feet of sinners 
 from the path of destruction to the path of holiness. 
 . Said John Wesley, referring to the charges against him- 
 self and his associates: "Some allege that the doctrines of 
 these men are false, erroneous, and enthusiastic; that they 
 are new and unheard-of till of late; that they are Quakerism, 
 fanaticism, popery. This whole pretense has been already 
 cut up by the roots, it having been shown at large that 
 
 20 
 
260 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 every branch of this doctrine is the plain doctrine of 
 Scripture interpreted by our own church. Therefore it can- 
 not be false or erroneous, provided the Scripture be true." 
 " Others allege that their doctrines are too strict ; that tl u - \ 
 make the way to Heaven too narrow; and this is in truth 
 the original objection, as it was almost the only one for 
 some time, and is secretly at the bottom of a thousand 
 more which appear in various forms. But do they make 
 the way to Heaven any narrower than our Lord and his 
 apostles made it? Is their doctrine stricter than that of 
 the Bible? Consider only a few plain texts: 'Thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
 soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and 
 thy neighbor as thyself.' l ' Every idle word that men shall 
 speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judg- 
 ment.'' 2 ' Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever 
 ye do, do all to the glory of God." 
 
 " If their doctrine is stricter than this, they are to blame ; 
 but you know in your conscience it is not. And who can 
 be one jot less strict without corrupting the Word of God? 
 Can any steward of the mysteries of God be found faithful 
 if he change any part of that sacred deposition? No; he 
 can abate nothing; he can soften nothing; he is constrained 
 to declare to all men, I may not bring down the Scriptures 
 to your taste. You must come up to it, or perish forever. The 
 popular cry is, The uncharitableness of these men ! Uncha r- 
 itable, are they? In what respect? Do they not feed the 
 hungry and clothe the naked? No; that is not the tiling: 
 they are not wanting in this, but they are so uncharitable in 
 judging; they think none can be saved but those who are of 
 their own way." 
 
 The spiritual declension which had been manifest in 
 
 England just before the time of Wesley, was in gn-;it degree 
 
 tlic result of Antinomian teaching. Many affirmed that 
 
 Christ had abolished the moral law, and that Christians are 
 
 1 Luke 10: 27 . ? Matt. 1 2 : 30. 3 1 Cor. 10:31. 
 
LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 261 
 
 therefore under no obligation to observe it; that a believer 
 is freed from the " bondage of good works." Others, though 
 admitting the perpetuity of the law, declared that it was 
 unnecessary for ministers to exhort the people to obedience 
 of its precepts, since those whom God had elected to salvation 
 would, " by the irresistible impulse of divine grace, be led 
 to the practice of piety and virtue," while those who were 
 doomed to eternal reprobation "did not have it in their 
 power to obey the divine law." 
 
 Others, also holding that "the elect cannot fall from grace 
 or forfeit the divine favor," arrived at the still more hideous 
 conclusion that "the wicked actions they commit are not 
 really sinful, nor to be considered as instances of the viola- 
 tion of the divine law, and that consequently they have no 
 occasion either to confess their sins or to break them off by 
 repentance." Therefore, they declared that even one of the 
 vilest of sins, " considered universally an enormous violation 
 of the divine law, is not a sin in the sight of God," if com- 
 mitted by one of the elect, " because it is one of the essential 
 and distinctive characteristics of the elect, that they cannot 
 do anything which is either displeasing to God or prohibited 
 by the law." 
 
 This monstrous doctrine is essentially the same as the 
 Romish claim that "the pope can dispense above the law, 
 and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws ; " 
 that "he can pronounce sentences and judgments in contra- 
 diction . . . to the law of God and man." Both reveal the 
 inspiration of the same master-spirit, of him who, even 
 among the sinless inhabitants of Heaven,- began his work of 
 seeking to break down the righteous restraints of the law of 
 God. 
 
 The doctrine of the divine decrees, unalterably fixing the 
 character of men, had led many to a virtual rejection of the 
 law of (iod. Wesley steadfastly opposed the errors of the 
 Antinomian teachers, and showed that this doctrine which 
 led to Antinomianism was contrary to the Scriptures. 
 
262 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared 
 to oilmen" "This is good and acceptable in the sight of 
 God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to 
 come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, 
 and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
 Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all" 1 The Spirit of 
 God is freely bestowed, to enable every man to lay hold upon 
 the means of salvation. Thus Christ, "the true Light," 
 "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 2 Men 
 fail of salvation through their own willful refusal of the gift 
 of life. 
 
 In answer to the claim that at the death of Christ the pre- 
 cepts of the decalogue had been abolished with the ceremo- 
 nial law, Wesley said: "The moral law, contained in the ten 
 commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he did not 
 take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke 
 any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, 
 which ' stands fast as the faithful witness in Heaven.' . . . 
 This was from the beginning of the world, being ' written 
 not on tables of stone,' but on the hearts of all the children 
 of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. 
 And, however the letters once written by the finger of God 
 are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not 
 wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of 
 good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force 
 upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either 
 on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, 
 but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their 
 unchangeable relation to each other. 
 
 "'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.' . . . With- 
 out question his meaning in this place is (consistently with 
 all that goes before and follows after), I am come to estab- 
 lish it in its fullness, in spite of all the glosses of men; lam 
 come to place in a full and clear vit i w whatsoever was dark 
 and obscure therein ; I am come to declare the true and full 
 import of every part of it; to show the length and breadth, 
 
 1 Titus 2:11; 1 Tim .2:36. * John 1 : 9. 
 
LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS. 263 
 
 the entire extent, of every commandment contained therein, 
 and the height and depth, the inconceivable purity and 
 spirituality of it in all its branches." 
 
 Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the law and the 
 gospel. " There is, therefore, the closest connection that can 
 be conceived, between the law and the gospel. On the one 
 hand, the law continually makes way for and points us to, 
 the gospel ; on the other, the gospel continually leads us to a 
 more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, 
 requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, 
 humble, or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for 
 these things; yea, that 'with man this is impossible;' but we 
 see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us 
 humble, meek, and holy; we lay hold of this gospel, of these 
 glad tidings; it is done to us according to our faith; and 
 the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, 'through faith 
 which is in Christ Jesus.' " 
 
 "In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of 
 Christ," said Wesley, " are they who openly and explicitly 
 'judge the law' itself, and 'speak evil of the law;' who teach 
 men to break (to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) 
 not one only, whether of the least or of the greatest, but all 
 the commandments at a stroke." " The most surprising of 
 all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is that 
 they who are given up to it, really believe that they honor 
 Christ by overthrowing his law, and that they are magnifying 
 his office, while they are destroying his doctrine! Yea, they 
 honor him just as Judas did, when he said, 'Hail, Master, 
 and kissed him.' And he may as justly say to every one of 
 them, t Betray est thou the Son of man with a kiss?' It is 
 no other than betraying him with a kiss, to talk of his blood, 
 and take away his crown; to set light by any part of his 
 law, under pretense of advancing his gospel. Nor indeed 
 can anyone escape this charge, who preaches faith in any 
 such a manner as either directly or indirectly tends to set 
 aside any branch of obedience; who preaches Christ so as to 
 
i><;4 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 disannul, or weaken in any wise, the least of the command- 
 ments of God." 
 
 To those who urged that "the preaching of the gospel 
 answers all the ends of the law," Wesley replied : " This we 
 utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the 
 law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening those 
 who are still asleep on the brink of hell." The apostle 
 Paul declares that "by the law is the knowledge of sin;" 
 and not until man is convicted of sin, will he truly feel 
 his need of the atoning blood of Christ "'They that be 
 whole,' as our Lord himself observes, ' need not a physician, 
 but they that are sick.' It is absurd, therefore, to offer a 
 physician to them that are whole, or that at least imagine 
 themselves so to be. You are first to convince them, that 
 they are sick ; otherwise they will not thank yon for your 
 labor. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to them whose 
 heart is whole, having never yet been broken." 
 
 Thus while preaching the gospel of the grace of God, 
 Wesley, like his Master, sought to " magnify the law, and 
 make it honorable." Faithfully did he accomplish the work 
 given him of God, and glorious were the results which he 
 was permitted to behold. At the close of his long life of 
 more than fourscore years above half a century spent in 
 itinerant ministry his avowed adherents numbered more 
 than half a million souls. But the multitude that through 
 his labors had been lifted from the ruin and degradation of 
 sin to a higher and a purer life, and the number who by his 
 teaching had attained to a deeper and richer experience, will 
 never be known till the whole family of the redeemed shall 
 be gathered into the kingdom of God. His life presents a 
 lesson of priceless worth to every Christian. Would that the 
 faith and humility, the untiring /ml, self-sacrifice and devo- 
 tion of this servant of Christ, might be reflected in the 
 churches of to-day! 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 IN the sixteenth century the Reformation, presenting an 
 open Bible to the people, had sought admission to all the 
 countries of Europe. Some nations welcomed it with glad- 
 ness, as a messenger of Heaven. In other lands, popery 
 succeeded, to a great extent, in preventing its entrance; and 
 the light of Bible knowledge, with its elevating influences, 
 was almost wholly excluded. In one country, though the 
 light found entrance, it was not comprehended by the dark- 
 ness. For centuries, truth and error struggled for the mas- 
 tery. At last the evil triumphed, and the truth of Heaven 
 was thrust out. " This is the condemnation, that light is 
 come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than 
 light." The nation was left to reap the results of the course 
 which she had chosen. The restraint of God's Spirit was 
 removed from a people that had despised the gift of his 
 grace. Evil was permitted to come to maturity. And all 
 the world saw the fruit of willful rejection of the light. 
 
 The war against the Bible, carried forward for so many 
 centuries in France, culminated in the scenes of the Revo- 
 lution. That terrible outbreaking was but the legitimate 
 result of Rome's suppression of the Scriptures. It presented 
 the most striking illustration which the world has ever 
 witnessed, of the working out of the papal policy, an illus- 
 tration of the results to which for more than .,, thousand 
 years the teaching of the Roman Church had been tending. 
 
 The suppression of the Scriptures during the period of 
 papal supremacy was foretold by the prophets; and the 
 
 1 John 3: 39. 
 
266 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Kevelator points also to the terrible results that were to 
 accrue especially to France from the domination of "the 
 man of sin." 
 
 Said the angel of the Lord: "The holy city [the true 
 church] shall they tread under foot foriy and two months. 
 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they 
 shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore 
 days, clothed in sackcloth. . . . And when they shall 
 have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out 
 of the bottomless pit shall make war against them* and 
 shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies 
 shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is 
 called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 
 . . . And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice 
 over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to 
 another; because these two prophets tormented them that 
 dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the 
 Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood 
 upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw 
 them." 1 
 
 The periods here mentioned "forty and two months," 
 and "a thousand two hundred and threescore days" are 
 the same, alike representing the time in which the church 
 of Christ wa's to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1260 
 years of papal supremacy began with the establishment of 
 the papacy in A. D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 
 1798. At that time a French army entered Rome, and 
 made the pope a prisoner, and he died in exile. Though a 
 new pope was soon afterward elected, the papal hierarchy 
 has never since been able to wield the power which it before 
 possessed. 
 
 The persecution of the church did not continue through- 
 out the entire period of the 1260 years. God in mercy to 
 his people cut short the time of their fiery trial. In fore- 
 telling the "great tribulation" to befall the church, the 
 Saviour said, " Except those days should be shortened, there 
 
 'Rev. 11 :2-ll. 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 - OF 
 
 
THE BIBLE ANT) TI1K FRENCH RE VOL UTION. 267 
 
 should no flesh be saved ; but for the elect's sake those 
 days shall be shortened." 1 Through the influence of the 
 Reformation, the persecution was brought to an end prior 
 to 1798. 
 
 Concerning the two witnesses, the prophet declares further, 
 "These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks 
 standing before the God of the earth." "Thy Word," said 
 the psalmist, "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my 
 path." 2 The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the 
 Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimo- 
 nies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both 
 are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacri- 
 fices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a 
 Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New 
 Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact 
 manner foretold by type and prophecy. 
 
 "They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three- 
 score days, clothed in sackcloth." During the greater part 
 of this period, God's witnesses remained in a state of obscu- 
 rity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the 
 Word of truth, and set before them false witnesses to con- 
 tradict its testimony. When the Bible was proscribed by 
 religious and secular authority; when its testimony was 
 perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could 
 invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those 
 who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, 
 tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, 
 or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and 
 caves of the earth, then the faithful witnesses prophesied 
 in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony through- 
 out the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times 
 there were faithful men who loved God's Word, and were 
 jealous for his honor. To these loyal servants were given 
 wisdom, power, and authority to declare his truth during 
 the whole of this time. 
 
 1 Matt. 24 : 22. Rev. II : 4 ; Ps. 119 : 105. 
 
268 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 u And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of 
 their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man 
 will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." l Men 
 cannot with impunity trample upon the Word of God. The 
 meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the clos- 
 ing chapter of the Revelation: "I testify unto every man 
 that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any 
 man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him 
 the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man 
 shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, 
 God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out 
 of the holy city, and from the things which are written in 
 this book." 2 
 
 Such are the warnings which God has given to guard 
 men against changing in any manner that which he has 
 revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply 
 to all who by their influence lead men to lightly regard the 
 law of God. They should cause those to fear and tremble 
 who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence 
 whether we obey God's law or not. All who exalt their own 
 opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the 
 plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, 
 or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon 
 themselves a fearful responsibility. The written Word, the 
 law of God, will measure the character of every man, and 
 condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting. 
 
 " When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testi- 
 mony." The period when the two witnesses were to proph- 
 esy clothed in sackcloth ended in 1798. As they wnv 
 approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war 
 was to be made upon them by the power represented as "the 
 beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," In ninny 
 of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in Church 
 and State had for centuries been controlled by Satan, through 
 the medium of the papacy. But here is brought to view u 
 new manifestation of Satanic power. 
 
 . 11:5. >Rev. 22:18, 19. 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH RE VOL UTION. 269 
 
 It had been Rome's policy, under a profession of reverence 
 for the Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown tongue, 
 and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the wit- 
 nesses prophesied, "clothed in sackcloth." But another 
 power the beast from the bottomless pit was to arise to 
 make open, avowed war upon the Word of God. 
 
 The "great city" in whose streets the witnesses are slain, 
 and where their dead bodies lie, "is spiritually Egypt." 
 Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most 
 boldly denied the existence of the living God, and resisted 
 his commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open 
 and high-handed rebellion against the authority of Heaven 
 than did the king of Egypt. When the message was 
 brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh 
 proudly answered, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey 
 his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will 
 I let Israel go." 1 This is atheism; and the nation rep- 
 resented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of 
 the claims of the living God, and would manifest a like 
 spirit of unbelief and defiance. The "great city" is also 
 compared, "spiritually," to Sodom. The corruption of 
 Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested 
 in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent 
 characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifica- 
 tions of this scripture. 
 
 According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before 
 the year 1798 some power of Satanic origin and character 
 would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land 
 where the testimony of God's two witnesses should thus be 
 silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh, 
 and the licentiousness of Sodom. 
 
 This prophecy has received a most exact and striking ful- 
 fillment in the history of France. During the Revolution of 
 1793, "the world for the first time heard an assembly of 
 men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the 
 right to govern one of the finest European nations, uplift 
 
 1 Ex. 5:2. 
 
270 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which 
 man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief 
 and worship of the Deity." "France is the only nation in 
 the world concerning which the authentic record survives, 
 that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion 
 against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, 
 plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, 
 in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France 
 stands apart in the world's history as the single State which, 
 by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that 
 there was 110 God, and of which the entire population of the 
 capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as 
 men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announce- 
 ment." 
 
 France presented also the characteristic which especially 
 distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was 
 manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption simi- 
 lar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the 
 plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and 
 licentiousness of France, as it is given in the prophecy: 
 "Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion was 
 that which reduced the union of marriage the most sacred 
 engagement which human beings can form, and the perma- 
 nence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of 
 society to a state of mere civil contract of a transitory char- 
 acter, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose 
 at pleasure. ... If fiends had set themselves at work 
 to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is 
 venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and obtain- 
 ing at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it 
 was their object to create should be perpetuated from one 
 <j,< n oration to another, they could not have invented a more 
 ellrctual plan than the degradation of marriage. . . . 
 Sophie Arnonlt, an actress famous for the witty things she 
 slid, descrihcd the republican marriage as the 'sacrament of 
 adultery.'" 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH RE VOL UTION. 271 
 
 "Where also our Lord was crucified." This specification 
 of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land 
 had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly 
 displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more 
 bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which 
 France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had 
 crucified Christ in the person of his disciples. 
 
 Century after century the blood of the saints had been 
 shed. While the Waldenses laid down their lives upon the 
 mountains of Piedmont "for the Word of God, and for the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ," similar witness to the truth had 
 Ixvii borne by their brethren, the Albigenses of France. In 
 the days of the Reformation, its disciples had been put to 
 death with horrible tortures. King and nobles, high-born 
 women and delicate maidens, the pride and chivalry of the 
 nation, had feasted their eyes upon the agonies of the mar- 
 tyrs of Jesus. The brave Huguenots, battling for those rights 
 which the human heart holds most sacred, had poured out 
 their blood on many a hard-fought field. The Protestants 
 were counted as outlaws, a price was set upon their heads, 
 and they were hunted down like wild beasts. 
 
 The " Church in the Desert," the few descendants of the 
 ancient Christians that still lingered in France in the eight- 
 eenth century, hiding away in the mountains of the south, 
 still cherished the faith of their fathers. As they ventured 
 to meet by night on mountain-side or lonely moor, they 
 were chased by dragoons, and dragged away to life-long 
 slavery in the galleys. "The purest, the most refined, and 
 the most intelligent of the French, were chained, in horrible 
 torture, amidst robbers and assassins." Others, more merci- 
 fully dealt with, were shot down in cold blood, as, unarmed 
 and helpless, they fell upon their knees in prayer. Hundreds 
 of aged men, defenseless women, and innocent children were 
 left dead upon the earth at their place of meeting. In t ravers- 
 ing the mountain-side or the forest, where they had been 
 accustomed to assemble, it was not unusual to find "at every 
 
272 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 four paces dead bodies dotting the sward, and corpses hang- 
 ing suspended from the trees." Their country, " laid waste 
 with the sword, the ax, the fagot, was converted into a vast, 
 gloomy wilderness." These atrocities were not committed 
 during the Dark Ages, but in that brilliant era "when 
 science was cultivated, and -letters flourished ; when the 
 divines of the court and the capital were learned and eloquent 
 men, who greatly affected the graces of meekness and 
 charity." 
 
 But blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible 
 among the fiendish deeds of all the dreadful centuries, was 
 the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The world still recalls with 
 shuddering horror the scenes of that most cowardly and 
 cruel onslaught. The king of France, urged on by Romish 
 priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. 
 The great bell of the palace, tolling at dead of night, was a 
 signal for the slaughter. Protestants by thousands, sleeping 
 quietly in their homes, trusting to the plighted honor of 
 their king, were dragged forth without a warning, and mur- 
 dered in cold blood. 
 
 Satan, in the person of the Roman zealots, led the van. 
 As Christ was the invisible leader of his people from Egyp- 
 tian bondage, so was Satan the unseen leader of his subjects 
 in this horrible work of multiplying martyrs. For seven 
 days the massacre was continued in Paris, the first three 
 with inconceivable fury. And it was not confined to the 
 city itself, but by special order of the king extended to all 
 provinces and towns where Protestants were found. Neither 
 age nor sex was respected. Neither the innocent babe nor 
 the man of gray hairs was spared. Noble and peasant, old 
 and young, mother and child, were cut down together. 
 Throughout France the butchery continued for two months. 
 Seventy thousand of the very flower of the nation perished. 
 
 " The pope, Gregory XIII., received the news of the fate of 
 the Huguenots with unbounded joy: The wish of his 
 heart had been gratified, and Charles IX. was now his favor- 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH RE VOL UT10N. 273 
 
 ite son. Rome rang with rejoicings. The guns of the cas- 
 tle of St. Aiigelo gave forth a joyous salute; the bells sounded 
 from every tower; bonfires blazed throughout the night; 
 and Gregory, attended by his cardinals and priests, led the 
 magnificent procession to the church of St. Louis, where 
 the cardinal of Lorraine chanted a Te Deum. The cry of the 
 dying host in France was gentle harmony to the court of 
 Rome. A medal was struck to commemorate the glorious 
 massacre; a picture, which still exists in the Vatican, was 
 painted, representing the chief events of St. Bartholomew. 
 The pope, eager to show his gratitude to Charles for his duti- 
 ful conduct, sent him the Golden Rose; and from the pul- 
 pits of Rome eloquent preachers celebrated Charles, Cath- 
 erine, and the Guises as the new founders of the papal 
 church." 
 
 The same master-spirit that urged on the St. Bartholomew 
 Massacre led also in the scenes of the Revolution. Jesus 
 Christ was declared to be an impostor, and the rallying cry 
 of the French infidels was, " Crush the Wretch," meaning 
 Christ. Heaven-daring blasphemy and abominable wicked- 
 ness went hand in hand, and the basest of men, the most 
 abandoned monsters of cruelty and vice, were most highly 
 exalted. In all this, supreme homage was paid to Satan; 
 while Christ, in his characteristics of truth, purity, and 
 unselfish love, was crucified. 
 
 " The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall 
 make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill 
 them." The atheistical power that ruled in France during 
 the Revolution and the reign of. terror, did wage such a war 
 upon the Bible as the world had never .witnessed. The 
 Word of God was prohibited by the national assembly. 
 Bibles were collected and publicly burned with every pos- 
 sible manifestation of scorn. The law of God was trampled 
 under foot. The institutions of the Bible were abolished. 
 The weekly rest-day was set aside, and in its stead every 
 tentli day was devoted to reveling and blasphemy. Baptism 
 
274 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and the communion were prohibited. And announcements 
 posted conspicuously over the burial-places declared death 
 to be an eternal sleep. 
 
 The fear of God was said to be so far from the beginning 
 of wisdom that it was the beginning of folly. All religious 
 worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the 
 country. "The constitutional bishop of Paris was brought 
 forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and 
 scandalous farce ever enacted in the face of a national rep- 
 resentation. . . . He was brought forward in full pro- 
 cession, to declare to the convention that the religion which 
 he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece 
 of priestcraft, which had no foundation either in history or 
 in sacred truth. He disowned in solemn and explicit terms 
 the existence of the Deity, to whose worship he had been 
 consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of 
 liberty, equality, virtue, and morality. He then laid on the 
 table his episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal 
 embrace from the president of the convention. Several 
 apostate priests followed the example of this prelate." 
 
 "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over 
 them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; 
 because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on 
 the earth." Infidel France had silenced the reproving voice 
 of God's two witnesses. The Word of truth lay dead in 
 her streets, and those who hated the restrictions and require- 
 ments of God's law were jubilant. Men publicly defied 
 the King of Heaven. Like the sinners of old, they cried, 
 "How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most 
 High?" 1 
 
 With blasphemous boldness almost beyond belief, one of 
 the priests of the new order said: "God, if you exist, avenge 
 your injured name. I bid you defiance! You remain 
 silt n!. You dare not launch your thunders! Who, after 
 this, will believe in your existence?" What an echo is this 
 
 Ps. 73:11. 
 
THE BIBLE A XD THE FRENCH RE VOL UTION. 275 
 
 of the Pharaoh's demand: "Who is Jehovah, that I should 
 obey his voice?" "I know not Jehovah!" 
 
 " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." ' And 
 the Lord declares concerning the perverters of the truth, 
 " Their folly shall be manifest nnto all." 2 After France had 
 renounced the worship of the living God, "the high and 
 lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," it was only a little time 
 till she descended to degrading idolatry, by the worship of 
 the Goddess of Reason, in the person of a profligate woman. 
 And this in the representative assembly of the nation, and 
 by its highest civil and legislative authorities! Says the 
 historian : " One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands 
 unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors 
 of the convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, 
 preceded by whom the members of the municipal body 
 entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of 
 liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, 
 a veiled female whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. 
 Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great 
 form, and placed on the right hand of the president, when 
 she w r as generally recognized as a dancing girl of the opera. 
 . . . To this person, as the fittest representative of that 
 reason whom they worshiped, the national convention of 
 France rendered public homage. This impious and ridic- 
 ulous mummery had a certain fashion ; and the installation 
 of the Goddess of Reason was renewed and imitated through- 
 out the nation in such places where the inhabitants desired 
 to show themselves equal to all the heights of the Rev- 
 olution." 
 
 Said the orator who introduced the worship of reason : 
 "Legislative fanaticism has lost its hold; it has given place 
 to reason. We have left its temples; they are regenerated. 
 To-day an immense multitude are assembled under its gothic 
 roofs, which, for the first time, will re-echo the voice of truth. 
 There the French will celebrate the true worship, that of 
 
 'Ps. 14:1. 2 2Tim. 3:9. 
 
27(5 THE GREAT COXTROVERST. 
 
 Liberty and Reason. There we will form new vows for the 
 prosperity of the armies of the Republic; there we will 
 abandon the worshfp of inanimate idols for that of Reason 
 this animated image, the masterpiece of creation." 
 
 When the goddess was brought into the convention, the 
 orator took her by the hand, and turning to the assembly 
 said: "Mortals, cease to tremble before the powerless thun- 
 ders of a God whom your fears have created. Henceforth 
 acknowledge no divinity but Reason. I otter you its noblest 
 and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only tc 
 such as this. . . . Fall before the august senate of 
 freedom, veil of Reason." 
 
 "The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was 
 mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amidst an 
 immense crowd, to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the 
 place of the Deity. Then she was elevated on the high 
 altar, and received the adoration of all present." 
 
 This, was followed, not long afterward, by the public burn- 
 ing of the Bible. And "the popular society of the museum 
 entered the hall of the municipality, exclaiming, Vive la 
 Raison! and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burned 
 remains of several books, among others the breviaries of the 
 Old and New Testaments, which 'expiated in a great fire,' 
 said the president, 'all the fooleries which they have made 
 the human race commit.' " 
 
 It was popery that had begun the work which atheism 
 was completing. The policy of Rome had wrought out 
 those conditions, social, political, and religious, that were 
 hurrying France on to ruin. A writer, speaking of the 
 horrors of the Revolution, says: "Those excesses are in truth 
 to be charged upon the throne and the church." In strict 
 justice they are to be charged upon the church. Popery had 
 poisoned the minds of kings against the Reformation, as an 
 enemy to the crown, an element of discord that would be 
 fatal to the peace and harmony of the nation. It was the 
 genius of Rome that by this means inspired the direst cru- 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH RE VOL UTION. 277 
 
 elty and the most galling oppression which proceeded from 
 the throne. 
 
 The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the 
 gospel was received, the minds of the people were awakened. 
 They began to cast off the shackles that had held them 
 bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition. They began 
 to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it, and trembled 
 for their despotism. 
 
 Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. Said 
 the pope to the regent of France in 1523: "This mania 
 [Protestantism] will not only destroy religion, but all prin- 
 cipalities, nobilities, laws, orders, and ranks besides." A few 
 years later a papist dignitary warned the king, "If you 
 wish to preserve your sovereign rights intact; if you wish to 
 keep the nations submitted to you in tranquillity, manfully 
 defend the Catholic faith, and subdue all its enemies by your 
 arms." And theologians appealed to the prejudices of the 
 people by declaring that the Protestant doctrine " entices 
 men away to novelties and folly; it robs the king of the 
 devoted affection of his subjects, and devastates both Church 
 and State." Thus Rome succeeded in arraying France 
 against the Reformation. "It was to uphold the throne, 
 preserve the nobles, and maintain the laws, that the sword 
 of persecution was first unsheathed in France." 
 
 Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that 
 fateful policy. The teaching of the Bible would have 
 implanted in the minds and hearts of the people those princi- 
 ples of justice, temperance, truth, equity, and benevolence 
 which are the very corner-stone of a nation's prosperity. 
 " Righteousness exalteth a nation." Thereby " the throne is 
 established." l " The work of righteousness shall be peace; " 
 and the effect, " quietness and assurance forever." a He who 
 obeys the divine law will most truly respect and obey the laws 
 of his country. He who fears God will honor the king in the 
 exercise of all just and legitimate authority. But unhappy 
 France prohibited the Bible, and banned its disciples. Cent- 
 
 i Prov. 14: 34; 16: 12. 2 Isa. 32 : 17. 
 
278 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ury after century, men of principle and integrity, men of 
 intellectual acuteness and moral strength, who had the cour- 
 age to avow their convictions, and the faith to suffer for the 
 truth, for centuries these men toiled as slaves in the gal- 
 leys, perished at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. 
 Thousands upon thousands found safety in flight; and this 
 continued for two hundred and fifty years after the opening 
 of the Reformation. 
 
 "Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during 
 that long period that did not witness the disciples of the gos- 
 pel fleeing before the insane fury of the persecutor, and car- 
 rying with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the 
 order, in which, as a rule, they pre-eminently excelled, to 
 enrich the land in which they found an asylum. And in 
 proportion as they replenished other countries with these 
 good gifts, did they empty their own of them. If all that 
 was now driven away had been retained in France; if, dur- 
 ing these three hundred years, the industrial skill of the 
 exiles had been cultivating her soil ; if, during these three 
 hundred years, their artistic bent had been improving her 
 manufactures; if, during these three hundred years, their 
 creative genius and analytic power had been enriching 
 her literature and cultivating her science; if their wisdom 
 had been guiding her councils, their bravery fighting her 
 battles, their equity framing her laws, and the religion 
 of the Bible strengthening the intellect and governing t lie 
 conscience of her people, what a glory would at this day have 
 encompassed France! What a great, prosperous, and happy 
 country a pattern to the nations would she have been ! 
 
 "But a blind and inexorable bigotry chased from her soil 
 every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every hon- 
 est defender of the throne; it said to the men who would 
 have made their country a 'renown and glory ' in the earth, 
 Choose which you will have, a stake or exile. At last the 
 ruin of the State was complete; there remained no more 
 conscience to be proscribed; no more religion to IK- dragged 
 
THE BIBLE A ND T.TIE FRENCH RE VOL UT10N. 279 
 
 to the stake; no more patriotism to bo chased into banish- 
 ment." And the Revolution, with all its horrors, was the 
 dire result. 
 
 " With the night of the Huguenots a general decline set- 
 tled upon France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell 
 into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wiidness ; 
 intellectual dullness and moral declension succeeded a period 
 of unwonted progress. Paris became one vast almshouse, 
 and it is estimated that, at the breaking out of the Revo- 
 lution, two hundred thousand paupers claimed charity from 
 the hands of the king. The Jesuits alone nourished in the 
 decaying nation, and ruled with dreadful tyranny over 
 churches and schools, the prisons and the galleys." 
 
 The gospel would have brought to France the solution of 
 those political and social problems that baffled the skill of her 
 clergy, her king, and her legislators, and finally plunged the 
 nation into anarchy and ruin. But under the domination 
 of Rome the people had lost the Saviour's hlessed lessons of 
 self-sacrifice and . unselfish love. They had been led away 
 from the practice of self-denial for the good of others. The 
 rich had found no rebuke for their oppression of the poor, 
 the poor no help for their servitude and degradation. The 
 selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and 
 more apparent and oppressive. For centuries the greed and 
 profligacy of the noble resulted in grinding extortion toward 
 the peasant. The rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated 
 the rich. 
 
 In many provinces the estates were held by the nobles, 
 and the laboring classes were only tenants ; they were at the 
 mercy of their landlords, and were forced to submit to their 
 exorbitant demands. The burden of supporting both the 
 Church and the State fell upon the middle and lower classes, 
 who were heavily taxed by the civil authorities 'and by the 
 clergy. "The pleasure of the nobles was considered the 
 supreme law; the farmers and the peasants might starve, for 
 aught their oppressors cared. . . . The people were com- 
 
280 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 polled at every turn to consult the exclusive interest of t ho 
 landlord. The lives of the agricultural laborers were lives of 
 incessant work and unrelieved misery; their complaints, if 
 they ever dared to complain, were treated with insolent con- 
 tempt. The courts of justice would always listen to a noble as 
 against a peasant; bribes were notoriously accepted by the 
 judges; and the merest caprice of the aristocracy had the 
 force of law, by virtue of this system of universal corruption. 
 Of the taxes wrung from the commonalty, by the secular 
 magnates on the one hand, and the clergy on the other, not 
 half ever found its way into the royal or episcopal treasury; 
 the rest was squandered in profligate self-indulgence. And 
 the men who thus impoverished their fellow-subjects were 
 themselves exempt from taxation, and entitled by law or cus- 
 tom to all the appointments of the State. The privileged 
 classes numbered a hundred and fifty thousand, and for their 
 gratification millions were condemned to hopeless and degrad- 
 ing lives." 
 
 The court was given up to luxury and profligacy. There 
 was little confidence existing between the people and the 
 rulers. Suspicion fastened upon all the measures of the 
 government, as designing and selfish. For more than half 
 a century before the time of the Revolution, the throne was 
 occupied by Louis XV., who even in those evil times was 
 distinguished as an indolent, frivolous, and sensual monarch. 
 With a depraved and cruel aristocracy and an impoverished 
 and ignorant lower class, the State financially embarrassed 
 and the people exasperated, it needed no prophet's eye to 
 foresee a terrible impending outbreak. To the warnings of 
 his counselors the king was accustomed to reply, " Try to 
 make things go on as long as I am likely to live; after my 
 death it may be as it will." It was in vain that the neces- 
 sity of reform was urged. He saw the evils, but had neither 
 the courage nor the power to meet them. The doom await- 
 ing France was but too truly pictured in his indolent and 
 selfish answer, "After me the deluge!" 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOL UTION. 281 
 
 By working upon the jealousy of the kings and the ruling 
 classes, Rome had influenced them to keep the people in 
 bondage, well knowing that the State would thus be weak- 
 ened, and purposing by this means to fasten both rulers and 
 people in her thrall. With far-sighted policy she perceived 
 that in order to enslave men effectually, the shackles must be 
 bound upon their souls ; that the surest way to prevent them 
 from escaping their bondage was to render them incapable 
 of freedom. A thousand-fold more terrible than the physical 
 suffering which resulted from her policy, was the moral deg- 
 radation. Deprived of the Bible, and abandoned to the 
 teachings of bigotry and selfishness, the people were shrouded 
 in ignorance and superstition, and sunken in vice, so that 
 they were wholly unfitted for self-government. 
 
 But the outworking of all this was widely different from 
 what Rome had purposed. Instead of holding the masses in 
 a blind submission to her dogmas, her work resulted in 
 making them infidels and revolutionists. Romanism they 
 despised as priestcraft. . They beheld the clergy as a party to 
 their oppression. The only god they knew was the god of 
 Rome ; her teaching was their only religion. They regarded 
 her greed and cruelty as the legitimate fruit of the Bible 
 and they would have none of it. 
 
 Rome had misrepresented the character of God, and per- 
 verted his requirements, and now men rejected both the 
 Bible and its Author. She had required a blind faith in her 
 dogmas, under the pretended sanction of the Scriptures. In 
 the reaction, Voltaire and his associates cast aside God's 
 Word altogether, and spread everywhere the poison of infi- 
 delity. Rome had ground down the people under her iron 
 heel; and now the masses, degraded and brutalized, in 
 their recoil from her tyranny cast off all restraint. Enraged 
 at the glittering cheat to which they had so long paid hom- 
 age, they rejected truth and falsehood together; and mistak- 
 ing license for liberty, the slaves of vice exulted in their im- 
 agined freedom. 
 
282 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 At the opening of the Revolution, by a concession of the 
 king, the people were granted a representation exceeding 
 that of the nobles and the clergy combined. Thus the balance 
 of power was in their hands; but they were not prepared to 
 use it with wisdom and moderation. Eager to redress the 
 wrongs they had suffered, they determined to undertake the 
 reconstruction of society. An outraged populace, whose 
 minds were filled with bitter and long-treasured memories 
 of wrong, resolved to revolutionize the state of misery that 
 had grown unbearable, and to revenge themselves upon 
 those whom they regarded as the authors of their sufferings. 
 The oppressed wrought out the lesson they had learned 
 under tyranny, and became the oppressors of those who had 
 oppressed them. 
 
 Unhappy-France reaped in blood the harvest she had sown. 
 Terrible were the results of her submission to the controlling 
 power of Rome. Where France, under the influence of Ro- 
 manism, had set up the first stake at the opening of the 
 Reformation, there the Revolution set up its first guillotine. 
 On the very spot where the first martyrs to the Protestant 
 faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims 
 were guillotined in the eighteenth. In repelling the gospel, 
 which, would have brought her healing, France had -opened 
 the door to infidelity and ruin. When the rest mints of God's 
 law were cast aside, it was found that the laws of man were 
 inadequate to hold in check the powerful tides of human 
 passion; and the nation swept on to revolt and anarchy. 
 The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands 
 in the world's history as " The Reign of Terror." Peace' and 
 happiness were banished from the homes and hearts of men. 
 No one was secure. He who triumphed in-day was sus- 
 pected, condemned to-morrow. Violence and lust held un- 
 disputed sway. 
 
 King, clergy, and nobles were compelled to submit 1o tin 4 
 atrocities of an excited and maddened people. Their (hirst 
 for vengeance was only stimulated by the execution of t he 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 283 
 
 king; and those who had decreed his death, soon followed 
 him to the scaffold. A general slaughter of all suspected 
 of hostility to the Revolution was determined. The prisons 
 were crowded, at one time containing more than two hun- 
 dred thousand captives. The cities of the kingdom were 
 filled with scenes of horror. One party of revolutionists was 
 against another party, and France became a vast field for 
 contending masses, swayed by the fury of their passions. 
 " In Paris one tumult succeeded another, and the citizens 
 were divided into a medley of factions, that seemed intent 
 on nothing but mutual extermination." And to add to the 
 general misery, the nation became involved in a prolonged 
 and devastating war with the great powers of Europe. "The 
 country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for 
 arrears of pay, the Parisians were starving, the provinces 
 were laid waste by brigands, and civilization was almost 
 extinguished in anarchy and license." 
 
 All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty 
 and torture which Rome had so diligently taught. A day 
 of retribution at last had come. It was not now the disciples 
 of Jesus that were thrust into dungeons and dragged to the 
 stake. Long ago these had perished or been driven into 
 exile. Unsparing Rome now felt the deadly power of those 
 whom she had trained to delight in deeds of blood. " The 
 example of persecution which the clergy of France had 
 exhibited for so many ages, was now retorted upon them 
 with signal vigor. The scaffolds ran red with the blood of 
 the priests. The galleys and the prisons, once crowded 
 with Huguenots, were now filled with their persecutors. 
 Chained to the bench and toiling at the oar, the Roman 
 Catholic clergy experienced all those woes which their church 
 had so freely inflicted on the gentle heretics." 
 
 "Then came those days when the most barbarous of all 
 codes was administered by the most barbarous of all tribu- 
 nals; when no man could greet his neighbors, or say his 
 prayers . . . without danger of committing a capital 
 
 22 
 
284 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 crime; when spies lurked in every corner; when the guil- 
 lotine was long and hard at work every morning; when the 
 jails were filled as close as the holds of a slave-ship; when 
 the glitters ran foaming with blood into the Seine. . . . 
 While the daily wagon-loads of victims were carried to their 
 doom through the streets of Paris, the proconsuls, whom 
 the sovereign committee had sent forth to the departments, 
 reveled in an extravagance of cruelty unknown even in the 
 capital. The knife of the deadly machine rose and fell too 
 slow for their work of slaughter. Long rows of captives 
 w r ere mowed down with grape-shot. Holes were made in 
 the bottom of crowded barges. Lyons was turned into a 
 desert. At Arras even the cruel mercy of a speedy death 
 was denied to the prisoners. All down the Loire, from 
 Saumur to the sea, great flocks of crows and kites feasted on 
 naked corpses, twined together in hideous embraces. No 
 mercy was shown to sex or age. The number of young 
 lads and of girls of seventeen who were murdered by that 
 execrable government is to be reckoned by hundreds. Ba- 
 bies torn from the breast were tossed from pike to pike along 
 the Jacobin ranks." In the short space of ten years, mill 
 ions of human beings perished. 
 
 All this was as Satan would have it. This was what for 
 ages he had been working to secure. His policy is deception 
 from first to last, and his steadfast purpose is to bring woe and 
 wretchedness upon men, to deface and defile the workman- 
 ship of God, to mar the divine purposes of benevolence and 
 love, and thus cause grief in Heaven. Then by his deceptive 
 arts he blinds the minds of men, and leads them to throw 
 back the blame of his work upon God, as if all this misery 
 were the result of the Creator's plan. In like manner, when 
 those who have been degraded and brutalized through his 
 cruel power achieve their freedom, he urges them on to 
 excesses and atrocities. Then this picture of unbridled 
 license is pointed out by tyrants and oppressors as an illus- 
 tration of the results of liberty. 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH RE VOL UTION. 285 
 
 When error in one garb has been detected, Satan only 
 masks it in a different disguise, and multitudes receive it as 
 eagerly as at the first. When the people found Romanism 
 to be a deception, and he could not through this agency 
 lead them to transgression of God's law, he urged them to 
 regard all religion as a cheat, and the Bible a fable; and 
 casting aside the divine statutes, they gave themselves up to 
 unbridled iniquity. 
 
 The fatal error which wrought such woe for the inhab- 
 itants of France was the ignoring of this one great truth: 
 that true freedom lies within the proscriptions of the law of 
 God. " that thou hadst hearkened to my command-' 
 ments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy right- 
 eousness as the waves of the sea." "There is.no peace, saith 
 the Lord, unto the wicked." " But whoso hearkeneth unto 
 me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." 1 
 
 Atheists, infidels, and apostates oppose and denounce God's 
 law ; but the results of their influence prove that the well- 
 being of man is bound up with his obedience of the divine 
 statutes. Those who will not read the lesson from the book 
 of God, are bidden to read it in the history of nations. 
 
 When Satan wrought through the Romish Church to 
 lead men away from obedience, his agency was concealed, 
 and his work was so disguised that the degradation and 
 misery which resulted were not seen to be the fruit of trans- 
 gression. And his power was so far counteracted by the 
 working of the Spirit of God, that his purposes were pre- 
 vented from reaching their full fruition. The people did 
 not trace the effect to its cause, and discover the source of 
 their miseries. But in the Revolution, the law of God was, 
 openly set aside by the national council. And in the reign 
 of terror which followed, the working of cause and effect 
 could be seen by all. 
 
 When France publicly prohibited the Bible, wicked men 
 and spirits of darkness exulted in their attainment of the 
 object so long desired, a kingdom free from the restraints 
 
 3 Isa. 48:18,22; Prov. 1:33. 
 
286 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of the law of God. Because sentence against an evil work 
 was not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of 
 men was "fully set in them to do evil." 1 But the trans- 
 gression of a just and righteous law must inevitably result 
 in misery and ruin. Though not visited at once with 
 judgments, the wickedness of men was nevertheless surely 
 working out their doom. Centuries of apostasy and crime 
 had been treasuring up wrath against the day of retribution; 
 and when their iniquity was full, the despisers of God 
 learned too late that it. is a fearful thing to have worn out 
 the divine patience. The restraining Spirit of God, which 
 imposes a check upon the cruel power of Satan, was in a 
 great measure removed, and he whose only delight is the 
 wretchedness of men, was permitted to work his will. Those 
 who had chosen the service of rebellion, were left to reap its 
 fruits, .until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for 
 pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities 
 a terrible cry was heard, a cry of bitterest anguish. France 
 was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social 
 order, the family, the State, and the Church, all were 
 smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted 
 against the law of God. Truly spake the wise man : " The 
 wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." " Though a sin- 
 ner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet 
 surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God ? 
 which fear before him ; but it shall not be well with the 
 wicked." 1 "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the 
 fear of the Lord ; " " therefore shall they eat of the fruit of 
 their own way, and be filled with their own devices." 8 
 
 God's faithful witnesses, slain by the blasphemous power 
 that " ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," were not long to 
 remain silent. " After three days and a half, the Spirit of 
 life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their 
 feet ; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." 3 It was 
 in 1793 that the decree which prohibited the Bible passed the 
 
 'Eccl. 8:11-13. 2 Prov. 1 :29, 31. 3 Rev. 11:11. 
 
THE BIBLE A JV7> TTTE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 287 
 
 French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution 
 rescinding the decree, and granting toleration to the Script- 
 ures, was adopted by the same body. The world stood aghast 
 at the enormity of guilt which had resulted from a rejection 
 of the Sacred Oracles, and men recognized the necessity of 
 faith in God and his Word as the foundation of virtue and 
 morality. Saith the Lord, "Whom hast thou reproached 
 and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy 
 voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the 
 Holy One of Israel."- 1 " Therefore, behold, I will this once 
 cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand 
 and my might; and they shall know that my name is 
 Jehovah." 2 
 
 Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: 
 "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto 
 them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in 
 a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." 3 Since France 
 made war upon God's two witnesses, they have been hon- 
 ored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society was organized. This was followed by similar organ- 
 izations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of 
 Europe. In 1816, the American Bible Society was founded. 
 When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been 
 printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been 
 translated into more than two hundred languages and dia- 
 lects. By the efforts of Bible societies, since 1804, more 
 than 187,000,000 copies of the Bible have been circulated. 
 
 For the fifty years preceding 1792, little attention was 
 given to the work of foreign missions. No new societies 
 were formed, and there were but few churches that made 
 any effort for the spread of Christianity in heathen lands. 
 But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great 
 change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results 
 of rationalism, and realized the necessity of divine revela- 
 tion and experimental religion. The devoted Carey, who 
 
 lisa. 3/:23. 2 Jer. 16:21. 3 Rev. 11: 12. 
 
288 THE GRKAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 in 1793 became the first English missionary to India, 
 kindled anew the flame of missionary effort in England. 
 In America, twenty years later, the zeal of a society of stu- 
 dents, among whom was Adoniram Judson, resulted in the 
 formation of the American Board of Foreign Missions, under 
 whose auspices Judson went as a missionary from the United 
 States to Burmah. From this time the work of foreign mis- 
 sions attained an unprecedented growth. 
 
 The improvements in printing have given an impetus to 
 the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities 
 for communication between different countries, the breaking 
 down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusive- 
 ness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome, 
 have opened the way for the entrance of the Word of God. 
 For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in 
 the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every 
 part of the habitable globe. 
 
 The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: "I am weary of 
 hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Chris- 
 tian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to 
 overthrow it." A century has passed since his death. Mill- 
 ions have joined in the war upon the Bible. But it is so 
 far from being destroyed, that where there were a hundred 
 in Voltaire's time, there are now ten thousand, yes, a hundred 
 thousand copies. of the Book of God. In the words of an 
 early reformer concerning the Christian church, "The Bible 
 is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." Saith the 
 Lord, " No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; 
 and every tongue that shall arise against thee in judgment 
 thou shalt condemn." l 
 
 "The Word of our God shall stand forever." "All his 
 commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, 
 and are done in truth and uprightness." : Whatever is built 
 upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that 
 which is founded upon the rock of God's immutable Word 
 shall stand forever. 
 
 >Isa. 54:17 - Isa. 40:8; Ps. 111:7,8. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 
 
 THE English reformers, while renouncing the doctrines 
 of Romanism, had retained many of its forms. Thus though 
 the authority and the creed of Rome were rejected, not a 
 few of her customs and ceremonies were incorporated into 
 the worship of the Church of England. It was claimed that 
 these things wero not matters of conscience; that though 
 they were not commanded in Scripture, and hence were 
 non-essential, yet not being forbidden, they were not intrin- 
 sically evil. Their observance tended to narrow the gulf 
 which separated the reformed churches from Rome, and it 
 was urged that they would promote the acceptance of the 
 Protestant faith by Romanists. 
 
 To the conservative and compromising, these arguments 
 seemed conclusive. But there was another class that did 
 not so judge. The fact that these customs tended to bridge 
 the chasm between Rome and the Reformation, was in their 
 view a conclusive argument against retaining them. They 
 looked upon them as badges of the slavery from which they 
 had been delivered, and to which they had no disposition to 
 return. They reasoned that God has in his Word estab- 
 lished the regulations governing his worship, and that men 
 are not at liberty to add to these or to detract from them. 
 The very beginning of the great apostasy was in seeking to 
 supplement the authority of God by that of the church. 
 Rome began by enjoining what God had not forbidden, and 
 she ended by forbidding what he had explicitly enjoined. 
 
 Many earnestly desired to return to the purity and sim- 
 plicity which characterized the primitive church. They 
 
 (289) 
 
290 THE GREAT CONTR 
 
 regarded many of the established customs of the English 
 church as monuments of idolatry, and they could riot in 
 conscience unite in her worship. But the church, being- 
 supported by the civil authority, would permit no dissent 
 from her forms. Attendance upon her service was required' 
 by law, and unauthorized assemblies for religious worship 
 were prohibited, under penalty of imprisonment, exile and 
 death. 
 
 At the opening of the seventeenth century the monarch 
 who had just ascended the throne of England declared his 
 determination to make the Puritans "conform, or harry 
 them out of the land, or else worse." Hunted, persecuted, 
 and imprisoned, they could discern in the future no promise 
 of better days, and many yielded to the conviction that for 
 such as would serve God according to the dictates of their 
 conscience, "England had ceased forever to be a habitable 
 spot." Some at last determined to seek refuge in Holland. 
 Difficulties, losses, and imprisonment were encountered. 
 Their purposes were thwarted, and they were betrayed into 
 the hands of their enemies. But steadfast perseverance 
 finally conquered, and they found shelter on the friendly 
 shores of the Dutch Republic. 
 
 In their flight they had left their houses, their goods, and 
 their means of livelihood. They were strangers in a strange 
 land, among a people of different language and customs. 
 They were forced to resort to new and untried occupations 
 to earn their bread. Middle-aged men, who had spent their 
 lives in tilling the soil, had now to learn mechanical trades. 
 But they cheerfully accepted the situation, and lost-no time 
 in idleness or repining. Though often pinched with pov- 
 ertv, they thanked God for the blessings which were still 
 granted them, and found their joy in unmolested spiritual 
 communion. ' They knew they were pilgrims, and looked 
 not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to 
 Heaven, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." 
 
 In the midst of exile and hardship, their love and faith 
 
THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 291 
 
 waxed strong. They trusted the Lord's promises, and lie 
 did not fail them in time of need. His angels were by their 
 side/ to encourage and support them. And when God's 
 hand seemed pointing them across the sea, to a land where 
 they might found for themselves a State, and leave to their 
 children the precious heritage of religious liberty, they 
 went forward, without shrinking, in the path of Providence. 
 
 God had permitted trials to come upon his people to pre- 
 pare them for the accomplishment of his gracious purpose 
 toward them. The church had been brought low, that she 
 might be exalted. God was about to display his power in 
 her behalf, to give to the world another evidence that he 
 will not forsake those who trust in him. He had overruled 
 events to cause the wrath of Satan and the plots of evil men 
 to advance his glory, and to bring his people to a place of 
 security. Persecution and exile were opening the way to 
 freedom. 
 
 When first constrained to separate from the English church, 
 the Puritans had joined themselves together by a solemn 
 covenant, as the Lord's free people, "to walk in all his ways, 
 made known or to be made known to them." Here was 
 the true spirit of reform, the vital principle of Protestantism. 
 It was with this purpose that the Pilgrims departed from 
 Holland to find a home in the New World. John Robinson, 
 their pastor, who was providentially prevented from accom- 
 panying them, in his farewell address to the exiles said: 
 
 u Brethren, we are now erelong to" part asunder, and the 
 Lord knoweth whether I shall live ever to see your faces 
 more; but whether the Lord hath appointed that or not, I 
 charge you before God and his blessed angels to follow me no 
 farther than I have followed Christ. If God should reveal 
 anything to you by any other instrument of his, be as ready 
 to receive it as you ever were to receive any truth by my min- 
 istry; for I am very confident that the Lord hath more truth 
 and light yet to break forth out of his Holy Word. For my 
 part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed 
 
292 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go 
 no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The 
 Lutherans cannot be drawn to go any farther than what 
 Luther saw, and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they 
 were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all 
 things. This is a misery much to be lamented ; for though 
 they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they 
 penetrated not into the whole counsel of God, but were they 
 now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as 
 that which they first received. 
 
 "Remember your church covenant, in which you have 
 agreed to walk in all the ways of the Lord, made known 
 or to be made known unto you. Remember your promise 
 and covenant with God and with one another, to receive 
 whatever light and truth shall be made known to you from 
 his written Word. But, withal, take heed, I beseech you, 
 what you receive as truth. Examine it, consider it, compare 
 it with other scriptures of truth before you receive it; for 
 it is not possible that the Christian \vorld should come 
 so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that 
 perfection of knowledge should break forth at once/! 
 
 It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the 
 Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the 
 sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, 
 and with God's blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the 
 foundation of a mighty nation. Yet honest and God-fearing 
 as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great 
 principle of religious toleration. The freedom which they 
 sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not 
 equally ready to grant to others. "Very few, even of tlio 
 foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, 
 had any just conception of that grand principle, the out- 
 growth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as 
 the sole judge of human faith." The doctrine that God has 
 committed to the church the right to control the conscience, 
 and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply 
 
THE PILGRIM FA THERS. 293 
 
 rooted of papal errors. While the reformers rejected the 
 creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her spirit of 
 intolerance. The dense darkness in which, through the 
 long ages of her rule, popery had enveloped all Christendom, 
 had not even yet been wholly dissipated. Said one of the 
 leading ministers in the colony of Massachusetts Bay: "It 
 was toleration that made the world antichristian ; and the 
 church never took harm by the . punishment of heretics." 
 The regulation was adopted by the colonists, that only 
 church-members should have a voice in the civil govern- 
 ment. A kind of State church was formed, all the people 
 being required to contribute to the support of the clergy, and 
 the magistrates being authorized to suppress heresy. Thus 
 the secular power was in the hands of the church. It was 
 not long before these measures led to the inevitable result 
 persecution. 
 
 Eleven years after the planting of the first colony, Roger 
 Williams came to the New World. Like the early Pilgrims, 
 he came to enjoy religious freedom; but unlike them, he 
 saw what so few in his time had yet seen that this free- 
 dom was the inalienable right of all, whatever might be 
 their creed. He was an earnest seeker for truth, with Robin- 
 son holding it impossible that all the light from God's Word 
 had yet been received. Williams " was the first person in 
 modern Christendom to assert, in its plenitude, the doctrine 
 of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before 
 the law." He declared it to be the duty of the magistrate 
 to restrain crime, but never to control the conscience. " The 
 public or the magistrates may decide," he said, "what is 
 due from men to men, but when they attempt to prescribe 
 a man's duty to God, they are out of place, and there can 
 be no safety; for it is clear that if the magistrate has the 
 power, he may decree one set of opinions or beliefs to-day 
 and another to-mojrow; as has been done in England by 
 different kings and queens, and by the different popes and 
 councils in the Roman Church; so that belief would be- 
 come a heap of confusion." 
 
294 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Attendance at the services of the established church was 
 required under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. "Will- 
 iams reprobated the law; the worst statute of the English 
 code was that which did but enforce attendance upon the 
 parish church. To compel men to unite with those of a 
 different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their 
 natural rights; to drag to public worship the irreligious and 
 the unwilling, seemed like requiring hypocrisy. 'No one,' 
 he said, 'should be forced to worship, or to maintain a 
 worship, against his own consent.' 'What!' exclaimed his 
 antagonist, amazed at his tenets, ' is not the laborer worthy 
 of his hire?' 'Yes,' replied he, 'from those who hire him.'" 
 
 Roger Williams was respected and beloved as a faithful 
 minister, a man of rare gifts, of unbending integrity and 
 true benevolence; yet his steadfast denial of the right of 
 civil magistrates to authority over the church, and his 
 demand for religious liberty, could not be tolerated. The 
 application of this new doctrine, it was urged, would "sub- 
 vert the fundamental state and government of the country." 
 He was sentenced to banishment from the colonies, and 
 finally, to avoid arrest, he was forced to flee, amid the cold 
 and storms of winter, into the unbroken forest. 
 
 ''For fourteen weeks," he says, " I was sorely tossed in a bit- 
 ter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." " But 
 the ravens fed me in the wilderness; " and a hollow tree often 
 served him for a shelter. Thus he continued his painful 
 flight through the snow and the trackless forest, until he 
 found refuge with an Indian tribe whose confidence and 
 affection he had won while endeavoring to teach them the 
 truths of the gospel. 
 
 Making his way at last, after months of change and wan- 
 dering, to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the 
 foundation of the first State of modern times that in the full- 
 est sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The 
 fundamental principle of Roger Williams' colony, was "that 
 every man should have the right to worship God according 
 
THE PIL GRIM FA THERS. 295 
 
 to the light of his conscience." His little State, Rhode 
 Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased 
 and prospered until its foundation principles civil and 
 religious liberty became the corner-stones of the American 
 Republic. 
 
 In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth 
 as their bill of rights the Declaration of Independence 
 they declared : " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
 all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their 
 Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these 
 are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And the 
 Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the 
 inviolability of conscience : " No religious test shall ever be 
 required as a qualification to any office of public trust under 
 the United States." " Congress shall make no law respecting 
 an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
 thereof." 
 
 "The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal 
 principle that man's relation to his God is above human 
 legislation, and his right of conscience inalienable. Reason- 
 ing was not necessary to establish this truth; we are con- 
 scious of it in our own bosom. It is this consciousness, 
 which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many 
 martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to 
 God was superior to human enactments, and that man could 
 exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn 
 principle which nothing can eradicate." 
 
 As the tidings spread through the countries of Europe, 
 of a land where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own 
 labor, and obey the convictions of his conscience, thousands 
 flocked to the shores of the New World. Colonies rapidly 
 multiplied. " Massachusetts, by special law , offered free wel- 
 come and aid, at the public cost, to Christians of any nation- 
 ality who might fly beyond the Atlantic 'to escape from wars 
 or famine, or the oppression of their persecutors.' Thus the 
 fugitive and the down-trodden were, by statute, made the 
 
296 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 guests of the commonwealth." In twenty years from the 
 first landing at Plymouth, as many thousand Pilgrims were 
 settled in New England. 
 
 To secure the object which they sought, "they were con- 
 tent to earn a bare subsistence by a life of frugality and 
 toil. They asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable 
 returns of their own labor. No golden vision threw a 
 deceitful halo around their path. . . . They were con- 
 tent with the slow but steady progress of their social polity. 
 They patiently endured the privations of the wilderness, 
 watering the tree of liberty with their tears, and with the 
 sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land." 
 
 The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source 
 of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its principles were 
 diligently taught in the home, in the school, and in the 
 church, and its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, 
 purity, and temperance. One might be for years a dweller 
 in the Puritan settlements, and not " see a drunkard, nor 
 hear an oath, nor meet a beggar." It was demonstrated 
 that the principles of the Bible are the surest safeguards of 
 national greatness. The feeble and isolated colonies grew 
 to a confederation of powerful States, and the world marked 
 with wonder the peace and prosperity of "a church with- 
 out a pope, and a State without a king." 
 
 But continually increasing numbers were attracted to the 
 shores of America, actuated by motives widely different from 
 those of the first Pilgrims, Though the primitive faith and 
 purity exerted a widespread and moulding power, yet its 
 influence became less and less as the numbers increased of 
 those who sought only worldly advantage. 
 
 The regulation adopted by the early colonists, of per- 
 mitting only members of the church to vote or to hold 
 office in the civil government, led to most pernicious results. 
 This measure had been accepted as a means of preserv- 
 ing the purity of the State, but it resulted in the corrup- 
 tion of the church. A profession of religion being the 
 
THE PILGRIM FA THERS. 297 
 
 condition of suffrage and office-holding, many, actuated 
 solely by motives of worldly policy, united with the church, 
 without a change of heart. Thus the churches came to 
 consist, to a considerable extent, of unconverted persons; 
 and even in the ministry were those who not only held 
 errors of doctrine, but who were ignorant of the renewing 
 power of the Holy Spirit. Thus again was demonstrated 
 the evil results, so often witnessed in the history of the 
 church from the days of Constantine to the present, of 
 attempting to build up the church by the aid of the State, 
 of appealing to the secular power in support of the gospel of 
 Him who declared, "My kingdom is not of this world." 1 
 The union of the church with the State, be the degree never 
 so slight, while it may appear to bring the world nearer to 
 the church, does in reality but bring the church nearer to 
 the world. 
 
 The great principle so nobly advocated by Robinson and 
 Roger Williams, that truth is progressive, that Christians 
 should stand ready to accept all the light which may shine 
 from God's Holy Word, was lost sight of by their descend- 
 ants. The Protestant churches of America and those of 
 Europe as well so highly favored in receiving the blessings 
 of the Reformation, failed to press forward in the path of 
 reform. Though a few faithful men arose, from time to 
 time, to proclaim new truth, and expose long-cherished error, 
 the majority, like the Jews in Christ's day, or the papists in 
 the time of Luther, were content to believe as their fathers 
 had believed, and to live as they had lived. Therefore 
 religion again degenerated into formalism ; and errors and 
 superstitions which would have been cast aside had the 
 church continued to walk in the light of God's Word, were 
 retained and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by the 
 Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as 
 great need of reform in the Protestant churches as in the 
 Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same 
 worldliness and spiritual stupor, a similar reverence for the 
 
 l John 18:36. 
 
298 THL GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 opinions of men, and substitution of human theories for the 
 teachings of God's Word. 
 
 The wide circulation of the Bible in the early part of the 
 nineteenth century, and the great light thus shed upon the 
 world, was not followed by a corresponding advance in 
 knowledge of revealed truth, or in experimental religion. 
 Satan could not, as in former ages, keep God's Word from 
 the people ; it had been placed within the reach of all ; but 
 in order still to accomplish his object, he led many to value 
 it but lightly. Men neglected to search the Scriptures, and 
 thus they continued to accept false interpretations, arid to 
 cherish doctrines which had no foundation in the Bible. 
 
 Seeing the failure of his efforts to crush out the truth by 
 persecution, Satan had again resorted to the plan of com- 
 promise which led to the great apostasy and the formation 
 of the Church of Rome. He had induced Christians to 
 ally themselves, not now with pagans, but with those who 
 by their devotion to the things of this world had proved 
 themselves to be as truly idolaters as were the worshipers of 
 graven images. And the results of this union were no less 
 pernicious now than in former ages; pride and extravagance 
 were fostered under the guise of religion, and the churches 
 became corrupted. Satan continued to pervert the doctrines 
 of the Bible, and traditions that were to ruin millions were 
 taking deep root. The church was upholding and defending 
 these traditions, instead of 'contending for "the faith which 
 was once delivered to the saints." Thus were degraded the 
 principles for which the reformers had done and suffered 
 so much. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 
 
 ONE of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths 
 revealed in the Bible is that of Christ's second coming, 
 to complete the great work of redemption. To God's pil- 
 grim people, so long left to sojourn in "the region and 
 shadow of death," a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given 
 in the promise of His appearing, who is " the resurrection 
 and the life," to "bring home again his banished." The 
 doctrine of the second advent is the very key-note of the 
 sacred Scriptures. From the day when the first pair turned 
 their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have 
 waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroy- 
 er's power and bring them again to the lost Paradise. Holy 
 men of old looked forward to the advent of the Messiah in 
 glory, as the consummation of their hope. Enoch, only the 
 seventh in descent from them that dwelt in Eden, he who 
 for three centuries on earth walked with his God, was per- 
 mitted to behold from afar the coming of the Deliverer. 
 ' Behold," he declaied, "the Lord corneth with ten thousands 
 of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." l The patriarch 
 Job in the night of his affliction exclaimed with unshaken 
 trust: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
 stand at the latter day upon the earth ; . . . in my flesh 
 shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes 
 shall behold, and not another." a 
 
 The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteous- 
 ness, has inspired the most sublime and impassioned utter- 
 ances of the sacred writers. The poets and prophets of the 
 
 UudeM, 15. 2 Job 19: 25-27. 
 
 23 (299) 
 
300 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Bible have dwelt upon it in words glowing with celestial 
 fire. The psalmist sung of the power and majesty of Israel's 
 King: "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath 
 shiued. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. 
 . . . He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the 
 earth, that he may judge his people." 1 "Let the heavens 
 rejoice, and let the earth be glad" "before the Lord; for he 
 cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the 
 world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." '" 
 
 Said the prophet Isaiah: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell 
 in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth 
 shall cast out the dead." "Thy dead men shall live, to- 
 gether with my dead body shall they arise." " He will swal. 
 low up death in victory ; and the Lord God will wipe away 
 tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall 
 he take away from off all the earth ; for the Lord hath spoken 
 it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; 
 we have waited far him, and he will save us. This is the 
 Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice 
 in his salvation." ! 
 
 And Habakkuk, rapt in holy vision, beheld His appearing. 
 "God came from Tern an, and the Holy One from Mount 
 Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was 
 full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light." 
 "He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove 
 asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were 
 scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are ever- 
 lasting." "Thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy char- 
 iots of salvation." " The mountains saw thee, and they trem- 
 bled. . . The deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his 
 hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habi- 
 tation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the 
 shining of thy glittering spear." "Thou wen test forth for 
 the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine 
 anointed." * 
 
 1 Ps. 50:2-4 'Ps. 96:11,13. 
 
 3 Isa.26:19; 25:8,9. Hub. 3:3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11,13. 
 
HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 301 
 
 When the Saviour was about to be separated from his 
 disciples, he comforted them in their sorrow with the assur- 
 ance that he would come again : " Let not your heart be 
 troubled." " In my Father's house are many mansions." 
 " I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare 
 a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
 myself." 1 "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and 
 all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the 
 throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all 
 nations." 2 
 
 The angels who lingered upon Olivet after Christ's ascen- 
 sion, repeated to the disciples the promise of his return: 
 " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 
 shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
 heaven." 3 And the apostle Paul, speaking by the Spirit of 
 inspiration, testified : " The Lord himself shall descend from 
 heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
 with the trump of God." 4 Says the prophet of Patmos: 
 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see 
 him." 5 
 
 About his coming cluster the glories of that "restitution 
 of all things, w T hich God hath spoken by the mouth of all 
 his holy prophets since the world began." 6 Then the long- 
 continued rule of evil shall be broken; "the kingdoms of 
 this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
 Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." 7 "The glory 
 of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it 
 together." "The Lord God will cause righteousness and 
 praise to spring forth before all the nations." He shall be 
 "for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the 
 residue of his people." 8 
 
 It is then that the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of 
 the Messiah shall be established under the whole heaven. 
 " The Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste 
 1 John 14 : 1-3. 2 Matt. 25 : 31 , 32. ''Acts 1:11. 
 
 4 1 Thess. 4 : 16. 5 Rev. 1 : 7. 'Acts 3 : 21. 
 
 'Rev. 11:15. 8 Isa. 40:5; 61:11; 28:5. 
 
302 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her 
 desert like the garden of the Lord." " The glory of Lebanon 
 shall he given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." 
 " Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ; neither shall thy 
 land any more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be called 
 My Delight, and thy land Beulah." "As the bridegroom 
 rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." 1 
 
 The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of 
 his true followers. The Saviour's parting promise upon 
 Olivet, that he would come again, lighted up the future for 
 his disciples, filling their hearts with joy and hope, that 
 sorrow could not quench, nor trials dim. Amid suffering 
 and persecution, " the appearing of the great God and our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ " was the " blessed hope." When the 
 Thessalonian Christians were filled with grief as they buried 
 their loved ones, who had hoped to live to witness the com- 
 ing of the Lord, Paul, their teacher, pointed them to the 
 resurrection, to take place at the Saviour's advent. Then 
 the dead in Christ should rise, and together with the living 
 be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. "And so," he 
 said, " shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort 
 one another with these words." 2 
 
 On rocky Patmos the beloved disciple hears the promise, 
 "Surely, I come quickly," and his longing response voices 
 the prayer of the church in all her pilgrimage, " Even so, 
 come, Lord Jesus." 3 
 
 From the dungeon, the stake, the scaffold, where saints 
 and martyrs witnessed for the truth, comes down the cent- 
 uries the utterance of their faith and hope. "Being assured 
 of Christ's personal resurrection, and consequently of their 
 own at his coming, for this cause," says one of these Chris- 
 tians, "they despised death, and were found to be above it." 
 They were willing to go down to the grave, that they " might 
 rise free." They looked for the " Lord to come from Heaven 
 in the clouds with the glory of his Father," " bringing to the 
 
 1 Isa. 51 : 3 ; 35 : 2 ; 62 : 4, 5 (margin). * 1 Thess. 4 : 16-18. 
 
 Rev. 22 : 20. 
 
HERALDS OF TTJK WORKING. .03 
 
 just the times of the kingdom." The \Valdrnsrs cherished 
 the same faith. Wycliffe looked forward to the Redeemer's 
 appearing as the hope of the church. 
 
 Luther declared: "I persuade myself verily, that the day 
 of Judgment will not be absent full three hundred years. 
 God will not, cannot, suffer this wicked world much longer." 
 "Tne great day is drawing near in which the kingdom of 
 abominations shall be overthrown." 
 
 "This aged world is not far from its end," said Melanc- 
 thon. Calvin bids Christians "not to hesitate, ardently 
 desiring the. day of Christ's coming as of all events most 
 auspicious;" and declares that "the whole family of the 
 faithful will keep in view that day." " We must hunger 
 after Christ, we must seek, contemplate," he says, "till the 
 dawning of that great day, when our Lord will fully mani- 
 fest the glory of his kingdom." 
 
 "Has not our Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into 
 Heaven?" said Knox, the Scotch reformer, "and shall he 
 not return? We know that he shall return, and that with 
 expedition." Ridley and Latimer, who laid down their 
 lives for the truth, looked in faith for the Lord's coming. 
 Ridley wrote: ".The world without doubt this I do believe, 
 and therefore I say it draws to an end. Let us with John, 
 the servant of God, cry in our hearts unto our Saviour 
 Christ, Come, Lord Jesus, come." 
 
 " The thoughts of the coming of the Lord," said Baxter, 
 "are most sweet and joyful to me." "It is the work of faith 
 and the character of his saints to love his appearing and to 
 look for that blessed hope." " If death be the last enemy to 
 be destroyed at the resurrection, we may learn how earnestly 
 believers should long and pray for the second coming of 
 Christ, when this full and final conquest shall be made." 
 " This is the day that all believers should long, and hope, 
 and wait for, as being the accomplishment of all the work 
 of their redemption, and all the desires and endeavors of 
 their souls." " Hasten, O Lord, this blessed day ! " Such was 
 
304 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the hope of the apostolic church, of the "church in the wil- 
 derness," and of the reformers. 
 
 Prophecy not only foretells the manner and object of 
 Christ's coming, but presents tokens by which men are to 
 know when it is near. Said Jesus: "There shall be signs 
 in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." 1 "The sun 
 shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 
 and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are 
 in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see 
 the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and 
 glory." 2 The Revelator thus describes the first of the signs 
 to precede the second advent: "There was a great earth- 
 quake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and 
 the moon become as blood." 3 
 
 These signs were witnessed before the opening of the pres- 
 ent century. In fulfillment of this prophecy there occurred, 
 in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake that has ever 
 been recorded. Though commonly known as the earth- 
 quake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, 
 Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West 
 Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, 
 Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not 
 less than four million square miles. In Africa the shock 
 was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers 
 was destroyed ; and a short distance from Morocco, a village 
 containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants was swallowed 
 up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa, 
 engulfing cities, and causing great destruction. 
 
 It was in Spain and Portugal that the shock manifested 
 its extreme violence. At Cadiz the inflowing wave was said 
 to be sixty feet high. Mountains some of the largest in 
 Portugal "were impetuously shaken, as it were from the 
 very foundation; and some of them opened at their sum- 
 mits, which were split and rent in a wonderful niannrr, 
 huge masses of them being thrown down into the subjacent 
 
 1 Luke 21 : 25. 'Mark 13 : 24-26. 3 Rev. 6 : 12. 
 
///'/; I/ OS OF /'///: MORNING, 305 
 
 valleNs. Klames are related to have issued from these 
 
 mountains." 
 
 Al Lisbon "a sound of I bunder was heard underground, 
 and immediately afterward a violent shock threw down the 
 greater par! of that city. In (lie course of about six minutes 
 sixty thousand persons perished. The sea, lirst, retired, and 
 laid the bar dry, it then rolled in, rising lil'tv fed, above its 
 ordinary level." "The most extraordinary circumstance 
 which oeeurred at Lisbon during the eatast rophe, was the 
 subsidence of the new quay, built entirely of marble, at an 
 immense expense. A invat i-oneoui'se *>t people had collected 
 thei'e for safety, as a spot \\here they iniglit be beyond tin' 
 reach of falling ruins; but suddenly tlu><|uay sunk down 
 with all the people on it, and not- one of the dead bodies 
 ever floated to the surface." 
 
 The shock of the earthquake " was instantly followed by 
 the fall of every elunvh and convent, almost all the large 
 and public buildings, and one-fourth of the houses. In about 
 INN o hours afterward, I ires broke out in dillerent quarters, and 
 raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days 
 that, the city was completely desolated. The earthquake 
 happened on a. holy day, when the churches and convents 
 were full of people, very few of whom escaped." "The terror 
 of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept; it was 
 beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with 
 horror and astonishment, healing their faces and breasts, 
 crying, ' Mi* r/cordia ! (lie /n*r/(/'x at an cn<l .'' Mothers forgot 
 their children, and ran loaded with crucilixed images. 
 t'nfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but 
 in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor 
 creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were 
 buried in one common ruin." " Ninety thousand persons 
 are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day." 
 Twenty-five years later appeared the next sign mentioned 
 
 in the prophecy, the darkening of the sun and moon. 
 What rendered this more striking was tbo fact that the 
 
306 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out. In 
 the Saviour's conversation with his disciples upon Olivet, 
 after describing the long period of trial for the church the 
 1260 years of papal persecution, concerning which he had 
 promised that fhe tribulation should be shortened he thus 
 mentioned certain events to precede his coming, and fixed 
 the time when the first of these should be witnessed: "In 
 those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, 
 and the moon shall not give her light." 1 The 1260 days, or 
 years, terminated in 1708. A quarter of a century earlier, 
 persecution had almost wholly ceased. Between these two 
 dates, according to the words of Christ, the sun was to be dark- 
 ened. On the 19th of May, 1.780, this prophecy was fulfilled. 
 
 " Almost if not 'altogether alone as the most mysterious 
 and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, . . . 
 stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, a most unaccount- 
 able darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmos- 
 phere in New England." That the darkness was not due 
 to an eclipse is evident from the fact that the moon was 
 then nearly full. It was not caused by clouds, or the thick- 
 ness of the atmosphere, for in some localities where the dark- 
 ness extended, the sky was so clear that the stars could be 
 seen. Concerning the inability of science to assign a satis- 
 factory cause for this manifestation, Herschel the astron- 
 omer declares: " The dark day in North America was one of 
 those wonderful phenomena of nature which philosophy is 
 at a loss to explain." 
 
 " The extent of the darkness was also very remarkable. It 
 was observed at the most easterly regions of New England; 
 westward, to the farthest part of Connecticut, and at Albany, 
 N. Y.; to the southward, it was observed all along the sea 
 coast; and to the north, as far as the American settlements 
 extended. It probably' far exceeded those boundaries, but 
 the exact limits we're never positively known. With regard 
 to its duration, it continued in the neighborhood of Boston 
 for at least fourteen or fifteen hours." 
 
 'Mark 13:24. 
 
Engraved Expressly for Great Controversy* 
 
 SIGNS OF 
 
 Copyrighted 1890. 
 
 HIS COMING. 
 
HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 307 
 
 'The morning was clear and pleasant, but about eight 
 o'clock there was observed an uncommon appearance in the 
 sun. There were, no clouds, but the air was thick, having a 
 smoky appearance, and the sun shone with a pale, yellow- 
 ish hue, but kept growing darker and darker, until it was 
 hid from sight." There was "midnight darkness at noon- 
 day." 
 
 "The occurrence brought intense alarm and distress to 
 multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the whole brute 
 creation, the fowls fleeing bewildered to their roosts, and the 
 birds to their nests, and the cattle returning to their stalls." 
 Frogs and night hawks began their notes. The cocks crew as 
 at daybreak. Farmers were forced to leave their work in the 
 fields. Business was generally suspended, and candles were 
 lighted in the dwellings. " The Legislature of Connecticut 
 was in session at Hartford, but being unable to transact 
 business adjourned. Everything bore the appearance and 
 gloom of night." 
 
 The intense darkness of the day was succeeded, an hour 
 or two before evening, by a partially clear sky, and the sun 
 appeared, though it was still obscured by the black, heavy 
 mist. But "this interval was followed by a return of the 
 obscuration with greater density, that rendered the first 
 half of the night hideously dark beyond all former experi- 
 ence of the probable million of people who saw it. From 
 soon after sunset until midnight, no ray of light from moon 
 or star penetrated the vault above. It was pronounced ' the 
 blackness of darkness!" 5 Said an eye-witness of the scene: 
 " I could not help conceiving, at the time, that if every 
 luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impen- 
 etrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness 
 could not have been more complete." Though the moon 
 that night rose to the full, "it had not the least effect to dis- 
 pel the death-like shadows." After midnight the darkness 
 disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the 
 appearance of blood. 
 
308 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The poet Whittier thus speaks of this memorable day:- 
 
 '"Twas on a May-day of the far old year 
 Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell 
 Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring, 
 Over the fresh earth, and the heaven of noon, 
 A horror of great darkness. " 
 
 " Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp 
 To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter 
 The black sky." 
 
 May 19, 1780, stands in history as "The Dark Day." 
 Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal 
 density, extent, and duration has ever been recorded. The 
 description of this event, as given by the poet and the histo- 
 rian, is but an echo of the words of the Lord, recorded by 
 the prophet Joel, twenty-five hundred years previous to their 
 fulfillment : " The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the 
 moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the 
 Lord come." 1 
 
 Christ had bidden his people watch for the signs of his 
 advent, and rejoice as they should behold the tokens of their 
 coming King. " When these things begin to come to pass," 
 he said, "then look up, and lift up your heads; for your 
 redemption draweth nigh." He pointed his followers to the 
 budding trees of spring, and said: "When they now shoot 
 forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is 
 now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things 
 come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at 
 hand." 2 
 
 But as the spirit of humility and devotion in the church 
 had given place to pride and formalism, love for Christ and 
 faith in his coming had grown cold. Absorbed in worldliness 
 a"nd pleasure-seeking, the professed people of God were 
 blinded to the Saviour's instructions concerning the signs of 
 his appearing. The doctrine of the second advent had been 
 neglected; the scriptures relating to it were obscured by mis- 
 interpretation, until it was, to a great extent, ignored and 
 forgotten. Especially was this the case in the churches of 
 America. The freedom and comfort enjoyed by all classes 
 
 1 Joel 2 : 31. a Luke 21 : 'J8, 30, 31. 
 
HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 309 
 
 of society, the ambitious desire for wealth and luxury, beget- 
 ting an absorbing devotion to money-making, the eager 
 rush for popularity and power, which seemed to be within 
 the reach of all, led men to center their interests and hopes 
 on the things of this life, and to put far in the future that 
 solemn day when the present order of things should pass 
 away. 
 
 When the Saviour pointed out to his followers the signs 
 of his return, he foretold the state of backsliding that would 
 exist just prior to his second advent. There would be, as in 
 the days of Noah, the activity and stir of worldly business 
 and pleasure-seeking buying, selling, planting, building, 
 marrying, and giving in marriage rwith forgetfulness of God 
 and the future life. For those living at this time, Christ's 
 admonition is : " Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time 
 your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunken- 
 ness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you 
 unawares." " Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye 
 may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that 
 shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 1 
 
 The condition of the church at this time is pointed out 
 in the Saviour's words in the Revelation: "Thou hast a 
 name that thou livest, and art dead." 2 And to those who 
 refuse to arouse from their careless security, the solemn 
 warning is addressed : " If therefore thou shalt not watch, I 
 will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know 
 what hour I will corne upon thee." 2 
 
 It was needful that men should be awakened to their 
 danger ; that they should be roused to prepare for the solemn 
 events connected with the close of probation. The prophet 
 of God declares: "The day of the Lord is great and very 
 terrible; and who can abide it?" 3 Who shall stand when 
 He appeareth who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, 
 and cannot look on iniquity?"* To them that cry, "My 
 God, we know thee," yet have transgressed his covenant, 
 
 'Luke 21:34,36 2 Rev. 3:1,3. 
 
 3 Joel 2: 11. *Hab. 1 : 13. 
 
310 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and hastened after another god, 1 hiding iniquity in theii 
 hearts, and loving the paths of unrighteousness, to these, 
 the day of the Lord is " darkness, and not light, even very 
 dark, and no brightness in it." 2 " It shall come to pass at 
 that time," saith the Lord, " that I will search Jerusalem with 
 candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees; 
 that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither 
 will he do evil." 3 "I will punish the world for their evil, 
 and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the 
 arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haugh- 
 tiness of the terrible." 4 " Neither their silver nor their 
 gold shall be able to deliver them;" "their goods shall 
 become a booty, and their houses a desolation." 5 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah, looking forward to this fearful 
 time, exclaimed : " I am pained at my very heart." " I can- 
 not hold my peace, because thou hast heard, my soul, 
 the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction 
 upon destruction is cried." e 
 
 "That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress 
 a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and 
 gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the 
 trumpet and alarm." 7 " Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, 
 
 . . . to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the 
 sinners thereof out of it." f 
 
 In view of that great day the Word of God, in the most 
 solemn and impressive language, calls upon his people to 
 arouse from their spiritual lethargy, and to seek his face 
 with repentance and humiliation: "Blow ye the trumpet in 
 Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all 
 the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord 
 cometh, for it is nigh at hand." "Sanctify a fast, call a 
 solemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congrega- 
 tion, assemble the elders, gather the children. . . . Let 
 the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out 
 
 'Hos. 8:2, 1; Pa. 16:4. 2 Amos 5: 20. 3 Zeph.l:12. 
 
 Isa. 13:11. *Zeph. 1 :18, 13. 6 Jer. 4: 10, 20. 
 
 'Zeph. 1:15, 16. 8 Isa. 13:9. 
 
HERALDS OF THE MORNTNG. 311 
 
 of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, 
 weep between the porch and the altar." " Turn ye even to 
 me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, 
 and with mourning. And rend your heart, and not your 
 garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gra- 
 cious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." l 
 
 To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, a great 
 work of reform was to be accomplished. God saw that many 
 of his professed people were not building for eternity, and in 
 his mercy he was about to send a message of warning to 
 arouse them from their stupor, and lead them to make ready 
 for the coming of their Lord. 
 
 This warning is brought to view in Revelation 14. Here 
 is a threefold message represented as proclaimed by heav- 
 enly beings, and immediately followed by the coming of 
 the Son of man "to reap the harvest of the earth." The 
 first of these warnings announces the approaching Judg- 
 ment. The prophet beheld an angel flying "in the midst of 
 heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them 
 that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, 
 and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, 
 and give glory to him ; for the hour of his Judgment is 
 come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and 
 the sea, and the fountains of waters." a 
 
 This message is declared to be a part of the " everlasting 
 gospel." The work of preaching the gospel has not been 
 committed to angels, but has been intrusted to men. Holy 
 angels have been employed in directing this work, they 
 have in charge the great movements for the salvation of 
 men ; but the actual proclamation of the gospel is performed 
 by the servants of Christ upon the earth. 
 
 Faithful men, who were obedient to the promptings of 
 God's Spirit and the teachings of his Word, were to pro- 
 claim this warning to the world. They were those who 
 had taken heed to the "sure word of prophecy," the "light 
 
 1 Joel 2 : 1, 15-18, 12, 13. 2 Eev. 14 : 6, 7. 
 
312 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the 
 day-star arise." 1 They had been seeking the knowledge of 
 God more than all hid treasures, counting it "better than 
 the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine 
 gold." 2 And the Lord revealed to them the great things of 
 the kingdom. "The secret of the Lord is with them that 
 fear him; and he will show them his covenant." 3 
 
 It was not the leaders in the church who had an under- 
 standing of this truth, and engaged in its proclamation. 
 Had these been faithful watchmen, diligently and prayerfully 
 searching the Scriptures, they would have known the time of 
 night; the prophecies would have opened to them the events 
 about to take place. But they did not occupy this position, 
 and the message was given by another class. Said Jesus, 
 "Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon 
 you."* Those who turn away from the light which God has 
 given, or who neglect to seek it when it is within their read i. 
 are left in darkness. But the Saviour declares, " He that fol- 
 loweth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
 light of life." 5 Whoever is with singleness of purpose seek- 
 ing to do God's will, earnestly heeding the light already 
 given, will receive greater light; to that soul some star of 
 heavenly radiance will be sent, to guide him into all truth. 
 
 At the time of Christ's first advent, the priests and scribes 
 of the holy city, to whom were intrusted the oracles of God, 
 might have discerned the signs of the times, and proclaimed 
 the coming of the Promised One. The prophecy of Micah 
 designated his birthplace; 6 Daniel specified the time of his 
 advent. 7 God had committed these prophecies to the Jew- 
 ish leaders; they were without excuse if th.-y did not know 
 and declare to the people that the Messiah's coming was at 
 hand. Their ignorance was the result of sinful neglect. 
 The .h-ws were building monuments for the slain prophets 
 of God, while by their deference to the great men of earth 
 they were paying homage to the servants of Satan. Ab- 
 
 . 1:19. 'Prov. 3:14. 3 Ps. 25:14. Johnl2:35, 
 6 John 8:12. Micah. 5:2. 7 Dan. 9:25. 
 
///:/;, i/, MS: OF TIIK MORNING. 313 
 
 sorbed in their ambitious strife for place and power among 
 men, they lost sight of Ge divine honors proffered them by 
 the King of Heaven. 
 
 With profound and reverent interest the elders of Israel 
 should have been studying the place, the time, the circum- 
 stances, of the greatest event in the world's history, the 
 coming of the Son of God to accomplish the redemption of 
 man. All the people should have been watching and wait- 
 ing that they might be among the first to welcome the 
 world's Redeemer. But lo, at Bethlehem two weary trav- 
 elers from the hills of Nazareth traverse the whole length 
 of the narrow street to the eastern extremity of the town, 
 vainly seeking a place of rest and shelter for the night. No 
 doors are open to receive them. In a wretched hovel pre- 
 pared for cattle, they at last find refuge, and there the Sav- 
 iour of the world is born. 
 
 Heavenly angels had seen the glory which the Son of God 
 shared with the Father before the world was, and they had 
 looked forward with intense interest to his appearing on 
 earth as an event fraught with the greatest joy to all peo- 
 ple. Angels were appointed to carry the glad tidings to 
 those who were prepared to receive it, and who would joy- 
 fully make it known to the inhabitants of the earth. Christ 
 had stooped to take upon himself man's nature ; he was to 
 bear an infinite weight of woe as he should make his soul 
 an offering for sin; yet angels desired that even in his 
 humiliation, the Son of the Highest might appear before men 
 with a dignity and glory befitting his character. Would 
 the great men of earth assemble at Israel's capital to greet 
 his coming? Would legions of angels present him to the 
 expectant company? 
 
 An angel visits the earth to see who are prepared to wel- 
 come Jesus. But he can discern no tokens of expectancy. 
 He hears no voice of praise and triumph that the period 
 of Messiah's coming is at hand. The angel hovers for a 
 time over the chosen city and the temple where the divine 
 
 24 
 
314 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 presence was manifested for ages ; but even here is the same 
 indifference. The priests, in their pomp and pride, are offer- 
 ing polluted sacrifices in the temple. The Pharisees are 
 with loud voices addressing the people, or making boastful 
 prayers at the corners of the streets. In the palaces of kings, 
 in the assemblies of philosophers, in the schools of the 
 rabbis, all are alike unmindful of the wondrous factr which 
 has filled all Heaven with joy and praise, that the Redeemer 
 of men is about to appear upon the earth. 
 
 There is no evidence that Christ is expected, and no prepa- 
 ration for the Prince of life. In amazement the celestial mes- 
 senger is about to return to Heaven with the shameful tid- 
 ings, when he discovers a group of shepherds who are watch- 
 ing their flocks by night, and, as they gaze into the starry 
 heavens, are contemplating the prophecy of a Messiah to 
 come to earth, and longing for the advent of the world's 
 Redeemer. Here is a company that are prepared to receive 
 the heavenly message. And suddenly the angel of the Lord 
 appeared, declaring the good tidings of great joy. Celestial 
 glory flooded all the plain, an innumerable company of 
 angels was revealed, and as if the. joy were too great for one 
 messenger to bring from Heaven, a multitude of voices 
 broke forth in the anthem which all the nations of the saved 
 shall one day sing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good- will toward men." 1 
 
 Oh, what a lessson is this wonderful story of Bethlehem! 
 How it rebukes our unbelief, our pride, and self-sufficiency. 
 How it warns us to beware, Jest by our criminal indiffer- 
 ence we also fail to discern the signs of the times, and there- 
 fore know not the day of our visitation. 
 
 It was not alone upon the hills of Judea, not among the 
 lowly shepherds only, that angels found the watchers for 
 Messiah's coming. In the land of the heathen also were 
 those that looked for him ; they were wise men, rich and 
 noble, the philosophers <>f th<> Kasf. Students of nature, the 
 magi had seen God in his handiwork. From the Hebrew 
 
 1 Luke 2: 14. 
 
HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 315 
 
 Scriptures they had learned of the Star to arise out of Jacob, 
 and with eager desire they' waited His coming, who should 
 be not only the "Consolation of Israel," but a "Light to 
 lighten the Gentiles/' and " for salvation unto the ends of 
 the'earth."' 1 They were seekers for light, and light from the 
 throne of God illumined the path for their feet. While the 
 priests and rabbis of Jerusalem, the appointed guardians 
 and expounders of the truth, were shrouded in darkness, 
 the Heaven-sent star guided these Gentile strangers to the 
 birthplace of the new-born King. 
 
 It is "unto them that look for him" that Christ is to 
 "appear the socond time, without sin unto salvation." ' Like 
 "the tidings of the Saviour's birth, the message of the second 
 advent was not committed to the religious leaders of the peo- 
 ple. They had failed to preserve their connection with God, 
 and had refused light from Heaven; therefore they were 
 not of the number described by the apostle Paul : " But ye, 
 brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake 
 you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the 
 children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of dark- 
 
 ness." 3 
 
 The watchmen upon the walls of Zion should have been 
 the first to catch the tidings of the Saviour's advent, the 
 first to lift their voices to proclaim him near, the first 
 to warn the people to prepare for his coming. But they 
 were at ease, dreaming of peace and safety, while the peo- 
 ple were asleep in their sins. Jesus saw his church, like 
 the barren fig-tree, covered with pretentious leaves, yet des- 
 titute of precious fruit. There was a boastful observance of 
 the forms of religion, while the spirit of true humility, pen- 
 itence, and faith which alone could render the service 
 acceptable to God was lacking. Instead of the graces of 
 the Spirit, there were manifested pride, formalism, vainglory, 
 selfishness, oppression. A backsliding church closed their 
 eves to the signs of the times, (rod did not forsake them, or 
 
 l Luke 2:25, 32; Acts 13:47. 'Heb. 9:28. 3 1 Thess. 5:4, 5. 
 
316 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 suffer his faithfulness to fail; but they departed from him, 
 and separated themselves from his love. As they refused to 
 comply with the conditions, his promises were not fulfilled 
 to them. 
 
 Such is the sure result of neglect to appreciate and 
 improve the light and privileges which God bestows. Unless 
 the church will follow on in his opening providence, accept- 
 ing every ray of light, performing every duty which may be 
 revealed, religion will inevitably degenerate into the observ- 
 ance of forms, and the spirit of vital godliness will disappear. 
 This truth has been repeatedly illustrated in the history of 
 the church. God requires of his people works of .faith and 
 obedience corresponding to the blessings and privileges 
 bestowed. Obedience requires a sacrifice and involves a 
 cross; and this is why so many of the professed followers of 
 Christ refused to receive the light from Heaven, and, like tin; 
 Jews of old, knew not the time of their visitation. 1 lie- 
 cause of their pride and unbelief, the Lord passed them by 
 and revealed his truth to those who, like the shepherds of 
 Bethlehem and the Eastern magi, had given heed to all the 
 light they had received. 
 
 J Luke 19:44. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 
 
 AN upright, honest-hearted farmer, who had been led to 
 doubt the divine authority of the Scriptures, yet who sin- 
 cerely desired to know the truth, was the man specially 
 chosen of God to lead out in the proclamation of Christ's 
 second coming. Like many other reformers, William Miller 
 had in early life battled with poverty, and had thus learned 
 the great lessons of energy and self-denial. The members 
 of the family from which he sprung were characterized by 
 an independent, liberty-loving spirit, by capability of endur- 
 ance, and ardent patriotism; traits which were also promi- 
 nent in his character. His father was a captain in the army 
 of the Revolution, and to the sacrifices which he made in 
 the struggles and sufferings of that stormy period, may be 
 traced the straitened circumstances of Miller's early life. 
 
 He had a sound physical constitution, and even in child- 
 hood gave evidence of more than ordinary intellectual 
 strength. As he grew older, this became more marked. His 
 mind was active and well-developed, and he had a keen 
 thirst for knowledge. Though he did not enjoy the advan- 
 tages of a collegiate education, his love of study and a habit 
 of careful thought and close criticism rendered him a man 
 of sound judgment and comprehensive views. He possessed 
 an irreproachable moral character and an enviable repu- 
 tation, being generally esteemed for integrity, thrift, and 
 benevolence. By dint of energy and application he early 
 acquired a competence, though his habits of study were still 
 maintained. He filled various civil and military offices 
 with credit, and the avenues to wealth and honor seemed 
 wide open to him. 
 
 (317) 
 
318 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 His mother was a woman of sterling piety, and in child- 
 hood he had been subject to religious impressions. In early 
 manhood, however, he was thrown into the society of deists, 
 whose influence was the stronger from the fact that they 
 were mostly good citizens, and men of humane and benev- 
 olent disposition. Living, as they did, in the midst of Chris- 
 tian institutions, their characters had been to some extent 
 moulded by their surroundings. For the excellencies which 
 won them respect and confidence they were indebted to the 
 Bible; and yet these good gifts were so perverted as to exert 
 an influence against the Word of God. By association with 
 these men, Miller was led to adopt their sentiments. The 
 current interpretations of Scripture presented difficulties 
 which seemed to him insurmountable; yet his new belief, 
 while setting aside the Bible, offered nothing better to take 
 its place, and he remained far from satisfied. He continued 
 to hold these views, however, for about twelve years. But at 
 the age of thirty-four, the Holy Spirit impressed his heart 
 with a sense of his condition as a sinner. He found in his 
 former belief no assurance of happiness beyond the grave. 
 The future was dark and gloomy. Referring afterward to 
 his feelings at this time, he said : 
 
 "Annihilation was a cold and chilling thought, and 
 accountability was sure destruction to all. The heavens 
 were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my 
 feet. Eternity w r hatwasit? And death why was it? The 
 more I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. 
 The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclu- 
 sions. I tried to stop thinking; but my thoughts would not 
 be controlled. I was truly wretched, but did not under- 
 stand the cause. I murmured and complained, but knew 
 not of whom. I knew that there was a wrong, but knew 
 not where or how to find the right, I mourned, but without 
 hope." 
 
 In this state he continued for some months. "Suddenly," 
 he says, " the character of a Saviour was vividly impressed 
 
Aft AMERICAN REFORMER. Bl 9 
 
 upon my mind. It seemed that there might be a being so 
 good and compassionate as to himself atone for our trans- 
 gressions, and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of 
 sin. I immediately felt how lovely such a being must be, 
 and imagined that I could cast myself into the arms, and 
 trust in the mercy, of such a One. But the question arose, 
 How can it be proved that such a being does exist? Aside 
 from the Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of the 
 existence of such a Saviour, or even of a future state." 
 
 "I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour 
 as I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired 
 book should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the 
 wants of a fallen world. I was constrained - to admit that 
 the Scriptures must be a revelation from God. They became 
 my delight; and in Jesus I found a friend. The Saviour 
 became to me the chiefest among* ten thousand; and the 
 Scriptures, which before were dark and contradictory, now 
 became a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. My 
 mind became settled and satisfied. I found the Lord God to 
 be a Rock in the midst of the ocean of life. The Bible now 
 became my chief study, and I can truly say, I searched it 
 with great delight. I found the half was never told me. 
 I wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, 
 and marveled that I could ever have rejected it. I found 
 everything revealed that my heart could desire, and a rem- 
 edy for every disease of the soul. I lost all taste for other 
 reading, and applied my heart to get wisdom from God." 
 
 He now publicly professed his faith in the religio"n whicn 
 he had despised. But his infidel associates were not slow to 
 bring forward all those arguments which he himself had 
 often urged against the divine authority of the Scriptures. 
 He was not then prepared to answer them; but he reasoned, 
 that if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be con- 
 sistent with itself; and that as it was given for man's instruc- 
 tion, it must be adapted to his understanding. He deter- 
 mined to study the Scriptures for- himself, and ascertain if 
 every apparent contradiction could not be harmonized. 
 
320 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Endeavoring to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and 
 dispensing with commentaries, he compared scripture with 
 scripture by the aid of the marginal references and the con- 
 cordance. He pursued his study in a regular and method- 
 ical manner; beginning with Genesis, arid reading verse by 
 verse, he proceeded no faster than the meaning of the sev- 
 eral passages so unfolded as to leave him free from all 
 embarrassment. When he found anything obscure, it was 
 his custom to compare it with every other text which seemed 
 to have any reference to the matter under consideration. 
 Every word was permitted to have its proper bearing upon 
 the subject of the text, and if his view of it harmonized 
 with every collateral passage, it ceased to be a difficulty. 
 Thus whenever he met with a passage hard to be under- 
 stood, he found an explanation in some other portion of the 
 Scriptures. As he studied with earnest prayer for divine 
 enlightenment, that which had before appeared dark to his 
 understanding was made clear. He experienced the truth 
 of the psalmist's words, "The entrance of Thy words giveth- 
 light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." 1 
 
 With intense interest he studied the book of Daniel and 
 the Revelation, employing the same principles of interpreta- 
 tion as in the other scriptures, and found, to his great joy, 
 that the prophetic symbols could be understood. He saw 
 that the prophecies, so far as they had been fulfilled, had 
 been fulfilled literally; that all the various figures, meta- 
 phors, parables, similitudes, etc., were either explained in 
 their immediate connection, or the terms in which they 
 were expressed were defined in other scriptures; and when 
 thus explained were to be literally understood. " Thus I was 
 satisfied," he says, "that the Bible was a system of revealed 
 truth so clearly and simply given that the wayfaring man, 
 though a fool, need not err therein." Link after link of the 
 chain of truth rewarded his efforts, as step by step he traced 
 lown the great lines of prophecy. Angels of Heaven were 
 guiding his mind and opening the Scriptures to his under- 
 standing. 
 
 'Ps. 110:130. 
 
AN JJ/A'A'/rVLV REFORMER. 321 
 
 Taking the manner in. which the prophecies had been 
 fulfilled in the past, as a criterion by which to judge 
 of the fulfillment of those which were still future, he be- 
 came satisfied that the popular view of the spiritual reign 
 of Christ a temporal millennium before the end of the 
 world was not sustained by the Word of God. This 
 doctrine, pointing to a thousand years of righteousness 
 and peace before the personal coming of the Lord, put 
 far off the terrors of the- day of God. But, pleasing 
 though it may be, it is contrary to the teachings of Christ 
 and his apostles, who declared that the wheat and the 
 tares are to grow together until the harvest, the end of 
 the world; 1 that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse 
 and worse;" 2 that "in the last days perilous times shall 
 come;" 2 and that the kingdom of darkness 'shall con- 
 tinue until the advent of the Lord, and shall be con- 
 sumed with the spirit of his mouth, and be destroyed with 
 the brightness of his coming. 3 The doctrine of the world's 
 conversion and the spiritual reign of Christ was not held 
 by the apostolic church. It was not generally accepted 
 by Christians until about the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. Like every other error, its results were evil. It 
 taught men to look far in the future for the coming of the 
 Lord, and prevented them from giving heed to the signs 
 heralding his approach. It induced a feeling of confidence 
 and security that was not well founded, and led many to 
 neglect the preparation necessary in order to meet their Lord. 
 
 Miller found the literal, personal coming of Christ to be 
 
 plainly taught in the Scriptures. Says Paul, " The Lord 
 
 himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." 4 And 
 
 the Saviour declares: "They shall seethe Son of man coming 
 
 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." "For 
 
 as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even 
 
 unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."' 
 
 1 Matt. 13 : 30, 38-41. *2 Tim. C : 13, 1. * 2 These. 2 : 8. 
 
 4 1 Thess. 4 : 16. 6 Matt. 24 : 30. 27. 
 
322 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 He is to be accompanied by all the hosts of Heaven. "The 
 Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 
 with him." "And he shall send his angels with a great 
 sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect." 1 
 At his coming the righteous dead will be raised, and the 
 righteous living will be changed. "We shall not all sleep," 
 says Paul, "but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in 
 the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet 
 shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and 
 we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on 
 incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.'" 2 
 And in his letter to the Thessalonians, after describing the 
 coming of the Lord, he says: "The dead in Christ shall rise 
 first; then Ave which are alive and remain shall be caught 
 up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in 
 the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 3 
 
 .Not until the personal advent of Christ can his people 
 receive tli e kingdom. The Saviour said: "When the Son 
 of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with 
 him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; and 
 before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall sepa- 
 rate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his 
 sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right 
 hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say 
 unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
 of the world." 4 We have seen by the scriptures just given 
 that when the Son of man comes, the dead arc raised incor- 
 ruptible, and the living are changed. By this great change 
 they are prepared to receive the kingdom; for Paul says, 
 "Flesh and blood cannot inherit tlie kingdom of God; nei- 
 ther doth corruption inherit incorruption." 1 Man in his 
 present state is mortal, corruptible; but the kingdom of God 
 will be incorruptible, enduring forever. Therefore man in 
 his present stdte cannot enter into the kingdom of God. But 
 
 1 Matt. 25 :31; 24 :31. a 1 Cor. 15 :51 53. 3 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17. 
 * M att. 25 : 31-34. 6 1 Cor. 15 : 50 
 
AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 323 
 
 when Jesus comes, he' confers immortality upon his people; 
 and then he calls them to inherit the kingdom, of which 
 they have hitherto been only heirs. 
 
 These and other scriptures clearly proved to Miller's mind, 
 that the events which were generally expected to take place 
 before the coming of Christ, such as the universal reign of 
 peace, and the setting up of the kingdom of God upon the 
 earth, were to be subsequent to the second advent. Further- 
 more, all the sigris of the times and the condition of the 
 world corresponded to the prophetic description of the last 
 days. He was forced to the conclusion, from the study of 
 Scripture alone, that the period allotted for the continu- 
 ance of the earth in its present state was about to close. 
 
 "Another evidence that vitally affected my mind," he 
 says, " was the chronology of the Scriptures. I found that 
 predicted events, which had been fulfilled in the past, often 
 occurred within a given time. The one hundred and twenty 
 years to the flood, Gen. 6:3; the seven days that were to pre- 
 cede it, with forty days of predicted rain, Gen. 7:4; the four 
 hundred years of the sojourn of Abraham's seed, Gen. 15: 13; 
 the three days of the butler's and baker's dreams, Gen. 
 40:12-20; the seven years of Pharaoh's, Gen. 41:28-54; the 
 forty years in the wilderness, Num. 14:34; the three and a 
 half years of famine, 1 Kings 17: 1; 1 the seventy years' cap- 
 tivity, Jer. 25:11; Nebuchadnezzar's seven times, Dan. 4:13- 
 16; and the seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and the 
 one week, making seventy weeks, determined upon the Jews, 
 Dan. 9:24-27; the events limited by these times were all 
 once only a matter of prophecy, and were fulfilled in accord- 
 ance with the predictions." 
 
 When, therefore, he found in his study of the Bible, vari- 
 ous chronological periods that, according to his understand- 
 ing of them, extended to the second coming of Christ, he 
 could not but regard them as the " times before appointed," 
 which God had revealed unto his servants. "The secret 
 things," says Moses, "belong unto the Lord our God; but 
 
 Luke 4: 25. 
 
324 TllK GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 those things which arc revealed belong unto us and to our 
 children forever/' 1 and the Lord declares by the prophet 
 Amos, that he "will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret 
 unto his servants the prophets." 2 The students of God's 
 Word may then confidently expect to find the most stupen- 
 dous event to take place in human history clearly pointed out 
 in the Scriptures of truth. 
 
 " As I was fully convinced," says Miller, " that all Scripture 
 given by inspiration of God is profitable; 3 that it came not 
 at any time by the will of man, but was written as holy men 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost, 4 and was written ' for our 
 learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Script- 
 ures might have hope/ 5 I could not but regard the chrono- 
 logical portions of the Bible as being as much entitled to our 
 serious consideration as any other portion of the Scriptures. 
 I felt therefore that in endeavoring to comprehend what God 
 in his mercy had seen fit to reveal to us, I had no right to 
 pass over the prophetic periods." 
 
 The prophecy which seemed most clearly to reveal the 
 time of the second advent was that of Dan. 8:14: "Unto t\v<> 
 thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanct- 
 uary be cleansed." Following his rule of making Scripture 
 its own interpreter, Miller learned that a day in symbolic 
 prophecy represents a year; 6 he saw that the period of 2300 
 prophetic days, or literal years, would extend far beyond the 
 close of the Jewish dispensation, hence it could not refer to 
 the sanctuary of that dispensation. Miller accepted the 
 generally received view r , that in the Christian age the earth 
 is the sanctuary, and he therefore understood that the cleans- 
 ing of the sanctuary foretold in Dan. 8": 14, represented the 
 purification of the earth by fire at the second coming of 
 Christ. If, then, the correct starting-point could be found 
 for the 2300 days, he concluded that the time of the second 
 advent could be readily ascertained. Thus would be revealed 
 
 1 Deut. 29 : 29. Amos 3:7. 8 2 Tim. 3 : 1 6. 
 
 4 2 Pet. 1:21. Rom. 15:4. 6 Num. 14 : :U ; Exe. 4:6. 
 
AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 325 
 
 the time of that great consummation, "the time when the 
 present state, with all its pride and power, its pomp and 
 vanity, wickedness and oppression, would come to an end; 
 . . . when the curse would be removed from off the earth, 
 when death would be destroyed, reward be given to the 
 servants of God, to the prophets and saints, and all them 
 that fear his name, and those be destroyed who destroy the 
 earth." 
 
 With a new and deeper earnestness, Miller continued the 
 examination of the prophecies, whole nights as well as days 
 being devoted to the study of what now appeared of such 
 stupendous importance and all-absorbing interest. In the 
 eighth chapter of Daniel he could find no clue to the start- 
 ing-point of the 2300 days; the angel Gabriel, though com- 
 manded to make Daniel understand the vision, gave him 
 only a partial explanation. As the terrible persecution to 
 befall the church was unfolded to the prophet's vision, 
 physical strength gave way. He could endure no more, 
 and the angel left him for the time. Daniel "fainted, and 
 was sick certain days." " And I was astonished at the vis- 
 ion," he says, "but none understood it." 
 
 Yet God had bidden his messenger, "Make this man 
 to understand the vision." That commission must be ful- 
 filled. In obedience to it, the angel, some time afterward, 
 returned to Daniel, saying, " I am now come forth to give 
 thee skill and understanding;" "therefore understand the 
 matter, and consider the vision." l There was only one point 
 in the vision of chapter eight which had been left unex- 
 plained, namely, that relating to time, the.period of the 2300 
 day?; therefore, the angel, in resuming his explanation, 
 dwells exclusively upon the subject of time: 
 
 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and 
 upon thy holy city. . . . Know therefore and under- 
 st;md, that from the going forth of the commandment to 
 restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince 
 
 1 Dan. 9 : 22, 23, 25-27, 
 
326 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the 
 street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous 
 times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah 
 be cut off, but not for himself. . . . And he shall confirm 
 the covenant with many for one week ; and in the midst of 
 the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to 
 cease." 
 
 The angel had been sent to Daniel for the express pur- 
 pose of explaining to him the point which he had failed to 
 understand in the vision of the eighth chapter, the state- 
 ment relative to time, "Unto two thousand and three 
 hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." After 
 bidding Daniel "understand the matter, and consider the 
 vision," the very first words of the angel are, " Seventy weeks 
 are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." 
 The word here translated " determined," literally signifies 
 " cut off." Seventy weeks, representing 490 years, are declared 
 by the angel to be cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews. 
 But from what were they cut off? As the 2300 days was 
 the only period of time mentioned in chapter eight, it must 
 be the period from which the seventy weeks were cut off; 
 the seventy weeks must therefore be a part of the 2300 days, 
 and the two periods must begin together. The seventy weeks 
 were declared by the angel to date from the going forth of 
 the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. If the 
 date of this commandment could be found, then the starting- 
 point for the great period of the 2300 days would be ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 In the seventh chapter of Ezra the decree is found. 1 In 
 its eompletest form it was issued by Artaxerxes, king of JVr- 
 sia, B. c. 457. But in Ezra 6:14 the house of the Lord at 
 Jerusalem is said to have been built "according to the com- 
 mandment [margin, decree] of Cyrus, and Darius, and 
 Artaxerxes king of Persia." These three kinjjs, in originat- 
 ing, re-aHinniiio\ and completing the decree, brought it to 
 tin- perfection re<juired by the prophecy to mark the begin- 
 
 1 Kzra 7 : 12-26. 
 
AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 327 
 
 ning of the 2300 years. Taking B. c. 457, the time when 
 the decree was completed, as the date of the commandment, 
 every specification of the prophecy concerning the seventy 
 weeks was seen to have been fulfilled. 
 
 " From the going forth of the commandment to restore 
 and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be 
 seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks," namely, sixty- 
 nine weeks, or 483 years. The decree of Artaxerxes went 
 into effect in the autumn of B. e. 457. From this date, 483 
 years extend to the autumn of A. D. 27. 1 At that time this 
 prophecy was fulfilled. The word "Messiah " signifies " the 
 Anointed One." In the autumn of A. D. 27, Christ was bap- 
 tized by John, and received the anointing of the Spirit. The 
 apostle Peter testifies that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth 
 with the Holy Ghost and with power." 2 And the Saviour 
 himself declared, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, be- 
 cause he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." 3 
 After his baptism he came into Galilee, "preaching the gos- 
 pel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled." 4 
 
 "And he shall confirm the covenant with many *for one 
 week." The " week " here brought to view is the last one of 
 the seventy ; it is the last seven years of the period, allotted 
 especially 1o the Jews. During this time, extending from 
 A. D. 27 to A. D. 34, Christ, at first in person, and afterward 
 by his disciples, extended the gospel invitation especially to 
 the Jews. As the apostles went forth with the good tidings 
 of the kingdom, the Saviour's direction was, "Go not into 
 the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans 
 enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house 
 of Israel." 5 
 
 "And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacri- 
 fice and the oblation to cease." In A. D. 31, three and a half 
 years after his baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the 
 great sacrifice offered upon Calvary, ended that s}^stem of 
 offerings which for four thousand years had pointed forward 
 
 l See Appendix, Note 3; also diagram opposite p. 328. 2 Acts 10 : 38. 
 8 Luke 4:18. * Mark 1 : 14, 15. 5 Matt. 10 : 5, $. 
 
328 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 to the Lamb of God. Type had met antitype, and all the 
 sacrifices and oblations of the ceremonial system were there 
 to cease. 
 
 The seventy weeks, or 490 years, especially allotted to the 
 Jews, ended, as we have seen, in A. D. 34. At that time, 
 through the action of the Jewish Sanhedrim, the nation 
 scaled its rejection of the gospel, by the martyrdom of 
 Stephen and the persecution of the followers of Christ. Then 
 the message of salvation, no longer restricted to the chosen 
 people, was given to the world. The disciples, forced by 
 persecution to flee from Jerusalem, " went everywhere preach- 
 ing the Word." " Philip went down to the city of Samaria, 
 and preached Christ unto them." l Peter, divinely guided, 
 opened the gospel to the centurion of Cesarea, the God- 
 fearing Cornelius; and the ardent Paul, won to the faith of 
 Christ, was commissioned to carry the glad tidings "far 
 hence unto the Gentiles." 1 
 
 Thus far every specification of the prophecy is strikingly 
 fulfilled, and the beginning of the seventy weeks is fixed 
 beyond question at B. c. 457, and their expiration in A. D. 34. 
 From this data there is no difficulty in finding the termina- 
 tiou of the 2300 days. The seventy weeks 490 days hav- 
 ing been cut off from the 2300, there were 1810 days 
 remaining. After the end of 490 days, the 1810 days were 
 still to be fulfilled. From A. D. 34, 1810 years extend to 
 1844. Consequently the 2300 days of Dan. 8 : 14 terminate 
 in 1844. At the expiration of this great prophetic period, 
 upon the testimony of the angel of God, "the sanctuary shall 
 be cleansed." Thus the time of the cleansing of the sanct- 
 uary which was almost universally believed to take place 
 at the second advent was definitely pointed out. 
 
 Miller and his associates at first believed that the 2300 days 
 would terminate in the spring of 1844, whereas the prophecy 
 points to the autumn of that year. 2 The misapprehension 
 of this point brought disappointment and perplexity to 
 
 : 4, 5; 22 : 21. * Sec diagram, next page; ,iU> Appendix, Note 3. 
 
>>>>>> p 
 
 pp 
 
 % f I I 
 
AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 329 
 
 those who had fixed upon the earlier date as the time of the 
 Lord's coming. But this did not in the least affect the 
 strength of the argument showing that the 2300 days termi- 
 nated in the year 1844, and that the great event represented 
 by the cleansing of the sanctuary must then take place. 
 
 Entering upon the study of the Scriptures as he had done, 
 in order to prove that they were a revelation from God, 
 Miller had not, at the outset, the slightest expectation of 
 reaching the conclusion at which lie had now arrived. He 
 himself could hardly credit the results of his investigation. 
 But the Scripture evidence was too clear and forcible to be 
 sot aside. 
 
 He had devoted two years to the study of the Bible, when, 
 in 1818, lie reached the solemn conviction that in about 
 twenty-live years Christ would appear for the redemption of 
 his people. " I need not speak," says Miller, "of the joy that 
 filled my heart in view of the delightful prospect, nor of the 
 ardent longings of my soul for a participation in the joys of 
 the redeemed. The Bible was now to me a new book. It 
 was indeed a feast of reason; all that was dark, mystical, or 
 obscure, to me, in its teachings, had been dissipated from 
 my mind before the clear li^ht that now dawned from its 
 sacred pages; and oh, how bright and glorious the truth 
 appeared! All the contradictions and inconsistencies I had 
 before found in the Word were gone; and, although there 
 were many portions of which I was not satisfied that I had 
 a full understanding, yet so much light had emanated from 
 it to the illumination of my before darkened mind, that F 
 felt a delight in studying the Scriptures which I had not 
 before supposed could be derived from its teachings." 
 
 ' ( With the solemn conviction that such momentous events 
 were predicted in the Scriptures to be fulfilled in so short a 
 space of time, the question came home to me with mighty 
 power regarding my duty to the world in view of the evi- 
 dence that had affected my own mind." He could not but 
 feel that it was his duty to impart to others the light which 
 
330 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 lie had received. He expected to encounter opposition from 
 the ungodly, but was confident that all Christians would 
 rejoice in the hope of meeting the Saviour whom they pro- 
 fessed to love. His only fear was, that in their great joy at 
 the prospect of glorious deliverance, so soon to be consum- 
 mated, many would receive the doctrine without sufficiently 
 examining the Scriptures in demonstration of its truth. He 
 therefore hesitated to present it, lest he should be in error, 
 and be the means of misleading others. He was thus led to 
 review the evidences in support of the conclusions at which 
 he had arrived, and to consider carefully every difficulty 
 which presented itself to his mind. He found that objec- 
 tions vanished before the light of God's Word, as mist before 
 the rays of the sun. Five years spent thus, left him fully 
 convinced of the correctness of his position. 
 
 And now the duty of making known to others what he 
 believed to be so clearly taught in the Scriptures, ur>vd 
 itself with new force upon him. " When I was about my 
 business," he said, " it was continually ringing in my ears, 
 Go and tell the world of their danger. This text was con- 
 stantly occurring to me: 'When I say unto the wicked, O 
 wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou dost not speak to 
 warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in 
 his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 
 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn 
 from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his 
 iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.' 1 I felt that if 
 the wicked could be effectually warned, multitudes of them 
 would repent; and that if they were not warned, their blood 
 might be required at my hand." 
 
 He began to present his views in private as he had oppor- 
 tunity, praying that some minister might feel their force 
 and devote himself to their promulgation. But he could 
 not banish the conviction that he had a personal duty to 
 perform in giving 4he warning. The words were ever nvur- 
 ring to his mind, "Go and tell it to the world; their blood 
 
 'Eze. 33:8, 9. 
 
AN A MERICAN REFORMER. 331 
 
 will I require at thy hand." For nine years he waited, the 
 burden still pressing upon his soul, until in 1831 he for the 
 first time publicly gave the reasons of his faith. 
 
 As Elisha w T as called from following his oxen in the field, 
 to receive the mantle of consecration to the prophetic office, 
 so was William Miller called to leave his plow, and open to 
 the people the mysteries of the kingdom of God. With 
 trembling he entered upon his work, leading his hearers 
 down, step by step, through the prophetic periods to the 
 second appearing of Christ. With every effort he gained 
 strength and courage as he saw the widespread interest 
 excited by his words. 
 
 It was only at the solicitation of his brethren, in whose 
 words he heard the call of God, that Miller consented to 
 present his views in public. He was now fifty years of age, 
 unaccustomed to public speaking, and burdened with a 
 sense of unfitness for the work before him. But from the 
 first his labors were blessed in a remarkable manner to the 
 salvation of souls. His first lecture was followed by a relig- 
 ious awakening, in which thirty entire families, with the 
 exception of two persons, were converted. He was immedi- 
 ately urged to speak in other places, and in nearly every 
 place his labor resulted in a revival of the work of God. 
 Sinners were converted, Christians were roused to greater 
 consecration, and deists and infidels were led to acknowledge 
 the truth of the Bible and the Christian religion. The 
 testimony of those among whom he labored was: "A class of 
 minds are reached by him that are not within the influence 
 of other men." "His preaching is calculated to arouse the 
 public mind to the great things of religion, and to check the 
 growing worldliness and sensuality of the age." 
 
 In nearly every town there were scores, in some, hundreds, 
 converted as the result of his preaching. In many places 
 Protestant churches of nearly all denominations were thrown 
 open to him ; and the invitations to labor usually came from 
 the ministers of the several congregations. It was his 
 
332 77/77 GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 invariable rule not to labor in any place to which he had 
 not been invited, yet he soon found himself unable to comply 
 with half the requests that poured in upon him. 
 
 Many who did not accept his views as to the exact time of 
 the second advent, were convinced of the certainty and 
 nearness of Christ's coming and their need of preparation. 
 In some of the large cities his work produced a marked 
 impression. Liquor-dealers abandoned the traffic, and 
 turned their shops into meeting-rooms; gambling dens were 
 broken up, infidels, deists, Universalists, and the most 
 abandoned profligates were reformed some of whom had 
 not entered a house of worship for years. Prayer-meetings 
 were established by the various denominations, in different 
 quarters, at almost every hour, business men assembling at 
 midday for prayer and praise. There was no extravagant 
 excitement, but an almost universal solemnity on the minds 
 of the people. His work, like that of the early reformers, 
 tended rather to convince the understanding and arouse the 
 conscience than merely to excite the emotions. 
 
 In 1833 Miller received a license to preach, from the Bap- 
 tist Church, of which he was a member. A large number of 
 the ministers of his denomination also approved his work, 
 and it was with their formal sanction that he continued his 
 labors. 
 
 He traveled and preached unceasingly, though his per- 
 sonal labors were confined principally to the New England 
 and Middle States. For several years his expenses were met 
 wholly from his own private purse, and he never afterward 
 received enough to meet the expense of travel to the places 
 where he was invited. Thus his public labors, so far from 
 being a pecuniary benefit, were a heavy tax upon his prop- 
 erty, which gradually diminished during this period of his 
 life. He was the father of a large family, but as they were 
 all frugal and industrious, his farm sufficed for their main- 
 tenance as well as his own. 
 
 In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in pub- 
 
AN AMERICAN- REFORMER. 333 
 
 lie the evidences of Christ's soon coming, the last of the 
 signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as 
 tokens of his second advent. Said Jesus, " The stars shall 
 fall from heaven." l And John in the Revelation declared, 
 as he beheld in vision the scenes that herald the day of God: 
 " The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree 
 casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty 
 wind/' 2 This prophecy received a striking and impressive 
 fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 
 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display 
 of falling stars which has ever been recorded ; "the whole 
 firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, 
 in fiery commotion. No celestial phenomenon has ever 
 occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was 
 viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the 
 community, or such dread and alarm by another." "Its 
 sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. 
 . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors 
 fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the 
 same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. 
 . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman's 
 journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From 
 two o'clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly 
 serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brill- 
 iant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens." 
 
 " No language indeed can come up to the splendor of that 
 magnificent display; no one who did not witness it can form 
 an adequate conception of its glory. It seemed as if the 
 whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the 
 zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the 
 velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet 
 they were not exhausted thousands swiftly followed in the 
 track of thousands, as if created for the occasion." "A 
 more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its figs when blown 
 by a mighty wind, it is not possible to behold." 
 
 1 Matt. 24:29. 'Rev. 6:13. 
 
334 777 K (iRKA'l CONTROVERSY. 
 
 On the day following its appearance, Henry Dana Ward 
 wrote thus of the wonderful phenomenon: " No philosopher 
 or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like thai 
 of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years 
 ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of under- 
 standing stars falling to mean falling stars, in the only 
 sense in which it is possible to be literally true." 
 
 Thus was displayed the last of those signs of his coming, 
 concerning which Jesus bade his disciples, "When ye shall 
 see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." 1 
 After these signs, John beheld, as the great event next im- 
 pending, the heavens departing as a scroll, while the earth 
 quaked, mountains and islands removed out of their places, 
 and the wicked in terror sought to flee from the presence of 
 the Son of man. 
 
 Many who witnessed the falling of the stars, looked upon 
 it as a herald of the coming Judgment, " an awful type, a 
 sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful 
 day." Thus the attention of the people was directed to the 
 fulfillment of prophecy, and many were led to give heed to 
 the warning of the second advent. 
 
 In the year 1840, another remarkable fulfillment of proph- 
 ecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah 
 Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second 
 advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting 
 the fall of the Ottoman empire, and specifying not only the 
 year but the very day on which this would take place. Ac- 
 cording to this exposition, which was purely a matter of 
 calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture, the Turk- 
 ish government would surrender its independence on the 
 eleventh day of August, 1840. The prediction was widely 
 published, and thousands watched the course of events with 
 eager interest. 
 
 At the very time specified, Turkey, through her ambas- 
 sadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Eu- 
 rope, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian 
 
 1 Matt. 24 : 33. 
 
AN .1 Mr. UK *AN IWftRMKK. 335 
 
 nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction. When 
 it became known, multitudes were convinced of the correct- 
 ness of the principles of prophetic interpretation adopted by 
 Miller and his associates, and a wonderful impetus was given 
 to the Advent movement. Men of learning and position 
 united with Miller, both in preaching and publishing his 
 views, and from 1840 to 1844 the work rapidly extended. 
 
 William Miller possessed strong mental powers, disciplined 
 by thought and study; and he added to these the wisdom of 
 Heaven, by connecting himself with the Source of wisdom. 
 He was a man of sterling worth, who could not but command 
 respect and esteem wherever integrity of character and 
 moral excellence were valued. Uniting true kindness of 
 heart with Christian humility and the power of self-control, 
 he was attentive and affable to all, ready to listen to the 
 opinions of others, and to weigh their arguments. Without 
 passion or excitement, he tested all theories and doctrines by 
 the Word of God ; and his sound reasoning, and thorough 
 knowledge of the Scriptures, enabled him to refute error and 
 expose falsehood. 
 
 Yet he did not prosecute his work without bitter opposi- 
 tion. As with earlier reformers, the truths which he pre- 
 sented were not received . with favor by popular religious 
 teachers. As these could not maintain their position by the 
 Scriptures, they were driven to resort to the sayings and 
 doctrines of men, to the traditions of the Fathers. But the 
 Word of God was the only testimony accepted by the 
 preachers of the Advent truth. "The Bible, and the Bible 
 only," was their watchword. The lack of Scripture argu- 
 ment on the part of their opponents was supplied by ridicule 
 and scoffing. Time, means, and talents were employed in 
 maligning those whose only offense was that they looked 
 with joy for the return of their Lord, and were striving to 
 live holy lives, and to exhort others to prepare for his 
 appearing. 
 
 Earnest were the efforts put forth to draw away the minds 
 
330 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of the people from the subject of the second advent. It was 
 made to appear a sin, something of which men should be 
 ashamed, to study the prophecies which relate to the coming 
 of Christ and the end of the world. Thus the popular min- 
 istry undermined faith in the Word of God. Their teaching 
 made men infidels, and many took license to walk after 
 their own ungodly lusts. Then the authors of the evil 
 charged it all upon Adveiitists. 
 
 While drawing crowded houses of intelligent and attentive 
 hearers, Miller's name was- seldom mentioned by the relig- 
 ious press except by way of ridicule or denunciation. The 
 careless and ungodly, emboldened by the position of religious 
 teachers, resorted to opprobrious epithets, to base and blas- 
 phemous witticisms, in their efforts to heap contumely upon 
 him and his work. The gray-headed man who had left a com- 
 fortable home to travel at his own expense from city to city, 
 from town to town, toiling unceasingly to bear to the world 
 the solemn warning of the Judgment near, was sneeringly 
 denounced as a fanatic, a liar, a speculating knave. 
 
 The ridicule, falsehood, and abuse heaped upon him 
 called forth indignant remonstrance, even from the secular 
 press. To treat a subject of such overwhelming majesty and 
 fearful consequences, with lightness and ribaldry, was de- 
 clared by worldly men to be not merely to sport with the 
 feelings of its advocates, but "to make a jest of the day of 
 Judgment, to scoff at God himself, and to mock the terrors 
 of his Judgment-bar." 
 
 The instigator of all evil sought not only to counteract 
 the effect of the Advent message, but to destroy the mes- 
 senger himself. Miller made a practical application of 
 Scripture truth to the hearts of his hearers, reproving their 
 sins, and disturbing their self-satisfaction, and his plain and 
 cutting words aroused their enmity. The opposition man- 
 ifested by church-members toward his message, emboldened 
 the baser classes to go to greater lengths; and enemies 
 plotted to take his life as he should leave the place of 
 
A.N AMi:i;i<\\\ UK FORMER. 337 
 
 meeting. But holy angels were in the throng, and one of 
 these, in the form of a man, took the arm of this servant 
 of the Lord, and led him in safety from the angry mob. 
 His work was not yet done, and Satan and his emissaries 
 were disappointed in their purpose. 
 
 Despite all opposition, the interest in the Advent movement 
 had continued to increase. From scores and hundreds, the 
 congregations had grown to as many thousands. Large 
 accessions had been made to the various churches, but after 
 a time the spirit of opposition was manifested even against 
 these converts, and the churches began to take disciplinary 
 steps with those who had embraced Miller's views. This 
 action called forth a response from his pen, in an address to 
 Christians of all denominations, urging that if his doctrines 
 were false he should be shown his error from the Scriptures. 
 
 "What have we believed," he said, "that we have not been 
 commanded to believe by the Word of God, which you 
 yourselves allow is the rule, and the only rule, of our faith 
 and practice? What have we done that should call down 
 such virulent denunciations against us from pulpit and press, 
 and give you just cause to exclude us [Adventists] from 
 your church and fellowship?" "If we are wrong, pray 
 show us wherein consists our wrong. Show us from the 
 Word of God that we are in error; we have had ridicule 
 enough; that can never convince us that we are in the wrong; 
 the W T ord of God alone can change our views. Our conclu- 
 sions have been formed deliberately and prayerfully, as we 
 have seen the evidence in the Scriptures." 
 
 From age to age the warnings which God has sent to the 
 world by his servants have been received with like incre- 
 dulity and unbelief. When the iniquity of the antediluvians 
 moved him to bring a flood of waters upon the earth, he first 
 made known to them his purpose, that they might have 
 opportunity to turn from their evil ways. For a hundred 
 and twenty years was sounded in their ears the warning to 
 repent, lest the wrath of God be manifested in their destruc- 
 
338 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 tion. But the message seemed to them an idle tale, and 
 they believed it not. Emboldened in their wickedness, they 
 mocked the messenger of God, made light of his entreaties, 
 and even accused him of presumption. How dare one 
 man stand up against all the great men of the earth? If 
 Noah's message were true, why did not all the world see 
 it and believe it? One man's assertion against the wisdom 
 of thousands! They would not credit the warning, nor 
 would they seek shelter in the ark. 
 
 Scoffers pointed to the things of nature, to the unvarying 
 succession of the seasons, to the blue skies that had never 
 poured out rain, to the green, fields refreshed by the soft 
 dews of night, and they cried out, "Doth he not speak 
 parables?" In contempt they declared the preacher of 
 righteousness to be a wild enthusiast; and they went on, 
 more eager in their pursuit of pleasure, more intent upon 
 their evil ways, than ever before. But their unbelief did 
 not hinder the predicted event. God bore long with their 
 wickedness, giving them ample opportunity for repentance; 
 but at the appointed time his judgments were visited upon 
 the rejecters of his mercy. 
 
 Christ declares that there will exist similar unbelief con- 
 cerning his second coming. As the people of Noah's day 
 " knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so," 
 in the words of our Saviour, "shall also the coming of the 
 Son of man be." 1 When the professed people of God are 
 uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with 
 them in forbidden pleasure; when the luxury of the world 
 becomes the luxury of the church; when the marriage bells 
 are chiming, and all are looking forward to many years of 
 worldly prosperity, then, suddenly as the lightning flashes 
 from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions 
 and delusive hopes. 
 
 As God sent his servant to warn the world of the coming 
 flood, so he sent chosen messengers to make known the 
 nearness of the final Judgment. And as Noah's coiiteiu- 
 
 . 24:39. 
 
AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 339 
 
 poraries laughed to scorn the predictions of the preacher of 
 righteousness, so in Miller's day many, even of the professed 
 people of God, scoffed at the words of warning. 
 
 And why were the doctrine and preaching of Christ's 
 second coming so unwelcome to the churches? While to 
 the wicked the advent of the Lord brings woe and desola- 
 tion, to the righteous it is fraught with joy and hope. This 
 givut truth had been the consolation of God's faithful ones 
 through all the ages; why had it become, like its Author, 
 u a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense " to his professed 
 people? It was our Lord himself who promised his disci- 
 ples, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
 and receive you unto myself." 1 It was the compassionate 
 Saviour, who, anticipating the loneliness and sorrow of his 
 followers, commissioned angels to comfort them with the 
 assurance that he would come again in person, even as he 
 wont into heaven. As the disciples stood gazing intently 
 u pward to catch the last glimpse of him whom they loved, 
 their attention was arrested by the words, " Ye men of Gali- 
 lee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, 
 which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in 
 like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." 2 Hope 
 was kindled afresh by the angels' message. The disciples 
 "returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually 
 in the temple, praising and blessing God." 3 They were not 
 rejoicing because Jesus had been separated from them and 
 they were left to struggle with the trials and temptations of 
 the world, but because of the angels' assurance that he would 
 come again. 
 
 The proclamation of Christ's coming should now be, as 
 when made by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, 
 good tidings of great joy. Those who really love the Sav- 
 iour cannot but hail with gladness the announcement 
 founded upon the Word of God, that he in whom their hopes 
 of eternal life are centered, is coming again, not to be in- 
 
 i John 14 : 3. 2 Acts 1:11. s Luke '24 : 52, 53. 
 
340 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 suited, despised, and rejected, as at his first advent, but in 
 power and glory, to redeem his people. It is those who do 
 not love the Saviour, that desire him to remain away; and 
 there can be no more conclusive evidence that the churches 
 liave departed from God than the irritation and animosity 
 excited by this Heaven-sent message. 
 
 Those who accepted the Advent doctrine were roused to 
 the necessity of repentance and humiliation before God. 
 Many had long been halting between Christ and the world; 
 "How they felt that it was time to take a stand. The things 
 of eternity assumed to them an unwonted reality. Heaven 
 was brought near, and they felt themselves guilty before 
 God. Christians were quickened to new spiritual life. They 
 were made to feel thai time was short, that what they had 
 to do for their fellow-men must be done quickly. Earth 
 receded, eternity seemed to open before them, and the soul, 
 with all that pertains to its immortal weal or woe, was felt 
 to eclipse every temporal object." The Spirit of God rested 
 upon them, and gave power to their earnest appeals to their 
 /brethren, as well as to sinners, to prepare for the day of God. 
 The silent testimony of their daily life was a constant rebuke 
 to formal and unconsecrated church-members. These did 
 not wish to be disturbed in their pursuit of pleasure, their 
 devotion to money-making, and their ambition for worldly 
 honor. Hence the enmity and opposition excited against 
 the Advent faith and those who proclaimed it. 
 
 As the arguments from the prophetic- periods were found 
 to be impregnable, opposers endeavored to discourage inves- 
 tigation of the subject, by teaching that the prophecies were 
 sealed. Thus Protestants followed in the steps of Romanists. 
 While the papal church withholds the Bible from the peo- 
 ple, Protestant churches claimed that an important part of 
 the sacred Word and that the part which brings to view 
 truths specially applicable to our tim< could not be under- 
 stood. 
 
 Ministers and people declared that the prophecies of 
 
AN AMERICAN REFORMER. 341 
 
 Daniel and the Revelation were incomprehensible mysteries. 
 But Christ directed his disciples to the words of the prophet 
 Daniel concerning events to take place in their time, and 
 said, "Whoso readeth, let him understand." 1 And the asser- 
 tion that the Revelation is a mystery, not to be understood, 
 is contradicted by the very title of the book : " The Revela- 
 tion of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto 
 his servants things which must shortly come to pass .... 
 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of 
 this prophecy, and hep those things which are written 
 therein; for the time is at hand."* 
 
 Says the prophet: "Blessed is he thai readeth" thorn arc 
 those who will not read; the blessing is not for them. "And 
 they that hear" there are some, also, who refuse to hear 
 anything concerning the prophecies; the blessing is not for 
 this class. " And keep those things which are written therein " 
 many refuse to heed the warnings and instructions con- 
 tained in the Revelation. None of these can claim the bless- 
 ing promised. All who ridicule the subjects of the prophecy, 
 and mock at the symbols here solemnly given, all who 
 refuse to reform their lives, and prepare for the coming of 
 the Son of man, will be unblest. 
 
 In view of the testimony of Inspiration, how dare men 
 teach that the Revelation is a mystery, beyond the reach of 
 human understanding? It is a mystery revealed, a book 
 opened. The study of the Revelation directs the mind to 
 the prophecies of Daniel, and both present most important 
 instruction, given of God to men, concerning events to take 
 place at the close of this world's history. 
 
 To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest 
 in the experience of the church. He saw the position, 
 dangers, conflicts, arid final deliverance of the people of God. 
 He records the closing messages which are to ripen the 
 harvest of the earth, either as sheaves for the heavenly gar- 
 ner or as fagots for the fires of destruction. Subjects of vast 
 
 1 Matt. ^4 : 15. 2 Rev. 1 : 1-3. 
 
342 THE GREAT .CONTROVERSY. 
 
 importance were revealed to him, especially for the last 
 church, that those who should turn from error to truth 
 might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts be- 
 fore them. None need be in darkness in regard to what is 
 coming upon the earth. 
 
 Why, then, this widespread ignorance concerning an 
 important part of Holy Writ? Why this general reluctance 
 to investigate its teachings? It is the result of a studied 
 effort of the prince of darkness to conceal from men that 
 which reveals his deceptions. For this reason, Christ the 
 Revelator, foreseeing the warfare that would be waged 
 against the study of the Revelation, pronounced a blessing 
 upon all who should read, hear, and observe the words of 
 the prophecy. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 
 
 THE work of God in the earth presents, from age to age, 
 a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious 
 movement. The principles of God's dealing with men are 
 ever the same. The important movements of the present 
 have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience 
 of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for 
 our own time. 
 
 No truth is more clearly taught in the Bible than that 
 God by his Holy Spirit especially directs his servants on 
 earth in the great movements for the carrying forward of 
 the work of salvation. Men are instruments in the hand of 
 God, employed by him to accomplish his purposes of grace 
 and mercy. Each has his part to act; to each is granted a 
 measure of light, adapted to the necessities of his time, and 
 sufficient to enable him to perform the work which God has 
 given him to do. But no man, however honored of Heaven, 
 has ever attained to a full understanding of the great plan 
 of redemption, or even to a perfect appreciation of the 
 divine purpose in the work for his own time. Men do not 
 fully understand what God would accomplish by the work 
 which he gives them to do ; they do not comprehend, in all 
 its bearings, the message which they utter in his name. 
 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find 
 out the Almighty unto perfection?" " My thoughts are not 
 your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the 
 Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
 my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than 
 your thoughts." "I am God, and there is none like me, 
 
 28 (343) 
 
344 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient 
 times the things that are not yet done." 1 
 
 Even the prophets who were favored with the special 
 illumination of the Spirit, did not fully comprehend the 
 import of the revelations committed to them. The meaning 
 was to be unfolded, from age to age, as the people of God 
 should need the instruction therein contained. 
 
 Peter, writing of the salvation brought to light through 
 the gospel, says: Of this salvation "the prophets have in- 
 quired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace 
 that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner 
 of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, 
 when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and 
 the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, 
 that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister." 2 
 
 Yet while it was not given to the prophets to understand 
 fully the things revealed to them, they earnestly sought 
 to obtain all the light which God had been pleased to 
 make manifest. They "inquired and searched diligently," 
 "searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of 
 Christ which was in them did signify." What a lesson to 
 the people of God in the Christian age, for whose benefit 
 these prophecies were given to his servants! "Unto whom 
 it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they 
 did minister." Witness those holy men of God as they 
 "inquired and searched diligently" concerning revelations 
 given them for generations that were yet unborn. Contrast 
 their holy zeal with the listless unconcern with which the 
 favored ones of later ages treat this gift of Heaven. What 
 a rebuke to the ease-loving, world-loving indifference whi<-li 
 is content to declare that the prophecies cannot be under- 
 stood. 
 
 Though the finite minds of men are inadequate to rntcr 
 into the counsels of the Infinite One, or to fully understand 
 the working out of his purposes, yet often it is because of 
 
 Mob. 11 :7; Isa. 55 : 8, 9; 46 : 9, 10. 8 1 Pet. 1 : 10-12. 
 
Engraved Expressly for Great Controversy! Copyrighted 1891, 
 
 THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE DISCIPLES. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
LIGHT TJTROran DARKXER8. 345 
 
 some error or neglect on their own part, that they so dimly 
 comprehend the messages of Heaven. Not infrequently the 
 minds of the people and. even of God's servants are 
 blinded by human opinions, the traditions and false teach- 
 ing of men, so that they are able only partially to grasp the 
 great things which he has revealed in his Word. Thus it 
 was with the disciples of Christ, even when the Saviour was 
 with them in person. Their minds had become imbued 
 with the popular conception of the Messiah as a temporal 
 prince, who was to exalt Israel to the throne of universal 
 empire, and they could not understand the meaning of his 
 words foretelling his sufferings and death. 
 
 Christ himself had sent them forth with the message, 
 "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; 
 repent ye, and believe the gospel." 1 That message was based 
 on the prophecy of Daniel 9. The sixty-nine weeks were 
 declared by the angel to extend to "the Messiah the Prince," 
 and with high hopes and joyful anticipations the disciples 
 looked forward to the establishment of Messiah's kingdom 
 at Jerusalem, to rule over the whole earth. 
 
 They preached the message which Christ had committed 
 to them, though they themselves misapprehended its mean- 
 ing. While their announcement was founded on Dan. 9 : 25, 
 they did not see, in the next verse of the same chapter, that 
 Messiah was to be cut off. From their very birth their 
 hearts had been set upon the anticipated glory of an earthly 
 empire, and this blinded their understanding alike to the 
 specifications of the prophecy and to the words of Christ. 
 
 They performed their duty in presenting to the Jewish 
 nation the invitation of mercy, and then, at the very time 
 when they expected to see their Lord ascend the throne of 
 David, they beheld him seized as a malefactor, scourged, 
 derided, and condemned, and lifted up on the cross of Cal- 
 vary. What despair and anguish wrung the hearts of those 
 disciples during the days while their Lord was sleeping in 
 the tomb! 
 
 l Mark 1 : 15. 
 
346 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Christ had come at the exact time and in the manner 
 foretold by prophecy. The testimony of Scripture had been 
 fulfilled in every detail of his ministry. He had preached 
 the message of salvation, and " his word was with power." 
 The hearts of his hearers had witnessed that it was of 
 Heaven. The Word and the Spirit of God attested the 
 divine commission of his Son. 
 
 The disciples still clung with undying affection to their 
 beloved Master. And yet their minds were shrouded in 
 uncertainty and doubt. In their anguish they did not then 
 recall the words of Christ pointing forward to his suffering 
 and death. If Jesus of Nazareth had been the true Messiah, 
 would they have been thus plunged in grief and disappoint- 
 ment? This was the question that tortured their souls, 
 while the Saviour lay in his sepulcher during the hopeless 
 hours of that Sabbath which intervened between his death 
 and his resurrection. 
 
 Though the night of sorrow gathered dark about these 
 followers of Jesus, yet were they not forsaken. Saith the 
 prophet: "When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light 
 unto me. . . . He will bring me forth to the light, and 
 I shall behold his righteousness." " Yea, the darkness hideth 
 not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the dark- 
 ness and the light are both alike to thee." God hath spoken: 
 " Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." " I 
 will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will 
 lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make 
 darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. 
 These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." 1 
 
 The announcement which had been made by the disciples 
 in the name of the Lord was in every particular correct, 
 and the events to which it pointed were even then taking 
 place. "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at 
 hand," had been their message. At the expiration of " the 
 time" the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9, which were to ex- 
 
 1 Micah7:8, 9; Ps. 139:12; 112:4; Isa. 42:16. 
 
LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS. 347 
 
 tend to the Messiah, "the Anointed One" Christ had re- 
 ceived the anointing of the Spirit, after his baptism by John 
 in Jordan. And the "kingdom of God" which they had 
 declared to be at hand, was established by the death of 
 Christ. This kingdom was not, as they had been taught to 
 believe, an earthly empire. Nor was it that future, immor- 
 tal kingdom which shall be set up when "the kingdom and 
 dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
 whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of 
 the Most High;" that everlasting kingdom, in which "all 
 dominions shall serve and obey him." 1 As used in the 
 Bible, the expression " kingdom of God " is employed to des- 
 ignate both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. 
 The kingdom of grace is brought to view by Paul in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. After pointing to Christ, the com- 
 passionate intercessor who is "touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities," the apostle says, " Let us therefore come boldly 
 unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
 grace." a The throne of grace represents the kingdom of grace; 
 for the existence of a throne implies the existence of a king- 
 dom. In many of his parables, Christ uses the expression, 
 "the kingdom of Heaven," to designate the work of divine 
 grace upon the hearts of men. 
 
 So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory, 
 and this kingdom is referred tc in the Saviour's words, 
 " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the 
 holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of 
 his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations."* 
 This kingdom is yet future. It is not to be set up until the 
 second advent of Christ. 
 
 The kingdom of grace was instituted immediately after 
 the fall of man, when a plan was devised for the redemption 
 of the guilty race. It then existed in the purpose and by 
 the promise of God; and through faith, men could become 
 its subjects. Yet it was not actually established until the 
 
 1 Dan. 7 : 27. 2 Heb. 4:16. 8 Matt. 25 : 31, 32. 
 
348 TUK GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 death of Christ. Even after entering upon his-earthly mis- 
 sion, the Saviour, wearied with the stubbornness and ingrat- 
 itude of men, might have drawn back from the sacrifice of 
 Calvary. In Gethsemane the cup of woe trembled in his 
 hand. He might even then have wiped the blood-sweat from 
 his brow, and have left the guilty race to perish in their 
 iniquity. Had he done this, there could have been no 
 redemption for fallen men. But when the Saviour yielded 
 up his life, and with his expiring breath cried out, " It is 
 finished," then the fulfillment of the plan of redemption was 
 assured. The promise of salvation made to the sinful pair 
 in Eden was ratified. The kingdom of grace, which had 
 before existed by the promise of God, was then established. 
 
 Thus the death of Christ the very event which the dis- 
 ciples had looked upon as the final destruction of their hope 
 was that which made it forever sure. While it had 
 brought them a cruel disappointment, it was the climax of 
 proof that their belief had been correct. The event that 
 had filled them with mourning and despair, was that which 
 opened the door of hope to every child of Adam, and in 
 which centered the future life and eternal happiness of all 
 God's faithful ones in all the ages. 
 
 Purposes of infinite mercy were reaching their fulfill- 
 ment, even through the disappointment of the disciples. 
 While their hearts had been won by the divine grace and 
 power of His teaching, who " spake as never man spake," yet 
 intermingled with the pure gold of their love for Jesus, was 
 the base alloy of worldly pride and selfish ambitions. Even 
 in the passover chamber, at that solemn hour when their 
 Master was already entering the shadow of Gethsemane, 
 there was "a strife among them, which of them should be 
 accounted the greatest." 1 Their vision was filled with the 
 throne, the crown, and the glory, while just before them lay 
 the shame and agony of the garden, the judgment-hall, the 
 cross of Calvary. It was their pride of heart, their thirst for 
 worldly glory, that had led them to cling so tenaciously to 
 
 'Luke 22:24. 
 
LIGHT THE UGH DARKNESS. 349 
 
 the false teaching of their time, and to pass unheeded the 
 Saviour's words showing the true nature of his kingdom, 
 and pointing forward to his agony and death. And these 
 errors resulted in the trial sharp but needful which was 
 permitted for their correction. Though the disciples had 
 mistaken, the meaning of their message, and had failed to 
 realize their expectations, yet they had preached the warning 
 given them of God, and the Lord would reward their faith, 
 and honor their obedience. To them was to be intrusted 
 the work of heralding to all nations the glorious gospel of 
 their risen Lord. It was to prepare them for this work, 
 that the experience which seemed to them so bitter had 
 been permitted. 
 
 After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples on 
 the way to Emmaus, and "beginning at Moses and all the 
 prophets*he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the 
 things concerning himself." 1 The hearts of the disciples 
 were stirred. Faith was kindled. They were "begotten 
 again unto a lively hope," even before Jesus revealed him- 
 self to them. It was his purpose to enlighten their under- 
 standing, and to fasten their faith upon the "sure word of 
 prophecy." He wished the truth to take firm root in their 
 minds, not merely because it was supported by his personal 
 testimony, but because of the unquestionable evidence pre- 
 sented by the symbols and shadows of the typical law, and 
 by the prophecies of the Old Testament. It was needful for 
 the followers of Christ to have an intelligent faith, not only 
 in their own behalf, but that they might carry the knowledge 
 of Christ to the world. And as the very first step in impart- 
 ing this knowledge, Jesus directed the disciples to "Moses 
 and the prophets." Such was the testimony given by the 
 risen Saviour to the value and importance of the Old-Testa- 
 ment Scriptures. 
 
 What a change was wrought in the hearts of the disci- 
 ples, as they looked once more on the loved countenance of 
 their Master ! l In a more complete and perfect sense than 
 
 1 Luke 24: 27. 
 
350 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ever before, they had "found him, of whom Moses in the 
 law, and the prophets, did write." The uncertainty, the 
 anguish, the despair, gave place to perfect assurance, to 
 unclouded faith. What marvel that after his ascension 
 they "were continually in the temple, praising and bless- 
 ing God." The people, knowing only of the Saviour's igno- 
 minious death, looked to see in their faces the expression 
 of sorrow, confusion, and defeat ; but they saw there gladness 
 and triumph. What a preparation these disciples had 
 received for the work before them ! They had passed through 
 the deepest trial which it was possible for them to experience, 
 and had seen how, when to human vision all was lost, the 
 word of God had been triumphantly accomplished. Hence- 
 forward what could daunt their faith, or chill the ardor of 
 their love? In the keenest sorrow they had "strong consola- 
 tion," a hope which was as " an anchor of the soul? both sure 
 and steadfast." l They had been witness to the wisdom and 
 power of God, and they were "persuaded, that neither death, 
 nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
 other creature " would be able to separate them from " the 
 love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." " In all 
 these things," they said, " we are more than conquerors 
 through Him that loved us." 2 "The Word of the Lord 
 endureth forever." 3 And "who is he that condemneth? It 
 is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even 
 at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
 for us."* 
 
 Saith the Lord: "My people shall never be ashamed." 9 
 "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the 
 morning."' When on his resurrection day these disciples 
 met the Saviour, and their hearts burned within them as they 
 listened to his words; when they looked upon the IK-MI! 
 and hands and feet that had been bruised for them ; when, 
 before his ascension, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, 
 
 i Heb. 6 : 1 8, 19. 2 Rom. 8 : 38, 39, ,37. 3 1 Pet. 1 : 25. 
 
 4 Rom. 8 : 34. * Joel 2 : i>6. Pa. 30 : 5. 
 
LIGHT THR UGH DA RKXESS. "351 
 
 and, lifting up his hands in Messing bade them, "Go ye into 
 all the world, and preach the gospel/' adding, "Lo, I am 
 with you alway;" 1 when on (he day of Pentecost the prom- 
 ised Comforter descended, and the power from on high was 
 given, and the souls of the believers thrilled with the con- 
 scious presence of their ascended Lord, then, even though, 
 like his, their pathway led through sacrifice and martyrdom, 
 would they have exchanged the ministry of the gospel of 
 his grace, with the " crown of righteousness " to be received 
 at his coming, for the glory of an earthly throne,' which 
 had been the hope of their earlier discipleship ? He who is 
 " able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
 think," had granted them, with the fellowship of His suffer- 
 ings, the communion of his joy, the joy of " bringing many 
 sons unto glory," joy unspeakable, "an eternal weight of 
 glory," to which, says Paul, "our light affliction, which is 
 but for a moment," is "not worthy to be compared." 
 
 The experience of the disciples who preached the "gospel 
 of the kingdom" at the first advent of Christ, has its coun- 
 terpart in the experience of those who proclaimed the mes- 
 sage of his second advent. As the disciples went out preach- 
 ing, " The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand," 
 so Miller and his associates proclaimed that the longest and 
 last prophetic period brought to view in the Bible was about 
 to expire, that the Judgment was at hand, and the everlast- 
 ing kingdom was to be ushered in. The preaching of the 
 disciples in regard to time was based on the seventy weeks 
 of Daniel 9. The message given by Miller and his associates 
 announced the termination of the 2300 days of Dan. 8 : 14, 
 of which the seventy weeks form a part. The preaching of 
 each was based upon the fulfillment of a different portion of 
 the same great prophetic period. 
 
 Like the first disciples, William Miller and his associates 
 did not, themselves, fully comprehend the import of the 
 message which they bore. Errors that had been long estab- 
 lished in the church prevented them from arriving at a cor- 
 
 i Mark 16: 15; Matt. 28:20. 
 
352 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 rcct interpretation of an important point in the prophecy. 
 Therefore, though they proclaimed the message which God 
 had committed to them to be given to the world, yet through 
 a misapprehension of its meaning, they suffered disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 In explaining Dan. 8 : 14, " Unto two thousand and three 
 hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," Miller, 
 as has been stated, adopted the generally received view that 
 the earth is the sanctuary, and he believed that the cleansing 
 of the 'sanctuary represented the purification of the earth by 
 fire at the coming of the Lord. When, therefore, he found 
 that the close of the 2300 days was definitely foretold, Jie 
 concluded that this revealed the time of the second advent. 
 His error resulted from accepting the popular view as to 
 what constitutes the sanctuary. 
 
 In the typical system, which was a shadow of the sacri- 
 fice and priesthood of Christ, the cleansing of the sanct- 
 uary was the last service performed by the high priest in the 
 yearly round of ministration. It was the closing work of 
 the atonement, a removal or putting away of sin from 
 Israel. It prefigured the closing work in the ministration 
 of our High Priest in Heaven, in the removal or blotting 
 out of the sins of his people, which are registered in the 
 heavenly records. This service involves a work of investi- 
 gation, a work of judgment; and it immediately precedes 
 the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power 
 and great glory; for when he comes, every case has born 
 decided. Says Jesus, "My reward is with me, to give every 
 man according as his work shall be." 1 It is this work of 
 judgment, immediately preceding the second advent, that is 
 announced in the first angel's message of Rev. It : 7: '' Fear 
 God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his Judgment 
 is come." 
 
 Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right mes- 
 sage at the right time. But as the early disciples declared, 
 " The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand," 
 
 i Rev. 22 : 12 
 
LIGHT TIIR o m;ir DA RKNESS. 353 
 
 based on the prophecy of Daniel 9, while they failed to per- 
 ceive that the death of the Messiah was foretold in the same 
 scripture, so Miller and his associates preached the message 
 based on Dan. 8:14 and Rev. 14:7, and failed to see that 
 there were still other messages brought to view in Revela- 
 tion 14, which were also to be given before the advent of the 
 Lord. As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the king- 
 dom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, so Advent- 
 ists were mistaken in regard to the event to take place at 
 the expiration of the 2300 days. In both cases there was. an 
 acceptance of, or rather an adherence to, popular errors that 
 blinded the mind to the truth. Both classes fulfilled the 
 will of God in delivering the message which he desired to 
 be given, and both, through their own misapprehension of 
 their message, suffered disappointment. 
 
 Yet God accomplished his own beneficent purpose in per- 
 mitting the warning of the Judgment to be given just as it 
 was. The great day was at hand, and in his providence the 
 people were brought to the test of a definite time, in order 
 to reveal to them what was in their hearts. The message 
 was designed for the testing and purification of the church. 
 They were to be led to see whether their affections were set 
 upon this world or upon Christ and Heaven. They pro- 
 fessed to love the Saviour; now they were to prove their 
 love. Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes 
 and ambitions, and welcome with joy the advent of their 
 Lord ? The message was designed to enable them to discern 
 their true spiritual state; it was sent in mercy to arouse 
 them to seek the Lord with repentance* and humiliation. 
 
 The disappointment also, though the result of their own 
 misapprehension of the message which they gave, was to be 
 overruled for good. It would test, the hearts of those who 
 had professed to receive the warning. In the face of their 
 disappointment, would they rashly give up their experience, 
 and cast away their confidence in God's Word? or would they, 
 in prayer and humility, seek to discern where they had 
 
354 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 failed to comprehend the significance of the prophecy ? How 
 many had moved from fear, or from impulse and excite- 
 ment? How many were half-hearted and unbelieving? 
 Multitudes professed to love the appearing of the Lord. 
 When called to endure the scoffs and reproach of the world, 
 and the test of delay and disappointment, would they 
 renounce the faith? Because they did not immediately 
 understand the dealings of God with them, would they cast 
 aside truths sustained by the clearest testimony of his Word? 
 
 This test would reveal the strength of those who with real 
 faith had obeyed what they believed to be the teaching of 
 the Word and the Spirit of God. It would teach them, as 
 only such an experience could, the danger of accepting the 
 theories and interpretations of men, instead of making the 
 Bible its own interpreter To the children of faith the per- 
 plexity and sorrow resulting from their error, would work 
 the needed correction. They would be led to a closer study 
 of the prophetic word. They would be taught to examine 
 more carefully the foundation of their faith, and to reject 
 everything, however widely accepted by the Christian world, 
 that was not founded upon the Scriptures of truth. 
 
 With these believers, as with the first disciples, that which 
 in the hour of trial seemed dark to their understanding, 
 would afterward be made plain. When they should see the 
 "end of the Lord," they would know that notwithstanding 
 the trial resulting from their errors, his purposes of love 
 toward them had been steadily fulfilling. They would learn 
 by a blessed experience that he is "very pitiful, and of ten- 
 der mercy ;* that all his paths "are mercy and truth unto 
 such as keep his covenant and his testimonies." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 
 
 A GREAT religious awakening under the proclamation of 
 Christ's soon coming, is foretold in the prophecy of the first 
 angel's message of Revelation 14. An angel is seen flying 
 "in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to 
 preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
 nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." " With a loud 
 voice" he proclaims the message, " Fear God, and give glory 
 to him ; for the hour of his Judgment is come : and worship 
 him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the 
 fountains of waters." 1 
 
 The fact that an angel is said to be the herald of this warn- 
 ing, is significant. By the purity, the glory, and the power 
 of the heavenly messenger, divine wisdom has been pleased 
 to represent the exalted character of the work to be accom- 
 plished by the message, and the power and glory that were 
 to attend it. And the angel's flight " in, the midst of heaven," 
 the " loud voice " with which the warning is uttered, and 
 its promulgation to all "that dwell on the earth," "to 
 every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," give 
 evidence of the rapidity and world- wide extent of the move- 
 ment. 
 
 The message itself sheds light as to the time when this 
 movement is to take place. It is declared to be a part of 
 the " everlasting gospel ;" and it announces the opening of 
 the Judgment. The message of salvation has been preached 
 in all ages; but this message is a part of the gospel which 
 could be proclaimed only in the last days, for only then 
 
 1 Bev. 14 1 6, 7. 
 
356 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 would it be true that the hour of Judgment had come. The 
 prophecies present a succession of events leading down to 
 the opening of the Judgment. This is especially true of the 
 book of Daniel. But that part of his prophecy which re- 
 lated to the last days, Daniel was bidden to close up and 
 seal "to the time of the end." Not till we reach this time 
 could a message concerning the Judgment be proclaimed, 
 based on a fulfillment of these prophecies. But at the time 
 of the end, says the prophet, " many shall run to and fro, 
 and knowledge shall be increased." 1 
 
 The apostle Paul warned the church not to look for the 
 coming of Christ in his day. "That day shall not come," 
 he says, " except there come a falling away first, and that 
 man of sin be revealed." 2 Not till after the great apostasy, 
 and the long period of the reign of the " man of sin," can we 
 look for the advent of our Lord. The "man of sin," which is 
 also styled the "mystery of iniquity," the "son of perdition," 
 and "that wicked," represents the papacy, which, as foretold 
 in prophecy, was to maintain its supremacy for 1200 years. 
 This period ended in 1798. The coming of Christ could 
 not take place before that time. Paul covers with his cau- 
 tion the whole of the Christian dispensation down to the 
 year 1798. It is this side of that time that the message of 
 Christ's second coming is to be proclaimed. 
 
 No such message has ever been given in past ages. Paul, 
 as we have seen, did not preach it; he pointed his brethren 
 into the then far-distant future for the coming of the Lord. 
 The reformers did not proclaim it. Martin Luther placed 
 the Judgment about three hundred years in the future from 
 his day. But since 1798 the book of Daniel has been un- 
 sealed, knowledge of the prophecies has increased, and 
 many have proclaimed the solemn message of the Judgment 
 near. 
 
 Like the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, the 
 Advent movement appeared in different countries of Chris- 
 
 12:4 8 2 Thess. 2:3. 
 
A ORE A T RELIGIO US A WAKENING. 357 
 
 tendom at the same time. In both Europe and America, 
 men of faith and prayer were led to the study of the proph- 
 ecies, and, tracing down the inspired record, th'ey saw con- 
 vincing evidence that the end of all things was at hand. 
 In different lands there were isolated bodies of Christians, 
 who, solely by the study of the Scriptures, arrived at the 
 belief that the Saviour's advent was near. 
 
 In 1821, three years after Miller had arrived at his exposi- 
 tion of the prophecies pointing to the time of the Judgment, 
 Dr. Joseph Wolff, "the missionary to the world," began 
 to proclaim the Lord's soon coming. Wolff was born in 
 Germany, of Hebrew parentage, his father being a Jewish 
 Rabbi. While very young he was convinced of the truth 
 of the Christian religion. Of an active, inquiring mind, he 
 had been an eager listener to the conversations that took 
 place -in his father's house, as devout Hebrews daily assem- 
 bled to recount the hopes and anticipations of their people, 
 the glory of the coming Messi'ih, and the restoration of 
 Israel. One day hearing Jesus of Nazareth mentioned, the 
 boy inquired who he was. "A man of the greatest talent/'" 
 was the answer; "but because he pretended to be the Mes- 
 siah, the Jewish tribunal sentenced him to death." " Why, 
 then," rejoined the questioner, " why is Jerusalem destroyed ? 
 and why are we in captivity ? " "Alas, alas ! " answered his 
 father, "because the Jews murdered the prophets." The 
 thought was at once suggested to the child, " Perhaps Jesus 
 of Nazareth was also a prophet, and the Jews killed him 
 when he was innocent." So strong was this feeling, that 
 though forbidden to enter a Christian church, he would 
 often linger outside to listen to the preaching. 
 
 When only seven years old, he w r as boasting to an aged 
 Christian neighbor of the future triumpli of Israel at the 
 advent of the Messiah, when the old man said kindly, "Dear 
 boy, I will tell you who the real Messiah was: he was Jesus 
 of Nazareth, whom your ancestors crucified, as they slew 
 the prophets of old. Go home and read the fifty-third 
 27 
 
358 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 chapter of Isaiah, and you will be convinced that Jesus 
 Christ is the Son of God." Conviction at once fastened upon 
 him. He went home and read the scripture, wondering to 
 see how perfectly it had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. 
 Were the words of the Christian true? The boy asked of 
 his father an explanation of the prophecy, but was met with 
 a silence so stern that he never again dared to refer to the 
 subject. This however only increased his desire to know 
 more of the Christian religion. 
 
 The knowledge he sought was studiously kept from him 
 in his Jewish home; but when only eleven years old, he left 
 his father's house, and went out into the w r orld to gain for 
 himself an education, to choose his religion and his life-work. 
 He found a home for a time with kinsmen, but was soon 
 driven from them as an apostate, and alone and penniless 
 he had to make his own way among strangers. He went 
 from place to place, studying diligently, and maintaining 
 himself by teaching Hebrew. Through the influence of a 
 Catholic instructor, he was led to accept the Komish faith, 
 and formed the purpose of becoming a missionary to his 
 own people. With this object he went, a few years later, to 
 pursue his studies in the College of the Propaganda at Rome. 
 Here his habit of independent thought and candid speech 
 brought upon him the imputation of heresy. He openly 
 attacked the abuses of the church, and urged the necessity 
 of reform. Though at first treated with special favor by the 
 papal dignitaries, he was after a time removed from Rome. 
 Under the surveillance of the church he went from place 
 to place, until it became evident that he could never be 
 brought to submit to the bondage of Romanism. He was 
 declared to be incorrigible, and was left at liberty to go where 
 he pleased. He now made his way to England, and, pro- 
 fessing the Protestant faith, united with the English ( 1 lmivh. 
 After two years' study he set out, in 1821, upon his mission. 
 
 While Wolff accepted the great truth of Christ's first 
 advent as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," he 
 
A ORE A T REL1GIO US A WAKENING. 359 
 
 saw that the prophecies bring to view with equal clearness 
 his second advent with power and glory. And while he 
 sought to lead his people to Jesus of Nazareth as the Prom- 
 ised One, and to point them to his first coming in humiliation 
 as a sacrifice for the sins of men, he taught them also of his 
 second coming as a king and deliverer. 
 
 "Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah," he said, "whose 
 hands and feet were pierced, who was brought like a lamb 
 to the slaughter, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief, who after the scepter was taken from Judah, and 
 the legislative power from between his feet, came the first 
 time, shall come the second time in the clouds of heaven, 
 and with the trump of the archangel," and "shall stand 
 upon the Mount of Olives. And that dominion once con- 
 signed to Adam over the creation and forfeited by him (Gen. 
 1 : 26 ; 3 : 17) shall be given to Jesus. He shall be king over all 
 the earth. The groanings and lamentations of the creation 
 shall cease, but songs of praise and thanksgiving shall be 
 heard." "When Jesus comes in the glory of his Father 
 with the holy angels," "the dead believers shall rise first. 
 1 Thess. 4 : 16 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 23. This is what we Christians call 
 the first resurrection. Then the animal kingdom shall 
 change its nature (Isa. 11 : 6-9), and shall be subdued unto 
 Jesus. Ps. 8. Universal peace shall prevail." "The Lord 
 again shall look down upon the earth, and say, ' Behold, it is 
 very good.' " 
 
 Wolff believed the coming of the Lord to be at hand, 
 his interpretation of the prophetic periods 'placing the great 
 consummation within a very few years of the time pointed 
 out by Miller. To those who urged from the scripture, " Of 
 that day and hour knoweth no man," that men are to know 
 nothing concerning the nearness of the advent, Wolff 
 replied: "Did our 'Lord say that the day and hour should 
 never be known? Did he not give us signs of the times, in 
 order that we may know at least the approach of his coming, 
 as one knows the approach of summer by the fig-tree put- 
 
360 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ting forth its leaves? Are we never to know that period, 
 whilst he himself exhorteth not only to read Daniel the 
 prophet but to understand him? And in that very Daniel 
 where it is said that the words were shut up to the time of 
 the end (which was the case in his time), and that 'many 
 shall run to and fro ' (a Hebrew expression for observing and 
 thinking upon the time), and 'knowledge' (regarding that 
 time) 'shall be increased.' Besides this, our Lord does not 
 intend to say by this, that the approach of the time shall not 
 be known, but that the exact l day and hour knoweth no 
 man.' He does say that enough shall be known by the signs 
 of the times, to induce us to prepare for his coming, as 
 Noah prepared the ark." 
 
 Concerning the popular system of interpreting, or misin- 
 terpreting, the Scriptures, Wolff wrote: " The greater part of 
 the- Christian church have swerved from the plain sense of 
 Scripture, and have turned to the phantoinizing system of 
 the Buddhists; they believe that the future happiness of 
 mankind will consist in moving about in the air, and sup- 
 pose that when they are reading Jews, they must understand 
 Gentiles; and when they read Jerusalem, they must under- 
 stand the church; and if it said earth, it means .s/jy; and for 
 the com.ing of the Lord they must understand the progress of 
 the missionary societies; and going up to the mountain of 
 the Lord's house, signifies a grand class-meeting of Methodists" 
 
 During the twenty-four years from 1821 to 1845, Wolff 
 traveled extensively: in Africa, visiting Egypt and Abys- 
 sinia; in Asia, traversing -Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokh a ra, 
 and India. He also visited the United States, on the jour- 
 ney thither preaching on the island of St. Helena. lie 
 arrived in New York in August, 1837; and after speak ing in 
 that city, he preached in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and 
 finally proceeded to Washington. Here, he says, "on a 
 motion brought forward by the ex-President, John ( v )niney 
 Adiims, in one of the houses of Congress, the House unani- 
 mously granted me the use of the Congress 1 1 all for a lect- 
 
JOSEPH WOLFF AMONG THE ARABS. 
 
A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 361 
 
 ure, which I delivered on. a Saturday, honored with the pres- 
 ence of all the members of Congress, and also of the bishop 
 of Virginia, and the clergy and citizens of Washington. 
 The same honor was granted to me by the members of the 
 Government of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in whose pres- 
 ence I delivered lectures on my researches in Asia, and also 
 on the personal reign of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Dr. Wolff traveled in the most barbarous countries, with- 
 out the protection of any European authority, enduring 
 many hardships, and surrounded with countless perils. He 
 was bastinadoed and starved, sold as a slave, and three times 
 condemned to death. He was beset by robbers, and some- 
 times nearly perished from thirst. Once he was stripped 
 of all that he possessed, and left to travel hundreds of 
 miles on foot through the mountains, the snow beating in 
 his face, and his naked feet benumbed by contact with the 
 frozen ground. 
 
 When warned against going unarmed amongst savage 
 and hostile tribes, he declared himself provided with arms, 
 "prayer, zeal for Christ, and confidence in his help." "I 
 am also," he said, "provided with the love of God and my 
 neighbor in my heart, and the Bible is in my hand." The 
 Bible in Hebrew and English he carried with him wherever 
 he went. Of one of his later journeys he says, " I kept the 
 Bible open in my hand. I felt my power was in the book, 
 and that its might would sustain me." 
 
 Thus he persevered in his labors until the message of the 
 Judgment had been carried to a large part of the habitable 
 globe. Among Jews, Turks, Parsees, Hindoos, and many 
 other nationalities and races, he distributed the Word of God 
 in these various tongues, and everywhere heralded the 
 approaching reign of the Messiah. 
 
 In his travels in Bokhara he found the doctrine of the 
 Lord's soon coming held by a remote and isolated people. 
 The Arabs of Yemen, he says, "are in t possession of a book 
 called 'Seera,' which gives notice of the coming of Christ 
 
362 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and his reign in glory, and they expect great events to take 
 place in the year 1840." " In Yemen I spent six days with 
 the Rechabites. They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, 
 sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jona- 
 dab, the son of Rechab. With them were the children of 
 Israel of the tribe of Dan, . . . who expect, in common 
 with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Mes- 
 siah in the clouds of heaven." 
 
 A*similar belief was found by another missionary to exist in 
 Tartary. A Tartar priest put the question to the missionary, 
 as to when Christ would come the second time. When the 
 missionary answered that he knew nothing about it, the 
 priest seemed greatly surprised at such ignorance in one who 
 professed to be a Bible teacher, and stated his own belief, 
 founded on prophecy, that Christ would come about 1844. 
 
 As early as 1826 the Advent message began to be preached 
 in England. The movement here did . not take so definite 
 a form as in America, the exact time of the advent was not 
 so generally taught, but the great truth of Christ's soon 'com- 
 ing in power and glory was extensively proclaimed. And 
 this not among dissenters and non-conformists tmly. Mou- 
 rant Brock, an English writer, states that about seven hun- 
 dred ministers of the Church of England were engaged in 
 preaching this "gospel of the kingdom." The message 
 pointing to 1844 as the time of the Lord's coming was also 
 given in Great Britain. Advent publications from the 
 United States were widely circulated. Books and journals 
 were republished in England. And in 1842, Robert Winter, 
 an Englishman by birth, who had received the Advent faith 
 in America, returned to his native country to herald the 
 coming of the Lord. Many united with him in the work, 
 and the message of the Judgment was proclaimed in various 
 parts of England. 
 
 In South America, in the midst of barbarism and priest- 
 craft, Lacunza, a Spaniard and a Jesuit, found his way to 
 the Scriptures, and thus received the truth of Christ's speedy 
 
A ORE A T RELIGIO US A WAKENING. 363 
 
 return. Impelled to give the warning, yet desiring to escape 
 the censures of Koine, he published his views under the 
 assumed name of "Rabbi Ben-Israel," representing himself 
 as a converted Jew. Lacunza lived in the eighteenth cent- 
 ury, but it was about 1825 that his book, having found its 
 way to London, was translated into the English language. 
 Its publication served to deepen the interest already awaken- 
 ing in England in the subject of the second advent. 
 
 In Germany the doctrine had been taught in the eight- 
 eenth century by Bengel, a minister in the Lutheran Church, 
 and a celebrated Biblical scholar and critic. Upon com- 
 pleting his education, Bengel had devoted himself to the 
 study of theology, " to which the grave and religious tone 
 of his mind, deepened and strengthened by his early train- 
 ing and discipline, naturally inclined him. Like other 
 young men of thoughtful character, before and since, he 
 had to struggle with doubts and difficulties of a religious 
 nature, and he alludes, with much feeling, to the 'many 
 arrows which pierced his poor heart, and made his youth 
 hard to bear.'" Becoming a member of the consistory of 
 Wiirtemberg, he advocated the cause of religious liberty, 
 urging "that all reasonable freedom be accorded those who 
 felt themselves bound, on grounds of conscience, to with- 
 draw from the established church." The good effects of this 
 policy are still felt in his native province. 
 
 It was while preparing a sermon from Revelation 21 for 
 "Advent Sunday " that the light of Christ's second coming 
 broke in upon Bengel's mind. The prophecies of the Rev-, 
 elation unfolded to his understanding as never before. Over- 
 whelmed with a sense of the stupendous importance and 
 surpassing glory of the scenes presented by the prophet, he 
 was forced to turn for a time from the contemplation of the 
 subject. In the pulpit it again presented itself to him with 
 all its vividness and power. From that time he devoted 
 himself to the study of the prophecies, especially those of the 
 Apocalypse, and soon arrived at the belief that they pointed 
 
364 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 to the coining of Christ as near. The date which he fixed 
 upon as the time of the second advent was within a very 
 few years of that afterward held by Miller. 
 
 Bengel's writings have been spread throughout Christen- 
 dom. His views of prophecy were quite generally received 
 in his own State of Wurtemberg, and to some extent in 
 other parts of Germany. The movement continued after his 
 death, and the Advent message was heard in Germany at 
 the same time that it was attracting attention in other lands. 
 At an early date some of the believers went to Russia, and 
 there formed colonies, and the faith of Christ's soon coming 
 is still held by the German churches of that country. 
 
 The light shone also in France and Switzerland. At 
 Geneva, where Farel and Calvin had spread the truths of the 
 Reformation, Gaussen. preached the message of the second 
 advent. While a student at school, Gaussen had encountered 
 that spirit of rationalism which pervaded all Europe during 
 the latter part of the eighteenth and the opening of the nine- 
 teenth century; and when he entered the ministry he was 
 not only ignorant of true faith, but inclined to skepticism. 
 In his youth he had become interested in the study of proph- 
 ecy. After reading " Rollin's Ancient History," his attention 
 was called to the second chapter of Daniel, and he was 
 struck with the wonderful exactness with which the proph- 
 ecy had been fulfilled, as seen in the historian's record. 
 Here was a testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures, 
 which served as an anchor to him amid the perils of later 
 years. He could not rest satisfied with the teachings of 
 rationalism, and in studying the Bible and searching for 
 clearer light he was, after a time, led to a positive faith. 
 
 As he pursued his investigation of the prophecies, he 
 arrived at the belief that the coming of the Lord was at 
 hand. Impressed with the solemnity and importance of 
 this great truth, he desired to bring it before the people, but 
 the popular belief that the prophecies of Daniel are mys- 
 teries and cannot be understood, was a serious obstacle in 
 
A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 365 
 
 his way. He finally determined as Farel had done before 
 him in evangelizing Geneva to begin with the children, 
 through whom he hoped to interest the parents. 
 
 "I desire this to be understood," he afterward said, speak- 
 ing of his object in this undertaking, "it is not because of 
 its small importance, but on the contrary because of its 
 great value, that I wished to present it in this familiar form, 
 and that I addressed it to the children. I desired to be 
 heard, and I feared that I would not be if I addressed 
 myself to the grown people first." "I determined therefore 
 to go to the youngest. I gather an audience of children; if 
 the group enlarges, if it is seen that they listen, are pleased, 
 interested, that they understand and explain the subject, I 
 am sure to have a second circle soon, and in their turn, 
 grown people will see that it is worth their while to sit down 
 and study. When this is done, the cause is gained." 
 
 The effort' was successful. As he addressed the children, 
 older persons came to listen. The galleries of his church 
 were filled with attentive hearers. Among them were men 
 of rank and learning, and strangers and foreigners visiting 
 Geneva, and thus the message was carried to other parts. 
 
 Encouraged by this success, Gaussen published his lessons, 
 with the hope of promoting the study of the prophetic books 
 in the churches of the French-speaking people/ "To pub- 
 lish instruction given to the children," says Gaussen, " is to 
 say to adults, who too often neglect such books under 
 the false pretense that they are obscure, ' How can they be 
 obscure, since your children understand them?" "I had a 
 great desire," he adds, "to render a knowledge of the proph- 
 ecies popular in our flocks, if possible." " There is no study, 
 indeed, which it seems to me answers the needs of the time 
 better." " It is by this that we are to prepare for the tribu- 
 lation near at hand, and watch and wait for Jesus Christ." 
 
 Though one of the most distinguished and beloved of 
 preachers in the French language, Gaussen was after a time 
 suspended from the ministry, his principal offense being that 
 
366 ffltf G&EAT 
 
 instead of the church's catechism, a tame and rationalistic 
 manual, almost destitute of positive faith, he had used the 
 Bible in giving instruction to the youth. He afterward 
 became teacher in a theological school, while on Sunday 
 he continued his work as catechist, addressing the children, 
 and instructing them in the Scriptures. His works on 
 prophecy also excited much interest. From the professor's 
 chair, through the press, and in his favorite occupation as 
 teacher of children, he continued for many years to exert an 
 extensive influence, and was instrumental in calling the 
 attention of many to the study of the prophecies which 
 showed that the coming of the Lord was near. 
 
 In Scandinavia also the Advent message Was proclaimed, 
 and a widespread interest was kindled. Many were roused 
 from their careless security, to confess and forsake their sins, 
 and seek pardon in the name of Christ. But the clergy of 
 the State church opposed the movement, and through their 
 influence some who preached the message were thrown into 
 prison. In many places where the preachers of the Lord's 
 soon coming were thus silenced, God was pleased to send the 
 message, in a miraculous manner, through little children. 
 As they were under age, the law of the State could not 
 restrain them, and they were permitted to speak unmolested. 
 
 The movement was chiefly among the lower class, and 
 it was in the humble dwellings of the laborers that the 
 people assembled to hear the warning. The child-preachers 
 themselves were mostly poor cottagers. Some of them were 
 not more thaa six or eight years of age, and while their 
 lives testified that they loved the Saviour, and were trying to 
 live in obedience to God's holy requirements, they ordinarily 
 manifested only the intelligence and ability usually seen in 
 children of that age. When standing before the people, 
 however, it was evident that they were moved by an influ- 
 ence beyond their own natural gifts. Tone and manner 
 changed, and with solemn power they gave the warning of 
 the Judgment, employing the very words of Scripture, 
 
A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 367 
 
 "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his 
 Judgment is come." They reproved the sins of the people, 
 not only condemning immorality and vice, but rebuking 
 worldliness and backsliding, and warning their hearers to 
 make haste to flee from the wrath to come. 
 
 The people heard with trembling. The convicting Spirit 
 of God spoke to their hearts. Many were led to search the 
 Scriptures with new and deeper interest, the intemperate and 
 immoral were reformed, others abandoned their dishonest 
 practices, and a work was done so marked that even minis- 
 ters of the State church were forced to acknowledge that the 
 hand of God was in the movement. 
 
 It was God's will that the tidings of the Saviour's coming 
 should be given in the Scandinavian countries ; and when 
 the voices of his servants were silenced, ha put his Spirit 
 upon the children, that the work might be accomplished. 
 When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem attended by the rejoic- 
 ing multitudes that, with shouts of triumph and the wav- 
 ing of palm, branches, heralded him as the Son of David, 
 the jealous Pharisees called upon him to silence them; but 
 Jesus answered that all this was in fulfillment of proph- 
 ecy, and if these should hold their peace, the very stones 
 would cry out. The people, intimidated by the threats of 
 the priests and rulers, ceased their joyful proclamation as 
 they entered the gates of Jerusalem ; but the children in the 
 temple courts afterward took up the refrain, and, waving 
 their branches of palm, they cried, " Hosanna to the Son 
 of David!" 1 When the Pharisees, sorely displeased, said 
 unto him, "Hearest thou what these say?" Jesus answered, 
 "Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and 
 sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" As God wrought 
 through children at the time of Christ's first advent, so he 
 wrought through them in giving the message of his second 
 advent. God's -Word must be fulfilled, that the proclamation 
 of the Saviour's coming should be given to all peoples, 
 tongues, and nations. 
 
 1 Matt. 21 : 8- 16. 
 
368 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 To William Miller and his co-laborers it was given to 
 preach* the warning in America. This country became the 
 center of the great Advent movement. It was here that 
 the prophecy of the first angel's message had its most 
 direct fulfillment. The writings of Miller and his asso- 
 ciates were carried to distant lands. Wherever missionaries 
 had penetrated in all the world, were sent the glad tidings 
 of Christ's speedy return. Far and wide spread the message 
 of the everlasting gospel, " Fear God, and give glory to him ; 
 for the hour of his Judgment is come." 
 
 The testimony of the prophecies which seemed to point to 
 the coming of Christ in the spring of 1844 took deep hold of 
 the minds of the people. As the message went from State 
 to State, there was everywhere awakened widespread interest. 
 Many were convinced that the arguments from the prophetic 
 periods were correct, and, sacrificing their pride of opinion, 
 they joyfully received the truth. Some ministers laid aside 
 their sectarian views and feelings, left their salaries and 
 their churches, and united in proclaiming the coming of 
 Jesus. There were comparatively few ministers, however, 
 who would accept this message; therefore it was largely 
 committed to humble laymen. Farmers left their fields, 
 mechanics their tools, traders their merchandise, professional 
 men their positions; and yet the number of workers was 
 small in comparison witli the work to be accomplished. The 
 condition of an ungodly church and a world lying in wick- 
 edness burdened the souls of the true watchmen, and they 
 willingly endured toil, privation, and suffering, that they 
 might call men to repentance unto salvation. Though 
 opposed by Satan, the work went steadily forward, and the 
 Advent truth was accepted by many thousands. 
 
 Kverywherc the searching testimony was heard, warning 
 sinners, both worldlings and ehmvli-nieinhers, to flee from 
 the wrath to come. Like John the Baptist, the forerunner 
 of Christ, the preachers laid the ax at the root of the tree, 
 and urged all to bring forth fruit meet for repentance. 
 
A ORE A T RELIGIOUS A WA KEN ING. 369 
 
 Their stirring appeals were in marked contrast to the assur- 
 ances of peace and safety that were heard from popular pul- 
 pits; and wherever the message was given, it moved the 
 people. The simple, direct testimony of the Scriptures, set 
 home by the power of the Holy Spirit, brought a weight of 
 conviction which few were able wholly to resist. Professors 
 of religion were roused from their false security. They saw 
 their backslidings, their worldliness and unbelief, their pride 
 and selfishness. Many sought the Lord with repentance and 
 humiliation. The affections that had so long clung to 
 earthly things they now fixed upon Heaven. The Spirit of 
 God rested upon them, and with hearts softened and sub- 
 dued they joined to sound the cry, "Fear God, and give 
 glory to him ; for the hour of his Judgment is come." 
 
 Sinners inquired with weeping, "What must I do to be 
 saved?" Those whose lives had been marked with dishon- 
 esty were anxious to make restitution. All who found peace 
 in Christ longed to see others share the blessing. The hearts 
 of parents were turned to their children, and the hearts of 
 children to their parents. The barriers ot pride and reserve 
 were swept away. Heart-felt confessions were made, and 
 the members of the household labored for the salvation of 
 those who were nearest and dearest. Often was heard the 
 sound of earnest intercession. Everywhere were souls in deep 
 anguish, pleading with God. Many wrestled all night in 
 prayer for the assurance that their own sins were pardoned, 
 or for the conversion of their relatives or neighbors. 
 
 All classes flocked to the Adventist meetings. Rich and 
 poor, high and low, were, from various causes, anxious to 
 hear for themselves the doctrine of the second advent. The 
 Lord held the spirit of opposition in check while his servants 
 explained the reasons of their faith. Sometimes the instru- 
 ment was feeble; but the Spirit of God gave power to his 
 truth. The presence of holy angels was felt in these assem- 
 blies, and many were daily added to the believers. As the 
 evidences of Christ's soon coming were repeated, vast crowds 
 
 28 
 
370 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 listened in breathless silence to the solemn words. Heaven 
 and earth seemed to approach each other. The power of 
 God was felt upon old and young and middle-aged. Men 
 sought their homes with praises upon their lips, and the glad 
 sound rang out upon the still night air. None who attended 
 those meetings can ever forget those scenes of deepest interest. 
 
 The proclamation of a definite time for Christ's coming 
 called forth great opposition from many of all classes, from 
 the minister in the pulpit down to the most reckless, Heaven- 
 daring sinner. The words of prophecy were fulfilled: "There 
 shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their 
 own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? 
 for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they 
 were from the beginning of the creation." 1 Many who pro- 
 fessed to love the Saviour, declared that they had no oppo- 
 sition to the doctrine of the second advent; they merely 
 objected to the definite time. But God's all-seeing eye read 
 their hearts. They did not wish to hear of Christ's coming 
 to judge the world in righteousness. They had been unfaith- 
 ful servants, their works would not bear the inspection of the 
 heart-searching God, and they feared to meet their Lord. 
 Like the Jews at the time of Christ's first advent, they were 
 not prepared to welcome Jesus. They not only refused to 
 listen to the plain arguments from the Bible, but ridiculed 
 those who were looking for the Lord. Satan and his angels 
 exulted, and flung the taunt in the face of Christ and holy 
 angels, that his professed people had so little love for him 
 that they did not desire his appearing. 
 
 "No man knoweth the day nor the hour," was the argu- 
 ment jnost often brought forward by rejecters of the Advent 
 faith. The scripture is, " Of that day and hour knoweth no 
 man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only." a A 
 clear and harmonious explanation of this text was given by 
 those who were looking for the Lord, and the wrong us< 
 made of it by .their opponents was rlcjirly shown. The 
 
 1 2 Peter 3 : 3, 4. ' Matt . 24 : 36. 
 
A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING. 371 
 
 words were spoken by Christ in that memorable conversa- 
 tion with his disciples upon Olivet, after he had for the last 
 time departed from the temple. The disciples had asked 
 the question, " What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of 
 the end of the world?" Jesus gave them signs, and said, 
 " When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, 
 even at the doors." 1 One saying of the Saviour must not 
 be made to destroy another. Though no man knoweth the 
 day nor the hour of his coming, we are instructed and 
 required to know when it is near. We are further taught 
 that to disregard his warning, and refuse or neglect to know 
 when his advent is near, will be as fatal for us, as it was for 
 those who lived in the days of Noah not to know when the 
 flood was coming. And^the parable in the same chapter 
 contrasting the faithful and the unfaithful servant, and 
 giving the doom of him who said in his heart, " My Lord 
 delayeth his coming," shows in what light Christ will regard 
 and reward those whom he finds watching, and teaching his 
 coming, and those denying it. " Watch therefore," he says; 
 "blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh 
 shall find so doing." 1 " If therefore thou shalt not watch, I 
 will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what 
 hour I will come upon thee." 2 
 
 Paul speaks of a class to whom the Lord's appearing will 
 come unawares. " The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief 
 in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety^ 
 then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and 
 they shall not escape." But he adds, to those who have 
 given heed to the Saviour's warning, "Ye, brethren, are 
 not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a 
 thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of 
 the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness." 3 
 
 Thus it was shown that Scripture gives no warrant for 
 men to remain in ignorance concerning the nearness of 
 Christ's coming. But those who desired only an excuse to 
 
 1 Matt. 24 : 3, 33, 42-51. ' Rev. 3:3. s 1 Thess. 5 : 2-0, 
 
372 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 reject the truth closed their ears U> this explanation; and 
 the words, "No man knoweth the day nor the hour," con- 
 tinued to be echoed by the bold scoffer, and even by the 
 professed minister of Christ. As the people were roused, 
 and began to inquire the way of salvation, religious teachers 
 stepped in. between them and the truth, seeking to quiet 
 their fears by falsely interpreting the Word of God. Un- 
 faithful watchmen united in the work of the great deceiver, 
 crying, Peace, peace, when God had not spoken peace. Like 
 the Pharisees in Christ's day, many refused to enter the 
 kingdom of Heaven themselves, and those who w r ere enter- 
 ing in, they hindered. The blood of these souls will be 
 required at their hand. 
 
 The most humble and devoted in the churches were 
 usually the first to receive the message. Those who studied 
 the Bible for themselves could not but see the unscriptural 
 character of the popular views of prophecy, and wherever 
 the people were not controlled by the influence of the clergy, 
 wherever they would search the Word of God for themselves, 
 the Advent doctrine needed only to be compared with the 
 Scriptures to establish its divine authority. 
 
 Many were persecuted by their unbelieving brethren. In 
 order to retain their position in the church, some consented 
 to be silent in regard to their hope; but others felt that 
 loyalty to God forbade them thus to hide the truths which 
 he had committed to their trust. Not a few were cut oil 
 from the fellowship of the church for no other reason than 
 expressing their belief in the coming of Christ. Very pre- 
 cious to those who bore this trial of their faith were tin- 
 words of the prophet, "Your brethren that hated you, that 
 cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be 
 glorified. But he shall appear to your joy, and they shall 
 be ashamed." l 
 
 Angels of God were watching with the deepest interest 
 the result of the warning. When there was a general 
 rejection of the message by the churches, angels turned 
 
 l l*a. 66:5. 
 
A ORE A T nELJGIOUS AWAKENING. 373 
 
 away in sadness. Yet there were many who had not yet 
 been tested in regard to the Advent truth. Many were 
 misled by husbands, wives, parents, or children, and were 
 made to believe it a sin even to listen to such heresies as 
 were taught by the Adventists. Angels were bidden to keep 
 faithful watch over these souls; for another light was yet to 
 shine upon them from the throne of God. 
 
 With unspeakable desire those who had received the 
 message watched for the coming of their Saviour. The 
 time when they expected to meet him was at hand. They 
 approached this hour with a calm solemnity. They rested 
 in sweet communion with God, an earnest of the peace that 
 was to be theirs in the bright hereafter. None who experi- 
 enced this hope and trust can forget those precious hours of 
 waiting. For some weeks preceding the time, worldly bus- 
 iness was for the most part laid aside. The sincere believers 
 carefully examined every thought and emotion of their 
 hearts as if upon their death-beds and in a few hours to close 
 their eyes upon earthly scenes. There was no making of 
 "ascension robes;" 1 but all felt the need of internal evidence 
 that they were prepared to meet the Saviour; their white 
 robes were purity of soul, characters cleansed from sin by 
 the atoning blood of Christ. Would that there was still 
 with the professed people of God the same spirit of heart- 
 searching, the same earnest, determined faith. Had they 
 continued thus to humble themselves before the Lord, and 
 press their petitions at the mercy-seat, they would be in 
 possession of a far richer experience than they now have. 
 There is too little prayer, too little real conviction of sin, 
 and the lack of living faith leaves many destitute of the 
 grace so richly provided by our Redeemer. 
 
 God designed to prove his people. His hand covered a 
 mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. 2 Advent- 
 ists did not discover the error, nor was it discovered by the 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 4. 
 
 'See diagram opposite p. 328; also Appendix, Note 3. 
 
3?4 T1IK GttEAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 most learned of their opponents. The latter said: "Your 
 reckoning of the prophetic periods is correct. Some great 
 event is about to take place; but it is not what Mr. Miller 
 predicts; it is the conversion of the world, and not the sec- 
 ond advent of Christ." 
 
 The time of expectation passed, and Christ did not appear 
 for* the deliverance of his people. Those who with sincere 
 faith and love had looked for their Saviour, experienced a 
 bitter disappointment. Yet the purposes of God were being 
 accomplished: he was testing the hearts of those who pro- 
 fessed to be waiting for his appearing. There were among 
 them many who had been actuated by no higher motive 
 than fear. Their profession of faith had not affected their 
 hearts or their lives. When the expected event failed to 
 take place, these persons declared that they were not dis- 
 appointed; they had never believed that Christ would come. 
 They were among the first to ridicule the sorrow of the true 
 believers. 
 
 But Jesus and all the heavenly host looked with love and 
 sympathy upon the tried and faithful yet disappointed ones. 
 Could the veil separating the visible from the invisible 
 world have been swept back, angels would have been seen 
 drawing near to these steadfast souls, and shielding them 
 from the shafts of Satan. 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 5. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A WARNING REJECTED. 
 
 IN preaching the doctrine of the second advent, William 
 Miller and his associates had labored with the sole purpose 
 of arousing men to a preparation for the Judgment. They 
 had sought to awaken professors of religion to the true hope 
 of the church, and to their need of a deeper Christian expe- 
 rience; and they labored also to awaken the unconverted to 
 the duty of immediate repentance and conversion to God. 
 "They made no attempt to convert men to a sect or party 
 in religion. Hence they labored among all parties and 
 sects, without interfering with their organization or dis- 
 cipline." 
 
 " In all my labors," said Miller, " I never had the desire 
 or thought to establish any separate interest from that of 
 existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of 
 another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Chris- 
 tians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ's coming, and 
 that those who could not see as I did would not love any 
 the less those who should embrace this doctrine, I did not 
 conceive there would ever be any necessity for separate 
 meetings. My whole object was a desire to convert souls to 
 God, to notify the world of a coming Judgment, and to 
 induce my fellow-men to make that preparation of heart 
 which will enable them to meet their God in peace. The 
 great majority of those who were converted under my labors 
 united with the various existing churches." 
 
 As his work tended to build up the churches, it was for a 
 time regarded with favor. But as ministers and religious 
 leaders decided against the Advent doctrine, and desired to 
 
 (375) 
 
376 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 suppress all agitation of the subject, they not only opposed 
 it from the pulpit, but denied their members the privilege 
 of attending preaching upon the second advent, or even of 
 speaking of their hope in the social meetings of the church. 
 Thus the believers found themselves in a position of great 
 trial and perplexity. They loved their churches, and were 
 loth to separate from them ; but as they saw the testimony 
 of God's Word suppressed, and their right to investigate the 
 prophecies denied, they felt that loyalty to God forbade 
 them to submit. Those who sought to shut out the testi- 
 mony of God's Word they could not regard as constituting 
 the church of Christ, "the pillar and ground of the truth." 
 Hence they felt themselves justified in separating from their 
 former connection. In the summer of 1844 about fifty 
 thousand withdrew from the churches. 
 
 About this time a marked change was apparent in most 
 of the churches throughout the United States. There; had 
 been for many years a gradual but steadily increasing con- 
 formity to worldly practices and customs, and a correspond- 
 ing decline in real spiritual life; but in that year there were 
 evidences of a suclden and marked declension, in nearly nil 
 the churches of the land. While none seemed able to suggest 
 the cause, the fact itself was widely noted and commented 
 upon, both by the press and the pulpit. 
 
 At a meeting of the presbytery of Philadelphia, Mr. 
 Barnes, author of the commentary so widely used, and pas- 
 tor of one of the leading churches in that city, "stated Hint 
 he had been in the ministry for twenty years, and never 
 till the last communion had he administered the ordinance 
 without receiving more or less into the church. But now 
 there are no awakenings, no conversions, noi much apparent 
 growth in grace in professors, nnd none come to his study 
 to converse about th(3 salvation of their souls. With the 
 increase of business, and the brightening prospects of com- 
 merce and manufactures, there is an increase of worldly- 
 .mindedness. Thus it is with all denominations" 
 
A WARNING REJECTED. 377 
 
 in the month of February of the same year, Professor 
 Finney, of Oberlin College, said: "We have had the facts 
 before our minds, that, in general, the Protestant churches 
 of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to 
 nearly all the moral reforms of the age. There are par- 
 tial exceptions, yet not enough to render the fact otherwise 
 than general. We have also another corroborative fact, 
 the almost universal absence of revival influence in the 
 churches. The spiritual apathy is almost all-pervading, and 
 is fearfully deep; so the religious press of the whole land 
 testifies. Very extensively, church-members are becoming 
 devotees of fashion, joining hands with the ungodly in par- 
 ties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities, etc. But we need 
 not expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence 
 thickens and rolls heavily upon us, to show that the churches 
 generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone 
 very far from the Lord, and he has withdrawn himself from 
 them." 
 
 And a writer in the Religions Telescope testified : " We have 
 never witnessed such a general declension as at present. 
 Truly, the church should awake, and search into the cause 
 of this affliction; for an affliction every one that loves Zion 
 must view it. When we call to mind how few and far 
 between cases of true conversion are, and the almost unpar- 
 alleled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost 
 involuntarily exclaim, 'Has God forgotten to be gracious? 
 or is the door of mercy closed? ' ' 
 
 Such a condition never exists without cause in the church 
 itself. The spiritual darkness which falls upon nations, 
 upon churches and individuals, is due, not to an arbitrary 
 withdrawal of the succors of divine grace on the part of 
 God, but to neglect or rejection of divine light on the part of 
 men. A striking illustration of this truth is presented in 
 the history of the Jewish people in the time of Christ. By 
 their devotion to the world and forgetfulness of God and 
 his Word, their understanding had become darkened, their 
 
378 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 hearts earthly and sensual. Thus they were in ignorance 
 concerning Messiah's advent, and in their pride and unbelief 
 they rejected the Redeemer. God did not even then cut off 
 the Jewish nation from a knowledge of, or a participation 
 in, the blessings of salvation. But those who rejected the 
 truth lost all desire for the gift of Heaven. They had "put 
 darkness for light, and light for darkness," until the light 
 which was in them became darkness; and how great was 
 that darkness! 
 
 It suits the policy of Satan, that men should retain the 
 forms of religion, if but the spirit of vital godliness is lack- 
 ing. After their rejection of the gospel, the Jews continued 
 zealously to maintain their ancient rites, they rigorously 
 preserved their national exclusiveness, while they them- 
 selves could not but admit that the presence of God was 
 no longer manifest among them. The prophecy of Daniel 
 pointed so unmistakably to the time of Messiah's coming, 
 and so directly foretold his death, that they discouraged its 
 study, and finally the rabbis pronounced a curse on all who 
 should attempt a computation of the time. In blindness 
 and impenitence, the people of Israel for eighteen hundred 
 years have stood, indifferent to the gracious offers of salva- 
 tion, unmindful of the blessings of the gospel, a solemn 
 and fearful warning of the danger of rejecting light from 
 Heaven. 
 
 Wherever the cause exists, the same results will' follow. 
 He who deliberately stifles his convictions of duty because 
 it interferes with his inclinations, will finally lose the power 
 to distinguish between truth and error. The understanding 
 becomes darkened, the conscience callous, the heart hard- 
 ened, and the soul is separated from God. Where the mes- 
 sage of divine truth is spurned or slighted, there the church 
 will be enshrouded in darkness; faith and love grow cold, 
 and estrangement and dissension enter. Church-members 
 center their interests and energies in worldly pursuits, and 
 sinners become hardened in their impenitence. 
 
A WARNINU HKJECTKD. . 379 
 
 The first angel's message of llevelatioii 14, announcing 
 the 'hour of God's Judgment, and calling upon men to fear 
 and worship him, was designed to separate the professed 
 people of God from the corrupting influences of the world, 
 and to arouse them to see their true condition of worldli- 
 ness and backsliding. In this message, God had sent to the 
 church a warning, which, had it been accepted, would have 
 corrected the evils that were shutting them away from him. 
 Had they received the message from Heaven, humbling 
 their hearts before the Lord, and seeking in sincerity a prep- 
 aration to stand in his presence, the Spirit and power of God 
 would have been manifested among them. The church 
 would again have reached that blessed state of unity, faith, 
 and love, which existed in apostolic days, when the believers 
 were of " one heart and of one soul," and " spake the word of 
 God with boldness," when "the Lord added to the church 
 daily such as should be saved." 1 
 
 If God's professed people would receive the light as it 
 shines upon them from his Word, they would reach that 
 unity for which Christ prayed, that which the apostle de- 
 scribes, "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." 
 " There is," he says, " one body K and one Spirit, even as ye 
 are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, 
 one baptism." 2 
 
 Such were the blessed results experienced by those who ac- 
 cepted the Advent message. They " came from different de- 
 nominations, and their denominational barriers were hurled 
 to the ground; conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms; 
 the unscriptural hope of a temporal millennium was aban- 
 doned, false views of the second advent were corrected, pride 
 and conformity to the world were swept away; wrongs were 
 made right; hearts were united in the sweetest fellowship, 
 and love and joy reigned supreme. If this doctrine did 
 this for the few who did receive it, it would have done the 
 same for all, if all had received it." 
 
 1 Acts 4 : 32, 31 ; 2 : 47 . * Eph. 4 : 3-5. 
 
380 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 But the churches generally did not accept the warning. 
 Their ministers, who as " watchmen unto the house of Israel," 
 should have heen the first to discern the tokens of Jesus' 
 coming, had failed to learn the truth, either from the testi- 
 mony of the prophets or from the signs of the times. As 
 worldly hopes and ambitions filled the heart, love for God 
 and faith in his Word had grown cold, and when the Advent 
 doctrine was presented, it only aroused their prejudice and 
 unbelief. The fact that the message was, to a great extent, 
 preached by laymen, was urged as an argument against it. 
 As of old, the plain testimony of God's Word was met with 
 the inquiry, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees 
 believed?" And finding how difficult a task it was to refute 
 the arguments drawn from the prophetic periods, many dis- 
 couraged the study of the prophecies, teaching that the 
 prophetic books were sealed, and were not to be understood. 
 Multitudes, trusting implicitly to their pastors, refused to 
 listen to the warning; and others, though convinced of the 
 truth, dared not confess it, lest they should be "put out of 
 the synagogue." The message which God had sent for the 
 testing and purification of the church, revealed all too surely 
 how great was the number who had set their affections on 
 this world rather than upon Christ. The ties which bound 
 them to earth w r ere stronger than the attractions heaven- 
 ward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly wisdom, 
 and turned away from the heart-searching message of truth. 
 
 In refusing the warning of the first angel, they rejected 
 the means which Heaven had provided for their restoration. 
 They spurned the gracious messenger that would have cor- 
 rected the evils which separated them from God, and witli 
 greater eagerness they turned to seek the friendship of the 
 world. Here was the cause of that fearful condition of 
 worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death which existed in 
 the churches in 1844. 
 
 In Revelation 14, the first angel is followed by a second, 
 proclaiming, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 
 
A WARNING REJECTED. 381 
 
 because she made all nations drink of the wine of the 
 wnith of her fornication." 1 The term Babylon is derived 
 from Babel, and signifies confusion. It is employed in 
 Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate 
 religion. In Revelation 17, Babylon is represented as a 
 woman, a figure which is used in the Bible as the symbol of 
 a church, a virtuous woman representing a pure church, a 
 vile woman an apostate church. 
 
 In the Bible the sacred, and enduring character of the 
 relation that exists between Christ and his church is repre- 
 sented by the union of marriage. The Lord has joined his 
 people to himself by a solemn covenant, he promising to be 
 their God, and they pledging themselves to be his, and his 
 alone. He declares, "I will betroth thee unto me forever; 
 yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in 
 judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies." 2 And 
 again, "I am married unto you." 5 And Paul employs the 
 same figure in the New Testament, when he says, "I have 
 espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a 
 chaste virgin to Christ." * 
 
 The unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in permitting 
 her confidence and affection to be turned from him, and 
 allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul, is 
 likened to the violation of the marriage vow. The sin of 
 Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this 
 figure; and the wonderful love of God which they thus 
 despised is touchingly portrayed. " I sware unto thee, and 
 entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and 
 thou becamest mine." "And thou wast exceeding beautiful, 
 and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown 
 went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was 
 perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee. 
 . . . But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and play- 
 edst the harlot because of thy renown." "As a wife treach- 
 erously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treach- 
 
 1 Rev. 14 : 8. 2 Hos. 2 : 19. Jer. 3 : 14. < 2 Cor. 11:2. 
 
THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 erously with me, house of Israel, saith the Lord;" "as a 
 wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead 
 of her husband." * 
 
 In the New Testament", language very similar is addressed 
 to professed Christians who seek the friendship of the world 
 above the favor of God. Says the apostle James: "Ye adul- 
 terers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of 
 the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be 
 a friend of the world is the enemy of God." 
 
 The woman, Babylon, of Revelation 17, is described as 
 "arrayed. in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold 
 and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her 
 hand full of abominations and filthiness. . . . And upon 
 her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the 
 Great, the mother of harlots." Says the prophet, "I saw 
 the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with 
 the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." : Babylon is further, 
 declared to be "that great city, which reigneth over the 
 kings of the earth." 3 The power that for so many cent- 
 uries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of Chris- 
 tendom, is Rome. The purple and scarlet color, the gold 
 and precious stones and pearls, vividly picture the mag- 
 nificence and more than kingly pomp affected by the 
 haughty see of Rome. And no other power could be so 
 truly declared " drunken with the blood of the saints " as 
 that church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of 
 Christ. Babylon is also charged with the sin of unlawful 
 connection with "the kings of the earth." It was by depart- 
 ure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that tli< i 
 Jewish church became a harlot; and Rome, corrupting her- 
 self in like manner by seeking the support of worldly powers, 
 receives a like condemnation. 
 
 Babylon is said to be "the mother of harlots." By her 
 daughters must be symbolized churches that clmg to her doc- 
 trines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing 
 
 1 Eze. 16:8, 13-15, 32; Jer. 3 : 20. ' L Rev. 17 : 4^6. 3 Rev. 17 : 1$. 
 
A WARNING REJECTED. 383 
 
 the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an 
 unlawful alliance with the world. The message of Revela- 
 tion 1.4 announcing the fall of Babylon, must apply to relig- 
 ious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. 
 Since this message follows the warning of the Judgment, it 
 must be given in the last days, therefore it cannot refer to 
 the Romish Church, for that church has been in a fallen 
 condition for many centuries. Furthermore, in the eight- 
 eenth chapter of the Revelation, in a message which is yet 
 future, the people of God are called upon to come out of 
 Babylon. According to this scripture, many of God's people 
 must still be in Babylon. And in what religious bodies are 
 the greater part of the followers of Christ now to be found ? 
 Without doubt, in the various churches professing the Prot- 
 estant faith. At the time of their rise, these churches took 
 a noble stand for God and the truth, and his blessing was 
 with them. Even the unbelieving world was constrained 
 to acknowledge the beneficent results that followed an 
 acceptance of the principles of the gospel. In the words 
 of the prophet to Israel, "Thy renown went forth among 
 the heathen for thy beauty ; for it was perfect through my 
 comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." 
 But they fell by the same desire which was the curse and 
 ruin of Israel, the desire of imitating the practices and 
 courting the friendship of the ungodly. " Thou didst trust 
 in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy 
 
 renown." 
 
 Many of the Protestant churches are following Rome's 
 example of iniquitous connection with "the kings of the 
 earth ; " the State churches, by their relation to secular gov- 
 ernments, and other denominations by seeking the favor of 
 the world. And the term Babylon confusion may be 
 appropriately applied to these bodies, all professing to derive 
 their doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innu- 
 merable sects, with widely conflicting creeds and theories. 
 
 Besides a sinful union with the world, the churches that 
 separated from Rome present other of her characteristics. 
 
384 TllK GUE AT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 A Romish work the " Catholic Christian Instructed "- 
 makes the charge: "If the Church of Rome was ever guilty 
 of idolatry in relation to the saints, her daughter, the 
 ( 1 lurch of England, stands guilty of the same, which has ton 
 churches dedicated to Mary for one dedicated to Christ." 
 
 And Mr. Hopkins, in a treatise on the Millennium, 
 declares: "There is no reason to consider the antichristian 
 spirit and practices confined to what is now called the 
 Church of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of 
 antichrist in them, and are far from being wholly reformed 
 from corruption and wickedness." 
 
 Concerning the separation of the Presbyterian Church 
 from Rome, Dr. Guthrie writes: "Three hundred years ago, 
 our church, with an open Bible on her banner, and this 
 motto, 'Search the Scriptures,' on her scroll, marched out 
 from the gates of Rome." Then he asks the significant 
 question, "Did they come dean out of Babylon?" 
 
 " The Church of England," says Spurgeon, " seems to be 
 eaten through and through with sacramentarianism ; but 
 non-conformity appears to be almost as badly riddled with 
 philosophical infidelity. Those of whom we thought better 
 things are turning aside one by one from the fundamentals 
 of the faith. Through and through, I believe, the very 
 heart of England is honeycombed with a damnable infidel- 
 ity which dares still go into the pulpit and call itself 
 Christian." 
 
 What was the origin of the great apostasy? How did the 
 church first depart from the simplicity of the gospel? By 
 conforming to the practices of paganism, to facilitate tin- 
 acceptance of Christianity by the heathen. The apostle 
 Paul declared, even in his day, "The mystery of iniquity 
 doth already work." 1 During the lives of the apostles the 
 church remained comparatively pure. "But toward the 
 latter end of the second century most of the churches 
 assumed a new form, the first simplicity disappeared; and 
 insensibly, as the old disciples retired to their graves, their 
 
 'L'Thess. 2:7. 
 
A WARNING REJECTED. 385 
 
 children, along with new converts . . . came forward 
 and new-modeled the cause." 1 To secure converts, the 
 exalted standard of the Christian faith was lowered, and as 
 the result " a pagan flood, flowing into the church, carried 
 with it its customs, practices, and idols." 2 As the Christian 
 religion secured the favor and support of secular rulers, 
 it was nominally accepted by multitudes; but while in ap- 
 pearance Christians, many " remained in substance pagans, 
 especially worshiping in secret their idols." 2 
 
 Has not the same process been repeated in nearly every 
 church calling itself Protestant? As its founders, those who 
 possessed the true spirit of reform, pass away, their descend- 
 ants come forward and "new? model the cause." While 
 blindly clinging to the creed of their fathers and refusing to 
 accept any truth in advance of what they saw, the children 
 of the reformers depart widely from their example of humil- 
 ity, self-denial, and* renunciation of the world. Thus "the 
 first simplicity disappears." A worldly flood, flowing into 
 the church, "carries with it its customs, practices, and idols." 
 
 Alas, to what a fearful extent is that friendship of the 
 world which is " enmity with God," now cherished among 
 the professed followers of Christ! How widely have the 
 popular churches throughout Christendom departed from 
 the Bible standard of humility, self-denial, simplicity, and 
 godliness! Said John Wesley, in speaking of the right use of 
 money: " Do not waste any part of so precious a talent, merely 
 in gratifying the desire of the eye, by superfluous and expen- 
 sive apparel, or by needless ornaments. Waste no part of it in 
 curiously adorning your houses ; in superfluous or expensive 
 furniture; in costly pictures, painting, gilding." "Lay out 
 nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the admiration 
 or praise of men." " ' So long as thou doest well unto thy- 
 self, men will speak good of thee.' So long as thou art 
 ' clothed in purple and fine linen, and farest sumptuously 
 every day/ no doubt many will applaud thine elegance of 
 
 1 Robinson, in History of Baptism. 2 Oavazzi's Lectures, p. 290. 
 
 29 
 
386 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 taste, thy generosity and hospitality. But do not buy their 
 applause so dear. Rather be content with the honor that 
 cometh from God." But in many churches of our time, such 
 teaching is disregarded. 
 
 A profession of religion has become popular with the 
 world. Rulers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, merchants, join 
 the church as a means of securing the respect and confidence 
 of society, and advancing their own worldly interests. Thus 
 they seek to cover all their unrighteous transactions under 
 a profession of Christianity. The various religious bodies, 
 re-enforced by the wealth and influence of these baptized 
 worldlings, make a still higher bid for popularity and patron- 
 age. Splendid churches, erfibellished in the most extrav- 
 agant manner, are erected on popular avenues. The wor- 
 shipers array themselves in costly and fashionable attire. A 
 high salary is paid for a talented minister to entertain and 
 attract the people. His sermons must* not touch popular 
 sins, but be made smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. 
 Thus fashionable sinners are enrolled on the church-records, 
 and fashionable sins are concealed under a pretense of god- 
 liness. 
 
 Commenting on the present attitude of professed Chris- 
 tians toward the world, a leading secular journal says: "In- 
 sensibly the church has yielded to the spirit of the age, and 
 adapted its forms of worship to modern wants." "All things, 
 indeed, that help to make religion attractive, the church now 
 employs as its instruments." And a writer in the New York 
 Independent speaks thus concerning Methodism as it is: "The 
 line of separation between the godly and the irreligious 
 fades out into a kind of penumbra, and zealous men on both 
 sides are toiling to obliterate all difference between their 
 modes of action and enjoyment." "The popularity of relig- 
 ion tends vastly to increase the number of those who would 
 secure its benefits without squarely meeting its duties." 
 
 Says Howard Crosby: "The church of God is to-day 
 courting the world. Its members are trying to bring it 
 
A WARNING REJECTED. 387 
 
 down to the level of the ungodly. The ball, the theater, 
 nude and lewd art, social luxuries with all their loose mo- 
 ralities, are making inroads into the sacred inclosure of the 
 church; and as a satisfaction for all this worldliness, Chris- 
 tians are making a great deal of Lent and Easter and church 
 ornamentation. It is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish 
 church struck on that rock; the Romish church was wrecked 
 on the same; and the Protestant is fast reaching the same 
 doom." 
 
 In this tide of worldliness and pleasure-seeking, self-denial 
 and self-sacrifice for Christ's sake are almost wholly lost. 
 "Some of the men and women now in active life in our 
 churches were educated, when children, to make sacrifices 
 in order to be able to give or to do something for Christ." 
 But "if funds are wanted now, . . . nobody must be 
 called on to give. Oh, no! have a fair, tableaux, a mock 
 trial, an antiquarian supper, or something to eat, anything 
 to amuse the people." 
 
 Governor Washburn, of Wisconsin, in his annual message 
 declared "that church fairs, charitable raffles, concert lotter- 
 ies for charitable and other purposes, prize packages, * grab- 
 bags,' Sabbath -school and other religious chances by ticket, 
 are nurseries of crime, inasmuch as they promise something 
 for nothing, are games of chance, and are really gambling. 
 He says that the pernicious spirit of gambling is fostered, 
 encouraged, and kept alive by these agencies to a degree 
 little known by good citizens; and that, but for them, the 
 ordinary laws against gambling would be much less violated 
 and much more easily enforced. These practices, he de- 
 clares, ought not to be permitted any longer to debauch the 
 morals of the young." 
 
 The spirit of worldly conformity is invading the churches 
 throughout Christendom. Robert Atkins, in a sermon 
 preached in London, draws a dark picture of -the spiritual 
 declension that prevails in England: "The truly righteous 
 are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to 
 
388 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 heart. The professors of religion of the present day, in 
 every church, are lovers of the world, conformers to the 
 world, lovers of creature-comfort, and aspirers after respect- 
 ability. They are called to suffer with Christ, but they 
 shrink from even reproach. Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is 
 engraven on the very front of every church ; and did they 
 know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but, alas! 
 they cry, 'We are rich, and increased in goods, and have 
 need of nothing.' " 
 
 The great sin charged against Babylon is, that she " made 
 all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 
 This cup of intoxication w r hich she presents to the world, 
 represents the false doctrines that she has accepted as the 
 result of her unlawful connection with the great ones of the 
 earth. Friendship with the world corrupts her faith, and 
 in her turn she exerts a corrupting influence upon the world 
 by teaching doctrines which are opposed to the plainest 
 statements of Holy Writ. 
 
 Rome withheld the Bible from the people, and required 
 all men to accept her teachings in its place. It was the 
 work of the Reformation to restore to men the Word of God; 
 but is it not too true that in the churches of our time men 
 are taught to rest their 'faith upon their creed and the teach- 
 ings of their church rather than on the Scriptures? Said 
 Charles Beecher, speaking of the Protestant churches: " They 
 shrink from any rude word against creeds witli the sa .ne 
 sensitiveness with which those holy fathers would have 
 shrunk from a rude word against the rising veneration for 
 saints and martyrs which they were fostering. . . . The 
 Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one 
 another's hands, and their own, that, between them all, a 
 man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without ac- 
 cepting some book besides the Bible. . . . There is noth- 
 ing imaginary in the statement that the creed power is now 
 beginning to prohibit the P>ible as really as Rome did, 
 though in a subtler way/' 
 
A WARNING REJECTED. 389 
 
 When faithful teachers expound the Word of God, there 
 arise men of learning, ministers professing to understand the 
 Scriptures, who denounce sound doctrine as heresy, and thus 
 turn away inquirers .after truth. Were it not that the world 
 is hopelessly intoxicated with the wine of Babylon, multi- 
 tudes would be convicted and converted by the plain, cut- 
 ting truths of the Word of God. But religious faith appears 
 so confused and discordant, that the people know not what 
 to believe as truth. The sin of the world's impenitence lies 
 at the door of the church. 
 
 The second angel's message of. Revelation 14, was first 
 preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more 
 direct application to the churches of the United States, where 
 the warning of the Judgment had been most widely pro- 
 claimed and most generally rejected, and where the declen- 
 sion in the churches had been most rapid. But the message 
 of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 
 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in con- 
 sequence of their refusal of the light of the Advent message; 
 but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to 
 reject the special truths for this time, they have fallen lower 
 and lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that " Babylon 
 is fallen, . . . because she made all nations drink of the 
 wine of the wrath of her fornication." She has not yet 
 made all nations do this. The spirit of world-conforming 
 and indifference to the testing truths for our time exists and 
 has been gaining ground in churches of the Protestant faith 
 in all the countries of Christendom ; and these churches are 
 included in the solemn and terrible denunciation of the sec- 
 ond angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached 
 its culmination. 
 
 The Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord, 
 Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders, 
 and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness;" and they 
 that "received not the love of the truth, that they might be 
 saved," will be left to receive "strong delusion, that they 
 
890 TV//; GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 should believe a lie." 1 Not until this condition shall be 
 reached, and the union of the church with the world shall 
 be fully accomplished, throughout Christendom, will the fall 
 of Babylon be complete. The change is a progressive one, 
 and the perfect fulfillment of Rev. 14:8 is yet future. 
 
 Notwithstanding the spiritual darkness, and alienation 
 from God, that exist in the churches which constitute Baby- 
 lon, the great body of Christ's true followers are still to be 
 found in their communion. There are many of these who 
 have never seen the special truths for this time. Not a few 
 are dissatisfied with their present condition, and are longing 
 for clearer light. They look in vain for the image of Christ 
 in the churches with w^hich they are connected. As these 
 bodies depart farther and farther from the truth, and ally 
 themselves more closely with the world, the difference 
 between the two classes will widen, and it will finally result 
 in separation. The time will come when those who love God 
 supremely can no longer remain in connection with such as 
 are ''lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a 
 form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 
 
 Revelation 18 points to the time when, as the result 
 of rejecting the threefold warning of Rev. 14:6-12, the 
 church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the 
 second angel, and the people of God, still in Babylon, will 
 be called upon to separate from her communion. This 
 message is the last that will ever be given to the world; an^ 
 it will accomplish its work. When those that "believed not 
 the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness," 2 shall be 
 left to receive strong delusion, and to believe a lie, then the 
 light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to 
 receive it, and all the children of the Lord, that remain in 
 Babylon, will heed the call, "Come out of her, my people."' 
 
 i 2 Thess. 2 : 9-11. *'2 Tliess. 2 : 12. 3 Kev. 18 : 4. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 
 
 WHEN the time passed at which the Lord's coming was 
 first expected, in the spring of 1844, those who had 
 looked in faith for his appearing were for a season involved 
 in doubt and uncertainty. While the world regarded them 
 as having been utterly defeated, and proved to have been 
 cherishing a delusion, their source of consolation was still 
 the Word of God. Many continued to search the Scriptures, 
 examining anew the evidences of their faith, and carefully 
 studying the prophecies to obtain further light. The Bible 
 testimony in support of their position seemed clear and con- 
 clusive. Signs which could not be mistaken pointed to the 
 coming of Christ as near. The special blessing of the Lord, 
 both in the conversion of sinners and the revival of spiritual 
 life among Christians, had testified that the message was of 
 Heaven. And though the believers could not explain their 
 disappointment, they felt assured that God had led them in 
 their past experience. 
 
 Interwoven with prophecies which they had regarded as 
 applying to the time of the second advent, was instruction 
 specially adapted to their state of uncertainty and suspense, 
 and encouraging them to w r ait patiently, in the faith that 
 what was now dark to their understanding would in due 
 time be made plain. 
 
 Among these prophecies was that of Hab. 2 : 1-4 : "I will 
 stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will 
 watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall 
 answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me, 
 and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, 
 
 (391) 
 
392 Till': t7 A' AM T ( 'O X 77.' () J ~KR8 Y. 
 
 tliat he may run that readeth.it. For the vision is yet for 
 an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not 
 lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, 
 it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not 
 upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith/' 
 
 As early as 1842, the direction given in this prophecy, to 
 " write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he 
 may run that readeth it," had suggested to Charles Fitch 
 the preparation of a prophetic chart to illustrate the visions 
 of Daniel and the Revelation. The publication of this 
 chart was regarded as a fulfillment of the command given 
 by Habakkuk. No one, however, then noticed that an 
 apparent delay in the accomplishment of the vision a 
 tarrying time is presented in the same -prophecy. After 
 the disappointment, this scripture appeared very signifi- 
 cant: "The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at 
 the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for 
 it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. . . . 
 The just shall live by his faith" 
 
 A portion of Ezekiel's prophecy also was a source of 
 strength and comfort to believers: "And the word of the 
 Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that prov- 
 erb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days 
 are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them 1 here- 
 fore, Thus saith the Lord God: . . . The days are at 
 hand, and the effect of every vision. ... I will speak, ami 
 the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be 
 no more prolonged." "They of the house of Israel say, The 
 vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he proph- 
 esieth of the times that are far off. Therefore say unto 
 them, Thus saith the Lord God: There shall none of my 
 words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have 
 spoken shall be done." 1 
 
 The waiting ones rejoiced, believing that He who knows 
 the end from the beginning had looked down through the 
 ages, and, foreseeing their disappointment, had given them 
 
 Eze. 12:21-25, 27, 28. 
 
393 
 
 words of cguragiB and hope. Had it not been for such por- 
 tions of Scripture, admonishing them to wait with patience, 
 and to hold fast their confidence in God's Word, their faith 
 would have failed in that trying hour. 
 
 The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25, also illus- 
 trates the experience of the Adventist people. In Matthew 
 24, in answer to the question of his disciples concerning the 
 sign of his coming and of the end of the world, Christ had 
 pointed out some of the most important events in the his- 
 tory of the 'wo rid and of the church from his first to his 
 second advent; namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, the 
 great tribulation of the church under the pagan and papal 
 persecutions, the darkening of the sun and moon, and the 
 falling of the stars. After this he spoke of his coining in 
 his kingdom, and related the parable describing the two 
 classes of servants who look for his appearing. Chapter 25 
 opens with the words, " Then shall the kingdom of Heaven 
 be likened unto ten virgins." Here is brought to view the 
 church living in the last days, the same that is pointed out 
 in the close of chapter 24. In this parable their experience 
 is illustrated by the incidents of an Eastern marriage. 
 
 "Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten 
 virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the 
 bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were 
 foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
 no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with 
 their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slum- 
 bered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, 
 Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him," 
 
 The coming of Christ, as announced by the first angel's 
 message, was understood to be represented by the coming of 
 the bridegroom. The widespread reformation under the 
 proclamation of his soon coming, answered to the going 
 forth of the virgins. In this parable, as in that of Matthew 
 24, two classes are represented. All had taken their lamps, 
 the Bible, and by its light had gone forth to meet the 
 
394 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Bridegroom. But while "they that were foolish took their 
 lamps, and took no oil with them/' "the wise took oil in 
 their vessels with their lamps." The latter class had re- 
 ceived the grace of God, the regenerating, enlightening 
 power of the Holy Spirit, which renders his Word a lamp 
 to the feet and a light to the path. In the fear of God they 
 had studied the Scriptures to learn the trulli, and had ear- 
 nestly sought for purity of heart and life. These had a 
 personal experience, a faith in God and in his Word, which 
 could not be overthrown by disappointment and delay. 
 Others "took their lamps, and took no oil with them." 
 They had moved from impulse. Their . fears had been 
 excited by the solemn message, but they had depended upon 
 the faith of their -brethren, satisfied with the flickering light 
 of good emotions, without a thorough understanding of the 
 truth, or a genuine work of grace in the heart. These had 
 gone forth to meet the Lord, full of hope in the prospect of 
 immediate reward; but they were not prepared for delay 
 and disappointment. When trials came, their faith failed, 
 and their lights burned dim. 
 
 " While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and 
 slept." By the tarrying of the bridegroom is represented 
 the passing of the time when the^ Lord was expected, the 
 disappointment, and the seeming delay. In this time of 
 uncertainty, the interest of the superficial and half-hearted 
 soon began to waver, and their efforts to relax; but those 
 whose faith was based on a personal knowledge of the Bible 
 had a rock beneath their feet, which the waves of disap- 
 pointment could not wash away. ''They all slumbered and 
 slept;" one class in unconcern and abandonment of their 
 faith, the other class patiently waiting till clearer light 
 should be given. Yet in the night of trial the latter seemed 
 to lose, to some extent, their /eal and devotion. The half- 
 hearted and superficial could no longer lean upon the faith 
 of their brethren. Each must stand or fall for himself. 
 
 About this time, fanaticism began to appear. Some who 
 
PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 395 
 
 had professed to be zealous believers in the message, ivjected 
 the Word of God as the one infallible guide, and, claiming 
 to be led by the Spirit, gave themselves up to the control of 
 their own feelings, impressions, and imaginations. There 
 were some who manifested a blind and bigoted zeal, de- 
 nouncing all who would not sanction their course. Their 
 fanatical ideas and exercises* met with no sympathy from 
 the great body of Adventists; yet they served to bring 
 reproach upon the cause of truth. 
 
 Satan was seeking by this means to oppose and destroy 
 the work of God. The people had been greatly stirred by 
 the Advent movement, thousands of sinners had been con- 
 verted, and faithful men were giving themselves to the work 
 of proclaiming the truth, even in the tarrying time. The 
 prince of evil was losing his subjects ; and in order to bring 
 reproach upon the cause of God, he sought to deceive some 
 who professed the faith, and to drive them to extremes. 
 Then his agents stood ready to seize upon every error, every 
 failure, every unbecoming act, and hold it up before the 
 people in the most exaggerated light, to render Adventists 
 and their faith odious. Tims the greater the number whom 
 he could crowd in to make a profession of faith in the second 
 advent while his power controlled their hearts, the greater 
 advantage would he gain by calling attention to them as 
 representatives of the whole body of believers. 
 
 Satan is " the accuser of the brethren," and it is his spirit 
 that inspires men to watch for the errors and defects of 
 the Lord's people, and to hold them up to notice, while their 
 good deeds are passed by without a mention. He is always 
 active when God is at work for the salvation of souls. When 
 the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, 
 Satan comes also among them. In every revival he is ready 
 to bring in those who are unsanctified in heart and unbal- 
 anced in mind. When these have accepted some points of 
 truth, and gained a place with believers, he works through 
 them to introduce theories that will deceive the unwary. 
 
396 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 No man is proved to be a true Christian because lie is found 
 in company with the children of God, even in the house ol 
 worship and around the table of the Lord. Satan is fre- 
 quently there upon the most solemn occasions, in the form 
 of those whom he can use as his agents. 
 
 The prince of evil contests every inch of ground over 
 which God's people advance in their journey toward the 
 heavenly city. In all the history of the church, no reforma- 
 tion has been carried forward without encountering serious 
 obstacles. Thus it was in Paul's day. Wherever the apostle 
 raised up a church, there were some who professed to receive 
 the faith, but who brought in heresies, that, if received, 
 would eventually crowd out the love of the truth. Luther 
 also suffered great perplexity and distress from the course 
 of fanatical persons who claimed that God had spoken 
 directly through them, and who therefore set their own 
 ideas and opinions above the testimony of the Script- 
 ures. Many who were lacking in faith and experience, but 
 who had considerable self-sufficiency, and who loved to 
 hear and tell some new thing, were beguiled by the preten- 
 sions of the new teachers, and they joined the agents of 
 Satan in their work of tearing down what God had moved 
 Luther to build up. And the Wesleys, and others who 
 blessed the world by their influence and their faith, encoun- 
 tered at every step the wiles of Satan in pushing overzeal- 
 ous, unbalanced, and unsanctified ones into fanaticism of 
 every grade. 
 
 William Miller had no sympathy with those influences 
 that led to fanaticism. He declared, with Luther, that 
 every spirit should be tested by the Word of God. "The 
 devil," said Miller, " has great power over the minds of some 
 at the present day. And how shall we know what manner of 
 spirit they are of? The Bible answers: 'By their fruits 
 ye shall know them.'" "There are many spirits gone out 
 into the world; and we are commanded to try the spirits. 
 The spirit that does not cause us to live soberly, righteously, 
 
PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 397 
 
 mid godly, in this present world, is not the Spirit of Christ. 
 I am more and more convinced that Satan has much to do 
 in these wild movements." "Many among us, who pre- 
 tend to be wholly sanctified, are following the traditions 
 of men, and apparently are as ignorant of truth as others 
 who make no such pretensions." " The spirit of error will 
 lead us from the truth; and the Spirit of God' will lead 
 us into truth. But, say you, a man may be in error, 
 and think he has the truth. What then? We answer, The 
 Spirit and Word agree. If a man judges himself by the 
 Word of God, and finds a perfect .harmony through the 
 whole Word, then he must believe he has the truth; but if 
 he finds the spirit by which he is led does not harmonize 
 with the whole tenor of God's law or book, then let him 
 walk carefully, lest he be caught in the snare of the devil." 
 " I have often obtained more evidence of inward piety from 
 a kindling eye, a wet cheek, and a choked utterance, than 
 from all the noise in Christendom." 
 
 In the days of the Reformation its enemies charged all 
 the evils of fanaticism upon the very ones who were labor- 
 ing most earnestly against it. A similar course was pursued 
 by the opposers of the Advent movement. And riot con- 
 tent with misrepresenting and exaggerating the errors of 
 extremists and fanatics, they circulated unfavorable reports 
 that had not the slightest semblance of truth. These per- 
 sons were actuated by prejudice and hatred. Their peace 
 was disturbed by the proclamation of Christ at the door. 
 They feared it might be true, yet hoped it was not, and this 
 was the secret of their warfare against Adventists and their 
 faith. 
 
 The fact that a few fanatics worked their way into the 
 ranks of Adventists is no more a reason to decide that the 
 movement was riot of God, than was the presence of fanat- 
 ics and deceivers in the church in Paul's or Luther's day 
 a sufficient excuse for condemning their work. Let the 
 V>eople of God arouse out of sleep, and begin in earnest the 
 
398 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 work of repentance and reformation, let them search the 
 Scriptures to learn the truth as it is in Jesus, let them make 
 nn entire consecration to God, and evidence will not be 
 wanting that Satan is still active and vigilant. With all 
 possible deception he will manifest his power, calling to his 
 aid all the fallen angels of his realm. 
 
 It was not the proclamation of the second advent that 
 created fanaticism and division. These appeared in the 
 summer of 1844, when Adventists were in a state of doubt 
 and perplexity concerning their real position. The preach- 
 ing of the first angel's message and of the "midnight cry" 
 tended directly to repress fanaticism and dissension. Those 
 who participated in these solemn movements were in har- 
 mony; their hearts were filled with love for one another, 
 and for Jesus, whom they expected soon to see. The one 
 faith, the one blessed hope, lifted them above the control of 
 any human influence, and proved a shield against the 
 assaults of Satan. 
 
 "While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and 
 slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the 
 bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those 
 virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps." 1 In the summer 
 of 1844, midway between the time when it had been first 
 thought that the 2300 days would end, and the autumn of 
 the same year, to which it was afterward found that they 
 extended, the message was proclaimed, in the very words of 
 Scripture, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" 
 
 That which led to this movement was the discovery that 
 the decree of Artaxerxes for the restoration of Jerusalem, 
 which formed the starting-point for the period of the 2300 
 days, went into effect in the autumn of the year B. c. 457, 
 and not at the beginning of the year, as had been formerly 
 believed. Reckoning from the autumn of 457, the 2300 
 years terminate in the autumti of 1844.' 
 
 Arguments drawn from the Old-Testament typos also 
 
 - Matt. 25 :f>-7. 2 Sec diagram, opposite p. 328; also Appendix, Note 3. 
 
PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 399 
 
 pointed to the autumn as the time when the event repre- 
 sented by the "cleansing of the sanctuary" must take 
 place. This was made very clear as attention was given to 
 the manner in which the types relating to the first advent 
 of Christ had been fulfilled. 
 
 The slaying of the passover lamb was a shadow of the 
 death of Christ. Says Paul, "Christ our passover is sacri- 
 ficed for us." 1 The sheaf of first-fruits, which at the time of 
 the Passover was waved before the Lord, was typical of the 
 resurrection of Christ. Paul says, in speaking of the resur- 
 rection of the Lord, and of all his people, "Christ the first- 
 fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 2 
 Like the wave-sheaf, which was the first ripe grain gathered 
 before the harvest, Christ is the first-fruits of that immortal 
 harvest of redeemed ones that at the future resurrection 
 shall be gathered into the garner of God. 
 
 These types were fulfilled, not only as to the event, but as 
 to the *time. On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish 
 month, the very day and month on which, for fifteen long 
 centuries, the passover lamb had been slain, Christ, having 
 eaten the passover with his disciples, instituted that feast 
 which was to commemorate his own death as " the Lamb of 
 God, which taketh away the sin of the world." That same 
 night he was taken by wicked hands, to be crucified and 
 slain. And as the antitype of the wave-sheaf, our Lord was 
 raised from the dead on the third day, " the first-fruits of 
 them that slept," 3 a sample of all the resurrected just, whose 
 " vile body " shall be changed, and " fashioned like unto his 
 glorious body." 4 
 
 In like manner, the types which relate to the second 
 advent must be fulfilled at the time pointed out in the 
 symbolic service. Under the Mosaic system, the cleansing 
 of the sanctuary, or the great day of atonement, occurred on 
 the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month, 5 when the high 
 priest, having made an atonement for all Israel, and thus 
 
 1 1 Cor. 5.7. M Cor. 15.: 23. ' i C or. 15 : 20. 
 
 *Phil. 3:21, 5 Lev. 16 : 29-34. 
 
400 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 removed their sins from the sanctuary, came forth and 
 blessed the people. So it was believed that Christ, our 
 great High Priest, would appear to purify the earth by the 
 destruction of sin and sinners, and to bless his waiting peo- 
 ple with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month, 
 the great day of atonement, the time of the cleansing of the 
 sanctuary, which in the year 1844 fell upon the 22d of 
 October, was regarded as the time of the Lord's coming. 
 This was in harmony with the proofs already presented that 
 the 2300 days would terminate in the autumn, and the con- 
 clusion seemed irresistible. 
 
 In the parable of Matthew 25 the time of waiting and 
 slumber is followed by the coming of the bridegroom. This 
 was in accordance with the arguments just presented, both 
 from prophecy and from the types. They carried strong 
 conviction of their truthfulness; and the "midnight cry" 
 was heralded by thousands of believers. 
 
 Like" a tidal wave the movement swept over the land. 
 From city to city, from village to village, and into remote 
 country places it went, until the waiting people of God were 
 fully aroused. Fanaticism disappeared before this procla- 
 mation, like early frost before the rising sun. Believers saw 
 their doubt and perplexity removed, and hope and courage 
 animated their hearts. The work was free from those ex- 
 tremes which are ever manifested when there is human 
 excitement without the controlling influence of the Word 
 and Spirit of God. It was similar in character to those 
 seasons of humiliation and returning unto .the Lord which 
 among ancient Israel followed messages of reproof from his 
 servants. It bore the characteristics that mark the work 
 of God in every age. There was little ecstatic joy, but rather 
 deep searching of heart, confession of sin, and forsaking of 
 the world. A preparation to meel the Lord was the burden 
 of agonizing spirits. There was p.-rsevrring prayer, and uii- 
 ivserved conseeration to < Jod. 
 
 Said Miller, in describing that work: "There is no great 
 
PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 401 
 
 expression of joy; that is, as it were, suppressed for a future 
 occasion, when all Heaven and earth will rejoice together 
 with joy unspeakable and full of glory. There is no .shout- 
 ing; that, too, is reserved for the shout from Heaven. The 
 singers are silent; they are waiting to join the angelic hosts, 
 the choir from Heaven." "There is no clashing of senti- 
 ments; all are of one heart and of one mind." Another who 
 participated in the movement testified: "It has produced 
 everywhere the most deep searching of heart and humilia- 
 tion of soul.' ... It caused a weaning of affections from 
 the things of this world, a healing of controversies and 
 animosities, a confession of wrongs, a breaking down before 
 God, and penitent, broken-hearted supplications to him for 
 pardon and acceptance. It caused self-abasement and pros- 
 tration of soul, such as we never before witnessed. As the 
 Lord commanded by the prophet Joel, when the great day 
 of God should be at hand, it produced a rending of hearts 
 and not of garments, and a turning unto the Lord with 
 fasting, and weeping, and mourning. As God said by Zech- 
 ariah,-a spirit of grace and of supplication was poured out 
 upon his children; they looked to Him whom they had 
 pierced, there was great mourning in the land, . . . and 
 those who were looking for the Lord afflicted their souls 
 before him." 
 
 Of all the great religious movements since the days of the 
 apostles, none have been more free from human imperfec- 
 tion and the wiles of Satan than was that of the autumn 
 of 1844. Even now, after the lapse of nearly half a century, 
 all who shared in that movement and who have stood firm 
 upon the platform of truth, still feel the holy influence of 
 that blessed work, and bear witness that it was of God. 
 
 At the call, u The Bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet 
 him," the waiting ones "arose and trimmed their lamps;" 
 they studied the Word of God with an intensity of interest 
 before unknown. Angels were sent from Heaven to arouse 
 those who had become discouraged, and prepare them to 
 
 30 
 
402 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 receive the message. The work did not stand in the wis- 
 dom and learning of men, but in the power of God. It was 
 not the most talented, but the most humble and devoted, 
 who were the first to hear and obey the call. Farmers left 
 their crops standing in the fields, mechanics laid down their 
 tools, and with tears and rejoicing went out to give the 
 vvarning. Those who had formerly led in the cause were 
 among the last to join in this movement. The churches in 
 general closed their doors against this message, and a lar^c 
 company of those who received it withdrew from their con- 
 nection. In the providence of God, this proclamation united 
 with the second angel's message, and gave power to that 
 work. 
 
 The message, ".Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ! " was not 
 so much a matter of argument, though the Scripture proof 
 was clear and conclusive. There went with it an impelling 
 power that moved the soul. There was no doubt, no ques- 
 tioning. Upon the occasion of Christ's triumphal entry into 
 Jerusalem, the people who were assembled from all parts oif 
 the land to keep the feast, flocked to the Mount of Olives, 
 and as they joined the throng that were escorting Jesus, 
 they caught the inspiration of the hour and helped to swell 
 the shout, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord!" 1 In like manner did unbelievers who flocked to 
 the Adventist meetings some from curiosity, some merely 
 to ridicule feel the convincing power attending the mes- 
 sage, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" 
 
 At that time there was faith that brought answers to 
 prayer, faith that had respect to the recompense of reward. 
 Like showers of rain upon the thirsty earth, the Spirit of 
 grace descended upon the earnest seekers. Those who ex- 
 pected soon to stand face to face with their Redeemer felt a 
 solemn joy that was unutterable. The softening, subduing 
 power of the Holy Spirit melted the heart, as his blessing 
 was bestowed in rich measure upon the faithful, believing 
 ones. 
 
 1 Matt. 21:9. 
 
PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 403 
 
 Carefully and solemnly those who received the message 
 came up to the time when they hoped to meet their Lord. 
 Every morning they felt that it was their first duty to secure 
 the evidence of their acceptance with God. Their hearts 
 were closely united, and they prayed much with and for 
 one another. They often met together in secluded places to 
 commune with God, and the voice of intercession ascended 
 to Heaven from the fields and groves. The assurance of the 
 Saviour's approval was more necessary to them than their 
 daily food, and if a cloud darkened their minds, they did 
 not rest until it was swept away. As they felt the witness 
 of pardoning grace, they longed to behold Him whom their 
 souls loved. 
 
 But again they were destined to disappointment. The 
 time of expectation passed, and their Saviour did not appear. 
 With unwavering confidence they had looked forward to his 
 coining, and now they felt as did Mary, when, coming to 
 the Saviour's tomb and finding it empty, she exclaimed with 
 weeping, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know 
 not where they have laid him." 1 
 
 A feeling of awe, a fear that the message might be true, 
 had for a time served as a restraint upon the unbelieving 
 world. After the passing of the time, this did not at once 
 disappear; at first they dared not triumph over the disap- 
 pointed ones; but as no tokens of God's wrath were seen, 
 they recovered from their fears, and resumed their reproach 
 and ridicule. A large class who had professed to .believe in 
 the Lord's soon coming, renounced their faith. Some who 
 had been very confident were so deeply wounded in their 
 pride that they felt like fleeing from the w r orld. Like Jonah, 
 they complained of God, and chose death rather than life. 
 Those who had based their faith upon the opinions of others, 
 and not upon the Word of God, were now as ready again to 
 change their views. The scoffers won the weak and cow- 
 ardly to their ranks, and all these united in declaring that 
 there could be no more fears or expectations now. The 
 
 1 John 20: 13. 
 
404 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 time had passed, the Lord had not come, and the world 
 might remain the same for thousands of years. 
 
 The earnest, sincere believers had given up all for Christ, 
 and had shared his presence a never before. They had, as 
 they believed, given their last warning to the world, and, 
 expecting soon to be received into the society of their divine 
 Master and the heavenly angels, they had, to a great extent, 
 withdrawn from the society of those who did not receive the 
 message. AYith intense desire they had prayed, "Come, 
 Lord Jesus, and come quickly." But he had not come. And 
 now to take up again the heavy burden of life's cares and 
 perplexities, and to endure the taunts and sneers of a scoff- 
 ing world, was a terrible trial of faith and patience. 
 
 Yet this disappointment was not so great as was that 
 experienced by the disciples at the time of Christ's first 
 advent. When Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, 
 his followers believed that he was about to ascend the throne 
 of David, and deliver Israel from her oppressors. With 
 high hopes and joyful anticipations they vied with one 
 another in showing honor to their King. Many spread 
 their outer garments as a carpet in his path, or strewed 
 before him the leafy branches of the palm. In their enthu- 
 siastic joy they united in the glad acclaim, " Hosanna to the 
 Son of David ! " When the Pharisees, disturbed and angered 
 by this outburst of rejoicing, wished Jesus to rebuke his dis- 
 ciples, he replied, "If these should hold their peace, the 
 stones would immediately cry out." 1 Prophecy must IK- 
 fulfilled. The disciples were accomplishing the purpose of 
 God ; yet they were doomed to a bitter disappointment. But 
 a few days had passed ere they witnessed the Saviour's 
 agonizing death, and laid him in the tomb. Their expecta- 
 tions had not been realized in a single particular, and their 
 hopes died with Jesus. Not till their Lord had come forth 
 triumphant from the grave could they perceive that all had 
 been foretold by prophecy, and "that Christ must needs 
 have suffered, and risen again from the dead." <J 
 
 1 Luke 19: 40. 2 Acts 17: 3, 
 
PR.OPBE01ES FULFILLED. 405 
 
 Five hundred years before, the Lord had declared by the 
 prophet Zechariah, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; 
 shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh 
 unto thee. He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and 
 riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." l 
 Had the disciples realized that Christ was going to judgment 
 and to death, they could not have fulfilled this prophecy. 
 
 In like manner, Miller and his associates fulfilled proph- 
 ecy, and gave a message which inspiration had foretold 
 should be given to the world, but which they could not 
 have given had they fully understood the prophecies point- 
 ing out their disappointment, and presenting another mes- 
 sage to be preached to all nations before the Lord should 
 come. The first and second angels' messages were given 
 at the right time, and accomplished the work which God 
 designed to accomplish by them. 
 
 The world had been looking on, expecting that if the 
 time passed and Christ did not appear, the whole system of 
 Adventism would be given up. But while many, under 
 strong temptation, yielded their faith, there were some who 
 stood firm. The fruits of the Advent movement, the spirit 
 of humility and heart-searching, of renouncing of the world, 
 and reformation of life, which had attended the work, testi- 
 fied that it was of God. They dared not deny that the 
 power of the Holy Spirit had witnessed to the preaching of 
 the second advent, and they could detect no error in their 
 reckoning of the prophetic periods. The ablest of their 
 opponents had not succeeded in overthrowing their system 
 of prophetic interpretation. They could not consent, with- 
 out. Bible evidence, to renounce positions which had been 
 reached' through earnest, prayerful study of the Scriptures, 
 by minds enlightened by the Spirit of God, and hearts 
 burning with its living power; positions which had with- 
 stood the most searching criticisms and the most bitter 
 opposition of popular religious teachers and worldly-wise 
 men, and which had stood firm against the combined forces 
 
 1 Zech. 9 : 9. 
 
406 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of learning and eloquence, and the taunts and revilings 
 alike of the honorable and the base. 
 
 True, there had been a failure as to the expected event, 
 but even this could not shake their faith in the Word of 
 God. When Jonah proclaimed in the streets of Nineveh 
 that within forty days the city would be overthrown, the 
 Lord accepted the humiliation of the Ninevites, and extended 
 their period of probation; yet the message of Jonah was 
 sent of God, and Nineveh was tested according to his will. 
 Adventists believed that in like manner God had led them 
 to give the warning of the Judgment. " It has/' they de- 
 clared, "tested the hearts of all who heard it, and awakened 
 a love for the Lord's appearing; or it has called forth a 
 hatred, more or less perceivable, but known to God, of his 
 coming. It has drawn a line, so that those who will examine 
 their own hearts, may know on which side of it they would 
 have been found, had the Lord then come; whether they 
 would have exclaimed, ' Lo ! this is our God, we have waited 
 for him, and he will save us;' or whether they would have 
 called for rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them 
 from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from 
 the wrath of the Lamb. God thus, as we believe, has tested 
 his people, has tried their faith, has proved them, and seen 
 whether they would shrink, in the hour of trial, from the 
 position in which he might see fit to place them; and 
 whether they would relinquish this world and rely with 
 implicit confidence in the work of God." 
 
 The feelings of those who still believed that God had led 
 them in their past experience, are expressed in the words of 
 William Miller: "Were I to live my life over again, with 
 the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God 
 and men I should have to do as I have done." " I hope I 
 have cleansed my garments from the blood of souls; I feel 
 that, as far as possible, I have freed myself from all guilt in 
 their condemnation." "Although I have been twice disap- 
 pointed," wrote this man of God, "I am not yet cast down or 
 
PROPHECIES FULFILLED. 4of 
 
 discouraged." " My hope in the coming of Christ is as strong 
 as ever. I have done only what, after years of sober con- 
 sideration, I felt it my solemn duty to do. If I have erred, 
 it has been on the side of charity, the love of my fellow-man, 
 and my conviction of duty to God." " One thing I do know, 
 I have preached nothing but what I believed; and God's 
 hand has. been with rne, his power has been manifested in 
 the work, and much good has been effected." "Many thou- 
 sands, to all human appearance, have been made to study 
 the Scriptures by the preaching of the time; and by that 
 means, through faith and the sprinkling of the blood of 
 Christ, have been reconciled to God.'' " I have never courted 
 the smiles of the proud, nor quailed when the world frowned. 
 I shall not now purchase their favor, nor shall I go beyond 
 duty to tempt their hate. I shall never seek my life at their 
 hands, nor shrink, I hope, from losing it, if God in his good 
 providence so orders." 
 
 God did not forsake his people; his Spirit still abode with 
 those who did not rashly deny the light which they had 
 received, and denounce the Advent movement. In the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews are words of encouragement and 
 warning for the tried, waiting ones at this crisis : " Cast not 
 away therefore your confidence, which hath great recom- 
 pense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after 
 ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
 For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, 
 and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if 
 any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but 
 of them that believe to the saving of the soul." 1 
 
 That this admonition is addressed to the church in the 
 last days is evident from the words pointing to the nearness 
 of the Lord's coming: "For yet a little while, and He that 
 shall come will come, and will not tarry." And it is plainly 
 implied that there would be a seeming delay, and that the 
 Lord would appear to tarry. The instruction here given is 
 
 1 Heb. 10 : 35-39. 
 
408 y///: (, /t /:. i y 
 
 especially adapted to the experience of Adventists at this 
 time. The people here addressed were in danger of making 
 shipwreck of faith. They had done the will of God in fol- 
 lowing the guidance of his Spirit and his Word; yet they 
 could not understand his purpose in their past experience, 
 nor could they discern the pathway before them, and they 
 were tempted to doubt whether God had indeed been lead- 
 ing them. At this time the words were applicable, "Now 
 the just shall live by faith." As the bright light of the 
 "midnight cry" had shone upon their pathway, and they 
 had seen the prophecies unsealed, and the rapidly fulfilling 
 signs telling that the coming of Christ was near, they had 
 w r alked, as it were, by sight. But now, bowed down by disap- 
 pointed hopes, they could stand only by faith in God and 
 in his Word. The scoffing world were saying, " You have 
 been deceived. Give up your faith, and say that the Advent 
 movement was of Satan." But God's Word declared, "If 
 any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in . 
 him." To renounce their faith now, and deny the power of 
 the Holy Spirit which had attended the message, would be 
 drawing back toward perdition. They were encouraged to 
 steadfastness by the words of Paul, "Cast not away there- 
 fore your confidence;" "ye have need of patience;" "for yet 
 a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will 
 not tarry." Their only safe course was to cherish the light 
 which they had already received of God, hold fast to his 
 promises, and continue to search the Scriptures, and patiently 
 wait and watch to receive further light. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 WHAT IS THK vSANCTUARY? 
 
 THE scripture which above all others had been both the 
 foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith was the 
 declaration, " Unto two thousand and three hundred days; 
 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 1 These had been 
 familiar words to all believers in the Lord's soon coming. 
 Bv the lips of thousands was this prophecy repeated as the 
 watchword of their faith. All felt that upon the events 
 therein foretold depended their brightest expectations and 
 most cherished hopes. These 'prophetic days had been 
 shown to terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common 
 with the rest of the Christian world, Adventists then held 
 that the earth, or some portion of it, was the sanctuary. 
 They understood that the cleansing of the sanctuary was the 
 purification of the earth by the fires of the last great day, 
 and that this would take place at the second advent. Hence 
 the conclusion that Christ would return to the earth in 1844. 
 
 But the appointed time had passed, and the Lord had not 
 appeared. The believers knew that God's Word could not 
 fail; their interpretation of the prophecy must be at fault; 
 but where was the mistake? Many rashly cut the knot of 
 difficulty by denying that the 2300 days ended in 1844. 
 No reason could be given for this, except that Christ had 
 not come at the time they expected him. They argued that 
 if the prophetic days had ended in 1844, Christ would then 
 have returned to cleanse the sanctuary by the purification of 
 the earth by fire; and that since he had not come, the days 
 could not have ended. 
 
 To accept this conclusion was to renounce the former 
 
 'Dan. 8:14. 
 
 (409; 
 
410 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 reckoning of the prophetic periods. The 2300 days had 
 been found to begin when the commandment of Artaxerxes 
 for the restoration and building of Jerusalem went into 
 effect, in the autumn of B. c. 457. Taking this as the 
 starting-point, there was perfect harmony in the application 
 of all the events foretold in the explanation of that period 
 in Dan. 9 : 25-27. Sixty-nine weeks, the first 483 of the 2300 
 years, were to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One; and 
 Christ's baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, A. D. 27, 
 exactly fulfilled the specification. In the midst of the sev- 
 entieth week, Messiah was to be cut off. Three and a half 
 years after his baptism, Christ was crucified, in the spring of 
 A. D. 31. The seventy weeks, or 490 years, were to pertain 
 especially to the Jews. At the expiration of this period, the 
 nation sealed its rejection of Christ by the persecution of his 
 disciples, and the apostles turned to the Gentiles, A. D. 34. 
 The first 490 years of the 2300 having then ended, 1810 
 years would remain. From A. D. 34, 1810 years extend to 
 1844. "Then," said the angel, "shall the sanctuary be 
 cleansed." All the preceding specifications of the prophecy 
 had been unquestionably fulfilled at the time appointed. 
 With this reckoning, all was clear and harmonious, except 
 that it was not seen that any event answering to the cleans- 
 ing of the sanctuary had taken place in 1844. To deny that 
 the days ended at that time was to involve the whole ques- 
 tion in confusion, and to renounce positions which had been 
 established by unmistakable fulfillments of prophecy. 
 
 But God had led his people in the great Advent move- 
 ment; his power and glory had attended the work, and he 
 would not permit it to end in darkness and disappointment, 
 to be reproached as a false and fanatical excitement. I If 
 would not leave his word involved in doubt and uncer- 
 tainty. Though many abandoned their former reckoning 
 of the prophetic periods, and denied the correctness of the 
 movement based thereon, others were unwilling to renounce 
 points of faith and experience that were sustained by the 
 
\VHA T JS THE SANCTUARY? 411 
 
 Scriptures and by the witness of the Spirit of God. They 
 believed that they had adopted sound principles of interpre- 
 tation in their study of the prophecies, and that it was their 
 duty to hold fast the truths already gained, and to continue 
 the same course of Biblical research. With earnest prayer 
 they reviewed their position, and studied the Scriptures to 
 discover their mistake. As they could see no error in their 
 reckoning of the prophetic periods, they were led to examine 
 more closely the subject of the sanctuary. 1 
 
 In their investigation they learned that there is no 
 Scripture evidence sustaining the popular view that the 
 earth is the sanctuary; but they found in the Bible a full 
 explanation of the subject of the sanctuary, its nature, loca- 
 tion, and services; the testimony of the sacred writers being 
 so clear and ample as to place the matter beyond all ques- 
 tion. The apostle Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, says: 
 "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of 
 divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a 
 tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and 
 the table, and the show^-bread; which is called the sanctuary. 
 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the 
 holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of 
 the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was 
 the,golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that bud- 
 ded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cheru- 
 bim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat." j 
 
 The sanctuary to which Paul here refers was the taber- 
 nacle built by Moses at the command of God, as the earthly 
 dwelling-place of the Most High. "Let them make me a 
 sanctuary, that I may dwell among them," 3 was the direc- 
 tion given to Moses while in the mount with God. The 
 Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, and the 
 tabernacle was so constructed that it could be removed from 
 place to place; yet it was a structure of great magnificence. 
 Its walls consisted of upright boards heavily plated with 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 6. 2 Heb. 9:15. 3 Ex. 25 : 8. 
 
41 2 TIIK ORE A T C 'OXTR O VERSY. 
 
 gold, and set in sockets of silver, while the roof was formed 
 of a series of curtains, or coverings, the outer of skins, 
 the innermost of fine linen beautifully wrought with figures 
 of cherubim. Besides the outer court, which contained the 
 altar of burnt-offering, the tabernacle itself consisted of two 
 apartments called the holy and the most holy place, sepa- 
 rated by a rich and beautiful curtain, or veil; a similar vt^il 
 closed the entrance to the first apartment. 
 
 In the holy place was the candlestick, on the south, with 
 its seven lamps giving light to the sanctuary both by day 
 and by night; on the north stood the table of show-bread; 
 and before the veil separating the holy from the most 1ml y 
 was the golden altar of incense, from which the cloud of 
 fragrance, with the prayers of Israel, was daily ascending 
 before God. 
 
 In the most holy place stood the ark, a chest of precious 
 wood overlaid with gold, the depository of the two tables of 
 stone upon which God had inscribed the law of ten com- 
 mandments. Above the ark, and forming the cover to the 
 sacred chest, was the mercy-seat, a magnificent piece of 
 workmanship, surmounted by two cherubim, one at each 
 end, and all wrought of solid gold. In this apartment the 
 divine presence was manifested in the cloud of glory between 
 the cherubim. 
 
 After the settlement of the Hebrews in Canaan, the taber- 
 nacle was replaced by the temple of Solomon, which, though 
 a permanent structure and upon a larger scale, observed 
 the same proportions, and was similarly furnished. In this 
 form the sanctuary existed except while it lay in ruins in 
 Daniel's time until its destruction by the Romans, A. D. 70. 
 
 This is the only sanctuary that ever existed on the earth, 
 of which the Bible gives any information. This was declared 
 by Paul to be the sanctuary of the first covenant. But has 
 the new covenant no sanctuary? 
 
 Turning again to the book of Hebrews, the seekers for 
 truth found that the existence of a second, or new-cove- 
 
WHA T IS THE SA NCTUAR Yf 413 
 
 nant sanctuary was implied in the words of Paul already 
 quoted: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances 
 of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." And the use 
 of -the word also intimates that Paul has before made men- 
 tion of this sanctuary. Turning back to the beginning of 
 the previous chapter they read: "Now of the things which 
 we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high 
 priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the 
 Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of 
 the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." 1 
 
 Here is revealed the sanctuary of the new covenant. 
 The sanctuary of the first covenant was pitched by man, 
 built by Moses; this is pitched by the Lord, not by man. 
 In that sanctuary the earthly priests performed their service; 
 in this, Christ, our great high priest, ministers at God's right 
 hand. One sanctuary was on earth, the other is in Heaven. 
 
 Further, the tabernacle built by Moses was made after a 
 pattern. The Lord directed him, "According to all that I 
 show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pat- 
 tern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make 
 it,"' 2 And again the charge was given, "Look that thou 
 make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the 
 mount." 2 And Paul says, that the first tabernacle "was a 
 figure for the time then present, in which were offered both 
 gifts and sacrifices;" that its holy places were "patterns of 
 things in the heavens;" that the priests who offered gifts 
 according to the law, served, "unto the example and shadow 
 of heavenly things," and that "Christ is not entered into 
 the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of 
 the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the pres- 
 ence of God for us." 3 
 
 The sanctuary in Heaven, in which Jesus ministers in 
 our behalf, is the great original, of which the sanctuary 
 built by Moses was a copy. God placed his Spirit upon the 
 builders of the earthly sanctuary. The artistic skill dis- 
 
 'Heb. 8:1,2. 2 Ex. 25:9, 40. 3 Heb. 9 :9, 23 ; 8 : 6 ; 9 : 24. 
 
414 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 played in. its construction was a manifestation of divine 
 wisdom. The walls had the appearance of massive gold, 
 reflecting in every direction the light of the seven lamps 
 of the golden candlestick. The table of show-bread and the 
 altar of incense glittered like burnished gold. The gor- 
 geous curtain which formed the ceiling, inwrought with 
 figures of angels in blue and purple and scarlet, added to 
 the beauty of the scene. And beyond the second veil was 
 the holy shekinah, the visible manifestation of God's glory, 
 before which none but the high priest could enter and live. 
 The matchless splendor of the earthly tabernacle reflected 
 to human vision the glories of that heavenly temple where 
 Christ our forerunner ministers for us before the throne of 
 God. The abiding-place of the King of kings, where thou- 
 sand thousands minister unto -him, and ten thousand times 
 ten thousand stand before him; 1 that temple, filled with 
 the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, its .shining 
 guardians, veil their faces in adoration, could find, in the 
 most magnificent structure ever reared by human hands, 
 but a faint reflection of its vastness and glory. Yet impor- 
 tant truths concerning the heavenly sanctuary and the 
 great work there carried forward for man's redemption, 
 were taught by the earthly sanctuary and its services. 
 
 The holy places of the sanctuary in Heaven are represented 
 by the two apartments in the sanctuary on earth. As in 
 vision the apostle John was granted a view of the temple of 
 God in Heaven, lie beheld there "seven lamps of fire burn- 
 ing before the throne."' 2 He saw an angel "having a golden 
 censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that 
 he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the 
 golden altar which was before the throne." 8 Here the 
 prophet was permitted to behold the first apartment of the 
 sanctuary in Heaven; and he saw there the "seven lamps 
 of fire" and the "golden, altar" represented by the golden 
 candlestick and the altar of ineense in the sanctuary on 
 1 Dan. 7:10. 2 Rev. 4:5. 3 Rev. 8 : :i. 
 
WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 415 
 
 earth. Again, "the temple of God was opened," 1 and he 
 looked within the inner veil, upon the holy of holies. Here 
 he beheld "the ark of His testament," represented by the 
 sacred chest constructed by Moses to contain the law of God. 
 
 Thus those who were studying the subject found indisput- 
 able proof of the existence of a sanctuary in Heaven. Moses 
 made the earthly sanctuary after a pattern which was 
 shown him. Paul declares that that pattern was the true 
 sanctuary which is in Heaven. And John testifies that he 
 saw it in Heaven. 
 
 In the temple in Heaven, the dwelling-place of God, his 
 throne is established in righteousness and judgment. In 
 the most holy place is his law, the great rule of right by 
 which all mankind are tested. The ark that ensnrines the 
 tables of the law is covered with the mercy-seat, before 
 which Christ pleads his blood in the sinner's behalf. Thus 
 is represented the union of justice and mercy in the plan of 
 human redemption. This union infinite wisdom alone 
 could devise, and infinite power accomplish ; it is a union 
 that fills all Heaven with wonder and adoration. The 
 cherubim of the earthly sanctuary, looking reverently down 
 upon the mercy-seat, represent the interest with which the 
 heavenly host contemplate the work of redemption. This 
 is the mystery of mercy into which angels desire to look, 
 that God can be just while he justifies the repenting sinner, 
 and renews his intercourse with the fallen race; that Christ 
 could stoop to raise unnumbered multitudes from the abyss 
 of ruin, and clothe them with the spotless garments of his 
 own righteousness, to unite with angels who have never 
 fallen, and to dwell forever in the presence of God. 
 
 The work of Christ as man's intercessor is presented in 
 that beautiful prophecy of Zechariah concerning him " whose 
 name is The Branch." Says the prophet: "He shall build 
 the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and 
 shall sit and rule upon his [the Father's] throne; and he 
 
416 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace 
 shall be between them both." ! 
 
 " He shall build the temple of the Lord." By his sacrifice 
 and mediation, Christ is both the foundation and the builder 
 of the church of God. The apostle Paul points to him as 
 "the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly 
 framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord ; 
 in whom ye also," he says, "are builded together for a hab- 
 itation of God through the Spirit." 2 
 
 "And he shall bear the glory." To Christ belongs the 
 glory of redemption for the fallen race. Through the eter- 
 nal ages, the song of the ransomed ones will be, "Unto Him 
 that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
 . . . to him be glory and dominion forever and ever." 3 
 
 He "shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a 
 priest upon his throne." Not now "upon the throne of his 
 glory;" the kingdom of glory has not yet been ushered in. 
 Not until his work as a mediator shall be ended, will U<><1 
 " give unto him the throne of his father David," a kingdom 
 of which " there shall be no end." ' As a priest, Christ is 
 now set down with the Father in his throne. 5 Upon the 
 throne with the eternal, self-existent One, is he who "hath 
 borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows," who " was in all 
 points tempted like as we are, yet without sin," that he might 
 be " able to succor them that are tempted." " If any man sin, 
 we have an Advocate with the Father." 6 His intercession 
 is that of a pierced and broken body, of a spotless life. The 
 wounded hands, the pierced side, the marred feet, plead for 
 fallen man, whose redemption was purchased at such infinite 
 cost. 
 
 "And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." 
 The love of the Father, no less than of the Son, is the fount- 
 ain of salvation for the lost race. Said Jesus to his disciples, 
 before he went away, "I say not unto you, that I will pray 
 
 1 7,-ch. () : 1 :*. * Eph. 2 : 20-22. 3 Rev. 1 : 5, 6. 4 Luke 1 : 32, 33. 
 & Rev. 3 :21. lsa. 53:4; ieb. 4: 15; 2:18; 1 Johu2:L 
 
WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 417 
 
 the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you." 1 
 God was "in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 2 
 And in the ministration in the sanctuary above, "the counsel 
 of peace shall be between them both." "God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
 life." 3 
 
 The question, What is the sanctuary? is clearly an- 
 swered in the Scriptures. The term sanctuary, as used in 
 the Bible, refers, first, to the .tabernacle built by Moses, as 
 a pattern of heavenly things; and, secondly, to the "true 
 tabernacle" in Heaven, to which the earthly sanctuary 
 pointed. At the death of Christ the typical service ended. 
 The "true tabernacle" in Heaven is the sanctuary of the 
 new covenant. And as the prophecy of Dan. 8 : 14 is ful- 
 filled in this dispensation, the sanctuary to which it refers 
 must be the sanctuary of the new covenant. At the termi- 
 nation of the 2300 days, in 1844, there had been no sanct- 
 uary on earth for many centuries. Thus the prophecy, 
 "Unto two thousand three hundred days; then shall the 
 sanctuary be cleansed," unquestionably points to the sanc- 
 tuary in Heaven. 
 
 But the most important question remains to be answered: 
 What is the cleansing of the sanctuary? That there was 
 such a service in connection with the earthly sanctuary, is 
 stated in the Old Testament Scriptures. But can there be 
 anything in Heaven to be cleansed? In Hebrews 9 the 
 cleansing of both the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary is 
 plainly taught. "Almost all things are by the law purged 
 with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 
 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the 
 heavens should be purified with these [the blood of animals]; 
 but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices 
 than these," 4 even the precious blood of Christ. 
 
 The cleansing, both in the typical and in the real service, 
 
 1 John 1 6 : 26, 27. 2 2 Cor. 5:19. 3 John 3:16. * Heb. 9 : 22, 23 
 31 
 
418 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 must be accomplished with blood; in the former, with the 
 blood of animals; in the latter, with the blood of Christ. 
 Paul states, as the reason why this cleansing must be per- 
 formed with blood, that without shedding of blood is no 
 remission. Remission, or putting away of sin, is the work 
 to be accomplished. But how could there be sin connected 
 with the sanctuary, either in Heaven or upon the earth? 
 This may be learned by reference to the symbolic service; 
 for the priests who officiated on earth, served "unto the 
 example and shadow of heavenly things." l 
 
 The ministration of the earthly sanctuary consisted of 
 two divisions; the priests ministered daily in the holy place, 
 while once a year the high priest performed a special work 
 of atonement in the most holy, for the cleansing, of the 
 sanctuary. Day by day the repentant sinner brought his 
 offering to the door of the tabernacle, and placing his hand 
 upon the victim's head, confessed his sins, thus in figure 
 transferring them from himself to the innocent sacrifice. 
 The animal was then slain. " Without shedding of blood,'' 
 says the apostle, there is no remission of sin. " The life of the 
 flesh is in the blood." a The broken law of God demanded the 
 life of the transgressor. The blood, representing the forfeited 
 life of the sinner, whose guilt the victim bore, was carried 
 by the priest" into the holy place and sprinkled before the 
 veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the 
 sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was, 
 through the blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary. 
 In some cases the blood was not taken into the holy place; 
 but the flesh was then to be eaten by the priest, as Moses di- 
 rected the sons of Aaron, saying, "God Imth given it you to 
 bear the iniquity of the congregation. " s Both ceremonies 
 alike symbolize the transfer of the sin from the penitent to 
 the sanctuary. 
 
 Such was the work that went on, day by day, throughout 
 the year. The sins of Israel were thus transferred to the 
 
 'Heb. 8:5. 'Lev. 17:11. :1 Lev. 10: 17. 
 
WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 419 
 
 sanctuary, and a special work became necessary for their 
 removal. God commanded that an atonement be made for 
 each of the sacred apartments. " He shall make an atone- 
 ment for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the 
 children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all 
 their sins; and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the con- 
 gregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their 
 uncleanness." 1 An atonement was also to be made for the 
 altar, to "cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of 
 the children of Israel." l 
 
 Once a year, on the great day of atonement, the priest 
 entered the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanct- 
 uary. .The work there performed completed the yearly 
 round of ministration. On the day of atonement, two kids 
 of the goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle, 
 and lots were cast upon them, " one lot for the Lord, and 
 the other lot for the -scape-goat.'" The goat upon which 
 fell the lot for the Lord was to be slain as a sin-offering 
 for the people. And the priest was to bring his blood 
 within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and 
 before the mercy-seat. The blood was also to be sprinkled 
 upon the altar of incense, that was before the veil. 
 
 "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of 
 the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the 
 children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their 
 sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall 
 send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilder- 
 ness; arid the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities 
 unto a land not inhabited." a The scape-goat came no more 
 into the camp of Israel, and the man who led him away 
 was required to wash himself and his clothing with water 
 before returning to the camp. 
 
 The whole ceremony was designed to impress the Israelites 
 with the holiness of .God and his abhorrence of sin; and, 
 further, to show them that they could not come in contact 
 
 1 Lev. 16:16, 19. a Lev. 16 : 8, 21, 22. 
 
420 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 with sin without becoming polluted. Every man was re- 
 quired to afflict his soul while this work of atonement was 
 going forward. All business was to be laid aside, and the 
 whole congregation of Israel were to spend the day in solemn 
 humiliation before God, with prayer, fasting, and deep 
 searching of heart. 
 
 Important truths concerning the atonement are taught by 
 the typical service. A substitute was accepted in the sinner's 
 stead; but the sin was not canceled by the blood of the 
 victim. A means was thus provided by which it was trans- 
 ferred to the sanctuary. By the offering of blood, the sinner 
 acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed his guilt 
 in transgression, and expressed his desire for pardon through 
 faith in a Redeemer to come; but he was not yet entirely 
 released from the condemnation of the law. On the day of 
 atonement the high priest, having taken an offering from 
 the congregation, went into the most' holy place with the 
 blood of this gffering, and sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat, 
 directly over the law, to make satisfaction for its claims. 
 Then, in his character of mediator, he took the sins upon 
 himself, and bore them from the sanctuary. Placing his 
 hands upon the head of the scape-goat, he confessed over 
 him all these sins, thus in figure transferring them from 
 himself to the goat. The goat then bore them away, and 
 they were regarded as forever separated from the people. 
 
 Such was the service performed "unto the example and 
 shadow of heavenly things." And what was done in type 
 in the ministration of the earthly sanctuary, is done in reality 
 in the ministration of the heavenly sanctuary. After his 
 ascension, our Saviour began his work as our high priest. 
 Says Paul, "Christ is not entered into the holy places made 
 with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into 
 Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence <>f ( l<>d for us." ' 
 
 The ministration -of the priest throughout the year in the 
 first apartment of the sanctuary, "within the veil" which 
 formed the door and separated the holy place from the outer 
 
 'Heb. 9:24. 
 
Engraved Expressly for "Great Controversy." 
 
 Copyrighted 1890, 
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? 421 
 
 court, represents the work of ministration upon which Christ 
 entered at his ascension. It was the work of the priest in 
 the daily ministration to present before God the blood of 
 the sin-offering, also the incense which ascended with the 
 prayers of Israel. So did Christ plead his blood before the 
 Father in behalf of sinners, and present before him also, 
 with the precious fragrance of his own righteousness, the 
 prayers of penitent believers. Such was the work of minis- 
 tration in the first apartment of the sanctuary in Heaven. 
 
 Thither the faith of Christ's disciples followed him as he 
 ascended from their sight. Here their hopes centered, 
 "which hope we have," said Paul, "as an anchor of the soul, 
 both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within 
 the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, 
 made an high priest forever." "Neither by the blood of 
 goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once 
 into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption 
 for us." 1 
 
 For eighteen centuries this work of ministration con- 
 tinued in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood 
 of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured 
 their pardon and acceptance with the Father, yet their sins 
 still remained upon the books of record. As in the typical 
 service there was a work of atonement at the close of the 
 year, so before Christ's work for the redemption of men is 
 completed, there is a work of atonement for the removal of 
 sin from the sanctuary. This is the service which began 
 when the 2300 days ended. At that time, as foretold by 
 Daniel the prophet, our High Priest entered the most holy, 
 to perform the last division of his solemn work, to cleanse 
 the sanctuary. 
 
 As anciently the sins of the people were by faith placed 
 upon the sin-offering, and through its blood transferred, in 
 figure, to the earthly sanctuary, so in the new covenant the 
 sins of the repentant are by faith placed upon Christ, and 
 transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctuary. And as the 
 
 . 6 ; 19, 20; 9 : 12. 
 
422 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the 
 removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the 
 actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by 
 the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there 
 recorded. But, before this can be accomplished, there must 
 be an examination of the books of record to determine who, 
 through repentance of sin, and faith in Christ, are entitled 
 to the benefits of his atonement. The cleansing of the 
 sanctuary" therefore involves a work of investigation, a 
 work of judgment. This work must be performed prior to 
 the corning of Christ to redeem his people; for when he 
 comes, his reward is with him to give to every man accord- 
 ing to his works. l 
 
 Thus those who followed in the light of the prophetic 
 word saw, that, instead of coming to the earth at the ter- 
 mination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered 
 the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to perform 
 the closing work of atonement, preparatory to his coming. 
 
 It was seen, also, that while the sin-offering pointed to 
 Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ 
 as a mediator, the scape-goat typified Satan, the author of sin, 
 upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be 
 placed. When the high priest, by virtue of the blood of 
 the sin-offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he 
 placed them upon the scape-goat. When Christ, by virtue 
 of his own blood, removes the sins of his people from the 
 heavenly sanctuary at the close of his ministration, he will 
 place them upon Satan, who, in the execution of the judg- 
 ment, must bear the final penalty. The scape-goat was 
 sent away into a L-nid not inhabited, never to come again 
 into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever 
 banished from the presence of God and his people, and he 
 will be blotted from existence in the final destruction of sin 
 and sinners. 
 
 i Rev. 22:12. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 
 
 THE subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked 
 the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to 
 view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, 
 showing that God's hand had directed the great Advent 
 movement, and revealing present duty as it brought to light 
 the position and work of his people. As the disciples of 
 Jesus, after the terrible night of their anguish and disap- 
 pointment, were "glad when they saw the Lord," so did 
 those now rejoice who had looked in faith for his second 
 coming. They had expected him to appear in glory to give 
 reward to his servants. As their hopes were disappointed, 
 they had lost sight of Jesus, and with Mary at the sepulcher 
 they cried, " They have taken away my Lord, and I know not 
 where they have laid him." Now in the holy of holies they 
 again beheld him, their compassionate high priest, soon to 
 appear as their king and deliverer. Light from the sanctu- 
 ary illumed the past, the present, and the future. They 
 knew that God had led them by his unerring providence. 
 Though like the first disciples they themselves had failed to 
 understand the message which they bore, yet it had been in 
 every respect correct. In proclaiming it they had fulfilled 
 the purpose of God, and their labor had not been in vain 
 in the Lord. "Begotten again unto a lively hope," they 
 rejoiced "with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 
 
 Both the prophecy of Dan. 8 : 14, " Unto two thousand and 
 three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," 
 and the first angel's message, " Fear God, and give glory to 
 him; for the hour of his Judgment is come," pointed to 
 
 (423) 
 
424 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Christ's ministration in the most holy place, to the investi- 
 gative Judgment, and not to the coming of Christ for the 
 redemption of his people and the destruction of the wicked. 
 The mistake had not been in the reckoning of the prophetic 
 periods, but in the event to take place at the end of the 2300 
 days. Through this error the believers had suffered dis- 
 appointment, yet all that was foretold by the prophecy, and 
 all that they had any Scripture warrant to expect, had been 
 accomplished. At the very time when they were lament- 
 ing the failure of their hopes, the event had taken place 
 which was foretold by the message, and which must be 
 fulfilled before the Lord could appear to give reward to his 
 servants. 
 
 Christ had come, not to the earth, as they expected, but, 
 as foreshadowed in the type, to the most holy place of the 
 temple of God in Heaven. He is represented by the prophet 
 Daniel as coming at this time to the Ancient of days: "I 
 saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of 
 man came with the clouds of heaven, and came" not to 
 the earth, but " to the Ancient of days, and they brought 
 him near before him." J 
 
 This coming is foretold also by the prophet Malachi: 
 "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his tem- 
 ple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight 
 in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." 2 The 
 coming of the Lord to his temple was sudden, unexpected, 
 to his people. They were not looking for him there. They 
 expected him to come to earth, "in flaming fire taking 
 vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not 
 the gospel." 3 
 
 But the people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. 
 There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished 
 for them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to 
 the temple of God in Heaven; and as they should by faith 
 follow their High Priest in his ministration there, new duties 
 
 1 Dan. 7 : 13. 2 Mai. 3:1. 3 2 Thess. 1 : 8. 
 
IN Til/: IIOL V OF HOLIES. 425 
 
 would be revealed. Another message of warning and in- 
 struction was to be given to the church. 
 
 Says the prophet: " Who may abide the day of his coming? 
 and who -shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like 
 a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap; and he shall sit as a 
 refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons 
 of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may 
 offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." l Those 
 who are living upon the earth when the intercession of 
 Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the 
 sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must 
 be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by 
 the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and 
 their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the 
 battle with evil. While the investigative Judgment is going 
 forward in Heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are 
 being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special 
 work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's 
 people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in 
 the messages of Revelation 14. 
 
 When this work shall have been accomplished, the fol- 
 lowers of Christ will be ready for his appearing. "Then 
 shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto 
 the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." 2 
 Then the church which our Lord at his coming is to receive 
 to himself will be "a glorious church, not having spot, or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing." 3 Then she will look forth "as 
 the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible 
 as an army with banners." 4 
 
 Besides thtr coming of the Lord to his temple, Malachi 
 also foretells his second advent, his coming for the execution 
 of the judgment, in these words: "And I will come near to 
 you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the 
 sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false 
 swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his 
 
 1 MaL 3 : 2, 3. 2 Mai. 3:4. 3 Eph. 5 : 27. 4 Cant. 6 : 10. 
 
426 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside 
 the stranger from his right, and fear not rne, saith the Lord 
 of hosts." 1 Jude refers to the same scene when lie says, 
 " Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 
 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are 
 ungodly among them of all their ungodly .deeds." 2 This 
 coming, and the coming of the Lord to his temple, are dis- 
 tinct and separate events. 
 
 The coming of Christ as our high priest to the most holy 
 place, for the cleansing of the sanctuary, brought to view in 
 Dan. 8:14; the coming of the Son of man to the Ancient of 
 days, as presented in Dan. 7: 13; and the coming of the Lord 
 to his temple, foretold by Malachi, are descriptions of the 
 same event; and this is also represented by the coming of 
 the bridegroom to the marriage, described by Christ in the 
 parable of the ten virgins, of Matthew 25. 
 
 In the summer and autumn of 1844, the proclamation^ 
 "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," was given. The two 
 classes represented by the wise and foolish virgins were 
 then developed, one class who looked with joy to the 
 Lord's appearing, and who had been diligently preparing 
 to meet him; another class that, influenced by fear, and 
 acting from impulse, had been satisfied with a theory of the 
 truth, but were destitute of the grace of God. In the par- 
 able, when the bridegroom came, " they that were ready went 
 in with him to the marriage." The coming of the bride- 
 groom, here brought to view, takes place before the mar- 
 riage. The marriage represents the reception by Christ of 
 his kingdom. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is 
 the capital and representative of the kingdom,^ called "the 
 bride, the Lamb's wife." Said the angel to John, "Come 
 hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." " He 
 carried me away in the spirit," says the prophet, "and 
 showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending 
 out of Heaven from God." * Clearly, then, the bride repre- 
 
 1 Mai. 3:5. * Jude 14, 15. Rev. 21 : 9, 10. 
 
IN THE HOLT OF HOLIES. 427 
 
 sents the holy city, and the virgins that go out to meet the 
 bridegroom are a symbol of the church. In the Revelation 
 the people of God are said to be the guests at the marriage 
 supper. l If guests, they cannot be represented also as the 
 bride. Christ, as stated by the prophet Daniel, will re- 
 ceive from the Ancient of days in Heaven, " dominion, and 
 glory, and a kingdom," he will receive the New Jerusalem, 
 the capital of his kingdom, "prepared as a bride adorned 
 for her husband." 2 Having received the kingdom, he will 
 come in his glory, as King of kings, and Lord of lords, for 
 the redemption of his people, who are to "sit down with 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," at his table in his king- 
 dom, 3 to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 
 The proclamation, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," in 
 the summer of 1844, led thousands to expect the immediate 
 advent of the Lord. At the appointed time the Bridegroom 
 came, not to the earth, as the people expected, but to the 
 Ancient of days in Heaven, to the marriage, the reception of 
 his kingdom. " They that were ready went in with him to 
 the marriage, and the door was shut." They were not to be 
 present in person at the marriage; for it takes place in 
 Heaven, while they are upon the earth. The followers of 
 Christ are to "wait for their Lord, when he will return from 
 the wedding." * But they are to understand his work, and 
 to follow him by faith as he goes in before God. It is in 
 this sense that they are said to go in to the marriage. 
 
 In the parable it was those that had oil in their vessels 
 with their lamps that went in to the marriage. Those who, 
 with a knowledge of the truth from the Scriptures, had also 
 the Spirit and grace of God, and who, in the night of their 
 bitter trial, had patiently waited, searching the Bible for 
 clearer light, these saw the truth concerning the sanctuary 
 in Heaven and the Saviour's change of ministration, and 
 by faith they followed him in his work in the sanctuary 
 
 . 19 : 9. 2 Dan. 7 : 14 ; Rev. 21 : 2. 
 
 8 Matt. 8:11; Luke 22 : 30. * Luke 12 : 36. 
 
428 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 above. And all who through the testimony of the Script- 
 ures accept the same truths, following Christ by faith as he 
 enters in before God to perform the last work of mediation, 
 and at its close to receive his kingdom, all these are repre- 
 sented as going in to the marriage. 
 
 In the parable of Matthew 22 the same figure of the 
 marriage is introduced, and the investigative Judgment is 
 clearly represented as taking place before the marriage. 
 Previous to the wedding the king comes in to see the guests, 1 
 to see if all are attired in the wedding garment, the spot- 
 less robe of character washed and made white in the blood 
 of the Lamb. 2 He who is found wanting is cast out, but 
 all who upon examination, are seen to have the wedding 
 garment on, are accepted of God, and accounted worthy of a 
 share in his kingdom and a seat upon his throne. This 
 work of examination of character, of determining who are 
 prepared for the kingdom of God, is that of the investigative 
 Judgment, the closing work in the sanctuary above. 
 
 When the work of investigation shall be ended, when the 
 cases of those who in all ages have professed to be followers 
 of Christ have been examined and decided, then, and not 
 till then, probation will close, and the door of mercy will be 
 shut. Thus in the one short sentence, "They that were 
 ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was 
 shut," we are carried down through the Saviour's final 
 ministration, to the time when the great work for man's 
 salvation shall be completed. 
 
 In the service of the earthly sanctuary, which, as we have 
 seen, is a figure of the service in the heavenly, when the 
 high priest on the day of atonement entered the most holy 
 place, the ministration in the first apartment ceased. God 
 commanded, "There shall be no man in the tabernacle of 
 the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement 
 in the holy place, until he come out." 3 So when Christ 
 entered the holy of holies to 'perform the closing work of 
 
 1 Matt. 22 : 11. ' Kev. 7 : 14. * Lev. 16 : 17. 
 
IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 429 
 
 the atonement, he ceased his ministration in the first apart- 
 ment. But when -the ministration in the first apartment 
 ended, the ministration in the second apartment began. 
 When in the typical service the high priest left the holy on 
 the day of atonement, he went in before God to present the 
 blood of the sin-offering in behalf of all Israel who truly 
 repented of their sins. So Christ had only completed one 
 part of his work as our intercessor, to enter upon another 
 portion of the work, and he still pleaded his blood before 
 the Father in behalf of sinners. 
 
 This subject was not understood by Adventists in 1844. 
 After the passing of the time when the Saviour was expected, 
 they still believed his coming to be near; they held that 
 they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of 
 Christ as man's intercessor before God, had ceased. It ap- 
 peared to them to be taught in the Bible, that man's proba- 
 tion would close a short time before the actual coming of 
 the Lord in the clouds of heaven. This seemed evident 
 from those scriptures which point to a time when men 
 will seek, knock, and cry at the door of mercy, and it will 
 not be opened. And it was a question with them whether 
 the date to which they had looked for the coming of Christ 
 might not rather mark the beginning of this period which 
 was to immediately precede his coming. Having given the 
 warning of the Judgment near, they felt that their work for 
 the world was done, and they lost their burden of soul for 
 the salvation of sinners, while the bold and blasphemous 
 scoffing of the ungodly seemed to them another evidence 
 that the Spirit of God had been withdrawn from the reject- 
 ers of his mercy. All this confirmed them in the belief 
 that probation had ended, or, as they then expressed it, " the 
 door of mercy was shut." * 
 
 But clearer light came with the investigation of the sanct- 
 uary question. They .now saw that they were correct in 
 believing that the end of the 2300 days in 1844 marked an 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 7. 
 
430 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 important crisis. But while it was true that that door of 
 hope and mercy by which men had for eighteen hundred 
 years found access to God was closed, another door was 
 opened, and forgiveness of sins was offered to men through 
 the intercession of Christ in the most holy. One part of his 
 ministration had closed, only to give place to another. 
 There was still an "open door" to the heavenly sanctuary 
 where Christ was ministering in the sinner's behalf. 
 
 Now was seen the application of those words of Christ in 
 the Revelation, addressed to the church at this very time: 
 " These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that 
 hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; 
 and shutteth, and no man openeth: I know thy works; be- 
 hold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can 
 shut it" 1 
 
 It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of 
 the atonement, who receive the benefits of his mediation in 
 their behalf; while those who reject the light which brings 
 to view this work of ministration, are not benefited thereby. 
 The Jews who rejected the light given at Christ's first 
 advent, and refused to believe on him as the Saviour of the 
 world, could not receive pardon through him. When Jesus 
 at his ascension entered by his own blood into the heavenly 
 sanctuary to shed upon his disciples the blessings of his 
 mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness, to continue 
 their useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of 
 types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men 
 had formerly found access to God, was no longer open. The 
 Jews had refused to seek him in the only way whereby he 
 could then be found, through the ministration in the sanct- 
 uary in Heaven. Therefore they found no communion 
 with God. To them the door was shut They had no 
 knowledge of Christ as the true sacrifice and the only medi- 
 ator before God ; hence they could not receive the benefits 
 of his mediation. 
 
 The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the con- 
 
 ' Rev. 3:7,8. 
 
77V TEE HOLY OF HOLIES. 481 
 
 jdtion of the careless and unbelieving among professed Chris- 
 tians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merci- 
 ful High Priest, hi the typical service, when the high 
 priest entered the most holy place, all Israel were required 
 <<> gather about the sanctuary, and in the most solemn man- 
 ner humble their souls before God, that they might receive 
 the pardon of their sins, and not be cut off from the con- 
 gregation. How much more essential in this antitypical 
 <lay of atonement that we understand the work of our High 
 Priest, and know what duties are required of us. 
 
 Men cannot with impunity reject the warnings which 
 God in mercy sends them. A message was sent from 
 Heaven to the world in Noah's day, and their salvation 
 depended upon the manner in which they treated that mes- 
 sage. Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God 
 was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in 
 the waters of the flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy 
 ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all 
 but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by 
 the fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. 
 The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that 
 generation, "Your house is left unto you desolate." 1 Look- 
 ing clown to the last days, the same infinite power declares, 
 concerning those who "received not the love of the truth, 
 that they might be saved," "For this cause God shall send 
 them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that 
 they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but 
 had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 As they reject the 
 teachings of his Word, God withdraws his Spirit, and leaves 
 them to the deceptions which they love. 
 
 But Christ still intercedes in man's behalf, and light will 
 be given to those who seek it. Though this was not at first 
 understood by Adventists, it was afterward made plain, as 
 the scriptures which define their true position began to open 
 before them. 
 
 1 Matt. 23 : 38. - '2 Thess. 2 : 10-12. 
 
 32 
 
432 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The passing of the time in 1844 was followed by a period 
 of great trial to those who still held the Advent faith. 
 Their only relief, so far as ascertaining their true "position 
 was 1 concerned, was the light which directed their minds to 
 the sanctuary above. Some renounced their faith in their 
 former reckoning of the prophetic periods, and ascribed to 
 human or Satanic agencies the powerful influence of the 
 Holy Spirit which had attended the Advent movement. 
 Another class firmly held that the Lord had led them in 
 their past experience; and as they waited and watched and 
 prayed to know the will of God, they saw that their great 
 High Priest had entered upon another work of ministration, 
 and, following him by faith, they were led to see also the 
 closing work of the church. They had a clearer under- 
 standing of the first and second angels' messages, and were 
 prepared to receive and give to the world the solemn warn- 
 ing of the third angel of Revelation 14. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. 
 
 "THE temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there 
 was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." 1 The ark 
 of God's testament is in the holy of holies, the second apart- 
 ment of the sanctuary. In the ministration of the earthly 
 tabernacle, which served "unto the example and shadow of 
 heavenly things," this apartment was opened only upon the 
 great day of atonement, for the cleansing of the sanctuary. 
 Therefore the announcement that the temple of God was 
 opened in Heaven, and the ark of his testament was seen, 
 points to the opening of the most holy place of the heavenly 
 sanctuary, in 1844, as Christ entered there to perform the 
 closing work of the atonement. Those who by faith followed 
 their great High Priest, as he entered upon his ministry in 
 the most holy place, beheld the ark of his testament. As 
 they had studied the subject of the sanctuary, they had 
 come to understand the Saviour's change of ministration, 
 and they saw that he was now officiating before the ark of 
 God, pleading his blood in behalf of sinners. 
 
 The ark in the tabernacle on earth contained the two 
 tables of stone, upon which were inscribed the precepts of 
 the law of God. The ark was merely a receptacle for the 
 tables of the law, and the presence of these divine precepts 
 gave to it its value and sacredness. When the temple of God 
 was opened in Heaven, the ark of his testament was seen. 
 Within the holy of holies, in the sanctuary in Heaven, the 
 divine law is sacredly enshrined, the law that was spoken 
 by God himself amid the thunders of Sinai, and written 
 with his own linger on the tables of stone. 
 
 . 11 :19. 
 
 (433, 
 
434 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The law of (rod in the sanctuary in Heaven is the great 
 original, of which (lie precepts inscribed upon the tables of 
 
 stone, and recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch, were an 
 unerring transcript. Those who arrived at an understand- 
 ing of this important point, were thus led to see the sacred, 
 unchanging character of the divine law. They saw, as 
 never hefore, the force of the Saviour's words, " Till heaven 
 and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass 
 from the law." 1 The law of (lod, heing a revelation of his 
 will, a transcript of his character, must forever endure, "as a 
 faithful witness in Heaven." Not one command has heen 
 annulled; not a jot or tittle has heen changed. Says the 
 psalmist : " Forever, <) Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven.'' 
 "All his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever 
 and ever."" 
 
 In the very bosom of the decalogue is the fourth com- 
 mandment, as it was first proclaimed: "Remember the Sab- 
 bath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do 
 all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
 Lord thy (lod; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor 
 thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid- 
 servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy 
 gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
 sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; 
 wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed 
 it." 3 
 
 ^The Spirit of ( }od impressed the hearts of those students 
 of his Word. The conviction was urged upon them, that, 
 they had ignorantly transgressed this precept by disregard - 
 ing the Creator's rest-day. They began to examine the rea- 
 sons for observing the first day of the week instead of the 
 day which (lod had sanctified. They could find no evi- 
 dence in the Scriptures that the fourth commandment had 
 been abolished, or that the Sabhaih had been changed; the 
 Messing which first hallowed the seventh day had never 
 
 1 Matt. ") : I S. I' 1 I !> : tt ; 1 1 1 : 7, 8. 3 Kx. 20 : 8-11. 
 
GOD'S LA Jf IMMrTARLE. 435 
 
 been removed. They had been honestly seeking to know 
 and to do God's will; now, as they saw themselves trans- 
 gressors of his law, sorrow tilled their hearts, and they 
 manifested their loyalty to God by keeping his Sabbath 
 holy. 
 
 Many and earnest were the efforts made to overthrow their 
 faith. None could fail to see that if the earthly sanctuarv 
 was a figure or pattern of the heavenly, the Li\v deposited 
 in the ark on earth was an exact transcript of the law in 
 the ark in Heaven; and that an acceptance of the truth 
 concerning the heavenly sanctuary involved an acknowl- 
 edgment of the claims of God's law, and the obligation of the 
 Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Here was the secret 
 of the bitter and determined opposition to the harmonious 
 exposition of the Scriptures that revealed the ministration of 
 Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Men sought to close the 
 door which God had opened, and to open the door which lie 
 had closed. But "He that openeth, and no man shutteth; 
 and shutteth, and no man openeth," had declared, "Behold, 
 I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut 
 it." 1 Christ had opened the door, or ministration, of the 
 most holy place, light was shining from that open door of 
 the sanctuary in Heaven, and the fourth commandment was 
 shown to be included in the law which is there enshrined; 
 what God had established, no man could overthrow. 
 
 Those who had accepted the light concerning the media- 
 tion of Christ and the perpetuity of the law of God, found 
 that these were the truths presented in "Revelation 14. The 
 messages of this chapter constitute a threefold warning, 8 
 which is to prepare the inhabitants of the earth for the 
 Lord's second coming. The announcement, " The hour of 
 his Judgment is come," points to the closing work of 
 Christ's ministration for the salvation of men. It heralds 
 a truth which must be proclaimed until the Saviour's in- 
 tercession shall cease, and he shall return to the earth to 
 1 .Rev. 3 : 7, 8. 2 See Appendix, Note 8. 
 
436 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 take his people to himself. The work of judgment which 
 began in 1844, must continue until the cases of all are 
 decided, both of the living and the dead ; hence it will extend 
 to the close of human probation. That men may be pre- 
 pared to stand in the Judgment, the message commands 
 them to "fear God, and give glory to him," "and worship 
 him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the 
 fountains of waters." The result of an acceptance of these 
 messages is given in the words, " Here are they that keep 
 the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." In 
 order to be prepared for the Judgment, it is necessary that 
 men should keep the law of God. That law will be the 
 standard of character in the Judgment. The apostle Paul 
 declares, "As many as have sinned in the law shall be 
 judged by the law; ... in the day when God shall judge 
 the secrets of men by Jesus. Christ." And he says that "the 
 doers of the law shall be justified." 1 Faith is essential in 
 order to the keeping of the law of God; for "without faith 
 it is impossible to please him." And " whatsoever is not of 
 faith is sin." 2 
 
 By the first angel, men are called upon to "fear God, and 
 give glory to him," and to worship him as the Creator of 
 the heavens and the earth. In order to do this, they must 
 obey his law. Says the wise man, "Fear God, and keep his 
 commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. " J \Vith- 
 out obedience to his commandments, no worship can be 
 pleasing to God. "This is the love of God, that we keep 
 his commandments." "He that turneth away his ear from 
 tearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." 4 
 
 The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that he is 
 the Creator, and that to him all other beings owe their exist- 
 ence. And wherever, in the Bible, his claim to reverence 
 and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is presented, 
 there is cited the evidence of his creative power. " All the 
 
 Utom. 2 : 12-16. 2 Heb. 11:6; Rom. 14 : 23. 
 
 3 Eccl. 12 : 13. 4 1 John 5 : 3 ; 1'rov. 28 : 9. 
 
GOD'S LA W IMMrTA ULE. 487 
 
 gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the 
 heavens." 1 "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I 
 be equal ? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, 
 and behold who hath created these things." "Thus saith 
 the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that 
 formed the earth and made it; . . . I am Jehovah; 
 and there is none else." 2 Says the psalmist, "Know ye that 
 Jehovah, he is God ; it is he that hath made us, and not we 
 ourselves." " O come, let us worship and bow down, let us 
 kneel before the Lord our Maker." 3 And the holy beings 
 who worship God in Heaven state, as the reason why their 
 homage is due to him, " Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive 
 glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all 
 things." 4 
 
 In Revelation 14, men are called upon to worship the Cre- 
 ator, and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result 
 of the threefold message, are keeping the commandments of 
 God. One of these commandments points directly to God as 
 the Creator. The fourth precept declares: "The seventh 
 day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. . . . For in 
 six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 
 that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the 
 Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 5 Concern- 
 ing the Sabbath, the Lord .says, further, that it is "a sign, 
 . . . that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." 6 
 And the reason given is, "For in six days the Lord made 
 heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and 
 was refreshed." 7 
 
 " The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of cre- 
 ation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why 
 worship is due to God," because he is the Creator, and we his 
 creatures. " The Sabbath therefore lies at the very founda- 
 tion of divine worship; for it teaches this great truth in the 
 most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. 
 
 1 Ps. 96 : 5. 2 Isa. 40 : 25, 26; 43 : 18. 3 Ps. FO : 3; 95 : 6. 
 
 * Rev. 4:11. 5 Ex. 20:10, 11. 6 Eze. 20:20. 
 
 'Ex. 31 :17. 
 
438 Tin: On EAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the- 
 seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the 
 distinction between the Creator and his creatures. This 
 great fact can never become obsolete, and must never bo 
 forgotten." It was to keep this truth ever before the minds 
 of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so 
 long as the fact that he is our Creator continues to be a 
 . reason why we should worship him, so long the Sabbath will 
 continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been 
 universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have 
 been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and wor- 
 ship, and there would never have been an idolater, an 
 atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign 
 of loyalty to the true God, "him that made heaven and 
 earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." It follows 
 that the message which commands men to worship God 
 and keep his commandments, will especially call upon 
 them to keep the fourth commandment. 
 
 In contrast to those who keep the commandments of 
 God and have the faith of Jesus, the third angel points 
 to another class, against whose errors a solemn and 
 fearful warning is uttered: "If any man worship the beast 
 and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in 
 his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
 God." l A correct interpretation of the symbols employed is 
 necessary to an understanding of this message. What is rep- 
 resented by the beast, the image, the mark? 
 
 The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found, 
 begins with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to de- 
 stroy Christ at his birth. The dragon is said to be Satan ; 2 he 
 it was that moved upon Herod to put the Saviour to death. 
 But the chief agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and 
 his people during the first centuries of the Christian era, was 
 the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing 
 religion. Thus while the dragon, primarily, represents Satan 3 
 it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome. 
 
 -Rev. 14:9, 10 2 Rev. 12:9. 
 
GOD'S LA W JMMrTABLE. 439 
 
 In chapter 13 l is described another beast, "like unto a 
 leopard/' to which the dragon gave " his power, and his seat, 
 and great authority." .This symbol, as most Protestants 
 have believed, represents the papacy, which succeeded to 
 the power and seat and authority once possessed by the 
 ancient Ivonian Empire. Of the leopard-like beast it is 
 declared: "There was given unto him a mouth speaking 
 great things and blasphemies. . . . And he opened his 
 mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, 
 and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And 
 it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to 
 overcome them ; and power was given him over all kindreds, 
 and tongues, and nations." This prophecy, which is nearly 
 identical with the description of the little horn of Daniel 7, 
 unquestionably points to the papacy. 
 
 "Power was given unto him to continue forty and two 
 months." And, says the prophet, " I saw one of his heads as 
 it were wounded to death." And again, " He that leadeth 
 into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the 
 sword must be killed with the sword." The forty and two 
 months are the same as the " time and times and the divid- 
 ing of time," three years and a half, or 1260 days, of Daniel 
 7, the time during which the papal power was to oppress 
 God's people. This period, as stated in preceding chapters, 
 began with the establishment of the papacy, A. D. 538, and 
 terminated in 1798. At that time, when the papacy was 
 abolished and the pope made captive by the French army, 
 the papal power received its deadly wound, and the predic- 
 tion was fulfilled, "He that leadeth into captivity shall go 
 into captivity " 
 
 At this point another symbol is introduced. Says the 
 prophet, " I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; 
 and he had two horns like a lamb."'' Both the appearance 
 of this beast and the manner of its rise indicate that the 
 nation which it represents is unlike those presented under 
 
 1 Verses 1-10. 2 Rev. 13: 11. 
 
440 TJTK G U HA T ( 'OX TR O 1 'KRSY. 
 
 the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms that have 
 ruled the world were presented to the prophet Daniel as 
 beasts of prey, rising when the " four winds of the heaven 
 strove upon the great sea." 1 In Revelation 17, an angel 
 explained that waters represent "peoples, and multitudes, 
 and nations, and tongues." a Winds are a symbol of strife. 
 The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, repre- 
 sent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which 
 kingdoms have attained to power.. 
 
 But the beast with lamb-like horns was seen "coming up 
 out of the earth." Instead of overthrowing other powers to 
 establish itself, the nation thus represented must arise in 
 territory previously unoccupied, and grow up gradually and 
 peacefully. It could not, then, arise among the crowded 
 and struggling nationalities of the Old World, that turbu- 
 lent sea of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and 
 tongues." It must be sought in the Western Continent. 
 
 What nation of the New' World was in 1798 rising into 
 power, giving promise of strength and greatness, and attract- 
 ing the attention of the world? The application of the 
 symbol admits of no question. One nation, and only one, 
 meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmis- 
 takably to the United States of America. Again and again 
 the thought, almost the exact words, of the sacred writer 
 have been unconsciously employed by the orator and the 
 historian in describing the rise and growth of this nation. 
 The beast was seen "coming up out of the earth;" and, 
 according to the translators, the word here rendered "com- 
 ing up" literally signifies to ".grow or spring up as a 
 plant." And, as we have seen, the nation must arise in 
 territory previously unoccupied. A prominent writer, de.- 
 scribing the rise of the United States, speaks of " the mystery 
 of her Doming forth from vacancy" and says, "Like a silent 
 seed we grew into empire." 3 A European journal in 1S,~>0 
 
 'Dan. 7 :2. 2 Rev. 17 : 15. 
 
 3 Townsend, in "The New World Compared with the Old," p. 462. 
 
GOD'S LA W JMMTTA KLE. 441 
 
 spoke of the United States as a wonderful empire, which was 
 "emerging," and "amid the silence of the earth daily adding 
 to its power and pride." 1 Edward Everett, in an oration on 
 the Pilgrim founders of this nation said: "Did they look 
 for a retired spot, inoffensive from its obscurity, safe in 
 its remoteness from the haunts of despots, where the little 
 church of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience? 
 Behold the mighty regions over which, in peaceful conquest, 
 . . . they have borne the banners of the cross." 
 
 "And he had two horns like a lamb." The lamb-like 
 horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly repre- 
 senting the character of the United States when presented 
 to the prophet as "coming up" in 1798. The Christian 
 exiles who first fled to America, sought an asylum from royal 
 oppression and priestly intolerance, and they determined to 
 establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil 
 and religious liberty. The Declaration of Independence 
 sets forth the great truth that "all men are created equal," 
 and endowed with the inalienable right to "life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness." And the Constitution guar- 
 antees to the people the right of self-government, providing 
 that representatives elected by the popular vote shall 
 enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith 
 was also granted, every man being permitted to worship 
 God according to the dictates of his conscience. Republican- 
 ism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles 
 of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power 
 and prosperity. The oppressed and down-trodden through- 
 out Christendom have turned to this land with interest and 
 hope. Millions have sought its shores, and the United 
 States has risen to a place among the most powerml nations 
 of the earth. 
 
 But the beast with lamb-like horns "spake as a dragon. 
 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, 
 and cause th the earth and them which dwell therein to 
 worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed, . 
 
 1 The Dublin Nation. 
 
442 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 . . saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they 
 should make an image to the beast, which had the wound 
 by a sword, and did live." 1 
 
 The lamb-like horns and dragon voice of the symbol 
 point to a striking contradiction between the professions and 
 the practice of the nation thus represented. The " speaking " 
 of the nation is the action of its legislative and judicial 
 authorities. By such action it will give the lie to those lib- 
 eral and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the 
 foundation of its policy. The prediction that it will speak 
 "as a dragon," and exercise "all the power of the first beast," 
 plainly foretells a development of the spirit of intolerance 
 and persecution that was manifested by the nations repre- 
 sented by the dragon and the leopard-like beast. And the 
 statement that the beast with two horns " causeth the earth 
 and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast/' 
 indicates that the authority of this nation is to be exercised 
 in enforcing some observance which shall be an act of hom- 
 age to the papacy. 
 
 Such action would be directly contrary to the principles 
 of this government, to the genius of its free institutions, to 
 the direct and solemn avowals of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, and to the Constitution. The founders of the 
 nation wisely sought to guard against the employment of 
 secular power' on the part of the church, with its inevitable 
 result intolerance and persecution.. The Constitution pro- 
 vides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- 
 lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," 
 and that "no religious test shall ever be required as a quali- 
 fication to any office of public trust under the United States." 
 Only in flagrant violation of these safeguards to the nation's 
 liberty, can any religious observance be enforced by civil 
 authority. But the inconsistency of such action is no greater 
 than is represented in the symbol. It is the beast with 
 lamb-like horns in profession pure, gentle, and harmless 
 that speaks as a dragon. 
 
 13:11-14. 
 
GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 443 
 
 "Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should 
 make an image to the beast." Here is clearly presented a 
 form of government in which the legislative power rests with 
 the people; a most striking evidence that the United States 
 is the nation denoted in the prophecy. 
 
 But what is the "image to the beast"? and how is it to be 
 formed? The image is made by the two-horned beast, and 
 is an image to the first beast. It is also called an image of the 
 beast. Then to learn what the image is like, and how it is to 
 be formed, we must study the characteristics of the beast itself, 
 the papacy. When the early church became corrupted by 
 departing from the simplicity of the gospel, and accepting 
 heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of 
 God; and in order to control the consciences of the people she 
 sought the support of the secular power. The result was the 
 papacy, a church that controlled the power of the State, and 
 employed it to further her own ends, especially for the pun- 
 ishment of " heresy." In order for the United States to form 
 an image of the beast, the religious power must so control 
 the civil government that the authority of the State will 
 also be employed by the church to accomplish her own 
 ends. 
 
 Whenever the church has obtained secular power, she has 
 employed it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protest- 
 ant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome by 
 forming alliance' with worldly powers, have manifested a 
 similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. An example 
 of this is given in the long-continued persecution of dis- 
 senters by the Church of England. During the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth ce'nturies, thousands of non-conformist 
 ministers were forced to leave their churches, and many, 
 both of pastors and people, were subjected to fine, imprison- 
 ment, torture, and martyrdom. 
 
 It was apostasy that led the early church to, seek the aid of 
 th(M-ivil government, and this prepared the way for tluMlcvol- 
 opment of the papacy, the beast. Said Paul, There shall 
 
444 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 "come a falling away, . . . and that man ot sin. be 
 revealed." 1 So apostasy in the church will prepare the way 
 for the image to the beast. And the Bible declares that 
 before the coming of the Lord there will exist a state of 
 religious declension similar to that in the first centuries. 
 " In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall 
 be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blas- 
 phemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, with- 
 out natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, inconti- 
 nent, fierce, despiaers of those that are good, traitors, heady, 
 highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; liarim) 
 a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."' 2 " Now 
 the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
 shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, 
 and doctrines of devils." 3 Satan will work "with all power 
 and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivablcness 
 of unrighteousness." And all that "received not the love of 
 the truth, that they might be saved," will be left to accept 
 "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."* AVIien 
 tli is state of ungodliness shall be reached, the same results 
 will follow as in the first centuries. 
 
 The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is 
 regarded by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure 
 a forced uniformity can ever be made. But there has been 
 for years, in churches of the Protestant faith, a strong and 
 growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common 
 points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion 
 of subjects upon which all were not agreed however impor- 
 tant they might be from a Bible standpoint must necessa- 
 rily be waived. 
 
 Charles Beecher, in a sermon in the year L 846, declared 
 that the ministry of "ihe evangelical Protestant denomina- 
 tions" is "not only formed all the way up under a tremen- 
 dous pressure of merely human fear, but they live, and 
 move, and breathe in a state of things radically corrupt, and 
 
 2 Thess. 2:3. * 2 Tim. 3 : 1-5. 3 1 Tim. 4:1. 4 2 Thess. 2:9-11. 
 
GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 445 
 
 appealing every hour to every baser element of their nature 
 to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to the power of apos- 
 tasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome? Are 
 we not living her life over again? And what do we see just 
 ahead? Another general council! A world's convention! 
 evangelical alliance, and universal creed! " When this shall 
 be gained, then, in the effort to secure complete uniformity, 
 it will be only a step to the resort to force. 
 
 When the leading churches of the United States, uniting 
 upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in com- 
 nion, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and 
 to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will 
 have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the 
 infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably 
 result. 
 
 The beast with two horns " causeth [commands] all, both 
 small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a 
 mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads ; and that 
 no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or 
 the name of the beast, or the number of his name." J The 
 third angel's warning is, " If any man worship the beast 
 and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in 
 his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
 God." "The beast" mentioned in this message, whose 
 worship is enforced by the two-horned beast, is the first, 
 or leopard-like beast of Revelation 13, the papacy. The 
 "image to the beast" represents that form of apostate Prot- 
 estantism which will be developed when the Protestant 
 churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the en- 
 forcement of their dogmas. The " mark of the beast " still 
 remains to be defined. 
 
 After the warning against the worship of the beast and 
 his image, the prophecy declares, " Here are they that keep 
 the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Since 
 those who keep God's commandments are thus placed in 
 contrast with those that worship the beast and his image 
 
 i Rev. 13:16, 17. 
 
440 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and receive his murk, it follows that the keeping of God's 
 law, on the one hand, and its violation, on the other, will 
 make the distinction between the worshipers of God and 
 the worshipers of the beast. 
 
 The special characteristic of the beast, and therefore of 
 his image, is the breaking of God's commandments. Says 
 Daniel, of the little horn, the papacy, "He shall think to 
 change the times and the law." ' And Paul styled the same 
 power the " man of sin," who was to exalt himself above 
 God. One prophecy is a complement of the other. Only 
 by changing God's law could the papacy exalt itself above 
 God; whoever should understandmgly keep the law as thus 
 changed would be giving supreme honor to that power by 
 which the change was made. Such an act of obedience to 
 papal laws would be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the 
 place of God. 
 
 The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. 
 The second commandment, forbidding image worship, has 
 been dropped from the law, and the fourth commandment 
 has been so changed as to authorize the observance of the 
 in st instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But papists 
 urge, as a reason for omitting the second commandment, 
 that it is unnecessary, being included in the first, and that 
 they are giving the law exactly as God designed it to be 
 understood. This cannot be the change foretold by tin- 
 prophet. An intentional, deliberate change is presented :"!!< 
 shall think to change the times and the law." The change in 
 the fourth commandment exactly fulfills the prophecy. 
 For this the only authority claimed is that of the church. 
 Here the papal .power openly sets itself above God. 
 
 While the worshipers of God will be especially distin- 
 guished by their regard for the fourth commandment, 
 since this is the sign of his creative power, and the witness 
 to his claim upon man's reverence and I mm age. the wor- 
 shipers of the beast will be distinguished bv their ellbrts to 
 
 tear down the Creator's memorial, to exalt the institution 
 
 1 Pan. 7 :25, Revised Version. 
 
GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 447 
 
 of Rome. It was in behalf of the Sunday, that popery first 
 asserted its arrogant claims; 1 and its first resort to the power 
 of the State was to compel the observance of Sunday as " the 
 Lord's day/' But the Bible points to the seventh day, and 
 not to the first, as the Lord's day. Said Christ, " The Son 
 of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." The fourth com- 
 mandment declares, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
 Lord." And by the prophet Isaiah the Lord designates it, 
 "My holy day."' 
 
 The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the 
 Sabbath, is disproved by his own words. In his sermon on 
 the mount he said: "Think not that I am come to 
 destroy the law, or the prophets ; I am not come to destroy, 
 but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and 
 earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
 the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break 
 one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, 
 he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven ; but 
 whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called 
 great in the kingdom of Heaven." 3 
 
 It is a fact generally admitted by Protestants, that the 
 Scriptures give no authority for the change of the Sab- 
 bath. This is plainly stated in publications issued by the 
 American Tract Society and the American Sunday-school 
 Union. One of these works acknowledges "the complete 
 silence of the New Testament so far as any explicit com- 
 mand for the Sabbath [Sunday, the first day of the week] 
 or definite rules for its observance are concerned." * 
 
 Another says: " Up to the time of Christ's death, no change 
 had been made in the day ; " and, " so far as the record shows, 
 they [the apostles] did not give any explicit command en- 
 joining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and 
 its observance on the first day of the week." 5 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 9. 2 Mark 2 : 28; Isa. 58 : 13. 3 Matt. 5 : 17-19. 
 *"The Abiding Sabbath," p. 184, a $500 prize essay. 
 6 " The Lord's Day," pp. 185, 186, a $1,000 prize essay, 
 33 
 
44 8 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sab- 
 bath was made by their church, and declare that Protestants, 
 by observing the Sunday, arc recogni/ing her power. In the 
 "Catholic Catechism of Christian Religion;' in answer to a 
 question as to the day to be observed in obedience to the 
 fourth commandment, this statement is made : " During the 
 old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, 
 instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, 
 has substituted Sunday for Saturday ; so now we sanctify the 
 first, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the 
 day of the Lord." 
 
 As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist 
 writers cite "the very act of changing the Sabbath into 
 Sunday, which Protestants allow of ... because by 
 keeping Sunday strictly they acknowledge the church's 
 power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin." 1 
 What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign or 
 mark of the authority of the Romish Church "the mark of 
 the beast"? 
 
 The Roman Church has not relinquished her claim to 
 supremacy ; and when the world and the Protestant churches 
 accept a sabbath of her creating, while they reject the Bible 
 Sabbath, they virtually admit this assumption. They may 
 claim the authority of tradition and of the Fathers for the 
 change; but in so doing they ignore the very principle 
 which separates them from Rome, that " the Bible, and the 
 Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." The papist can 
 see that they are deceiving themselves, willingly closing 
 their eyes to the facts in the case. As the movement for 
 Sunday enforcement gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assuivd 
 that it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world 
 under the banner of Rome. 
 
 Romanists declare that "the observance of Sunday by the 
 Protestants is an hoiiia-v tln-y pay, in spile of themselves, to 
 the authority of the [Catholic] Church."' The enforcement 
 
 1 " Abridgment of Christian Doctrine." 
 
 3 " Plain Talk about Protestantism," p. U13. 
 
GOD'S LA W IMMUTABLE. 44J> 
 
 of Sunday-keeping on the part of Protestant churches is an 
 enforcement of the worship of the papacy of the beast. 
 Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth com- 
 mandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true 
 Sabbath, are thereby paying homage to that power by which 
 alone it is commanded. But in the very act of enforcing a 
 religious duty by secular power, the churches would them- 
 selves form an image to the beast ; hence the enforcement of 
 Sunday-keeping in. the United States would be an enforce- 
 ment of the worship of the beast and his image. 
 
 But Christians of past generations observed the Sunday, 
 supposing that in so doing they were keeping the Bible Sab- 
 bath ; and there are now true Christians in every church, 
 not excepting the Roman Catholic communion, who honestly 
 believe that Sunday is the Sabbath of divine appointment. 
 God accepts their sincerity of purpose and their integrity 
 before him. But when Sunday observance shall be enforced 
 by law, and the world shall be enlightened concerning the 
 obligation of the true Sabbath, then whoever shall transgress 
 the command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher 
 authority than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery 
 above God. He is paying homage to Rome,, and to the 
 power which enforces the institution ordained by Rome. 
 He is worshiping the beast and his image. As men then 
 reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign 
 of his authority, and honor in its stead that which Rome has 
 chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby 
 accept the sign of allegiance to Rome "the mark of the 
 beast." And it is not until the issue is thus plainly set 
 before the people, and they are brought to choose between 
 the commandments of God and the commandments of men, 
 that those who continue in transgression will receive " the 
 mark of the beast." 
 
 The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is 
 contained in the third angel's message. That must be a 
 terrible sin which calls down the wrath of God unmingled 
 
460 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness concerning 
 this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be 
 given to the world before the visitation of God's judgments, 
 that all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have 
 opportunity to escape them. Prophecy declares that the 
 first angel would make his announcement to " every nation, 
 and kindred, and tongue, and people." The warning of the 
 third angel, which forms a part of the same threefold mes- 
 sage, is to be no less widespread. It is represented in the 
 prophecy as proclaimed with a loud voice, by an angel flying 
 in the midst of heaven; and it will command the attention 
 of the world. 
 
 In the issue of the contest, all Christendom will be divided 
 into two great classes, those who keep the commandments 
 of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the 
 beast and his image and receive hie mark, /ilthough church 
 and State will unite their power to compel " all, both small 
 and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive "the 
 mark of the beast," 1 yet the people of God will not receive it. 
 The prophet of Patmos beholds "them that had gotten the 
 victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, 
 and ovei the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, 
 having the harps of God," and singing the song of Moses and 
 the Lamb/ 
 
 1 Rev. 13:16. 2 Rev. 15:2, 3. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A WORK OF REFORM. 
 
 THE work of Sabbath reform to be accomplished in the 
 last days is foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah : " Thus saith 
 the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for my sal- 
 vation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 
 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that 
 layeth hold on it ; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting 
 it, and keepeth his. hand from doing any evil." " The sons 
 of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve 
 him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, 
 every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and 
 taketh hold of my covenant ; even them will I bring to my 
 holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of 
 prayer." l 
 
 These words apply in the Christian age, as is shown by 
 the context: "The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts 
 of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those 
 that are gathered unto him." 2 Here is foreshadowed the 
 gathering in of the Gentiles by the gospel. And upon those 
 who then honor the Sabbath, a blessing is pronounced. 
 Thus the obligation of the fourth commandment extends 
 past the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, 
 to the time when his servants should preach to all nations 
 the message of glad tidings. 
 
 The Lord commands by the same prophet, " Bind up the 
 testimony, seal the lav r among my disciples." 3 The seal of 
 God's law is found in the fourth commandment. This only, 
 of all the ten, brings to view both the name and the title of 
 
 1 Isa. 56 : 1, 2, 6, 7. 2 Isa. 56 : 8. 3 Isa. 8:10. 
 
 (451) 
 
452 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the Lawgiver. It declares him to be the Creator of the 
 heavens and the earth, and thus shows his claim to rev- 
 erence and worship above all others. Aside from this pre- 
 cept, there is nothing in the decalogue to show by whose 
 authority the law is given. When the Sabbath was changed 
 by the papal power, the seal was taken from the law. The 
 disciples of Jesus are called upon to restore it, by exalting 
 the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to its rightful 
 position as the Creator's memorial and the sign of his 
 authority. 
 
 "To the law and to the testimony/' While conflicting 
 doctrines and theories abound, the law of God is the one 
 unerring rule by which all opinions, doctrines, and theories 
 are to be tested. Says the prophet, " If they speak not 
 according to this word, it is because there is no light in 
 them." 1 
 
 Again, the command is given, " Cry aloud, spare not, lift 
 up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their 
 transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." It is not 
 the wicked world, but those whom the Lord designates as 
 " my people," that are to be repro.ved for their transgressions. 
 He declares further, " Yet they seek me daily, and delight 
 to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and 
 forsook not the ordinance of their God." 2 Here is brought 
 to view a class who think themselves righteous, and appear 
 to manifest great interest in the service of God; but the 
 stern and solemn rebuke of the Searcher of hearts proves 
 them to be trampling upon the divine precepts. 
 
 The prophet thus points out the ordinance which has 
 been forsaken: "Thou shalt raise up the foundations of 
 many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer 
 of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou 
 turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy 
 pleasure on my holy day ; anl call the Sabbath a delight, 
 the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not 
 
 Usa. 8:20. 2 Isa. 58:1, 2. 
 
A WORK OF REFORM. 453 
 
 doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor 
 speaking thine own words; then shalt tliou delight thyself 
 in the Lord." 1 This prophecy also applies in our time. 
 The breach was made in the law of God when the Sabbath 
 was changed by the Romish power. But the time has come 
 for that divine institution to be restored. The breach is to 
 be repaired, and the foundation of many generations to be 
 raised up. 
 
 Hallowed by the Creator's rest and blessing, the Sabbath 
 was kept by Adam in his innocence in holy Eden ; by Adam, 
 fallen yet repentant, when he was driven from his happy 
 estate. It was kept by all the patriarchs, from Abel to 
 righteous Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob. When the chosen 
 people were in bondage in Egypt, many, in the midst of 
 prevailing idolatry, lost their knowledge of God's law; but 
 when the Lord delivered Israel, he proclaimed his law in 
 awful grandeur to the assembled multitude, that they might 
 know his will, and fear and obey him forever. 
 
 From that day to the present, the knowledge of God's law 
 has been preserved in the earth, and the Sabbath of the 
 fourth commandment has been kept. Though the "man of 
 sin " succeeded in trampling under foot God's holy day, yet 
 even in the period of his supremacy there were, hidden in 
 secret places, faithful souls who paid it honor. Since the 
 Reformation, there have been some in every generation to 
 maintain its observance. Though often in the midst of re- 
 proach and persecution, a constant testimony has been borne 
 to the perpetuity of the law of God, and the sacred obliga- 
 tion of the creation Sabbath. 
 
 These truths, as presented in Revelation 14, in connection 
 with the " everlasting gospel," will distinguish the church 
 of Christ at the time of his appearing. For as the result of 
 the threefold message it is announced, " Here are they that 
 keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
 And this message is the last to be given before the coming 
 
 Usa. 58:12, 13. 
 
ir>4 THE GUI: A r ro\"r/fo iv-v/.s' j'. 
 
 of the Lord. Immediately following its proclamation, the 
 8011 of man is seen by the prophet, coming in glory to reap 
 the harvest of the earth. 
 
 Those who received the light concerning the sanctuary 
 and the immutability of the law of God, were filled with joy 
 and wonder, as they saw the beauty and harmony of the 
 system of truth that opened to their understanding. They 
 desired that the light which appeared to them so precious 
 might be imparted to all Christians; and they could not but 
 believe that it would be joyfully accepted. But truths that 
 would place them at variance with the world were not wel- 
 come to many who claimed to be followers of Christ. Obe- 
 dience to the fourth commandment required a sacrifice from 
 which the majority drew back. 
 
 As the claims of the Sabbath were presented, many rea- 
 soned from the worldling's standpoint. Said they: "We 
 have always kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many 
 good and pious men have died happy while keeping it. 
 If they were right, so are we. The keeping of this new 
 Sabbath w^ould throw us out of harmony with the world, 
 and we would have no influence over them. What can a 
 little company keeping the seventh day hope to accomplish 
 against all the world w r ho are keeping Sunday?'' It was by 
 similar arguments that the Jews endeavored to justify their 
 rejection of Christ. Their fathers had been accepted of God 
 in presenting the sacrificial offerings, and why could not the 
 children find salvation in pursuing the same course? So, in 
 the time of Luther, papists reasoned that true Christians had 
 died in the Catholic faith, and therefore that religion was 
 sufficient for salvation. Such reasoning would prove an 
 effectual barrier to all advancement in religious faith or 
 practice. 
 
 Many urged that Sunday-keeping had been an established 
 doctrine and a widespread custom of the church for many 
 centuries. Against this argument it was shown that the 
 Sabbath and its observance were more ancient and wide- 
 
A WOHK. OF REFORM. 455 
 
 spread, even as old as the world itself, and bearing the sanc- 
 tion both of angels and of God. When the foundations of 
 the earth were laid, when the morning stars sang together, 
 and all the sons of God shouted for joy, then was laid the 
 foundation of the Sabbath. 1 Well may this institution de- 
 mand our reverence: it was ordained by no human author- 
 ity, and rests upon no human traditions; it was established 
 by the Ancient of days, and commanded by his eternal word. 
 
 As the attention of the people was called to the subject of 
 Sabbath reform, popular ministers perverted the Word of 
 God, placing such interpretations upon its testimony as 
 would best quiet inquiring minds. And those who did not 
 search the Scriptures for themselves were content to accept 
 conclusions that were in accordance with their desires. By 
 argument, sophistry, the traditions of the Fathers, and the 
 authority of the church, many endeavored to overthrow the 
 truth. Its advocates were driven to their Bibles to defend 
 the validity of the fourth commandment. Humble men, 
 armed with the Word of truth alone, withstood the attacks 
 of men of learning, who, with surprise and anger, found their 
 eloquent sophistry powerless against the simple, straightfor- 
 ward reasoning of men who were versed in the Scriptures 
 rather than in the subtleties of the schools. 
 
 In the absence of Bible testimony in their favor, many 
 with unwearying persistence urged, forgetting . how the 
 same reasoning had been employed against Christ and his 
 apostles, '-'Why do not our great men understand this 
 Sabbath question ? But few believe as you do. It cannot 
 be that you are right, and that all the men of learning in 
 the world are wrong." 
 
 To refute such arguments it was needful only to cite the 
 teachings of the Scriptures and the history of the Lord's 
 dealings with his people in all ages. God works through 
 those who hear and obey his voice, those who will, if need 
 be, speak unpalatable truths, those who do not fear to re- 
 prove popular sins. The reason why he does not oftener 
 
 i Job 38: 6. 7; Gen. 2:1-3. 
 
456 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 choose men of learning and high position to lead out in 
 reform movements is that they trust to their creeds, theories, 
 and theological systems, and feel no need to be taught of 
 God. Only those who have a personal connection with the 
 Source of wisdom are able to understand or explain the 
 Scriptures. Men who have little of the learning of the 
 schools are sometimes called to declare the truth, not because 
 they are unlearned, but because they are not too self-suffi- 
 cient to be taught of God. They learn in the school of 
 Christ, and their humility and obedience make them great. 
 In- committing to them a knowledge of his truth, God con- 
 fers upon them an honor, in comparison with which earthly 
 honor and human greatness sink into insignificance. 
 
 The majority of Adventists rejected the truths concerning 
 the sanctuary and the law of God, and many also renounced 
 their faith in the Advent movement, and adopted unsound 
 and conflicting views of the prophecies which applied to 
 that work. Some were.led into the error of repeatedly fixing 
 upon ti definite time for the coming of Christ. The light 
 which was now shining on the subject of the sanctuary 
 would have shown them that no prophetic period extends to 
 the second advent; that the exact time of this event is not 
 foretold. But, turning from the light, they continued to set 
 time after time for the Lord to come, and as often they were 
 disappointed. 
 
 When the Thessalonian church received erroneous views 
 concerning the coming of Christ, the apostle Paul counseled 
 them to carefully test their hopes and anticipations by the 
 Word of God. He cited them to prophecies revealing the 
 events to take place before Christ should come, and showed 
 that they had no ground to expect him in their day. " Let 
 no man deceive you by any means," l are his words of warn- 
 ing. Should they indulge expectations that were not sanc- 
 tioned by the Scriptures, they would be led to a mistaken 
 course of action ; disappointment would expose them to the 
 derision of unbelievers, and they would be in danger of 
 
 1 2 These. 2:3. 
 
A WORK OF REFORM. 457 
 
 yielding to discouragement, and would be tempted to doubt 
 the truths essential for their salvation. The apostle's ad- 
 monition tc the Thessalonians contains an important lesson 
 for those who live in the last days. Many Adventists have 
 felt that unless they could fix their faith upon a definite 
 time for the Lord's coming, they could not be zealous and 
 diligent in the work of preparation. But as their hopes arc 
 again and again excited, only to be destroyed, their faith 
 receives such a shock that it becomes well-nigh impossible 
 for them to be impressed by the great truths of prophecy. 
 The preaching of a definite time for the Judgment, in the 
 giving of the first message, was ordered of God. The com- 
 putation of the prophetic periods on which that message 
 was based, placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn 
 of 1844, stands without impeachment. The repeated efforts 
 to find new dates for the beginning and close of the pro- 
 phetic periods, and the unsound reasoning necessary to 
 sustain these positions, not only lead minds away from the 
 present truth, but throw contempt upon all efforts to explain 
 the prophecies. The more frequently a definite time is set 
 for the second advent, and the more widely it is taught, the 
 better it suits the purposes of Satan. After the time has 
 passed, he excites ridicule and contempt of its advocates, 
 and thus casts reproach upon the great Advent movement 
 of 1843 and 1844. Those who persist in this error will at 
 last fix upon a date too far in the future for the coming of 
 Christ. Thus they will be led to rest in a false security, and 
 many will not be undeceived until it is too late. 
 
 The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of 
 the past experience of the Adventist body. God led his 
 people in the Advent movement, even as he led the children 
 of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their 
 faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. 
 Had they still trusted to the guiding hand that had been 
 with them in their past experience, they would have seen 
 of the salvation of God. If. all who had .labored unitedly 
 
458 TTTE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 in the work in 1844 had received the third angel's message, 
 and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord 
 would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood 
 of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago 
 the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the 
 closing work completed, and Christ would have come for 
 the redemption of his people. 
 
 It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty 
 years in the. wilderness ; he desired to lead them directly to 
 the land of Canaan, and establish them there, a holy, happy 
 people. But " they could not enter in because of unbelief." l 
 Because of their backsliding and apostasy, they perished in 
 the desert, and others were raised up to enter the promised 
 land. In like manner, it was not the will of God that the 
 coming of Christ should be so long delayed, and his people 
 should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. 
 But unbelief separated them from God. As they refused to 
 do the work which he had appointed them, others were 
 raised up to proclaim the message. In mercy to the world, 
 Jesus delays his coming, that sinners may have an oppor- 
 tunity to hear the warning, and find in him a shelter before 
 the wrath of God shall be poured out. 
 
 Now, as in former ages, the presentation of a truth that 
 reproves the sins and errors of the times, will excite oppo- 
 sition. " Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
 cometh to the light > lest his deeds should be reproved." 2 
 As men see that they cannot maintain their position by the 
 Scriptures, many determine to maintain it at all ha/ards, 
 and with a malicious spirit they assail the character and 
 motives of those who stand in defense of unpopular truth. 
 It is the same policy which has been pursued in all ages. 
 Elijah was declared to be a troubler of Israel, Jeremiah a 
 traitor, Paul a polluter of the temple. From that day to 
 this, those who would be loyal to truth have been denounced 
 as seditious, heretical, or schismatic. Multitudes who are 
 
 J Heb. 3:19. 2 John 3: 20. 
 
A WORK OF REFORM. 459 
 
 too unbelieving to accept the sure word of prophecy, will 
 receive with unquestioning credulity an accusation against 
 those who dare to reprove fashionable sins. This spirit will 
 increase more and more. And the Bible plainly teaches 
 that a time is approaching when the laws of the State shall 
 so conflict with the law of God that whoever would obey all 
 the divine precepts must brave reproach and punishment 
 as an evil-doer. 
 
 And in view of this, what is the duty of the messenger of 
 truth? Shall he conclude that the truth ought not to be 
 presented, since often its only effect is to arouse men to evade 
 or resist its claims? No; he has no more reason for with- 
 holding the testimony of God's Word, because it excites oppo- 
 sition, than had earlier reformers. The confession of faith 
 made by saints and martyrs was recorded for the benefit of 
 succeeding generations. Those living examples of holiness 
 and steadfast integrity have come down to inspire courage 
 in those who are now called to stand as witnesses for God. 
 They received grace and truth, not for themselves alone, but 
 that, through them, the knowledge of God might enlighten 
 the earth. Has God given light to his servants in this gen- 
 eration ? Then they should let it shine forth to the world. 
 
 Anciently the Lord declared to one who spoke in his 
 name, " The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee ; for 
 they will not hearken unto me." Nevertheless he said, 
 " Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will 
 hear, or whether they will forbear." l To the servant of God 
 at this time is the command addressed, "Lift up thy voice 
 like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and 
 the house of Jacob their sins." 
 
 So far as his opportunities extend, every one who has re- 
 ceived the light of truth is under the same solemn and fearful 
 responsibility as was the prophet of Israel, to whom the 
 word of the Lord came, saying: "Son of man, I have set 
 thee a watchman unto the house of Israel ; therefore thou 
 
 Eze. 3:7; 2:7. 
 
460 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 
 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt 
 surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from 
 liis way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; hut his 
 l>l<>od will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou 
 warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not 
 turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou 
 hast delivered thy soul." 1 
 
 The great obstacle both to the acceptance and to the pro- 
 mulgation of truth, is the fact that it involves inconvenience 
 and reproach. This is the only argument against the truth 
 which its advocates have never been able to refute. But 
 this does not deter the true followers of Christ. These do 
 not wait for truth to become popular. Being convinced of 
 their duty, they deliberately accept the cross, with the 
 apostle Paul counting that "our light affliction, which is 
 but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory ; " 2 with one of old, " esteeming the 
 reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in 
 Egypt." 3 
 
 Whatever may be their profession, it is only those who 
 are world-servers at heart that act from policy rather than 
 principle in religious things. We should choose the right 
 because it is right, and leave consequences with God. To 
 men of principle, faith, and daring, the world is indebted 
 for its great reforms. By such men the work of reform for 
 this time must be carried forward. 
 
 Thus saith the Lord: "Hearken unto me, ye that know 
 righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye 
 not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their re- 
 vilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, 
 and the worm shall eat them like wool ; but my righteous- 
 ness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to 
 generation." * 
 
 l Eze.33:7-9. 2 2 Cor.4:17. 3 Heb. 11 :26. Msa. 51 : 7, 8. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 MODERN REVIVALS. 
 
 WHEREVER the Word of God has been faithfully preached, 
 results have followed that attested its divine origin. The 
 Spirit of God accompanied the message of his servants, and 
 the word was with power. Sinners felt their consciences 
 quickened. The " light which lighteth every man that com- 
 et h into the world," illumined the secret chambers of their 
 souls, and the hidden things of darkness were made mani- 
 fest. Deep conviction took hold upon their minds and hearts. 
 They were convinced of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
 judgment to come. They had a sense of the righteousness 
 of Jehovah, and felt the terror of appearing, in their guilt 
 and uiicleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. In anguish 
 they cried out, " Who shall deliver me from the body of this 
 death?" As the cross of Calvary, with its infinite sacrifice 
 for the sins of men, was revealed, they saw that nothing but 
 the merits of Christ could suffice to atone for their trans- 
 gressions; this alone could reconcile man to God. With 
 faith and humility they accepted the Lamb of God, that 
 taketh away the sin of the world. -Through the blood of 
 Jesus they had " remission of sins that are past." 
 
 These souls brought forth fruit meet for repentance. They 
 believed and were baptized, and rose to walk in newness of 
 life, new creatures in Christ Jesus. Not to fashion them- 
 selves according to the former lusts, but by the faith of the 
 Son of God to follow in hk steps, to reflect his character, and 
 to purify themselves even as he is pure. The things they 
 once hated, they now loved; and the things they once loved, 
 they hated. The proud and self-assertive became meek and 
 
 (461) 
 
402 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 lowly of heart. The vain and supercilious became serious 
 and unobtrusive. The profane became reverent, the drunken 
 sober, and the profligate pure. The vain fashions of the 
 world were laid aside. Christians sought not the " outward 
 adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of 
 putting on of apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in 
 that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek 
 and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of- great 
 price." 1 
 
 Revivals brought deep heart-searching and humility. 
 They were characterized by solemn, earnest appeals to the sin- 
 ner, by yearning compassion for the purchase of the blood of 
 Christ. Men and women prayed and wrestled with God for 
 the salvation of souls. The fruits of such revivals were 
 seen in souls who shrank not at self-denial and sacrifice, but 
 rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer reproach 
 and trial for the sake of Christ. Men beheld a transformation 
 in the lives of those who had professed the name of Jesus. 
 The community Avas benefited by their influence. They 
 gathered with Christ, and sowed to the Spirit, to reap life 
 everlasting. 
 
 It could be said of them: "Ye sorrowed to repentance." 
 " For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be 
 repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 
 For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly 
 sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing 
 of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, 
 what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! 
 In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this 
 matter." a 
 
 This is the result of the work of the Spirit of God. There 
 is no evidence of genuine repentance unless it works reforma- 
 tion. If he restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, 
 confess his sins, and love ( lod and his fellow-men, the sinner 
 may be sure that he has found peace with God. Such were 
 
 l \ Tot. 3: 3, 4. "iH'or. 7 :9-ll. 
 
MODERN REVIVALS. 463 
 
 the effects that in former years followed seasons of religious 
 awakening. Judged by their fruits, they were known to be 
 blessed of God in the salvation of men and the uplifting of 
 humanity. 
 
 But many of the revivals of modern times have presented 
 a marked contrast to those manifestations of divine grace 
 which in earlier days followed the labors of God's servants. 
 It is true that a widespread interest is kindled, many profess 
 conversion, and there are large accessions to the churches; 
 nevertheless the results are not such as to warrant the 
 belief that there has been a corresponding increase of real 
 spiritual life. The light which flames up for a time soon 
 dies out, leaving the darkness more dense than before. 
 
 Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to the 
 imagination, by exciting the emotions, by gratifying the love 
 for what is new and startling. Converts thus gained have 
 little desire to listen to Bible truth, little interest in the testi- 
 mony of prophets and apostles. Unless a religious service 
 has something of a sensational character, it has no attractions 
 for them. A message which appeals to unimpassioned rea- 
 son, awakens no response. The plain warnings of God's 
 Word, relating directly to their eternal interests, are unheeded. 
 
 With every truly converted soul the relation to God and 
 to eternal things will be the great topic of life. But where, 
 in the popular churches of to-day, is the spirit of consecra- 
 tion to God? The converts do not renounce their pride, and 
 love of the world. They are no more willing to deny self, to 
 take up the cross, and follow the meek and lowly Jesus, than 
 before their conversion. Religion has become the sport of 
 infidels and skeptics because so many who bear its numo 
 are ignorant of its principles. The power of godliness has 
 well-nigh departed from many of the churches. Picnics, 
 church theatricals, church fairs, fine houses, personal display, 
 have banished thoughts of God. Lands and goods and worldly 
 occupations engross the mind, and things of eternal interest 
 receive hardly a passing notice, 
 34 
 
464 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and 
 piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. 
 Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the 
 earth, there will be, among the people of the Lord, such a 
 revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed 
 since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be 
 poured out upon his children. At that time many will 
 separate themselves from those churches in which the love 
 of this world has supplanted love for God and his Word. 
 Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those 
 great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this 
 time, to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The 
 enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the 
 time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to 
 prevent it, by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches 
 which he can bring under his deceptive pow r er, he will make 
 it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there 
 will be manifest what is thought to be great religious in- 
 terest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvel- 
 ously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. 
 Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his in- 
 fluence over the Christian world. 
 
 In many of the revivals which have occurred during the 
 last half century, the same influences have been at work, to 
 a greater or less degree, that will be manifest in the more 
 extensive movements of the future. There is an emotional 
 excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, that is 
 well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived. In 
 the light of God's Word it is not difficult to determine the 
 nature of these movements. Wherever men neglect the 
 testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul- 
 testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of 
 the world, there we may be sure that God's blessing is not 
 bestowed. And by the rule which Christ himself has given. 
 "Ye shall know them by their fruits." 1 it is evident that 
 these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God. 
 
 1 Matt. 7 .16. 
 
MODERN REVIVALS. 465 
 
 In the truths of his Word, God has given to men a reve- 
 lation of himself; and to all who accept them they are a 
 shield against the deceptions of Satan. It is a neglect of 
 these truths that has opened the door to the evils which are 
 now becoming so widespread in the religious world. The 
 nature and the importance of the law of God have been, to 
 a great extent, lost sight of. A wrong conception of the 
 character, the perpetuity, and obligation of the divine law 
 has led to errors in relation to conversion and sanctification, 
 and has resulted in lowering the standard of piety in the 
 church. Here is to be found the secret of the lack of the 
 Spirit and power of God in the revivals of our time. 
 
 There are, in the various denominations, men eminent 
 for their piety, by whom this fact is acknowledged and de- 
 plored. Prof. Edward Park, in setting forth the current 
 religious perils, ably says: "One source of danger is the 
 neglect of the pulpit to enforce the divine law. In former 
 days the pulpit was an echo of the voice of conscience. . . 
 Our most illustrious preachers gave a wonderful majesty to 
 their discourses by following the example o'f the Master, and 
 giving prominence to the law, its precepts, and its threat- 
 enings. They repeated the two great maxims, that the law 
 is a transcript of the divine perfections, and that a man who 
 does not love the law does not love the gospel ; for the law, 
 as well as the gospel, is a mirror reflecting the true char- 
 acter of God. This peril leads to another, that of under- 
 rating the evil of sin, the extent of it, the demerit of it.- In 
 proportion to the rightfulness of the commandment is the 
 wrongfulness of disobeying it." 
 
 "Affiliated to the dangers already named is the danger 
 of underestimating the justice of God. The tendency of 
 the modern pulpit is to strain out the divine justice from 
 the divine benevolence, to sink benevolence into a sentiment 
 rather than exalt it into a principle. The new theological 
 prism puts asunder what God has joined together. Is the 
 law a good or an evil? It is a good. Then justice 
 
466 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 is good; for it is a disposition to execute the law. From the 
 habit of underrating the divine law and justice, the extent 
 and demerit of human disobedience, men easily slide into 
 the habit of underestimating the grace which has provided 
 an atonement for sin." Thus the gospel loses its value and 
 importance in the minds of men, and soon they are ready 
 to practically cast aside the Bible itself. 
 
 Many religious teachers assert that Christ by his death 
 abolished the law, and men are henceforth free from its 
 requirements. There are some who represent it as a grievous 
 yoke, and in contrast to the bondage of the law, they present 
 the liberty to be enjoyed under the gospel. 
 
 But not so did prophets and apostles regard the holy law 
 of God. Said David, " I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy 
 precepts." ' The apostle James, who wrote after the death 
 of Christ, refers to the decalogue as the " royal law," and the 
 " perfect law of liberty." 2 And the Revelator, half a century 
 after the crucifixion, pronounces a blessing upon them " that 
 do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree 
 of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." 3 
 
 The claim that Christ by his death abolished his Father's 
 law, is without foundation. Had it been possible for the 
 law to be changed or set aside, then Christ need not have 
 died to save man from the penalty of sin. The death of 
 Christ, so far from abolishing the law, proves that it is im- 
 mutable. The Son of God came to "magnify the law, and 
 mak-e it honorable."* He said, " Think not that I am conic 
 to destroy the law;" "till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
 one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law." 5 And con- 
 cerning himself he declares, " I delight to do thy will, my 
 God; yea, thy law is within my heart." 6 
 
 The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable. 
 It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author. 
 God is love, and his law is love. Its two great principles 
 
 1 Ps. Ill): 4.". . 2 James L> : 8 ; 1 : _'"> . n I .V v. 22 : 1 4. 
 
 <Isa. 42:21. 5 Matt. 5 : 17, 18. Ps.40:8. 
 
46? 
 
 are love to God and man. "Love is the fulfilling of the 
 law." 1 The character of God is righteousness and truth; 
 such is the nature of his law. Says the psalmist, " Thy law 
 is the truth ; " " all thy commandments are righteousness." 2 
 And the apostle Paul declares, "The law is holy, and the 
 commandment holy, and just, and good." 4 Such a law, 
 being an expression of the mind and will of God, must be 
 as enduring as its Author. 
 
 It is the work of conversion and sanctification to reconcile 
 men to God, by bringing them into accord with the princi- 
 ples of his law. In the beginning, man was created in the 
 image of God. He was in perfect harmony with the nature 
 and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were 
 written upon his heart. But sin alienated him from his 
 Maker. He no longer reflected the divine image. His heart 
 was at war with the principles of God's law. " The carnal 
 mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law 
 of God, neither indeed can be." 4 But "God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son," that man might 
 be reconciled to God. Through the merits of Christ he can 
 be restored to harmony with his Maker. His heart must 
 be renewed by divine grace, he must have a new life from 
 above. This change is the new birth, 'without which, says 
 Jesus, " he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 
 The first step in reconcilation to God, is the conviction of 
 sin. " Sin is the transgression of the law." " By the law is 
 the knowledge of sin." s In order to see his guilt, the sinner 
 must test his character by God's great standard of righteous- 
 ness. It is a mirror which shows the perfection of a righteous 
 character, and enables him to discern the defects in his own. 
 
 The law reveals to man his sins, but it provides no remedy. 
 While it promises life to the obedient, it declares that 
 death is the portion of the transgressor. The gospel of 
 Christ alone can free him from the condemnation or the defile- 
 
 i Rom. 13:10. 2 Ps. 1 19 : 142, 172. 3 Rom. 7 i 12. 
 
 *Rom. 8:7. 5 1 John 3:4; Rom. 3 : 20. 
 
468 TUB GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 nil-lit of sin. He must exercise repentance toward God, 
 whose law has been transgressed, and faith in Christ, his 
 atoning sacrifice. Thus he obtains " remission of sins that 
 are past," and becomes a partaker of the divine nature. He 
 is a child of God, having received the spirit of adoption, 
 whereby he cries, " Abba, Father! " 
 
 Is he now free to transgress God's law? Says Paul: " Do 
 we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; 
 yea, we establish the law." " How shall we, that are dead to 
 sin, live any longer therein ? " And John declares, " This is 
 the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his 
 commandments are not grievous/' 1 In the new birth the 
 heart is brought into harmony with God, as it is brought 
 into accord with his law. When this mighty change has 
 taken place in the sinner, he has passed from death unto 
 life, from sin unto holiness, from transgression and rebellion 
 to obedience and loyalty. The old life of alienation from 
 God has ended ; the new life of reconciliation, of faith and 
 love, has begun. Then "the righteousness of the law" will 
 " be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after 
 the Spirit."' And the language of the soul will be, "0 
 how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." 8 
 
 " The law of the' Lord is perfect, converting the soul." * 
 Without the law, men have no just conception of the purity 
 ;i nd holiness of God, or of their own guilt and uncleanness. 
 They have no true conviction of sin, and feel no need of 
 repentance. Not seeing their lost condition as violators of 
 God's law, they do not realize their need of the atoning 
 blood of Christ. The hope of salvation is accepted without 
 a radical change of heart or reformation of life. Thus super- 
 ficial conversions abound, and multitudes are joined to the 
 church who have never been united to Christ. 
 
 Erroneous theories of sanctification, also, springing from 
 neglect or rejection of the divine law, have a prominent 
 
 . 3: 31; 6: 2; 1 John 5:3. 2 Rom. 8:4. 
 
 119:97. 4 Ps. 19:7. 
 
MODERN REVIVALS. 469 
 
 place in the religious movements of the day. These theories 
 are both false in doctrine, and dangerous in practical results ; 
 and the fact that they are so generally finding favor renders 
 it doubly essential that all have a clear understanding of 
 what the Scriptures teach upon this point. 
 
 True sanctification is a Bible doctrine. The apostle Paul, 
 in his letter to the Thessalonian church, declares, " This is 
 the will of God, even your sanctification." And he prays, 
 " The very God of peace sanctify you wholly." l The Bible 
 clearly teaches what sanctification is, and how it is to be 
 attained. The Saviour prayed for his disciples, " Sanctify 
 them through thy truth; thy Word is truth." 2 And Paul 
 teaches that believers are to be "sanctified by the Holy 
 Ghost." 3 What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus told 
 his disciples, " When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will 
 guide you into all truth." * And the psalmist says, " Thy 
 law is the truth." By the Word and the Spirit of God are 
 opened to men the great principles of righteousness embodied 
 in his law. And since the law of God is " holy, and just, 
 and good," a transcript of the divine perfection, it follows 
 that a character formed by obedience to that law will be 
 holy. Christ is a perfect example of such a character. He 
 says, " I have kept my Father's commandments." " I do 
 always those things that please him." The followers of 
 Christ are to become like him, by the grace of God, to 
 form characters in harmony with the principles of his holy 
 law. This is Bible sanctification. 
 
 This work can be accomplished only through faith in 
 Christ, by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul 
 admonishes believers, " Work out your own salvation with 
 fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you 
 both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 6 The Christian 
 will feel the promptings of sin, but he will maintain a con- 
 stant warfare against it. Here is where Christ's help is 
 
 1 1 Thess. 4 : 3; 5 : 23. 2 John 17 : 17, 19. 3 Rom.l5:16. 
 
 4 John 16 : 13. 6 John 15 : 10; 8 : 29. 6 Phil. 2 : 12, 13, 
 
470 TtJE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 needed. Human weakness becomes united to divine 
 strength, and faith exclaims, "Thanks be to God, which 
 giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." l 
 
 The Scriptures plainly show that the work of sanctifi- 
 cation is progressive. When in conversion the sinner finds 
 peace with God through the blood of the atonement, the 
 Christian life has but just begun. Now he is to " go on unto 
 perfection;" to grow up "unto the measure of the stature 
 of the fullness of Christ." Says the apostle Paul : " This one 
 thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press 
 toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus." 2 And Peter sets before us the steps by which 
 Bible sanctification is to be attained : " Giving all diligence, 
 add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to 
 knowledge temperance ; and to temperance patience ; and to 
 patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; 
 and to brotherly kindness charity. ... If ye do these 
 things, ye shall never fall." 3 
 
 Those who experience the sanctification of the Bible will 
 manifest a spirit of humility. Like Moses, they have had 
 a view of the awful majesty of holiness, and they see their 
 own un worthiness, in contrast with the purity and exalted 
 perfection of the Infinite One. 
 
 The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. 
 His long life was filled up with noble service for his Master. 
 He was a man "greatly beloved " 4 of Heaven. Yet instead 
 of claiming to be pure and holy, this honored prophet iden- 
 tified himself with the really sinful of Israel, as he pleaded 
 before God in behalf of his people: " We do not present our 
 supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy 
 great mercies." " \Ve have sinned, we have done wickedly/' 
 He declares, "I was speaking, and praying, and confessing 
 my sin and the sin of my people." And when at a later 
 time the Son of God appeared, to give him instruction, he 
 
 M Cor. 15:57. 2 Phil. 3 : 13, 14. 3 2 Pet. 1 :5-10. * Dan. 10:11. 
 
MODERN REVIVALS. 471 
 
 declares, "My comeliness was turned in me into corruption, 
 and I retained no strength.'' l 
 
 When Job heard the voice of the Lord out of the whirl- 
 wind, lie exclaimed, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust 
 and ashes." 2 It was when Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, 
 and heard the cherubim crying, " Holy, holy, holy, is the 
 Lord of hosts," that he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am 
 undone." 3 Paul, after he was caught up into the third 
 heaven, and heard things which it was not possible for a 
 man to utter, speaks of himself as " less than the least of 
 all saints." * It was the beloved John, that leaned on Jesus' 
 breast, and beheld his glory, who fell as one dead before the 
 feet of the angel/ 
 
 There can be no self-exaltation, no boastful claim to 
 freedom from sin, on the part of those who walk in the 
 shadow of Calvary's cross. They feel that it was their sin 
 which caused the agony tliat broke the heart of the Son of 
 God, and this thought will lead them to self-abasement. 
 Those who live nearest to Jesus discern most clearly the 
 frailty and sinfulnes ^ iiumanity, and their only hope is 
 in the merit of a crucified and risen Saviour. 
 
 The sanctification now gaining prominence in the religious 
 world, carries with it a spirit of self-exaltation, and a dis- 
 regard for the law of God, that mark it as foreign to the 
 religion of the Bible. Its advocates teach that sanctification 
 is an instantaneous work, by which, through faith alone, 
 they attain to perfect holiness. "Only believe," say they, 
 "and the blessing is yours." No further effort on the part 
 of the receiver is supposed to be required. At the same time 
 they deny the authority of the law of God, urging that tlicy 
 are released from obligation to keep the commandments. 
 But is it possible for men to be holy, in accord with the will 
 and character of God, without coming into harmony with 
 the principles which are an expression of his nature and 
 will, and which show what is well-pleasing to him ? 
 
 1 Dan. 9: 18, 15, 20; 10:8. 2j o b42:6. 3 Isa. 6:3, 5. 
 
 * 2 Cor. 12 : 2-4 (margin) ; Eph. 3:8. * Rev. 22 : 8. 
 
472 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The desire for an easy religion, that requires no striving, 
 no self-denial, 110 divorce from the follies of the world, lias 
 made the doctrine of faith, and faith only, a popular doc- 
 trine; but what saith the Word of God? Says the apostle 
 James: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man 
 say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save 
 him? . . . Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith 
 without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father 
 justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon 
 the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, 
 and by works was faith made perfect? . . . Ye see then 
 how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." 1 
 
 The testimony of the Word of God is against this ensnar- 
 ing doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that 
 claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the 
 conditions upon which mercy is to be granted. It is pre- 
 sumption; for genuine faith has its foundation in the prom- 
 ises and provisions of the Scriptures. 
 
 Let none deceive themselves with the belief that they can 
 become holy while willfully violating one of God's require- 
 ments. The commission of a known sin silences the wit- 
 nessing voice of the Spirit, and separates the soul from 
 God. " Sin is the transgression of the law." And " whoso- 
 ever sinneth [transgresseth the law] hath not seen him, 
 neither known him." 2 Though John in his epistles dwells 
 so fully upon love, yet he -does not hesitate to reveal the true 
 character of that class who claim to be sanctified while 
 living in transgression of the law of God. " He that saith, 
 I know Him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, 
 and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, 
 in him verily is the love of God perfected/' 3 Here is the. 
 test of every man's profession. .We cannot accord holiness 
 to any man without bringing him to the measurement of 
 God's only standard of holiness in Heaven and in earth. 
 If men feel no weight of the moral law, if they belittle and 
 
 1 James 2 : 14-24. a 1 John 3 : 6. s l John 2: 4, 6. 
 
MODERN REVIVALS. 473 
 
 make light of God's precepts, if they break one of the least 
 of these commandments, and teach men so, they shall be of 
 no esteem in the sight of Heaven, and we may know that 
 their claims are without foundation. 
 
 And the claim to be without sin is, in itself, evidence that 
 he who makes this claim is far from holy. It is because he 
 has no true conception of the infinite purity and holiness of 
 God, or of what they must become who shall be in harmony 
 with his character; because he has no true conception of the 
 purity and exalted loveliness of Jesus, and the malignity 
 and evil of sin, that man can regard himself as holy. The 
 greater the distance between himself and Christ, and the 
 more inadequate his conceptions of the divine character and 
 requirements, the more righteous he appears in his own eyes. 
 
 The sanctification set forth in the Scriptures embraces the 
 entire being, spirit, soul, and body. Paul prayed for the 
 Thessalonians, that their "whole spirit and soul and body 
 be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." * Again he writes to believers, " I beseech you 
 therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present 
 your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." 2 
 In the time of ancient Israel, every offering brought as a 
 sacrifice to God was carefully examined. If any defect was 
 discovered in the animal presented, it was refused; for God 
 had commanded that the offering be " without blemish." 
 So Christians are bidden to present their bodies, " a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." In order to do this, 
 all their powers must be preserved in the best possible con- 
 dition. Every practice that weakens physical or mental 
 strength unfits man for the service of his Creator. And 
 will God be pleased with anything less than the best we can 
 offer? Said Christ, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart." Those who do love God with all the 
 heart, will desire to give him the best service of their life, 
 and they will be constantly seeking to bring every power 
 
 1 1 These. 5 : 23. ' Rom. 12 : 1. 
 
474 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of their being into harmony with the laws that will promote 
 their ahility to do his will. They will not, by the indulgence 
 of appetite or passion, enfeeble or defile the offering which 
 they present to their heavenly Father. 
 
 Says Peter, " Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against 
 the soul." l Every sinful gratification tends to benumb the 
 faculties and deaden the mental- and spiritual perceptions, 
 and the Word or the Spirit of God can make but a feeble 
 impression upon the heart. Paul writes to the Corinthians, 
 " Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
 spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 2 And with 
 the fruits of the Spirit, " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
 gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness," he classes temper- 
 
 ance. 3 
 
 Notwithstanding these inspired declarations, how many 
 professed Christians are enfeebling their powers in the pur- 
 suit of gain or the worship of fashion; how many are de- 
 basing their godlike manhood by gluttony, by wine-drinking, 
 by forbidden pleasure. And the church, instead of rebuking, 
 too often encourages the evil by appealing to appetite, to 
 desire for gain, or love of pleasure, to replenish her treasury, 
 which love for Christ is too feeble to supply. Were Jesus 
 to enter the churches of to-day, and behold the feasting and 
 unholy traffic there conducted in the name of religion, 
 would he not drive out those desecrators, as he banished the 
 money-changers from the temple ? 
 
 The apostle James declares that the wisdom from above 
 is "first pure." Had he encountered those who take the* 
 precious name of Jesus upon lips defiled by tola< < <>, tho<- 
 whose breath and person are contaminated by its foul odor, 
 and who pollute the air of heaven, and force all about them 
 to inhale the poison, had the apostle come in contact with 
 a practice so opposed to the purity of the gospel, would he 
 not have denounced it as "earthly, sensual, devilish"? 
 Slaves of tobacco, claiming the blessing of entire sanctifi- 
 
 1 1 Pet. 2:11. - 2 Cor. 7:1. s Oal. 5 : 22, 23. 
 
MODERN RE VIVALS. 475 
 
 cation, talk of their hope of Heaven; but God's Word plainly 
 declares that "there shall in nowise enter into it anything 
 thatdefileth." 1 
 
 "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are 
 not your own? for ye are bought with a price; therefore 
 glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are 
 God's."' 2 He whose body is the temple of the Holy Spirit 
 will not be enslaved by a pernicious habit. His powers 
 belong to Christ, who has bought him with the price of 
 blood. His property is the Lord's. How could he be guilt- 
 less in squandering this intrusted capital? Professed Chris- 
 tians yearly expend an immense sum upon useless and per- 
 nicious indulgences, while souls are perishing for the word 
 of life. God is robbed in tithes and offerings, while they 
 consume upon the altar of destroying lust more than they 
 give to relieve the poor or for the support of the gospel. If 
 all who profess to be followers of Christ were truly sanctified, 
 their means, instead of being spent for needless and even 
 hurtful indulgences, would be turned into the Lord's treasury, 
 and Christians would set an example of temperance, self- 
 denial, and self-sacrifice. Then they would be the light of 
 the world. 
 
 The world is given up to self-indulgence. " The lust of 
 the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," control 
 the masses of the people. But Christ's followers have a 
 holier calling. "Come out from among them, and be ye 
 separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean." In 
 the light of God's Word we are justified in declaring that 
 sanctification cannot be genuine which does network this 
 utter renunciation of the sinful pursuits and gratifications 
 of the world. 
 
 To those who comply with the conditions, Come out 
 from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the 
 unclean, God's promise is, "I will receive you, and will 
 1 Rev. 21:27. 3 1 Cor. 6 : 19, 20, 
 
476 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
 daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." l It is the privilege 
 and the duty of every Christian to have a rich and abundant 
 experience in the things of God. " I am the light of the 
 world," said Jesus. " He that followeth me shall not walk 
 in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 2 "The path 
 of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and 
 more unto the perfect day." 3 Every step of faith and obe- 
 dience brings the soul into closer connection with the Light 
 of the world, in whom " there is no darkness at all." The 
 bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon the 
 servants of God, and they are to reflect his rays. As the 
 stars tell us that there is a great light in Heaven with whose 
 glory they are made bright, so Christians are to make it 
 manifest that there is a God on the throne of the universe 
 whose character is worthy of praise and imitation. The 
 graces of his Spirit, the purity and holiness of his character, 
 will be manifest in his witnesses. 
 
 Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, sets forth the rich 
 blessings granted to the children of God. He says: We 
 " do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might 
 be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and 
 spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the 
 Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, 
 and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with 
 all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience 
 and long-suffering with joyfulness." * 
 
 Again he writes of his desire that the brethren at Ephesus 
 might come to understand the height of the Christian's 
 privilege. He opens before them, in the most comprehensive 
 language, the marvelous power and knowledge that they 
 might possess as sons and daughters of the Most High. It 
 was theirs " to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in 
 the inner man," to be "rooted and grounded in love," to 
 "comprehend with nil sniiits wlmt istlic bivndth. ;ind length, 
 1 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. ' John 8:12. 3 Prov. 4:18. * Col. 1 : 9-11. 
 
MODERN REVIVALS. 477 
 
 and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which 
 passeth knowledge." But the prayer of the apostle reaches 
 the climax of privilege when he prays that "ye might be 
 tilled with all the fullness of , God." l 
 
 Here are revealed the heights of attainment that we may 
 reach through faith in the promises of our heavenly Father, 
 when we fulfill his requirements. Through the merits of 
 Christ, we have access to the throne of infinite power. "He 
 that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us 
 all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? "" 
 The Father gave his Spirit without measure to his Son, and 
 we also may partake of its fullness. Jesus says: " If ye then, 
 being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
 how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
 Spirit to them that ask him ? " : " If ye shall ask anything 
 in my name, I will do it." " Ask, and ye shall receive, that 
 your joy may be full." * 
 
 While the Christian's life will be characterized by humil- 
 ity, it should not be marked with sadness and self-deprecia- 
 tion. It is the privilege of every one to so live that God 
 will approve and bless him. It is not the will of our heav- 
 enly Father that we should be ever under condemnation and 
 darkness. There is no evidence of true humility in going 
 with the head bowed down and the heart filled with thoughts 
 of self. We may go to Jesus and be cleansed, and stand be- 
 fore the law without shame and remorse. " There is there- 
 fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ 
 Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 5 
 
 Through Jesus the fallen sons of Adam become " sons of 
 God." " Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified 
 are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call 
 them brethren." 6 The Christian's life should be one of 
 faith, of victory, and joy in God. " Whatsoever is born of 
 God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that over- 
 
 J Eph. 3 : 16-19. a Rom. 8 : 32. 3 Luke 1 1 : 13. 
 
 * John 14 : 14; 16 : 24. llom. 8 : 1. Meb. 2 : U. 
 
478 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 cometh the world, even our faith." 1 Truly spake God's 
 servant Nehemiah, " The joy of the Lord is your strength." 2 
 And says Paul: "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I 
 say, Rejoice." "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. 
 In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in 
 Christ Jesus concerning you." 3 
 
 Such are the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctificatlon ; 
 and it is because the great principles of righteousness sot 
 forth in the law of God are so indifferently regarded by the 
 Christian world, that these fruits are so rarely witnessed. 
 This is why there is manifest so little of that deep, abiding 
 work of the Spirit of God which marked revivals in former 
 years. 
 
 It is by beholding that we become changed. And as those 
 sacred precepts in which God has opened to men the perfec- 
 tion and holiness of his character are neglected, and the 
 minds of the people are attracted to human teachings and 
 theories, what marvel that there has followed a decline of 
 living piety in the church. Saith the Lord, "They have 
 forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them 
 out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." 4 
 
 " Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
 ungodly. . . . But his delight is in the law of the Lord; 
 and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he 
 shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that 
 bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not 
 wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 6 It is 
 only as the law of God is restored to its rightful position 
 that there can be a revival of primitive faith and o-odli- 
 ness among his professed people. "Thus saith the Lord, 
 Stand ye in the ways, ;m<l sec. and ask lor the old paths. 
 where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find 
 rest for your souls." * 
 
 1 1 John 5:4. * Neh. 8 : 10. :! Phil. 4 : 4 ; 1 These.. 5 : 16-1& 
 * Jer. 2 : 13. 6 Ps. 1 : 1-3. 6 Jer. 6 : 16. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT. 
 
 "I BEHELD," says the prophet Daniel, "till thrones were 
 placed, and One that was ancient of days did sit. His rai- 
 ment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure 
 wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof 
 hurmng'fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from 
 before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and 
 ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the 
 Judgment was set, and the books were opened." 1 
 
 Tli us was presented to the prophet's vision the great and 
 solemn day when the characters and the lives of men should 
 pass in review before the Judge of all the earth, and to every 
 man should be rendered "according to his works." The 
 Ancient of days is God the Father. Says the psalmist, 
 " Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou 
 hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting 
 to everlasting, thou art God." 2 It is he, the source of all 
 being, and the fountain of all law, that is to preside in the 
 Judgment. And holy angels, as ministers and witnesses, in 
 number " ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands 
 of thousands," attend this great tribunal. 
 
 " And, behold, one like the Son of man came with the 
 clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they 
 brought him near before him. And there was given him 
 dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
 and languages, should serve him ; his dominion is an ever- 
 lasting dominion, which shall not pass away." 3 The coming 
 of Christ here described is not his second coming to the 
 
 1 Dan. 7 : 9, 10, Revised Version. 2 Ps. 90 : 2. 3 Dan. 7 : 13, 14- 
 35 (479) 
 
480 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 earth. He comes to the Ancient of days in Heaven to receive 
 dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, which will be given 
 him at the close of his work as a mediator. It is this com- 
 ing, and not his second advent to the earth, that was foretold 
 in prophecy to take place at the termination of the 2300 
 days, in 1844. Attended by heavenly angels, our great High 
 Priest enters the holy of holies, and there appears in the 
 presence of God, to engage in the last acts of his ministration 
 in behalf of man, to perform the work of investigative 
 Judgment, and to make an atonement for all who are shown 
 to be entitled to its benefits. 
 
 In the typical service, only those who had come before 
 God with confession and repentance, and whose sins, through 
 the blood of the sin-offering, were transferred to the sanct- 
 uary, had a part in the service of the day of atonement. So 
 in the great day of final atonement and investigative Judg- 
 ment, the only cases considered are those of the professed 
 people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct 
 and separate work, and takes place at a later period. " Judg- 
 ment must begin at the house of God; and if it first be- 
 gin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the 
 gospel?" 1 
 
 The books of record in Heaven, in which the names and 
 the deeds of men are registered, are to determine the decis- 
 ions of the Judgment. Says the prophet Daniel, " The Judg- 
 ment was set, and the books were opened." The Revelator, 
 describing the same scene, adds, "Another book was opened, 
 which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of 
 those things which were written in the books, according to 
 their works." 2 
 
 The book of life contains the names of all who have ever 
 entered the service of God. Jesus bade his disciples, " Re- 
 joice, because your names are written in Heaven." 3 Paul 
 speaks of his faithful fellow- workers, " whose names are in 
 the book of life." 4 Daniel, looking down to "a time of 
 
 1 1 Pet. 4:17. 2 Rev. 20 : 12. 3 Luke 10 : 20. * Phil. 4 : 3. 
 
THE INVmtTIGA TIVE JUDGMENT. 
 
 481 
 
 trouble, such as never was," declares that God's people shall 
 be delivered, " everyone that shall be found written in the 
 book." 1 And the Revelator says that those only shall enter 
 the city of God whose names " are written in the Lamb's 
 book of life." 2 
 
 " A book of remembrance " is written before God, in which 
 are recorded the good deeds of " them that feared the Lord, 
 and that thought upon his name." a Their words of faith, 
 their acts of love, are registered in Heaven. Nehemiah 
 refers to this when lie says, "Remember me, my God, 
 . . . and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done 
 for the house of my God." * In the book of God's remem- 
 brance every deed of righteousness is immortalized. There 
 every temptation resisted, every evil overcome, every word of 
 tender pity expressed, is faithfully chronicled. And every 
 act of sacrifice, every suffering and sorrow endured for 
 Christ's sake, is recorded. Says the psalmist, " Thou tellest 
 my wanderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle; are 
 they not in thy book?" 5 
 
 There is a record also of the sins of men. " For God shall 
 bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, 
 whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 6 " Every idle 
 word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof 
 in the day of Judgment." Said the Saviour, "By thy words 
 thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
 demned." 7 The secret purposes and motives appear in the 
 unerring register; for God "will bring to light the hidden 
 things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the 
 hearts." 8 "Behold, it is written before me, . . . your 
 iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith 
 the Lord." 9 
 
 Every man's work passes in review before God, and is 
 registered for faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Opposite each 
 
 1 Dan .12:1. 2 Rev. 21 : 27 . 3 Mai. 3 : 16. 
 
 *Neh. 13:14. 5 1's. 56:8. Eccl. 12:14. 
 
 7 Matt. 12 : 30, 37. 8 1 Cor. 4 : 5. 9 Isa. 65 : 6, 7. 
 
482 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 name in the books of Heaven is entered, with terrible exact- 
 ness, every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled 
 duty, and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling. 
 Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, 
 unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or 
 for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by 
 the recording angel. 
 
 The law of God is the standard by which the characters 
 and the lives of men will be tested in the Judgment. Says 
 the wise man: "Fear God, and keep his commandments; 
 for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring 
 every work into Judgment." l The apostle James admon- 
 ishes his brethren, " So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall 
 be judged by the law of liberty." 2 
 
 Those who in the Judgment are " accounted worthy," will 
 have a part in the resurrection of the just. Jesus sai<l, 
 "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that- 
 world, and the resurrection from the dead, . . . un- 
 equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being 
 the children of the resurrection." 3 And again he declares 
 that "they that have done good" shall come forth "unto 
 the resurrection of life." 4 The righteous dead will not be 
 raised until after the Judgment at which they are accounted 
 worthy of "the resurrection of life." Hence they will not 
 be present in person at the tribunal when their records are 
 examined, and their eases decided. 
 
 Jesus will appear as their advocate, .to plead in their 
 behalf before God. "If any man sin, we have an advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ the. righteous."' "For Christ 
 is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which 
 are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to 
 appear in the presence of God for us." "Wherefore he is 
 able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God 
 by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." 1 
 
 i Eccl. 12 : 13, 14. 3 Janic.s 2 : 12. *Luk<- 20 : 3.1, 3<. 
 
 *John5:29. 1 John 2:1. Heb. 9 :24; 7 :25. 
 
THE INVEST1GA TIVK JUDGMENT. 483 
 
 As the books of record are opened in the Judgment, the 
 lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review \ 
 before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon tlfe 
 earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive 
 generation, and closes with the living. Every name is 
 mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are ac- 
 cepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining 
 upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, 
 their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the 
 record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of 
 God's remembrance. The Lord declared to Moses, "Who- 
 soever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my 
 book." l And says the prophet Ezekiel, " When the righteous 
 turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth in- 
 iquity, . . . all his righteousness that he hath done 
 shall not be mentioned." s 
 
 All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed 
 the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon 
 entered against their names in the books of Heaven ; as they 
 have become partakers of tliQ righteousness of Christ, and 
 their characters are found to be in harmony with the law 
 of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves 
 will be accounted worthy of eternal life. The Lord declares, 
 by the prophet Isaiah, " I, even I, am he that blotteth out 
 thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember 
 thy sins." 3 Said Jesus, "He that overcometh, the same 
 shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out 
 his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name 
 before my Father, and before his angels." " Whosoever there- 
 fore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also 
 before my Father which is in Heaven. But whosoever 
 shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my 
 Father which is in Heaven." * 
 
 The deepest interest manifested among men in the de- 
 
 1 Ex. 32 : 33. a Eze. 1 8 : 24. 3 laa. 43 : 25. 
 
 *Rev. 3:5j Matt. 10:32, 33. 
 
484 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 cisions of earthly tribunals but faintly represents the interest 
 evinced in the heavenly courts when the names entered in 
 the book of life come up in review before the Judge of all 
 the earth. The divine Intercessor presents the plea that all 
 who have overcome through faith in his blood be forgiven 
 their transgressions, that they be restored to their Eden 
 home, and crowned as joint-heirs with himself to the " first 
 dominion." 1 Satan, in his efforts to deceive and tempt our 
 race, had thought to frustrate the divine plan in man's 
 creation; but Christ now asks that this plan be carried into 
 effect, as if man had never fallen. He asks for his people 
 not only pardon and justification, full and complete, but a 
 share in his glory and a seat upon his throne. 
 
 While Jesus is pleading for the subjects of his grace, Satan 
 accuses them before God as transgressors. The great de- 
 ceiver has sought to lead them into skepticism, to cause 
 them to lose confidence in God, to separate themselves from 
 his love, and to break his law. Now he points to the record 
 of their lives, to the defects of character, the unlikeness to 
 Christ, which has dishonored their Redeemer, to all the sins 
 that he has tempted them to commit, and because of these 
 he claims them as his subjects. 
 
 Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows their penitence 
 and faith, and, claiming for them forgiveness, he lifts his 
 wounded hands before the Father and the holy angels, say- 
 ing, "I know them by name. I have graven them on the 
 palms of my hands. ' The sacrifices of God are a broken 
 spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, God, thou wilt not 
 despise.'" And to the accuser of his people he declares, 
 "The Lord rebuke thee, Satan; even the Lord that hath 
 chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked 
 out of the fire?" 3 Christ will clothe his faithful ones with 
 his own righteousness, that he may present them to his 
 Father " a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing." 4 Their names stand enrolled in the book 
 
 1 Micah4:8. * Ps. 51:17. 3 Zech. 3:2. < Eph. 5:27. 
 
THE INVESTIGA TIVE JUD GHENT. 485 
 
 of life, and concerning them it is written, " They shall walk 
 with me in white; for they are worthy," 1 
 
 Thus will be realized the complete fulfillment of the new- 
 covenant promise, " I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
 remember their sin no more." " In those days, and in that 
 time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought 
 for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and 
 they shall not be found." 2 " In that day shall the branch 
 of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the 
 earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped 
 of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in 
 Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called 
 hoi} 7 , even every one that is written among the living in 
 Jerusalem." 3 
 
 The work of the investigative Judgment and the blotting 
 out of sins is to be accomplished before the second advent of 
 the Lord. Since the dead are to be judged out of the things 
 written in the books, it is impossible that the sins of men 
 should be blotted out until after the Judgment at which their 
 cases are to be investigated. But the apostle Peter distinctly 
 states that the sins of believers will be blotted out, " when 
 the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
 Lord ; and he shall send Jesus Christ." * When the investi- 
 gative Judgment closes, Christ will come, and his reward is 
 with him to give to every man as his work shall be. 
 
 In the typical service the high priest, having made the 
 atonement for Israel, came forth and blessed the congregation. 
 So Christ, at the close of his work as a mediator, will appear, 
 "without sin unto salvation," 5 to bless his waiting people 
 with eternal life. As the priest, in removing the sins from 
 the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the scape- 
 goat, so Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, the orig- 
 inator and instigator of sin. The scape-goat, bearing the 
 sins of Israel, was sent away "unto a land not inhabited; " 
 so Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has 
 
 1 Rev. 3:4. 2 Jer. 31 :34; 50:20. 3 Isa.4:2, 3. 
 
 *Acts 3 : 19, 20. 5 Heb. 9 : 28. 6 Lev. 16 : 22. 
 
486 THE 7? AM T CO XTK O VEKS ) '. 
 
 caused God's people to commit, will be for a thousand years 
 confined to the earth, which will then l>e desolate, without 
 inhabitant, and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin, 
 in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked. Thus the great 
 plan of redemption will reach its accomplishment in the 
 final eradication of sin, and the deliverance of all who have 
 been willing to renounce evil. 
 
 At the time appointed for the Judgment the close of the 
 2300 days, in 1844 began the work of investigation and 
 blotting out of sins. All w r ho have ever taken upon them- 
 selves the name of Christ must pass its searching scrutiny. 
 Both the living and the dead are to be judged "out of those 
 tilings which were written in the books, according to their 
 works." 
 
 Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not 
 be pardoned, and blotted out of the books of record, but will 
 stand to witness against the sinner in the day of God. lie 
 may have committed his evil deeds in the light of day or in 
 the darkness. of night; but they were open and manifest 
 before Him with whom we have to do. Angels of Clod wit- 
 nessed each sin, and registered it in the unerring records. 
 Sin may be concealed, denied, covered up from father, 
 mother, wife, children, and associates. No one but the 
 guilt) 7 actors may cherish the least suspicion of the wrong; 
 but it is laid bare before the intelligencies of Heaven. 
 The darkness of the darkest night, the secrecy of all de- 
 ceptive arts, is not sufficient to veil one thought from the 
 knowledge of the Eternal. God has an exact record of 
 every unjust account and every unfair dealing. He is not 
 deceived by appearances of piety. He makes 110 mistakes 
 in his estimation of character. Men may be deceived by 
 11 lose who are corrupt in heart, but God pierces all dis- 
 guises, and reads the inner life. 
 
 How solemn is the thought ! Day after day, passing into 
 eternity, bears its burden of records for the books of Heaven. 
 Words once spoken, deeds once done, can never be recalled. 
 
THE JXVESTTGA TTVE JUDGMENT. 487 
 
 Angels have, registered both the good and the evil. The 
 mightiest conqueror upon the earth cannot call back the 
 record of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our 
 most secret motives, all have their weight in deciding .our 
 destiny for weal or woe. Though they may be forgotten by 
 us, they will bear their testimony to justify or to condemn. 
 
 As the features of the countenance are reproduced with 
 unerring accuracy on the polished plate of the artist, so the 
 character is faithfully delineated in the books above. Yet 
 how little solicitude is felt concerning that record which is to 
 meet the gaze of heavenly beings. Could the veil which 
 separates the visible from the invisible world be swept back, 
 and the children of men behold an angel recording every 
 word and deed, which they must meet again in the Judg- 
 ment, how many words that are daily uttered would remain 
 unspoken; how many deeds would remain undone. 
 
 In the Judgment, the use made of every talent will be 
 scrutinized. How have we employed the capital lent us of 
 I leaven? Will the Lord at his coming receive his own with 
 usury? Have we improved the powers intrusted us, in hand 
 and heart and brain, to the glory of God and the blessing of 
 the world? How have we used our time, our pen, our voice, 
 our money, our influence? What have we done for Christ, 
 in the person of the poor, the afflicted, the orphan, or the 
 widow? God lias made us the depositary of his holy Word; 
 what have we done with the light and truth given us to 
 make men wise unto salvation? No value is attached to a 
 mere profession of faith in Christ; only the love which is 
 shown by works is counted genuine. Yet it is love alone 
 which in the sight of Heaven makes any act of value. 
 Whatever is done from love, however small it may appear 
 in the estimation of men, is accepted and rewarded of God. 
 
 The hidden selfishness of men stands revealed in the 
 books of Heaven. There is the record of unfulfilled duties 
 to their fellow-men, of forgetfulness of the Saviour's claims. 
 There they will see how often were given to Satan the time, 
 
488 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 thought, and strength that belonged to Christ. Sad is the 
 record which angels bear to Heaven. Intelligent beings, 
 professed followers of Christ, are absorbed in the acquire- 
 ment of worldly possessions, or the enjoyment of earthh r 
 pleasures. Money, time, and strength are sacrificed for dis- 
 play and self-indulgence; but few are the moments devoted 
 to prayer, to the searching of the Scriptures, to humiliation 
 of soul and confession of sin. 
 
 Satan invents unnumbered schemes to occupy our minds 
 that they may not dwell upon the very work with which we 
 ought to be best acquainted. The arch-deceiver hates the 
 great truths that bring to view an atoning sacrifice and an 
 all-powerful Mediator. He knows that with him everything 
 depends on his diverting minds from Jesus and his truth. 
 
 Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour's 
 mediation should permit nothing to interfere with their 
 duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God. The precious 
 hours, instead of being given to pleasure, to display, or to 
 gain-seeking, should be devoted to an earnest, prayerful 
 study of the Word of truth. The subject of the sanctuary 
 and the investigative Judgment should be clearly under- 
 stood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for 
 themselves of the position and work of their great High 
 Priest. Otherwise, it w r ill be impossible for them to exercise 
 the faith which is essential at this time, or to occupy the 
 position which God designs them to fill. Every individual 
 has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at 
 the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to 
 face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate 
 often the solemn scene when the Judgment shall sit and 
 the books shall be opened, when, with Daniel, every indi- 
 vidual must stand in his lot, at the end of the days. 
 
 All who have received the light upon these subjects are 
 to bear testimony of the great truths which God has com- 
 mitted to them. The sanctuary in Heaven is the very center 
 of Christ's work in behalf of men. It concerns every soul 
 
TTIE 1NVESTIOA TTVE JUDGMENT. 489 
 
 living upon the earth. It opens to view the plan of re- 
 demption, bringing us down to the very close of time, and 
 revealing the triumphant issue of the contest between right- 
 eousness and sin. It is of the utmost importance that all 
 should thoroughly' investigate these subjects, and be able 
 to give an answer to every one that asketh them a reason 
 of the hope that is in them. 
 
 The intercession of Christ in man's behalf in the sanctuary 
 above is as essential to the plan of salvation as was his death 
 upon the cross. By his death he began that work which 
 after his resurrection he ascended to complete in Heaven. 
 We must by faith enter within the veil, " whither the fore- 
 runner is for us entered." 1 There the light from the cross 
 of Calvary is reflected. There we may gain a clearer in- 
 sight into the mysteries of redemption. The salvation of 
 man is accomplished at an infinite expense to Heaven; the 
 sacrifice made is equal to the broadest demands of the broken 
 law of God. Jesus has opened the way to the Father's 
 throne, and through his mediation the sincere desire of all 
 who come to him in faith may be presented before God. 
 
 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso 
 confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." 2 If those 
 who hide and excuse their faults could see how Satan exults 
 over them, how he taunts Christ and holy angels with their 
 course, they would make haste to confess their sins and to 
 put them away. Through defects in the character, Satan 
 works to gain control of the whole mind, and he knows that 
 if these defects are cherished, he will succeed. Therefore he 
 is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with 
 his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome. 
 But Jesus pleads in their behalf his wounded hands, his 
 bruised body; and he declares to all who would follow him, 
 "My grace is sufficient for thee." 3 "Take my yoke upon 
 you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; 
 and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, 
 
 !Heb. 6:20. 2 Prov.28:13. 3 2 Cor 12:9. 
 
490 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and my burden is light." 1 Let none, then, regard their 
 defects as incurable. God will give faith and grace to over- 
 come them. 
 
 We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the 
 typical service, while the high priest was making the atone- 
 ment for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by 
 repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they 
 be cut off from among the people. In like manner, all who 
 would have their names retained in the book of life, should 
 now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict 
 their souls before God by sorrow for sin, and true repentance. 
 There must be deep, faithful searching of heart. The light, 
 frivolous spirit indulged by so many of professed Christians 
 must be put away. There is earnest warfare before all who 
 would subdue the evil tendencies that strive for the mastery. 
 The work of preparation is an individual work. We are 
 not saved in groups. The purity and devotion of one will 
 not offset the want of these qualities in another. Though 
 all nations are to pass in judgment before God, yet he will 
 examine the case of each individual with as close and search- 
 ing scrutiny as if there were not another being upon the 
 earth. Every one must be tested, and found without spot 
 or wrinkle or any such thing. 
 
 Solemn are the scenes connected with the closing work 
 of the atonement. Momentous are the interests involved 
 therein. The Judgment is now passing in the sanctuary 
 above. For more than forty years this work has been in 
 progress. Soon none know how soon it will pass to the 
 cases of the living. In the awful presence of God our lives 
 are to come up in review. At this time above all others it 
 behooves every soul to heed the Saviour's admonition, 
 "Watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is," 1 
 "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a 
 thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon 
 thee." 3 
 
 1 Matt. 1 1 : 29, 30. 2 Mark 13 : 33. Rev. 3 : 3. 
 
THE TNVESTJGA TIVE JUDGMENT. 491 
 
 When the work of the investigative Judgment closes, the 
 destiny of all will have been decided for life or death. Pro- 
 bation is ended a short time before the appearing of the 
 Lord in the clouds of heaven. Christ in the Revelation, 
 looking forward to that time, declares: "He that is unjust, 
 let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be 
 filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
 still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, be- 
 hold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give 
 every man according as his work shall be." l 
 
 The righteous and the wicked will still be living upon the 
 earth in their mortal state men will be planting and build- 
 ing, eating and drinking, all unconscious that the final, 
 irrevocable decision has been pronounced in the sanctuary 
 above. Before the flood, after Noah entered the ark, God 
 shut him in, and shut the ungodly out; but for seven days 
 the people, knowing not that their doom was fixed, continued 
 their careless, pleasure-loving life, and mocked the warnings 
 of impending judgment. "So," says the Saviour, "shall also 
 the coining of the Son of man be." 2 Silently, unnoticed as 
 the midnight thief, will come the decisive hour which marks 
 the fixing of every man's destiny, the final withdrawal of 
 mercy's offer to guilty men. 
 
 "Watch ye therefore; . . . lest coming suddenly He 
 find you sleeping." a Perilous is the condition of those who, 
 growing weary of their watch, turn to the attractions of the 
 world. While the man of business is absorbed in the pur- 
 suit of gain, while the pleasure-lover is seeking indulgence, 
 while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adornments, 
 it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will 
 pronounce the sentence, " Thou art weighed in the balances, 
 and art found wanting." 4 
 
 i Rev. 22 : 1 1, 12. 2 Matt. 24 : 39. Mar k 13 . 35> 36 . D^. 5 . 27. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 
 
 To MANY minds, the origin of sin and the reason for its 
 existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the 
 work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, 
 and they question how all this can exist under the sov- 
 ereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and 
 in love. Here is a mystery, of which they find no expla- 
 nation. And in their uncertainty and doubt, they are 
 blinded to truths plainly revealed in God's Word, and es- 
 sential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries 
 concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that 
 which God has never revealed- hence they find no solution 
 of their difficulties; and such as are actuated by a disposition 
 to doubt and cavil, seize upon this as an excuse for rejecting 
 the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satis- 
 factory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the 
 fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the 
 teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the 
 nature of his government, and the principles of his dealing 
 with sin. , 
 
 It is impossible to so explain the origin of sin as to give 
 a reason for its existence. Yet enough may be understood 
 concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin. 
 to fully make manifest the justice and benevolence of God 
 in all his dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly 
 taught in Scripture than that God was in nowise responsible 
 for the entrance of sin; that there WMS n<> arbitrary with- 
 drawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine govern- 
 ment, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin 
 (492) 
 
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 493 
 
 is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. 
 It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it, is to defend it. 
 Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its ex- 
 istence, it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin 
 is that given in the Word of God; it is "the transgression 
 of the law;" it is the outworking of a principle at war with 
 the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine 
 government. 
 
 Before the entrance of evil, there was peace and joy 
 throughout the universe. All was in perfect harmony with 
 the Creator's will. Love for God was supreme, love for one 
 another impartial. Christ the Word, the only begotten of 
 God, was one with the eternal Father, one in nature, in 
 character, and in purpose, the only being in all the universe 
 that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. 
 By Christ, the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly 
 beings. " By him were all things created, that are in Heaven, 
 . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi- 
 palities, or powers;" l and to Christ, equally with the Father, 
 all Heaven gave allegiance. 
 
 The law of love being the foundation of the government 
 of God, the happiness of all created beings depended upon 
 their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. 
 God desires from all his creatures the service of love, 
 homage that springs from an intelligent appreciation of his 
 character. He takes no pleasure in a forced allegiance, and 
 to all he grants freedom of will, that they may render him 
 voluntary service. 
 
 But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. 
 Sin originated with him, who, next to Christ, had been 
 most honored of God, and who stood highest in power and 
 glory among the inhabitants of Heaven. Before his fall, 
 Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. 
 "Thus saith the Lord God: Thou sealest up the sum, full 
 of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden 
 the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy covering." 
 
494 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 "Thou, art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have 
 set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou 
 hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 
 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast 
 created, till iniquity was found in thee." l 
 
 Lucifer might have remained in favor with God, beloved 
 and honored by all the angelic host, exercising his noble 
 powers to bless others and to glorify his Maker. But, says 
 the prophet, " Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, 
 thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy bright- 
 ness." 1 Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge a desire for 
 self-exaltation. " Thou hast set thine heart as the heart of 
 God." "Thou hast said: ... I will exalt my throne 
 above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of 
 the congregation.*' "I will ascend above the heights of the 
 clouds; I will be like the Most High." 2 Instead of seeking 
 to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of his 
 creatures, it was Lucifer's endeavor to win their service and 
 homage to himself. And, coveting the honor which the 
 infinite Father had bestowed upon his Son, this prince of 
 angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of 
 Christ alone to wield. 
 
 All Heaven had rejoiced to reflect the Creator's glory and 
 to show forth his praise. And while God was thuslionored, 
 all had been peace and gladness. But a note of discord now 
 marred the celestial harmonies. The service and exaltation 
 of self, contrary to the Creator's plan, awakened forebodings 
 of evil in minds to whom God's glory was supreme. The 
 heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God 
 presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the 
 justice of the Creator, and the sacred, urn-hanging nature 
 of his law. God himself had established the order of Heaven; 
 and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker, 
 and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in 
 infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance, 
 
 1 Eze. 28 : 12-15, 117. 2 Eze . 28 : 6; Isa. 14 : 13, 14, 
 
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 495 
 
 Lucifer allowed jealousy of Christ to prevail, and he became 
 the more determined. 
 
 Pride in his own glory nourished the desire for supremacy. 
 The high honors conferred upon Lucifer were not appre- 
 ciated as the gift of God, and called forth no gratitude to 
 the Creator. He gloried in his brightness and exaltation, 
 and aspired to be equal with God. He was beloved and 
 reverenced by the heavenly host. Angels delighted to exe- 
 cute his commands, and he was clothed with wisdom and 
 glory above them all. Yet the Son of God was the acknowl- 
 edged sovereign of Heaven, one in power and authority with 
 the Father. In all the counsels of God, Christ was a par- 
 ticipant, while Lucifer was not permitted thus to enter into 
 the divine purposes. "Why," questioned this mighty angel, 
 "should Christ have the supremacy? Why is he thus hon- 
 ored above Lucifer?" 
 
 Leaving his place in the immediate presence of God, 
 Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among 
 the angels. Working witli mysterious secrecy, and for a 
 time concealing his real purpose under an appearance of 
 reverence for God, he endeavored to excite dissatisfaction 
 concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, inti- 
 mating that they imposed an unnecessary restraint. Since 
 their natures were holy, he urged that the angels should 
 obey the dictates of their own will. He sought to create 
 sympathy for himself, by representing that God had dealt 
 unjustly with him in bestowing supreme honor upon Christ. 
 He claimed that in aspiring to greater power and honor he 
 was not aiming at self-exaltation, but was seeking to secure 
 liberty for all the inhabitants of Heaven, that by this means 
 they might attain to a higher state of existence. 
 
 God, in his great mercy, bore long with Lucifer. He was 
 not immediately degraded from his exalted station when he 
 first indulged the spirit of discontent, nor even when he be- 
 gan to present his false claims before the loyal angels. Long 
 was he retained in Heaven. Again and again he was offered 
 
496 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 pardon, on condition of repentance and submission. Such 
 efforts as only infinite love and wisdom could devise, were 
 made to convince him of his error. The spirit of discontent 
 had never before been known in Heaven. Lucifer himself 
 did not at first see whither he was drifting; he did not un- 
 derstand the real nature of his feelings. But as his dis- 
 satisfaction was proved to be without cause, Lucifer was 
 convinced that he was in the wrong, that the divine claims 
 were just, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such 
 before all Heaven. Had he done this, he might have saved 
 himself and many angels. He had not at this time fully 
 cast off his allegiance to God. Though he had forsaken 
 his position as covering cherub, yet if he had been willing 
 to return to God, acknowledging the Creator's wisdom, and 
 satisfied to fill the place appointed him in God's great plan, 
 he would have been re-instated in his office. But pride 
 forbade him to submit. He persistently defended his own 
 course, maintained that he had no need of repentance, and 
 fully committed himself, in the great controversy, against 
 his Maker. 
 
 All the powers, of his master-mind were now bent to the 
 work of deception, to secure the sympathy of the angels that 
 had been under his command. Even the fact that Christ had 
 warned and counseled him, was perverted to serve his trai- 
 torous designs. To those whose loving trust bound therrf 
 most closely to him, Satan had represented that he WMS 
 wrongly judged, that his position was not respected, and that 
 his liberty was to be abridged. From misrepresentation of 
 the words of Christ, he passed to prevarication and direct false- 
 hood, accusing the Son of God of a design to humiliate him 
 before the inhabitants of Heaven. He sought also to make 
 a false issue between himself and the loyal angels. All 
 whom he could not subvert and bring fully to his side, he 
 accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly brings. 
 The very work which he himself \\ns doing, he charged 
 upon those who remained true to God. And to sustain his 
 
TUK ORIGIN OF EVIL. 497 
 
 charge of God's injustice toward him, he resorted to misrep- 
 resentation of the words and acts of the Creator. It was his 
 policy to perplex the angels with subtle arguments concern- 
 ing the purposes of God. Eve^thing that was simple he 
 shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt 
 upon the plainest statements of Jehovah. His high position, 
 in such close connection with the divine administration, gave 
 greater force to his representations, and many were induced 
 to unite with him in rebellion against Heaven's authority. 
 
 God in his wisdom permitted Satan to carry forward his 
 work, until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt. 
 It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that 
 their true nature and tendency might be seen by all. Lucifer, 
 as the anointed cherub, had been highly exalted; he was 
 greatly kr, ed by the heavenly beings, and his influence over 
 them was strong. God's government included not only the 
 inhabitants of Heaven, but of all the worlds that he had 
 created; and Satan thought that if he could carry the angels 
 of Heaven with him in rebellion, he could carry also the 
 other worlds. He had artfully presented his side of llie 
 question, employing sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. 
 His power to deceive was very great, and by disguising him- 
 self in a cloak of falsehood he had gained an advantage. 
 Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character, 
 or see to what his work was leading. 
 
 Satan had been so highly honored, and all his acts were 
 so clothed with mystery, that it was difficult to disclose to 
 the angels the true nature of his work. Until fully devel- 
 oped, sin would not appear the evil thing it was. Hereto- 
 fore it had had no place in the universe of God, and holy 
 beings had no conception of its nature and malignity. They 
 could not discern the terrible consequences that would result 
 from setting aside the divine law. Satan had, at first, con- 
 cealed his work under a specious profession of loyalty to 
 God. He claimed to be seeking to promote the honor of 
 God, the stability of his government, and the ood of all the 
 
498 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 inhabitants of Heaven. While instilling discontent into the 
 minds of the angels under him, he had artfully made it 
 appear that he was seeking to remove dissatisfaction. When 
 he urged that changes be made in the order and laws of 
 God's government, it was under the pretense that these were 
 necessary in order to preserve harmony in Heaven. 
 
 In his dealing with sin, God could employ only righteous- 
 ness and truth. Satan could use what God could not 
 flattery and deceit. He had sought to falsify the word of 
 God, and had misrepresented his plan of government before 
 the angels, claiming that God was not just in laying laws 
 and rules upon the inhabitants of Heaven; that in requiring 
 submission and 'obedience from his creatures, he was seeking 
 merely the exaltation of himself. Therefore it must be dem- 
 onstrated before the -inhabitants of Heaven as well as of all 
 the worlds, that God's government was just, his law perfect. 
 Satan had made it appear that he himself was seeking to 
 promote the good of the universe. The true character of 
 the usurper, and his real object, must be understood by all. 
 He must have time to manifest himself by his wicked works. 
 
 The discord which his own course had caused in Heaven, 
 Satan charged upon the law and government of God. All 
 evil he declared to be the result of the divine administration. 
 He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the 
 statutes of Jehovah. Therefore it was necessary that he 
 should demonstrate the nature of his claims, and show the 
 working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His 
 own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from 
 the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe 
 must see the deceiver unmasked. 
 
 Even when it was decided that he could no longer remain 
 in Heaven, infinite wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since 
 the service of love can alone be acceptable to God, the alle- 
 giance of his creatures must rest upon a conviction of his 
 justice ami benevolence. The inhabitants of Heaven and 
 of other worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature 
 
WE ORIGJN OF AT//,. 499 
 
 or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice 
 and mercy of God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been 
 immediately blotted from existence, they would have served 
 God from fear, rather than from love. The influence of the 
 deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the 
 spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. Evil must 
 be permitted to come to maturity. For the good of the 
 entire universe through ceaseless ages, Satan must more 
 fully develop his principles, that his charges against the 
 divine government might be seen in their true light by all 
 created beings, that the justice and mercy of God and the 
 immutability of his law might forever be placed beyond all 
 question. 
 
 Satan's rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through 
 all coming ages, a perpetual testimony to the nature and 
 terrible results of sin. The working out of 'Satan's rule, 
 its effects upon both men and angels, would show what must 
 be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority. It would 
 testify that with the existence of God's government and his 
 law is bound up the well-being of all the creatures he has 
 made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment of re- 
 bellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelli- 
 gences, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature 
 of transgression, to save them from committing sin, and suf- 
 fering its punishment. 
 
 To the very close of the controversy in Heaven, the great 
 usurper continued to justify himself. When it was an- 
 nounced that with all his sympathizers he must be expelled 
 from the abodes of bliss, then the rebel leader boldly avowed 
 his contempt for the Creator's law. He reiterated his claim 
 that angels needed no control, but should be left to follow 
 their own will, which would ever guide them right. He 
 denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty, 
 and declared that it was his purpose to secure the abolition 
 of law; that, freed from this restraint, the hosts of Heaven 
 might enter upon a more exalted, more glorious state of 
 existence. 
 
500 THE GREA T ( Y> A TK O \ 'KRXY. 
 
 With one accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of 
 their rebellion wholly upon Christ, declaring that if they 
 had not been reproved, they would never have rebelled. 
 Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty, seeking vainly 
 to overthrow the government of God, yet blasphemously 
 claiming to be themselves the innocent victims of oppressive 
 power, the arch-rebel and all his sympathizers were at last 
 banished from Heaven. 
 
 /The same spirit that prompted rebellion in Heaven, still 
 inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men 
 the same policy which he pursued with the angels. His 
 spirit now reigns in the children of disobedience. Like him 
 they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God, 
 and promise men liberty through transgression of its pre- 
 cepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and 
 resistance. When God's messages of warning are brought 
 home to the conscience, Satan leads men to justify them- 
 selves, and to seek the sympathy of others in their course 
 of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indig- 
 nation against the reprover, as if he were the sole cause of 
 difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own 
 time, such is the spirit which has been displayed toward 
 those who d'.ire to condemn sin. 
 
 By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as 
 he had practiced in Heaven, causing him to be regarded as 
 severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to sin. And 
 having succeeded thus far, he declared that God's unjust 
 restrictions had led to man's fall, as they had led to his own 
 rebellion. 
 
 But the Eternal One himself proclaims his character: 
 "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suilrring, and 
 abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou- 
 sands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and 
 that will by no menus clear the guilty." * 
 
 In the banishment of Satan from Heaven, God declared 
 his justice, and maintained the honor of his throne. But 
 
 J Kx. 34:6, 7. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 501 
 
 when man had sinned through yielding to the deceptions 
 of trjis apostate spirit, God gave an evidence of his love by 
 yielding up his only begotten Son to die for the fallen race. 
 In the atonement .the character of God is revealed. The 
 mighty argument of the cross demonstrates to the whole 
 universe that the course of sin which Lucifer had chosen 
 was in nowise chargeable upon the government of God. 
 
 In the contest between Christ and Satan, during the Sav- 
 iour's earthly ministry, the character of the great deceiver 
 was unmasked. Nothing could so effectually have uprooted 
 Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the 
 whole loyal universe as did his cruel warfare upon the 
 world's Redeemer. The daring blasphemy of his demand 
 that Christ should pay him homage, his presumptuous bold- 
 ness in bearing him to the mountain summit and the pin- 
 nacle of the temple, the malicious intent betrayed in urging 
 him to cast himself down from the dizzy height, the un- 
 sleeping malice that hunted him from place to place, inspir- 
 ing the hearts of priests and people to reject his love, and at 
 the last to cry, " Crucify him ! crucify him ! " all this excited 
 the amazement and indignation of the universe. 
 
 It was Satan that prompted the world's rejection of Christ. 
 The prince of evil exerted all his power and cunning to 
 destroy Jesus; for he saw that the Saviour's mercy and love, 
 his compassion and pitying tenderness, were representing 
 to the world the character of God. Satan contested every 
 claim put forth by the Son of God, and employed men as 
 his agents to fill the Saviour's life with suffering and sorrow. 
 The sophistry and falsehood by which he had sought to 
 hinder the work of Jesus, the hatred manifested through the 
 children of disobedience, his cruel accusations against Him 
 whose life was one of unexampled goodness, all sprung from 
 deep-seated revenge. The pent-up fires of envy and malice, 
 hatred and revenge, burst forth on Calvary against the Son 
 of God, while all Heaven gazed upon the scene in silent 
 horror. 
 
502 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 When the great sacrifice had been consummated, Christ 
 ascended on high, refusing the adoration of angels until he 
 had presented the request, "I will that they also, whom 
 thou hast given me, be with me where I am." 1 Then with 
 inexpressible love and power came forth the answer from 
 the Father's throne, " Let all the angels of God worship 
 him." 2 Not a stain rested upon Jesus. His humiliation 
 ended, his sacrifice completed, there was given unto him a 
 name that is above every name. 
 
 Now the guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. He 
 had revealed his true character as a liar and a murderer. 
 It was seen that the very same spirit with which he ruled 
 the children of men, who were under his power, he would 
 have manifested had he been permitted to control the in- 
 habitants of Heaven. He had claimed that the transgression 
 of God's law would bring liberty and exaltation ; but it was 
 seen to result in bondage and degradation. 
 
 Satan's lying charges against the divine character and 
 government appeared in their true light. lie had accused 
 God of seeking merely the exaltation of himself in requiring 
 submission and obedience from his creatures, and had de- 
 clared that while the Creator exacted self-denial from all 
 others, he himself practiced no self-denial, and made no 
 sacrifice. Now it was seen that for the salvation of a fallen 
 and sinful race, the Ruler of the universe had made the 
 greatest sacrifice which love could make; for " God was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 3 It was seen, 
 also, that while Lucifer had opened the door for the entrance 
 of sin, by his desire for honor and supremacy, Christ had. 
 in order to destroy sin, humbled himself, and become obe- 
 dient unto death. 
 
 God had manifested his abhorrence of the principles of 
 
 rebellion. All Heaven saw his justice revealed, both in the 
 
 condemnation of Satan and in the redemption of man. 
 
 Lucifer had declared that if the law of God was changeless, 
 
 * John 17 : 24. a Heb. 1:6. * 2 Cor. 5 : 19. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 503 
 
 and its penalty could not be remitted, every transgressor 
 must be forever debarred from the Creator's favor. He had 
 claimed that the sinful race were placed beyond redemption, 
 and were therefore his rightful prey. But the death of 
 Christ was an argument in man's behalf that could not be 
 overthrown. The penalty of the law fell upon him who 
 was equal with God, and man was free to accept the right- 
 eousness of Christ, and by a life of penitence and humiliation 
 to triumph, as the Son of God had triumphed, over the 
 power of Satan. Thus God is just, and yet the justifier of 
 all who believe in Jesus. 
 
 But it was not merely to accomplish the redemption of 
 man that Christ came to the earth to suffer and to die. He 
 came to "magnify the law" and to "make it honorable." 
 Not alone that the inhabitants of this world might regard 
 the law as it should be regarded; but it was to demonstrate 
 to all the worlds of the universe that God's law is unchange- 
 able. Could its claims have been set aside, then the Son of 
 God need not have yielded up his life to atone for its trans- 
 gression. The death of Christ proves it immutable. And 
 the sacrifice to which infinite love impelled the Father and 
 the Son, that sinners might be redeemed, demonstrates to 
 all the universe what nothing less than this plan of atone- 
 ment could have sufficed to do that justice and mercy are 
 the foundation of the law and government of God. 
 
 In the final execution of the Judgment it will be seen that 
 no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth 
 shall demand of Satan, "Why hast thou rebelled against 
 me, and robbed me of the subjects of my kingdom?" the 
 originator of evil can render no excuse. Every mouth will 
 be stopped, and all the hosts of rebellion will be speechless. 
 
 The cross of Calvary, while it declares the law immutable, 
 proclaims to the universe that the wages of sin is death. In 
 the Saviour's expiring cry, " It is finished," the death-knell 
 of Satan was rung. The great controversy which had been 
 so long in progress was then decided, and the final eradi- 
 
504 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 cation of evil was made certain. The Son of God passed 
 through the portals of the tomb, that "through death ho 
 might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 
 devil." 1 Lucifer's desire for self-exaltation had led him to say, 
 " I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. ... I 
 will be like the Most High." God declares, " I will bring 
 thee to ashes upon the earth, . . . and never shalt thou 
 be any more." 2 When " the day cometh that shall burn as 
 an oven," " all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall 
 be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, 
 saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root 
 nor branch." 3 
 
 The whole universe will have become witnesses to the 
 nature and results of sin. And its utter extermination, 
 which in the beginning would have brought fear to angels 
 and dishonor to God, will now vindicate his love and es- 
 tablish his honor before a universe of beings who delight 
 to do his will, and in whose heart is his law. Never will 
 evil again be manifest. Says the Word of God, "Affliction 
 shall. not rise up the second time." 4 The law of God, which 
 Satan has reproached as the yoke of bondage, will be hon- 
 ored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation 
 will never again be turned from allegiance to Him whose 
 character has been fully manifested before them as fathom- 
 less love and infinite wisdom. 
 
 i Heb. 2:14. 2 Isa. 14 : 13, 14; Eze. 28 : 18, 19. 
 
 8 Mai. 4.1. *Nah. 1 : 9. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SATAN. 
 
 "I WILL put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
 between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, 
 and thou shalt bruise his heel." 1 The divine sentence pro- 
 nounced against Satan after the fall of man, was also a 
 prophecy, embracing all the ages to the close of time, and 
 foreshadowing the great conflict to engage all the races of 
 men who should live upon the earth. 
 
 God declares, "I will put enmity." This enmity is not 
 naturally entertained. When man transgressed the divine 
 law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, and 
 not at variance, with Satan. -There exists naturally no 
 enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. Both 
 became evil through apostasy. The apostate is never at 
 rest, except as he obtains sympathy and support by inducing 
 others to follow his example. For this reason, fallen angels 
 and wicked men unite in desperate companionship. Had 
 not God specially interposed, Satan and man would have 
 entered into an alliance against Heaven; and instead of 
 cherishing enmity against Satan, the whole human family 
 would have been united in opposition to God. 
 
 Satan tempted man to sin, as he had caused angels to 
 rebel, that he might thus secure co-operation in his warfare 
 against Heaven. There was no dissension between himself 
 and the fallen angels as regards their hatred of -Christ; while 
 on all other points there was discord, they were firmly united 
 in opposing the authority of the Ruler of the universe. But 
 when Satan heard the declaration that enmity should exist 
 
 3:15. 
 
 (505) 
 
506 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 between himself and the woman, and between his seed and 
 her seed, lie knew that his efforts to deprave human nature 
 would be interrupted; that by some means man was to be 
 enabled to resist his power. 
 
 Satan's enmity against the human race is kindled, because, 
 through Christ, they are the objects of God's love and mercy. 
 lie desires to thwart the divine plan for man's redemption, 
 to cast dishonor upon God, by defacing and defiling his 
 handiwork; he would cause grief in Heaven, and rill the 
 earth with woe and desolation. And he points to all this 
 evil as the result of God's work in creating man. 
 
 It is the grace that Christ implants in the soul which 
 creates in man enmity against Satan. Without this con- 
 verting grace and renewing power, man would continue the 
 captive of Satan, a servant ever ready to do his bidding. 
 But the new principle in the soul creates conflict where 
 hitherto had been peace. The power which Christ impart.-, 
 enables man to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whoever is 
 seen to abhor pin instead of loving it, whoever resists and 
 conquers those passions that have held sway within, displays 
 the operation of a principle wholly from above. 
 
 The antagonism that exists between the spirit of Christ 
 and the spirit of Satan was most strikingly displayed in the 
 world's- reception of Jesus. It was not so much because he 
 appeared without worldly wealth, pomp, or grandeur, that 
 the Jews were led to reject him. They saw that he possessed 
 power which would more than compensate for the lack of 
 these outward advantages. But the purity and holiness of 
 Christ called forth against him the hatred of the ungodly. 
 His life of self-denial and sinless devotion was a perpetual 
 reproof to a proud, sensual people. It was this that evoked 
 enmity against the Son of < Jod. Satan and evil angels joined 
 with evil men. All the energies of apostasy conspired against 
 the champion of truth. 
 
 The same enmity is manifested toward Christ's followers 
 as was manifested toward their Master. Whoever sees the 
 
ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SA TAN, 507 
 
 repulsive character of sin, and, in strength from above, re- 
 sists temptation, will assuredly arouse the wrath of Satan 
 and his subjects. Hatred of the pure principles of truth, 
 and reproach and persecution of its advocates, will exist as 
 long as sin and sinners remain. The followers of Christ 
 and the servants of Satan cannot harmonize. The offense 
 of the cross has not ceased. "All that will live godly in 
 Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." ! 
 
 Satan's agents are constantly working under his direction 
 to establish his authority and build up his kingdom in oppo- 
 sition to the government of God. To this end they seek to 
 deceive Christ's followers, and -allure them from their alle- 
 giance. Like their leader, they misconstrue and pervert 
 the Scriptures to accomplish their object. As Satan en- 
 deavored to cast reproach upon God, so do his agents seek 
 to malign God's people. The spirit which put Christ to 
 death moves the wicked to destroy his followers. All this 
 is foreshadowed in that first prophecy, "*I will put enmity 
 between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her 
 seed." And this will continue to the close of time. 
 
 Satan summons all his forces, and throws his whole power 
 into the combat. Why is it that he meets with no greater 
 resistance? Why are the soldiers of Christ so sleepy ami 
 indifferent? Because they have so little real connection 
 with Christ; because they are so destitute of his Spirit. Sin 
 is not to them repulsive and abhorrent, as it was to their 
 Master. They do not meet it, as did Christ, with decisive 
 and determined resistance. They do not realize the exceed- 
 ing evil and malignity of sin, and they are blinded both to 
 the character and the power of the prince of darkness. 
 There is little enmity against Satan and his works, because 
 there is so great ignorance concerning his power and malice, 
 and the vast extent of his warfare against Christ and his 
 church. Multitudes are deluded here. They do not know 
 that their enemy is a mighty general, who controls the 
 minds of evil angels, and that with well-matured plans and 
 
 1 2 Tim. 3:12. 
 
508 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 skillful movements he is warring against Christ to prevent 
 the salvation of souls. Among professed Christians, and 
 even among ministers of the gospel, there is heard scarcely 
 a reference to Satan, except perhaps an incidental mention 
 in the pulpit. They overlook the evidences of his continual 
 activity and success; they neglect the many warnings of his 
 subtlety; they seem to ignore his very existence. 
 
 While men are ignorant of his devices, this vigilant foe 
 is upon their track every moment. He is intruding his 
 presence in every department of the household, in every 
 street of our cities, in the churches, in the national councils, 
 in the courts of justice, perplexing, deceiving, seducing, 
 everywhere ruining the souls and bodies of men,- women, 
 and children, breaking up families, sowing hatred, emula- 
 tion, strife, sedition, murder. And the Christian world seem 
 to regard these things as though God had appointed them, 
 and they must exist. 
 
 Satan is continually seeking to overcome the people of 
 God by breaking down the barriers which separate them 
 from the world. Ancient Israel were enticed into sin when 
 they ventured into forbidden association with the heathen. 
 In a similar manner are modern Israel led astray. " The 
 god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which 
 believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
 who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 1 All 
 who are not decided followers of Christ are servants of Satan. 
 In the unregenerate heart there is love of sin, and a dis- 
 position to cherish and excuse it. In the renewed heart 
 there is hatred of sin, and determined resistance against it. 
 When Christians choose the society of the ungodly and 
 unbelieving, they expose themselves to temptation. Sal an 
 conceals himself from view, and stealthily draws his decep- 
 tive covering over their eyes. They cannot see that such 
 company is calculated to <!<> them harm; and while all the 
 lime assimilating to the world in character, words, and 
 actions, they are becoming more and more blinded. 
 
 1 2Cor. 4 :4. 
 
ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AND SA TAN. 509 
 
 Conformity to worldly customs converts the church to the 
 world; it never converts the world to Christ. Familiarity 
 with sin will inevitably cause it to appear less repulsive- 
 He who chooses to associate w r ith the servants of Satan, 
 will soon cease to fear their master. When in the way of 
 duty we are brought into trial, as was Daniel in the king's 
 court, we may be sure that God will protect us; but if we 
 place ourselves under temptation, we shall fall sooner or 
 later. 
 
 The tempter often works most successfully through those 
 who are least suspected of being under his control. The 
 possessors of talent and education are admired and honored, 
 as if these qualities could atone for the absence of the fear 
 of God, or entitle men to his favor. - Talent and culture, 
 considered in themselves, are gifts of God; but when these 
 are made to supply the place of piety, when, instead of bring- 
 ing the soul nearer to God, they lead away from him, then 
 they become a curse and a snare. The opinion prevails 
 with many that all which appears like courtesy or re- 
 finement must, in some sense, pertain to Christ. Never 
 was there a greater mistake. These qualities should grace 
 the character of every Christian, for they would exert a 
 powerful influence in favor of true religion; but they must 
 be consecrated to God, or they also are a power for evil. 
 Many a man of cultured intellect and pleasant manners who 
 would not stoop to what is commonly regarded as an im- 
 moral act, is but a polished instrument in the hands of Satan. 
 The insidious, deceptive character of his influence and ex- 
 ample renders him a more dangerous enemy to the cause of 
 Christ than are those who are ignorant and uncultured. 
 
 By earnest prayer and dependence upon God, Solomon 
 obtained the wisdom which excited the wonder and ad- 
 miration of the world. But when he turned from the 
 Source of his strength, and went forward relying upon him- 
 self, he fell a prey to temptation. Then the marvelous 
 powers bestowed on this wisest of kings, only rendered him 
 a more effective agent of the adversary of souls. 
 
510 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 While Satan is constantly seeking to blind their minds 
 to the fact, let Christians never forget that they " wrestle not 
 against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against 
 powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
 against w r icked spirits in high places." l The inspired warn- 
 ing is sounding down the centuries to our time: " Be sober, 
 be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring 
 lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 2 "Put 
 on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand 
 against the wiles of the devil.*' 3 
 
 From the days of Adam to our own time, our great enemy 
 has been exercising his power to oppress and destroy. He 
 is now preparing for his last campaign against the church. 
 All who seek to follow Jesus will be brought into conflict 
 with this relentless foe. The more nearly the Christian 
 imitates the divine Pattern, the more surely will he make 
 himself a mark for the attacks of Satan. All who are ac- 
 tively engaged in. the cause of God, seeking to unveil tlio 
 deceptions of the evil one and to present Christ before the 
 people, will be able to join in the testimony of Paul, in 
 which lie speaks of serving the Lord with all humility of 
 mind, with many tears and temptations. 
 
 Satan assailed Christ with his fiercest and most subtle 
 temptations; but he was repulsed in every conflict. Those 
 battles were fought in our behalf; those victories make it 
 possible for us to conquer. Christ will give strength to all 
 who seek it. No man without his own consent can be ovr- 
 conie by Satan. The tempter has no power to control the 
 will or to force the soul to sin. He may distress, but he 
 cannot contaminate. He can cause agony, but not defile- 
 ment. The fact that Christ has conquered should inspire 
 his followers with courage to fight manfully the battle 
 against sin and Satan. 
 
 . 6 : 12 (margin). 2 1 Pet. 5:8. 3 Kph. (5:11. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 
 
 THE connection of the visible with the invisible world, the 
 ministration of angels of God, and the agency of evil spirits, 
 are plainly revealed in the Scriptures, and inseparably in- 
 terwoven with human history. There is a growing tend- 
 ency to disbelief in the existence of evil spirits, while the 
 holy angels that " minister for them who shall be heirs of 
 salvation," l are regarded by many as the spirits of the dead. 
 But the Scriptures not only teach the existence of angels, 
 both good and evil, but present unquestionable proof that 
 these are not the disembodied spirits of dead men. 
 
 Before the creation of man, angels were in existence; for 
 when the foundations of the earth were laid, " the morning 
 stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.'" 
 After the fall of man, angels were sent to guard the tree of 
 life, and this before a human being had died. Angels are 
 in nature superior to men. For the psalmist says that man 
 was made " a little lower than the angels." 3 
 
 We are informed in Scripture as to the number, and the 
 power and glory, of the heavenly beings, of their connection 
 with the government of God, and also of their relation to 
 the work of redemption. " The Lord hath prepared his 
 throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all." 
 And, says the prophet, " I heard the voice of many angels 
 round about the throne." In the presence-chamber of the 
 King of kings they wait j " angels that excel in strength," 
 " ministers of his, that do his pleasure," " hearkening unto 
 the voice of his word." * Ten thousand times ten thousand 
 
 i Heb. 1 : 14. 2 Job 38 : 7. 3 Ps. 8 : 5. * Ps. 103 : 19-21 ; Rev. 5:11. 
 37 (511) 
 
512 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and thousands of thousands, were the heavenly messengers 
 beheld by the prophet Daniel. The apostle Paul declared 
 them " an innumerable company." 1 As God's messengers 
 they go forth, like " the appearance of a flash of lightning," 2 
 so dazzling their glory, and so swift their flight. The angel 
 that appeared at the Saviour's tomb, his countenance " like 
 lightning, and his raiment white as snow," caused the keepers 
 for fear of him to quake, and they "became as dead men." 3 
 When Sennacherib, the haughty Assyrian, reproached and 
 blasphemed God, and threatened Israel with destruction, 
 " it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went 
 out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred 
 fourscore and five thousand." There were " cut off all the 
 mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains," from 
 the army of Sennacherib. " So he returned with shame of 
 face to his own land." * 
 
 Angels are sent on missions of mercy to the children of 
 God. To Abraham, with promises of blessing; to the gates 
 of Sodom, to rescue righteous Lot from its fiery doom; to 
 Elijah, as he was about to perish from weariness and hunger 
 in the desert; to Elisha, with chariots and horses of fire 
 surrounding the little town where he was shut in by his 
 foes; to Daniel, while seeking divine wisdom in the court 
 of a heathen king, or abandoned to become the lions' prey; 
 to Peter, doomed to death in Herod's dungeon ; to the pris- 
 oners at Philippi; to Paul and his companions in the night 
 of tempest on the sea; to open the mind of Cornelius to 
 receive the gospel; to dispatch Peter, with the message of 
 salvation to the Gentile stranger, thus holy angels have, in 
 all ages, ministered to God's people. 
 
 A guardian angel is appointed to every follower of Christ 
 These heavenly watchers shield the righteous from the power 
 of the wicked one. This Satan himself recognized when 
 he said, "Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou 
 
 1 Dan. 7 : 10; Heb. 12 : 22. 2 Eze. 1 : 14. 3 Matt. 28 : 3, i. 
 
 <2 Kings 19 : 35; 2 Chron. 32 :21. 
 
AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 513 
 
 made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about 
 all that he hath on every side?" The agency by which 
 God protects his people is presented in the words of the 
 psalmist, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about 
 them that fear him, and delivereth them." 2 Said the Sav- 
 iour, speaking of those that believe in him, "Take heed 
 that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto 
 you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the 
 face of my Father." 5 The angels appointed to minister 
 to the children of God have at all times access to his 
 presence. 
 
 Thus God's people, exposed to the deceptive power and 
 unsleeping malice of the prince of darkness, and in conflict 
 with all the forces of evil, are assured of the unceasing 
 guardianship of heavenly angels. Nor is such assurance 
 given without need. If God has granted to his children 
 promise of grace and protection, it is because there are 
 mighty agencies of evil to be met, agencies numerous, 
 determined, and untiring, of whose malignity and power 
 none can safely be ignorant or unheeding. 
 
 Evil spirits, in the beginning created sinless, were equal 
 in nature, power, and glory with the holy beings that are 
 now God's messengers. But fallen through sin, they are 
 leagued together for the dishonor of God and the destruction 
 of men. United with Satan in his rebellion, and with him 
 cast out from Heaven, they have, through all succeeding 
 ages, co-operated with him in his warfare against the divine 
 authority. We are told in Scripture of their confederacy 
 and government, of their various orders, of their intelligence 
 and subtlety, and of their malicious designs against the peace 
 and happiness of men. 
 
 Old-Testament history presents occasional mentions of 
 their existence and agency ; but it was during the time when 
 Christ was upon the earth that evil spirits manifested their 
 power in the most striking manner. Christ had come to 
 
 1 Job 1:9, 10. 2 p 8 . 34:7. 3 Matt. 1-10 
 
514 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 enter upon the plan devised for man's redemption, and 
 Satan determined to assert his right to control the world. 
 He had succeeded in establishing idolatry in every part of 
 the earth except the land of Palestine. To the only land 
 that had not fully yielded to the tempter's sway, Christ came 
 to shed upon the people the light of Heaven. Here two 
 rival powers claimed supremacy. Jesus was stretching out 
 his arms of love, inviting all who would to find pardon and 
 peace in him. The hosts of darkness saw that they did not 
 possess unlimited control, and they understood that if Christ's 
 mission should be successful, their rule was soon to end. 
 Satan raged like a chained lion, and defiantly exhibited his 
 power over the bodies as well as the souls of men. 
 
 The fact that men have been possessed with demons, is 
 clearly stated in the New Testament. The persons thus 
 afflicted were not merely suffering with disease from natural 
 causes. Christ had perfect understanding of that with which 
 he was dealing, and he recognized the direct presence and 
 agency of evil spirits. 
 
 A striking example of their number, power, and malignity, 
 and also of the power and mercy of Christ, is given in the 
 Scripture account of the healing of the demoniacs at Gadara. 
 Those wretched maniacs, spurning all restraint, writhing, 
 foaming, raging, were filling the air with their cries, doing 
 violence to themselves, and endangering all who should 
 approach them. Their bleeding and disfigured bodies and 
 distracted minds presented a spectacle well-pleasing to the 
 prince of darkness. One of the demons controlling the suf- 
 ferers declared, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 1 
 In the Roman army a legion consisted of from three to five 
 thousand men. Satan's hosts also are marshaled in com- 
 panies, and the single company to which these demons be- 
 longed numbered no less than a legion. 
 
 At the command of Jesus, the evil spirits departed from 
 their victims, leaving them calmly sitting at the Saviour's 
 
 iMark5:9. 
 
CHRIST HEALING THE DEMONIAC. 
 
AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 515 
 
 feet, subdued, intelligent, and gentle. But the demons were 
 permitted to sweep a herd of swine into the sea; and to the 
 dwellers of Gadara the loss of these outweighed the blessings 
 which Christ had bestowed, and the divine Healer was en- 
 treated to depart. This was the result which Satan designed 
 to secure. By casting the blame of their loss upon Jesus, 
 he aroused the selfish fears of the people, and prevented 
 them from listening to his words. Satan is constantly ac- 
 cusing Christians as the cause of loss, misfortune, and suf- 
 fering, instead of allowing the reproach to fall where it be- 
 longs, upon himself and his agents. 
 
 But the purposes of Christ were not thwarted. He allowed 
 the evil spirits to destroy the herd of swine as a rebuke to 
 those Jews who were raising these unclean beasts for the 
 sake of gain. Had not Christ restrained the demons, they 
 would have plunged into the sea, not only the swine, but 
 also their keepers and owners. The preservation of both 
 the keepers and the owners was due alone to his power, 
 mercifully exercised for their deliverance. Furthermore, 
 .this event was permitted to take place that the disciples 
 might witness the cruel power of Satan upon both man and 
 beast. The Saviour desired his followers to have a knowl- 
 edge of the foe whom they were to meet, that they might 
 not be deceived and overcome by his devices. It was also 
 his will that the people of that region should behold his 
 power to break the bondage of Satan and release his cap- 
 tives. And though Jesus himself departed, the men so 
 marvelously delivered remained to declare the mercy of 
 their Benefactor. 
 
 Other instances of a similar nature are recorded in the 
 Scriptures. The daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman was 
 grievously vexed with a devil, whom Jesus cast out by Ms 
 word. 1 One " possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb," * 8, 
 youth who had a dumb spirit, that ofttimes "cast him into 
 the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him," 3 the maniac, 
 
 1 Mark 7 : 26-30. * Matt. 12 : 22. * Mark 9 : 17-27. 
 
516 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 who, tormented by "a spirit of an unclean devil," 1 disturbed 
 the Sabbath quiet of the synagogue at Capernaum, were all 
 healed by the compassionate Saviour. In nearly every in- 
 stance, Christ addressed the demon as an intelligent entity, 
 commanding him to come out of his victim and to torment 
 him no more. The worshipers at Capernaum, beholding his 
 mighty power, "were all amazed, and spake among them- 
 selves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and 
 power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come 
 out." l 
 
 Those possessed with devils are usually represented as 
 being in a condition of great suffering; yet there were ex- 
 ceptions to this rule. For the sake of obtaining super- 
 natural power, some welcomed the Satanic influence. These 
 of course had no conflict with the demons. Of this class 
 were those who possessed the spirit of divination, Simon 
 Magus, Elymas the sorcerer, and the damsel who followed 
 Paul and Silas at Philippi. 
 
 None are in greater danger from the influence of evil 
 spirits than are those who, notwithstanding the direct and 
 ample testimony of the Scriptures, deny the existence and 
 agency of the devil and his angels. So long as we are 
 ignorant of their wiles, they have almost inconceivable ad- 
 vantage; many give heed to their suggestions while they 
 suppose themselves to be following the dictates of their own 
 wisdom. This is why, as we approach the close of time, 
 when Satan is to work with greatest power to deceive and 
 destroy, he spreads everywhere the belief that he does not 
 exist. It is his policy to conceal himself and his manner of 
 working. 
 
 There is nothing that the great deceiver fears so much as 
 that we shall become acquainted with his devices. The 
 better to disguise his real character and purposes, he has 
 caused himself to be so represented as to excite no stronger 
 emotion than ridicule or contempt. He is well pleased to 
 
 1 Luke 4 : 33-36. 
 
AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. 517 
 
 be painted as a ludicrous or loathsome object, misshapen, 
 half animal and half human. He is pleased to hear his 
 name used in sport and mockery by those who think them- 
 selves intelligent and well-informed. 
 
 It is because he lias masked himself with consummate 
 .kill that the question is so widely asked, "Does such a being 
 really exist?" It is an evidence of his success that theories 
 giving the lie to the plainest testimony of the Scriptures are 
 so generally received in the religious world. And it is be- 
 cause Satan can most readily control the minds of those who 
 are unconscious of his influence that the Word of God gives 
 us so many examples of his malignant work, unveiling be- 
 fore us his secret forces, and thus placing us on our guard 
 against his assaults. 
 
 The power and malice of Satan and his host might justly 
 alarm us, were it not that we may find shelter and deliv- 
 erance in the superior power of our Redeemer. We care- 
 fully secure our houses with bolts and locks to protect our 
 property and our lives from evil men; but we seldom think 
 of the evil angels who are constantly seeking access to us, 
 and against whose attacks we have, in our own strength, 
 no method of defense. If permitted, they can distract our 
 minds, disorder, torment our bodies, destroy our possessions 
 and our lives. Their only delight is in misery and destruc- 
 tion. Fearful is the condition of those who resist the divine 
 claims, and yield to Satan's temptations, until God gives them 
 up to the control of evil spirits. But those who follow Christ 
 are ever safe under his watchcare. Angels that excel in 
 strength are sent from Heaven to protect them. The wicked 
 one cannot break through the guard which God has stationed 
 about his people. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 SNARES OF SATAN. 
 
 THE great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has 
 been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon 
 to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat 
 the work of Christ in man's behalf, and to fasten souls in 
 his snares. To hold the people in darkness and impenitence 
 till the Saviour's mediation is ended, and there is no longer 
 a sacrifice for sin, is the object which he seeks to accomplish. 
 
 When there is no special effort made to resist his power, 
 when indifference prevails in the church and the world, 
 Satan is not concerned; for he is in no danger of losing those 
 whom he is leading captive at his will. But when the atten- 
 tion is called to eternal things, and souls are inquiring, 
 " What must I do to be saved ? " he is on the ground, seeking 
 to match his power against the power of Christ, and to 
 counteract the influence of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The Scriptures declare that upon one occasion, when the 
 angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, 
 Satan came also among them, 1 not to bow before the Eternal 
 King, but to further his own malicious designs against the 
 righteous. With the same object he is in attendance when 
 men assemble for the worship of God. Though hidden 
 from sight, he is working with all diligence to control the 
 minds of the worshipers. Like a skillful general, he lays 
 his plans beforehand. As he sees the messenger of God 
 searching the Scriptures, he takes note of the subject to be 
 presented to the people. Then lie ,':iiplov ; all his cunning 
 and shrewdness to so control circumstances ii'jr ri o message 
 
 1 Job 1:6. 
 (518) 
 
StfARES OF SATAN. 519 
 
 may not reach those whom he is deceiving on that very 
 point. The one who most needs the warning will be urged 
 into some business transaction which requires his presence, 
 or will by some other means be prevented from hearing the 
 words that might prove to him a savor of life unto life. 
 
 Again, Satan sees the Lord's servants burdened because 
 of the spiritual darkness that enshrouds the people. He 
 hears their earnest prayers for divine grace and power to 
 break the spell of indifference, carelessness, and indolence. 
 Then with renewed zeal he plies his arts. He tempts men 
 to the indulgence of appetite or to some other form of self- 
 gratification, and thus benumbs their sensibilities, so that 
 they fail to hear the very things which they most need to 
 learn. 
 
 Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect 
 prayer and the searching of the Scriptures will be overcome 
 by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device 
 to engross the mind. There has ever been a class professing 
 godliness, who, instead of following on to know the truth, 
 make it their religion to seek some fault of character or 
 error of faith in those with whom they do not agree. Such 
 are Satan's right-hand helpers. Accusers of the brethren 
 are not few ; and they are always active when God is at 
 work, and his servants are rendering him true homage. 
 They will put a false coloring upon the words and acts of 
 those who love and obey the truth. They will represent 
 the most earnest, zealous, self-denying servants of Christ as 
 deceived or deceivers. It is their work to misrepresent the 
 motives of every true and noble deed, to circulate insinua- 
 tions, and arouse suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. 
 In every conceivable manner they will seek to cause that 
 which is pure and righteous to be regarded as foul and de- 
 ceptive. 
 
 But none need be deceived concerning them. It may be 
 readily seen whose children they are, whose example they 
 follow, and whose work they do. " Ye shall know them 
 
520 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 by their fruits." ' Their course resembles that of Satan, the 
 envenomed slanderer, "the accuser of our brethren." 2 
 
 The great deceiver has many agents ready to present any 
 and every kind of error to ensnare souls, heresies prepared 
 to suit the varied tastes and capacities of those whom he 
 would ruin. It is his plan to bring into the church insin- 
 cere, unregenerate elements that w r ill encourage doubt and 
 unbelief, and hinder all who desire to see the work of God 
 advance, and to advance with it. Many who have no real 
 faith in God or in his Word, assent to some principles of 
 truth, and pass as Christians ; and thus they are enabled to 
 introduce their errors as scriptural doctrines. 
 
 The position that it is of no consequence what men be- 
 lieve, is one of Satan's most successful deceptions. He knows 
 that the truth, received in the love of it, sanctifies the soul 
 of the receiver; therefore he is constantly seeking to sub- 
 stitute false theories, fables, another gospel. From the be- 
 ginning, the servants of God have contended against false 
 teachers, not merely as vicious men, but as inculcators of 
 falsehoods that were fatal to the soul. Elijah, Jeremiah, 
 Paul, firmly and fearlessly opposed those who were turning 
 men from the Word of God. That liberality which regards 
 a correct religious faith as unimportant, found no favor with 
 these holy defenders of the truth. 
 
 The vague and fanciful interpretations of Scripture, and 
 the many conflicting theories concerning religious faith, that 
 are found in the Christian world, are the work of our great 
 adversary to so confuse minds that they shall not discern 
 the truth. And the discord and division which exist among 
 the churches of Christendom are in a great measure due to 
 the prevailing custom of wresting the Scriptures to support 
 a favorite theory. Instead of carefully studying God's Won! 
 with humility of heart to obtain a knowledge of his will, 
 many seek only to discover something odd or original. 
 
 In order to sustain erroneous doctrines or unchristian 
 
 iMatt. 7:16. a liev. 12:10. 
 
SNARES OF SATAN. 521 
 
 practices, some will seize upon passages of Scripture sep- 
 arated from the context, perhaps quoting half of a single 
 verse as proving their point, when the remaining portion 
 would show the meaning to be quite the opposite. With 
 the cunning of the serpent, they entrench themselves behind 
 disconnected utterances construed to suit their carnal de- 
 sires. Thus do many willfully pervert the Word of God. 
 Others, who have an active imagination, seize upon the 
 figures and symbols of Holy Writ, interpret to suit their 
 fancy, with little regard to the testimony of Scripture as its 
 own interpreter, and then they present their vagaries as the 
 teachings of the Bible. 
 
 Whenever the study of the Scriptures is entered upon 
 without a prayerful, humble, teachable spirit, the plainest 
 and simplest as well as the most difficult passages will be 
 wrested from their true meaning. The papal leaders select 
 such portions of Scripture as best serve their purpose, in- 
 terpret -to suit themselves, and then present these to the 
 people, while they deny them the privilege of studying the 
 Bible, and understanding its sacred truths for themselves. 
 The whole Bible should be given to the people just as it 
 reads. It would be better for them not to have Bible in- 
 struction at all than to have the teaching of the Scriptures 
 thus grossly misrepresented. 
 
 The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to 
 become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave 
 to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ 
 himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things 
 that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters 
 ihat concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. 
 They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and 
 mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by 
 the prophet Habakkuk, "Write the vision, and make it 
 plain, . . . that he may run that readeth it." 1 The 
 Word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful 
 
 2:2. 
 
522 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 heart. Every truly honest soul will come to the light of 
 truth. " Light is sown for the righteous." 1 And no church 
 can advance in holiness unless its members are earnestly 
 seeking for truth as for hid treasure. 
 
 By the cry, Liberality, men are blinded to the devices of 
 their adversary, while he is all the time working steadily 
 for the accomplishment of his object. As he succeeds in 
 supplanting the Bible by human speculations, the law of 
 God is set aside, and the churches are under the bondage 
 of sin while they claim to be free. 
 
 To many, scientific research has become a curse. God 
 has permitted a flood of light to be poured upon the world 
 in discoveries in science and art; but even the greatest 
 minds, if not guided by the Word of God in their research, 
 become bewildered in their attempts to investigate the re- 
 lations of science and revelation. 
 
 Human knowledge of both material and spiritual things 
 is partial and imperfect; therefore many are unable to har- 
 monize their views of science with Scripture statements. 
 Many accept mere theories and speculations as scientific 
 facts, and they think that God's Word is to be tested by the 
 teachings of "science falsely so called." The Creator and 
 his works are beyond their comprehension; and because 
 they cannot explain these by natural laws, Bible history is 
 regarded as unreliable. Those who doubt the reliability of 
 the -records of the Old and New Testaments too often go a 
 step farther, and doubt the existence of God, and attribute 
 infinite power to nature. Having let go their anchor, they 
 are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity. 
 
 Thus many err from the faith, and are seduced by the 
 devil. Men have endeavored to be wiser than their Creator; 
 human philosophy lias attempted to search out and explain 
 mysteries which will never be revealed, through the eternal 
 ages. If men would but search and understand what God 
 has made known of himself and his purposes, they would 
 obtain such a view of the glory, majesty, and power of Je- 
 
 1 Pa. 97: 11. 
 
SNARES OF SA TAN: 523 
 
 hovah, that they would realize their own littleness, and 
 would-be content with that which has heen revealed for 
 themselves and their children. 
 
 It is a masterpiece of Satan's deceptions to keejb the minds 
 of men searching and conjecturing in regard to that which 
 God has not made known, and which he does riot intend 
 that we shall understand. It was thus that Lucifer lost his 
 place in Heaven. He became dissatisfied because all the 
 secrets of God's purposes were not confided to him, and he 
 entirely disregarded that which was revealed concerning his 
 own work in the lofty position assigned him. By arousing 
 the same discontent in the angels under his command, he 
 caused their fall. Now he seeks to imbue the minds of men 
 with the same spirit, and to lead them also to disregard the 
 direct commands of God. 
 
 Those who are unwilling to accept the plain, cutting truths 
 of the Bible, are continually seeking for pleasing fables that 
 will quiet the conscience. The less spiritual, self-denying, 
 and humiliating the doctrines presented, the greater the 
 favor with which they are received. These persons degrade 
 the intellectual powers to serve their carnal desires. Too 
 wise in their own conceit to search the Scriptures with con- 
 trition of soul and earnest prayer for divine guidance, they 
 have no shield from delusion. Satan is ready to supply the 
 heart's desire, and he palms off his deceptions in the place 
 of truth. It was thus that the papacy gained its power over 
 the minds of men; and by rejection of the truth because it 
 involves a cross, Protestants are following the same path. 
 All who neglect the Word of God to study convenience and 
 policy, that they may not be at variance with the world, 
 will be left to receive damnable heresy for religious truth. 
 Every conceivable form of error will be accepted by those 
 who willfully reject the truth. He who looks with horror 
 upon one deception will readily receive another. The 
 apostle Paul, speaking of a class who "received not the 
 love of the truth, that they might be saved," declares, 
 
524 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 " For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that 
 they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned 
 who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- 
 eousness." l With such a warning before us, it behooves us 
 to be on our guard as to what doctrines we receive 
 
 Among the most successful agencies of the great deceiver 
 are the delusive teachings and lying wonders of Spiritualism. 
 Disguised as an angel of light, he spreads his nets where 
 least suspected. If men would but study the Book of God 
 with earnest prayer that they might understand it, they 
 would not be left in darkness to receive false doctrines. But 
 as they reject the truth, they fall a prey to deception. 
 
 Another dangerous error, is the doctrine that denies the 
 divinity of Christ, claiming that he had no existence before 
 his advent to this world. This theory is received with favor 
 by a large class who profess to believe the Bible; yet it 
 directly contradicts the plainest statements of our Saviour 
 concerning his relationship with the Father, his divine char- 
 acter, and his pre-existence. It cannot be entertained with- 
 out the most unwarranted wresting of the Scriptures. It 
 not only lowers man's conceptions of the work of redemp- 
 tion, but undermines faith in the Bible as a revelation from 
 God. While this renders it the more dangerous, it makes 
 it also harder to meet. If men reject the testimony of the 
 inspired Scriptures concerning the divinity of Christ, it is 
 in vain to argue the. point with them; for no argument, 
 however conclusive, could convince them. "The natural 
 man receiveth not the tilings of the Spirit of God; for they 
 are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, be- 
 cause they are spiritually discerned." 2 None who hold this 
 error can have a true conception of the character or the 
 mission of Christ, or of the great plan of God for man's re- 
 demption. 
 
 Still another subtle and mischievous error is the fast- 
 spreading belief that Satan has no existence as a personal 
 
 1 2 Thess. 2 : 10-12. 1 Cor. 2 : 14. 
 
SCARES OF SA TAN. 525 
 
 being; that the name is used in Scripture merely to rep- 
 resent men's evil thoughts and desires. 
 
 The teaching so widely echoed from popular pulpits, that 
 the second advent of Christ is his coming to each individual 
 at death, is a device to divert the minds of men from his 
 personal coming in the clouds of heaven. For years Satan 
 has thus been saying, "Behold, he is in the secret cham- 
 bers;" 1 and many souls have been lost by accepting this 
 deception. 
 
 Again, worldly wisdom teaches that prayer is not essential. 
 Men of science claim that there can be no real answer to 
 prayer; that this would be a violation of law, a miracle, and 
 that miracles have no existence. The universe, say they, 
 is governed by fixed laws, and God himself does nothing 
 contrary to these laws. Thus they represent God as bound 
 by his own laws; as if the operation of divine laws could 
 exclude divine freedom. Such teaching is opposed to the 
 testimony of the Scriptures. Were not miracles wrought 
 by Christ and his apostles? The same compassionate Sav- 
 iour lives to-day, and he is as willing to listen to the prayer 
 of faith as when he walked visibly among men. The natural 
 co-operates with the supernatural. It is a part of God's 
 plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, that 
 which he would not bestow did we not thus ask. 
 
 Innumerable are the erroneous doctrines and fanciful 
 ideas that are obtaining among the churches of Christendom. 
 It is impossible to estimate the evil results of removing one 
 of the landmarks fixed by the Word of God. Few who 
 venture to do this stop with the rejection of a single truth. 
 The majority continue to set aside one after another of the 
 principles of truth, until they become actual infidels. 
 
 The errors of popular theology have driven many a soul 
 to skepticism, who might otherwise have been a believer in 
 the Scriptures. It is impossible for him to accept doctrines 
 which outrage his sense of justice, mercy, and benevolence; 
 
 1 Matt. 24: 23-26. 
 
 38 
 
526 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 and since these are represented as the teaching of the Bible, 
 he refuses to receive it as the Word of God. 
 
 And this is the object which Satan seeks to accomplish. 
 There is nothing that he desires more than to destroy con- 
 fidence in God and in his Word. Satan stands at the head 
 of the great army of doubters, and he works to the utmost 
 of his power to beguile souls into his ranks. It is becoming 
 fashionable to doubt. There is a large class by whom the 
 Word of God is looked upon with distrust for the same 
 reason as was its Author because it reproves and condemns 
 sin. Those who are unwilling to obey its requirements en- 
 deavor to overthrow its authority. They read the Bible, or 
 listen to its teachings -as presented from the sacred desk, 
 merely to find fault with the Scriptures or with the sermon. 
 Not a few become infidels in order to justify or excuse them- 
 selves in neglect of duty. Others adopt skeptical principles 
 from pride and indolence. Too ease-loving to distinguish 
 themselves by accomplishing anything worthy of honor, 
 which requires effort and self-denial, they aim to secure a 
 reputation for superior wisdom by criticising the Bible. 
 There is much which the finite mind, unenlightened by 
 divine wisdom, is powerless to comprehend; and thus they 
 find occasion to criticise. There are many who seem to feel 
 that it is a virtue to stand on the side. of unbelief, skepticism, 
 and infidelity. But underneath an appearance of candor, 
 it will be found that such persons are actuated by self- 
 confidence and pride. Many delight in finding something 
 in the Scriptures to puzzle the minds of others. Some at 
 first criticise and reason on the wrong side, from a mere love 
 of controversy. They do not realize that they are thus en- 
 tangling themselves in the snare of the fowler. But having 
 openly expressed unbelief, they feel that they must main- 
 tain their position. Thus they unite with the ungodly, and 
 close to themselves the gates of Paradise. 
 
 God has given in his Word sufficient evidence of its divine 
 character. The great truths which concern our redemption 
 
SNARES OF SA TAN. 527 
 
 are clearly presented. By the aid of the Holy Spirit, which 
 is promised to all who seek it in sincerity, every man may 
 understand these truths for himself. God has granted to 
 men a strong foundation upon which to rest their faith. 
 
 Yet the finite minds of men are inadequate fully to com- 
 prehend the plans and purposes of the Infinite One. We 
 can never by searching find out God. We must not attempt 
 to lift with presumptuous hand the curtain behind which 
 he veils his majesty. The apostle exclaims, "How un- 
 searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding 
 out! " l We can so far comprehend his dealings with us, and 
 the motives by which he is actuated, that we may discern 
 boundless love and mercy united to infinite power. Our 
 Father in Heaven orders everything in wisdom and right- 
 eousness, and we are not to be dissatisfied and distrustful, 
 but to bow in reverent submission. He will reveal to us 
 as much of his purposes as it is for our good to know, and 
 beyond that we must trust the Hand that is omnipotent, the 
 Heart that is full of love. 
 
 While God has given ample evidence for faith, he will 
 never remove all excuse for unbelief. All who look for 
 hooks to hang their doubts upon, w T ill find them. And 
 those w r ho refuse to accept and obey God's Word until every 
 objection has been removed, and there is no longer an oppor- 
 tunity for doubt, will never come to the light. 
 
 Distrust of God is the natural outgrowth of the unrenewed 
 heart, which is at enmity with him. But faith is inspired 
 by the Holy Spirit, and it will flourish only as it is cher- 
 ished. No man can become strong in faith without a deter- 
 mined effort. Unbelief strengthens as it is encouraged; and 
 if men, instead of dwelling upon the evidences which God 
 has given to sustain their faith, will permit themselves to 
 question and cavil, they will find their doubts constantly 
 becoming more confirmed. 
 
 But those who doubt God's promises, and distrust. the 
 assurance of his grace, are dishonoring him ; and their in- 
 
 'Rom. 11 :33. 
 
528 TEE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 fluence, instead of drawing others to Christ, tends to repel 
 them from him. They are unproductive trees, that spread 
 their dark branches far and wide, shutting away the sun- 
 light from other plants, and causing them to droop and die 
 under the chilling shadow. The life-work of these persons 
 will appear as a never-ceasing witness against them. They 
 are sowing seeds of doubt and skepticism that will yield an 
 unfailing harvest. 
 
 There is but one course for those to pursue who honestly 
 desire to be freed from doubts. Instead of questioning and 
 caviling concerning that which they do not understand, let 
 them give heed to the light which already shines upon 
 them, and they will receive greater light. Let them do 
 every duty which has been made plain to their under- 
 standing, and they will be enabled to understand and per- 
 form those of which they are now in doubt. 
 
 Satan can present a counterfeit so closely resembling the 
 truth that it deceives those who are willing to be deceived, 
 who desire to shun the self-denial and sacrifice demanded by 
 the truth ; but it is impossible for him to hold under his 
 power one soul who honestly desires, at whatever cost, to 
 know the truth. Christ is the truth, and the "light which 
 lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 1 The 
 Spirit of truth has been sent, to guide men into all truth. 
 And upon the authority of the Son of God it is declared, 
 " Seek, and ye shall find." " If any man will do His will, he 
 shall know of the doctrine." 2 
 
 The followers of Christ know little of the plots which 
 Satan and his hosts are forming against them. But He who 
 sitteth in the heavens will overrule all these devices for the 
 accomplishment of his deep designs. The Lord permits his 
 people to be subjected to the fiery ordeal of temptation, not 
 because he takes pleasure in their distress and affliction, but 
 because this process is essential to tlieir final victory. He 
 could not, consistently with his own glory, shield them from 
 
 1 Johu 1:9. 'Matt. 7 : 7; John 7 : 17. 
 
StfA&ES OF SATAXT. 529 
 
 temptation ; for the very object, of the trial is to prepare 
 them to resist all the allurements of evil. 
 
 Neither wicked men nor devils can hinder the work of 
 God or shut out his presence from his people, if they will, 
 with subdued, contrite hearts, confess and put away their 
 sins, and in faith claim his promises. Every temptation, 
 every opposing influence, whether open or secret, may be 
 successfully resisted, " not by might, nor by power, but by 
 my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." l 
 
 "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his 
 ears are open unto their prayers. . . . And who is he 
 that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?'' 2 
 When Balaam, allured by the promise of rich rewards, prac- 
 ticed enchantments against Israel, and by sacrifices to the 
 Lord, sought to invoke a curse upon his people, the Spirit 
 of God forbade the evil which he longed to pronounce, and 
 Balaam was forced to exclaim, " How shall I curse, whom 
 God hath not cursed ? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord 
 hath not defied ? " " Let me die the death of the righteous, 
 and let my last end be like his!" When sacrifice had 
 again been offered, the ungodly prophet declared : " Behold, 
 I have received commandment to bless; and he hath blessed; 
 and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in 
 Jacob, neither hath'he seen perverseness in Israel; the Lord 
 his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among 
 them." "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, 
 neither is there any divination against Israel. According 
 to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What 
 hath God wrought ! " 3 Yet a third altar was erected, and 
 again Balaam essayed to secure a curse. But from the un- 
 willing lips of the prophet, the Spirit of God declared the 
 prosperity of his chosen, and rebuked the folly and malice 
 of their foes: "Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed 
 is he that curseth thee." a 
 
 The people of Israel were at this time loyal to God ; and 
 
 1 Zech. 4:6. * 1 Pet. 3 : 12, 13. Num. 23 : 8, 10, 20, 21, 23 ; 24 : 9. 
 
530 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 so long as they continued in obedience to his law, no power 
 in earth or hell could prevail against them. But the curse 
 which Balaam had not been permitted to pronounce against 
 God's people, he finally succeeded in bringing upon them 
 by seducing them into sin. When they transgressed God's 
 commandments, then they separated themselves from him, 
 and they were left to feel the power of the destroyer. 
 
 Satan is well aware that the weakest soul who abides in 
 Christ is more than a match for the hosts of darkness, and 
 that, should he reveal himself openly, he would be met and 
 resisted. Therefore he seeks to draw away the soldiers of 
 the cross from their strong fortification, while he lies in 
 ambush with his forces, ready to destroy all who venture 
 upon his ground. Only in humble reliance upon God, and 
 obedience to all his commandments, can we be secure. No 
 man is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Especially 
 should we entreat the Lord for wisdom to understand his 
 Word. Here are revealed the wiles of the tempter, and the 
 means by which he may be successfully resisted. Satan is 
 an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpre- 
 tation upon passages by which he hopes to cause us to 
 stumble. We should study the Bible with humility of 
 heart, never losing sight of our dependence upon God. 
 While we must constantly guard against the devices of 
 Satan, we should pray in faith continually, "Lead us not 
 into temptation." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIIL 
 
 THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 
 
 WITH the earliest history of man, Satan began his efforts 
 to deceive our race. He who had incited rebellion in Heaven 
 desired to bring the inhabitants of the earth to unite with 
 him in his warfare against the government of God. Adam 
 and Eve had been perfectly happy in obedience to the law 
 of God, and this fact was a constant testimony against the 
 claim which Satan had urged in Heaven, that God's law was 
 oppressive, and opposed to the good of his creatures. And, 
 furthermore, Satan's envy was excited as he looked upon 
 the beautiful home prepared for the sinless pair. He deter- 
 mined to cause their fall, that, having separated them from 
 God, and brought them under his own power, he might gain 
 possession of the earth, and here establish his kingdom, in 
 opposition to the Most High. 
 
 Had Satan revealed himself in his real character, he 
 would have been repulsed at once, for Adam and Eve had 
 been warned against this dangerous foe; but he worked in 
 the dark, concealing his purpose, that he might more effect- 
 ually accomplish his object. Employing as his medium the 
 serpent, then a creature of fascinating appearance, he ad- 
 dressed himself to Eve, " Hath God said, Ye shall not eat 
 of every tree of the garden ? " l Had Eve refrained from 
 entering into argument with the tempter, she would have 
 been safe; but she ventured to parley with him, and fell a 
 victim to his wiles. It is thus that many are still overcome. 
 They doubt and argue concerning the requirements of God, 
 
 Gen. 3:1. 
 
 (531) 
 
532 THE GREAT COXTKOVEJtRY. 
 
 and instead of obeying the divine commands, they accept 
 human theories, which but disguise the devices of Satan. 
 
 " The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the 
 fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree 
 which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye 
 shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And 
 the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; 
 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your 
 eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good 
 and evil." l He declared that they would become like God, 
 possessing greater wisdom than before, and being capable 
 of a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to temptation ; 
 and through her influence, Adam was led into sin. They 
 accepted the words of the serpent, that God did not mean 
 what he said; they distrusted their Creator, and imagined 
 that he was restricting their liberty, and that they might 
 obtain great wisdom and exaltation by transgressing his law. 
 
 But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning 
 of the words, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 surely die"? Did he find them to mean, as Satan had led 
 him to believe, that he was to be ushered into a more ex- 
 alted state of existence? Then indeed there was great 
 good to be gained by transgression, and Satan was proved 
 to be a benefactor of the race. But Adam did not find this 
 to be the meaning of the divine sentence. God declared 
 that as a penalty for his sin, man should return to the 
 ground whence he was taken: "Dust thou art, and iinto 
 dust shalt thou return." * The words of Satan, " Your eyes 
 shall be opened," proved to be true in this sense only: After 
 Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their eyes were opened 
 to discern their folly; they did know evil, and they tasted 
 the bitter fruit of transgression. 
 
 In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit 
 had the power of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained 
 obedient to God, he would have continued to enjoy free 
 
 i Gen. 3:2-5. Gen. 3:19. 
 
TTTE FTRST ORE A T DECEPTION. 533 
 
 access to this tree, and would have lived forever. But when 
 he sinned, he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, 
 and lie became subject to death. The divine sentence, " Dust 
 thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," points to the 
 utter extinction of life. 
 
 Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, 
 had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could not trans- 
 mit to his posterity that which he did not possess; and there 
 could have been no hope for the fallen race, had not God, 
 by the sacrifice of his Son, brought immortality within their 
 reach. While " death passed upon all men, for that all 
 have sinned," Christ "hath brought life and immortality 
 to light through the gospel." 1 And only through Christ 
 can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus, " He that believeth 
 on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not 
 the Son shall not see life." 2 Every man may come in pos- 
 session of this priceless blessing if he will comply with the 
 conditions. All "who by patient continuance in well-doing 
 seek for glory and honor and immortality," will receive 
 eternal life. 3 
 
 The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience 
 was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent 
 to Eve in Eden, " Ye shall not surely die," was the first 
 sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. 
 Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of 
 Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and is re- 
 ceived by the majority of mankind as readily as it was 
 received by our first parents. The divine sentence, " The 
 soul that sinneth, it shall die," 4 is made to mean, The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally. We cannot 
 but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men 
 so credulous concerning the words of Satan, and so unbe- 
 lieving in regard to the words of God. 
 
 Had man, after his fall, been allowed free access to the 
 
 1 Rom. 5:12; 2 Tim. 1:10. * John 3: 36. 3 Rom. 2:7. 
 
 *Eze. 18:20. 
 
534 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin. would 
 have been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming 
 sword kept "the way of the tree of life," l and not one of the 
 family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and 
 partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an 
 immortal sinner. 
 
 But after the fall, Satan bade his angels make a special 
 effort to inculcate the belief in man's natural immortality; 
 and having induced the people to receive this error, they 
 were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner w r ould live 
 in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness, working 
 through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, 
 declaring that he plunges into hell all those who do not 
 please him, and causes them ever to feel his wrath; and 
 that while they suffer unutterable anguish, and writhe in 
 the eternal flames, fheir Creator looks down upon them with 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Thus the arch-fiend clothes with his own attributes the 
 Creator and Benefactor of mankind. Cruelty is Satanic 
 God is love; and all that he created was pure, holy, and 
 lovely, until sin was brought in by the first great rebel. 
 Satan himself is the enemy who tempts man to sin, and 
 then destroys him if he can: and when he has made sure 
 of his victim, then he exults in the ruin he has wrought. 
 If permitted, he would sweep the entire race into his net. 
 Were it not for the interposition of divine power, not one 
 son or daughter of Adam would escape. 
 
 He is seeking to overcome men to-day, as he overcame 
 our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator, 
 and leading them to doubt the wisdom of his government 
 and the justice of his laws. Satan and his emissaries rep- 
 resent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify 
 their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver 
 endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character 
 upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to ap- 
 
 Gen. 3:24. 
 
THE FIRST ORE A T DECEPTION. 535 
 
 pear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from Heaven 
 because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He 
 presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy 
 under his mild sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed 
 by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring 
 souls away from their allegiance to God. 
 
 How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and 
 even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked 
 dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally 
 burning hell; that for the sins of a brief, earthly life they 
 are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this 
 doctrine has been widely taught, and is still embodied in 
 many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor 
 of divinity: "The sight of hell-torments will exalt the hap- 
 piness of the saints forever. When they see others who are 
 of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, 
 plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will 
 make them sensible of how happy they are." Another used 
 these words: "While the decree of reprobation is eternally 
 executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their tor- 
 ment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of 
 mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable 
 objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!" 
 
 Where, in the pages of God's Word, is such teaching to be 
 found? Will the redeemed in Heaven be lost to all emo- 
 tions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common 
 humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference 
 of the stoic, or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is 
 not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present 
 the views expressed in the quotations given above may be 
 learned and even honest men; but they are deluded by the 
 sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong 
 expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring 
 of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but 
 not to our Creator. " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have 
 no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked 
 
536 Tin: GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your 
 evil ways; for why will ye die?" 
 
 What would be gained to God should we admit that he 
 delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that he is regaled 
 with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suf- 
 fering creatures whom he holds in the flames of hell ? Can 
 these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love ? 
 It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the 
 wicked would show God's hatred of sin as an evil which is 
 ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dread- 
 ful blasphemy! As if God's hatred of sin is the reason why 
 he perpetuates sin. For, according to the teachings of these 
 theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy mad- 
 dens its wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage 
 in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their 
 load of guilt. God's glory is not enhanced by thus per- 
 petuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages. 
 
 It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate 
 the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal 
 torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and good- 
 ness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by super- 
 stition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what 
 false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we 
 wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and 
 even hated? The appalling views of God which have 
 spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have 
 made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels. 
 
 The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines 
 that constitute the wine of the abominations of Babylon, 
 of which she makes all nations drink. 2 That ministers of 
 Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it 
 from the sacred desk, is indeed a mystery. They received 
 it from Rome, as they received the false sabbath. True, 
 it has been taught by great and good men; but the light 
 on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. 
 
 ^ze. 33:11. 3 Rev. 14:8; 17:2. 
 
THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 537 
 
 They were responsible only for the light which shone in 
 their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our 
 day. If wo turn from the testimony of God's Word, and 
 accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we 
 fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; 
 we are drinking of the wine of her abominations. 
 
 A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is 
 revolting, are driven to the opposite error. They see that 
 the Scriptures represent God as a being of love and com- 
 passion, and they cannot believe that he will consign his 
 creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But, 
 holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no 
 alternative but to conclude that all mankind will finally be 
 saved. Many regard the threatenings of the Bible as de- 
 signed merely to frighten men into obedience, and not to 
 be literally fulfilled. Thus the sinner can live in selfish 
 pleasure, disregarding the requirements of God, and yet 
 expect to be finally received into his favor. Such a doc- 
 trine, presuming upon God's mercy, but ignoring his justice, 
 pleases the carnal heart, and emboldens the wicked in their 
 iniquity. 
 
 To show how believers in universal salvation wrest the 
 Scriptures to sustain their soul-destroying dogmas, it is 
 needful only to cite their own utterances. At the funeral 
 of an irreligious young man, who had been killed instantly 
 by an accident, a Universalist minister selected as his text 
 the Scripture statement concerning David, "He was com- 
 forted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." l 
 
 " I am frequently asked," said the speaker, " what will be 
 the fate of those who leave the world in sin, die, perhaps, 
 in a state of inebriation, die with the scarlet stains of crime 
 unwashed from their robes, or die as this young man died, 
 having never made a profession or enjoyed an experience 
 of religion. We are content with the Scriptures; their 
 answer shall solve the awful problem. Aiimon. was exceed- 
 
 1 2 Sam. 13 : 39. 
 
538 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ingly sinful; he was unrepentant, he was made drunk, and 
 while drunk was killed. David was a prophet of God ; he 
 must have known whether it would be ill or well for Amnon 
 in the world to come. What were the expressions of his 
 heart ? ' The soul of King David longed to go forth unto 
 Absalom; for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing 
 he was dead.' 
 
 " And what is the inference to be deduced from this 
 language ? Is it not that endless suffering formed no part 
 of his religious belief? So we conceive; and here we dis- 
 cover a triumphant argument in support of the more pleas- 
 ing, more enlightened, more benevolent hypothesis of ulti- 
 mate universal purity and peace. He was comforted, seeing 
 his son was dead. And why so ? : Because by the eye of 
 prophecy he could look forward into the glorious future, 
 and see that son far removed from all temptations, released 
 from the bondage and purified from the corruptions of sin, 
 and after being made sufficiently holy and enlightened, 
 admitted to the assembly of ascended and rejoicing spirits. 
 His only comfort was, that in being removed from the 
 present state of sin and suffering, his beloved son had gone 
 where the loftiest breathings of the Holy Spirit would be 
 shed upon his darkened soul; where his mind would be 
 unfolded to the wisdom of Heaven and the sweet raptures 
 of immortal love, and thus prepared with a sanctified nature 
 to enjoy the rest and society of the heavenly inheritance. 
 
 "In these thoughts we would be understood to believe 
 that the salvation of Heaven depends upon nothing which 
 we can do in this life; neither upon a present change of 
 heart, nor upon present belief, or a present profession of 
 religion." 
 
 Thus does the professed minister of Christ reiterate the 
 falsehood uttered by the serpent in Eden, " Ye shall not 
 surely die." "In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes 
 shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods." Ho declares thai 
 the vilest of sinners, the murderer, the thief, and the adul- 
 
THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 539 
 
 terer, will after death be prepared to enter into immortal 
 bliss. 
 
 And from what does this perverter of the Scriptures draw 
 his conclusions? From a single sentence expressing David's 
 submission to the dispensation of Providence. His soul 
 "longed to go forth unto Absalom; for he was comforted 
 concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." The poignancy 
 of his grief having been softened by time, his thoughts 
 turned from the dead to the living son, self-banished through 
 fear of the just punishment of his crime. And this is the 
 evidence that the incestuous, drunken Amnon was at death 
 immediately transported to the abodes of bliss, there to be 
 purified and prepared for the companionship of sinless 
 angels! A pleasing fable indeed, well suited to gratify the 
 carnal heart! This is Satan's own doctrine, and it does his 
 work effectually. Should we be surprised that, with such 
 instruction, wickedness abounds ? 
 
 The course pursued by this one false teacher illustrates 
 that of many others. A few words of Scripture are sep- 
 arated from the context, which would, in many cases, show 
 their meaning to be exactly opposite to the interpretation 
 put upon them; and such disjointed passages are perverted 
 and used in proof of doctrines that have no foundation in 
 the Word of God. The testimonv cited as evidence that the 
 drunken Amnon is in Heaven, is a mere inference, directly 
 contradicted by the plain and positive statement of the 
 Scriptures, that 110 drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of 
 God. 1 It is thus that doubters, unbelievers, and skeptics 
 turn the truth into a lie. And multitudes have been de- 
 ceived by their sophistry, and rocked to sleep in the cradle 
 of carnal security. 
 
 If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly 
 to Heaven at the hour of dissolution, then we might well 
 covet death rather than life. Many have been led by this 
 belief to put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed 
 with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an 
 
 i 1 Cor. 6 : 10. 
 
540 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 easy thing to break the brittle thread of life, and soar away 
 into the bliss of the eternal world. 
 
 God has given in his Word decisive evidence that he will 
 punish the transgressors of his law. Those who flatter 
 themselves that he is too merciful to execute justice upon 
 the sinner, have only to look to the cross of Calvary. The 
 death of the spotless Son of God testifies that "the wages of 
 sin is death," that every violation of God's law must receive 
 its just retribution. Christ the sinless became sin for man. 
 He bore the guilt of transgression, and the hiding of his 
 Father's face, until his heart was broken and his life crushed 
 out. All this sacrifice was made that sinners might be re- 
 deemed. In no other way could man be freed from the 
 penalty of sin. And every soul that refuses to become a 
 partaker of the atonement provided at such a cost, must 
 bear, in his own person, the guilt and punishment of trans- 
 gression. 
 
 Let us consider what the Bible teaches further concerning 
 the ungodly and unrepentant, whom the Universalist places 
 in Heaven as holy, happy angels. * 
 
 " I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the 
 water of life freely." 1 This promise is only to those that 
 thirst. None but those who feel their need of the water of 
 life, and seek it at the loss of all things else, will be supplied. 
 "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be 
 his God, and he shall be my son." 1 Here, also, conditions 
 are specified. In order to inherit all things, we must resist 
 and overcome sin. 
 
 The Lord declares by the prophet Isaiah, "Say ye 1<> the 
 righteous, that it shall be well with him." u \Voe unto the 
 wicked! it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands 
 shall be given him." 2 " Though a sinner do evil a hundred 
 times," says the wise man, "and his days ho prolonged, yet. 
 surely I know that it shall he well with them that fear God, 
 which fear before him; but it shall not be well with the 
 
 iRev. 21:6, 7. a lsa. 3 : 10, 11. 
 
THE FIRST GREA T DECEPTION'. 541 
 
 wicked." 1 And Paul testifies that the sinner is treasuring 
 up unto himself " wrath against the day of wrath and reve- 
 lation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render 
 to every man according to his deeds;" "tribulation and 
 anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil." 2 
 
 " No fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, 
 which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom 
 of Christ and God." 3 "Follow peace with all men, and 
 holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."* 
 "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 
 may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through 
 the gates into, the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
 and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who- 
 soever loveth and maketh a lie." 5 
 
 God has given to men a declaration of his character, and 
 of his method of dealing with sin. "The Lord God, mer- 
 ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness 
 and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
 and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear 
 the guilty." 6 "All the wicked will he destroy." "The 
 transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the 
 wicked shall be cut off." 7 The power and .uthority of the 
 divine government will be employed to put down rebellion; 
 yet all the manifestations of retributive justice will be per- 
 fectly consistent with the character of God as a merciful, 
 long-suffering, benevolent being. 
 
 God does not force the will or judgment of any. He takes 
 no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires that the 
 creatures of his hands shall love him because he is worthy 
 of love. He would have them obey him because they have 
 an intelligent appreciation of his wisdom, justice, and benev- 
 olence. And all who have a just conception of these qual- 
 ities will love him because they are drawn toward him in 
 admiration of his attributes. 
 
 i Eccl. 8 : 12, 13. 2 Rom. 2 : 5, 6, 9. 3 Eph. 5 : 5, Revised Version. 
 * Heb. 12 : 14. 5 Rev. 22 : 14, 15. 6 Ex. 34 : 6, 7. 
 
 7 Ps. 145 : 20; 37 : 38. 
 39 
 
542 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The principles of kindness, mercy, and love, taught and 
 exemplified by our Saviour, are a transcript of the will and 
 character of God. Christ declared that he taught nothing 
 except that which he had received from his Father. The 
 principles of the divine government are in perfect harmony 
 with the Saviour's precept, "Love your enemies." God exe- 
 cutes justice upon the wicked, for the good of the universe, 
 and even for the good of those upon whom his judgments 
 are visited. He would make them happy if he could do so 
 in accordance with the laws of his government and the 
 justice of his character. He surrounds them with the tokens 
 of his love, he grants them a knowledge of his law, and 
 follows them with the offers of his mercy; but they despise 
 his love, make void his law, and reject his mercy. While 
 constantly receiving his gifts, they dishonor the Giver; they 
 hate God because they know that he abhors their sins. The 
 Lord bears long with their perversity; but the decisive hour 
 will come at last, when their destiny is to be decided. Will 
 he then chain these rebels to his side? Will he force them 
 to do his will ? 
 
 Those who have chosen Satan as their leader, and have 
 been controlled by his power, are not prepared to enter the 
 presence of God. Pride, deception, licentiousness, cruelty, 
 have become fixed in their characters. Can they enter 
 Heaven, to dwell forever with those whom they despised 
 and hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a 
 liar; meekness will not satisfy self-esteem and pride; purity 
 is not acceptable to the corrupt; disinterested love does not 
 appear attractive to the selfish. What source of enjoyment 
 could Heaven offer to those who are wholly absorbed in 
 earthly and selfish interests? 
 
 Could those whose lives have been spent in rebellion 
 against God be suddenly transported to Heaven, and witness 
 the high, the holy state of perfection that ever exists there, 
 every soul filled with love; every countenance beaming with 
 joy; enrapturing music in melodious strains rising in honor 
 
THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. 543 
 
 of God and the Lamb; and ceaseless streams of light flowing 
 upon the redeemed from the face of Him who sitteth upon 
 the throne, could those whose hearts are filled with hatred 
 of God, of truth and holiness, mingle with the heavenly 
 throng and join their songs of praise? Could they endure 
 the glory of God and the Lamb? No, no; years of proba- 
 tion were granted them, that they might form characters 
 for Heaven; but they have never trained the mind to love 
 purity; they have never learned the language of Heaven, 
 and now it is too late. A life of rebellion against God. has 
 unfitted them for Heaven. Its purity, holiness, and peace 
 would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a 
 consuming fire. They would long to flee from that holy 
 place. They would welcome destruction, that they might 
 be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. 
 The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. 
 Their exclusion from Heaven is voluntary with themselves, 
 and just and merciful on the part of God. 
 
 Like the waters of the flood, the fires of the great day 
 declare God's verdict that the wicked are incurable. They 
 have no disposition to submit to divine authority. Their 
 will has been exercised in revolt; and when life is ended, 
 it is too late to turn the current of their thoughts in the 
 opposite direction, too late to turn from transgression to 
 obedience, from hatred to love. 
 
 In sparing the life of Cain the murderer, God gave the 
 world an example of what would be the result of permitting 
 the sinner to live, to continue a course of unbridled iniquity. 
 Through the influence of Cain's teaching and example, 
 multitudes of his descendants were led into sin, until " the 
 wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every im- 
 agination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
 tinually." " The earth also was corrupt before God, and the 
 earth was filled with violence." * 
 
 In mercy to the world, God blotted out its wicked in- 
 habitants in Noah's time. In mercy he destroyed the cor- 
 
 -Gen. 610, 11. 
 
544 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 rupt dwellers in Sodom. Through the deceptive power of 
 Satan, the workers of iniquity obtain sympathy and ad- 
 miration, and are thus constantly leading others to rebellion. 
 It was so in Cain's and in Noah's day, and in the time of 
 Abraham and Lot; it is so in our time. It is in mercy 
 to the universe that God will finally destroy the rejecters 
 of his grace. 
 
 "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal 
 life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 While life is the in- 
 heritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. 
 Moses declared to Israel, " I have set before thee f iu& day 
 life and good, and death and evil." 2 The death referred to 
 in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for 
 all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is 
 the "second death" that is placed in contrast with ever- 
 lasting life. 
 
 In consequence of Adam's sin, death passed upon the 
 whole human race. All alike go down into the grave. 
 And through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all 
 are to be brought forth from their graves. "There shall 
 be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; " ; 
 " for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
 alive." 4 But a distinction is made between the two classes 
 that are brought forth. " All that are in the graves shall 
 hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done 
 good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done 
 evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 5 They who have 
 been "accounted worthy" of the resurrection of life are 
 "blessed and holy." "On such the second death hath no 
 power." 6 But those who have not, through repentance and 
 faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of trans- 
 gression, "the wages of sin." They suffer punishment 
 varying in duration and intensity, "according to their 
 works," bat finally ending in the second death. Since it is 
 
 1 Rom. O : 23. * Dcut. 30 : 1 5. 3 A -ts '24 : 15. 
 
 I Cor. 15 : 22. & John 5 : 2$, '29. 6 Rev. 20 : 6. 
 
TTIE FIRST GREAT &&CEPT1ON. 545 
 
 impossible for God, consistently with his justice and mercy, 
 to save the sinner in his sins, he deprives him of the ex- 
 istence which his transgressions have forfeited, and of which 
 he has proved himself unworthy. Says an inspired writer, 
 " Yet a little while, and the w r icked shall not be; yea, thou 
 shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be/' 
 And another declares, "They shall be as though they had 
 not been." l Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, 
 eternal oblivion. 
 
 Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and 
 ruin which have resulted from it. Says the psalmist: " Thou 
 hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name 
 forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to 
 a perpetual end." * John, in the Revelation, looking for- 
 ward to the eternal state, hears a universal anthem of praise, 
 undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in 
 Heaven and earth was heard ascribing glory to God. 3 There 
 will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God, as they writhe 
 in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will 
 mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved. 
 
 Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests 
 the doctrine of consciousness in death, a doctrine, like eternal 
 torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the 
 dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. Ac- 
 cording to the popular belief, the redeemed in Heaven are 
 acquainted with all that takes place on the earth, and es- 
 pecially with the lives of the friends whom they have left 
 behind. But how could it be a source of happiness to the 
 dead to know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins 
 committed by their own loved ones, and to see them endur- 
 ing all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? 
 How much of Heaven's bliss would be enjoyed by those 
 who were hovering over their friends on earth ? And how 
 utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath 
 leaves the body, the' soul of the impenitent is consigned to 
 
 *Ps. 37 : 10 ; Obad. 16. 2 Ps. 9 : 5, 6. 3 Rev. 5 : 13. 
 
546 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the ihmu'.s of hell! To what depths of anguish must those 
 be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave un- 
 prepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin ! Many 
 have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought. 
 
 What say the Scriptures concerning these things? David 
 declares that man is not conscious in death. " His breath 
 goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his 
 thoughts perish." 1 Solomon bears the same testimony: 
 "The living know that they shall die; but the dead know 
 not anything." "Their love, and their hatred, and their 
 envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion 
 forever in anything that is done under the sun." " There 
 is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
 grave, whither thou goest." 2 
 
 When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah's life was pro- 
 longed fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to God a 
 tribute of praise for his great mercy. In this song he tells 
 the reason why he thus rejoices: "The grave cannot praise 
 thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into 
 the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, 
 he shall praise thee, as I do this day." a Popular theology 
 represents the righteous dead as in Heaven, entered into 
 bliss, and. praising God with an immortal tongue; but 
 Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. 
 With his words Agrees the testimony of the psalmist: "In 
 death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who 
 shall give thee thanks?" "The dead praise not the Lord, 
 neither any that go down into silence." * 
 
 Peter, on the day of Pentecost, declared that the patriardh 
 David " is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with 
 us unto this day." " For David is not ascended into the 
 heavens." 3 The fact that David remains in the grave until 
 the resurrection, proves that the righteous do not go to 
 Heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection, and 
 
 > Pa. 146 : 4, Eccl. 9 : 5, 6, 10. Isa. 38 : 18, ia 
 Ps.6-5; 115:17. Acte 2 : 29, 34. 
 
THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION. f>17 
 
 by virtue of the fact that Christ has risen, that David can at 
 last sit at the right hand of God. 
 
 And said Paul : " If the dead rise not, then is not Christ 
 raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain ; ye 
 are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep 
 in Christ are perished." 1 If for four thousand years the 
 righteous had gone directly to Heaven at death, how could 
 Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, " they which 
 are fallen asleep in Christ are perished " ? No resurrection 
 would be necessary. 
 
 The martyr Tyndale, defending the doctrine that the dead 
 sleep, declared to his papist opponent: "Ye, in putting 
 them [departed souls] in Heaven, hell, and purgatory, de- 
 stroy the argument wherewith Christ and Paul prove the 
 resurrection." "If the souls be in Heaven, tell me why 
 they be not in as good case as the angels be ? And then 
 what cause is there of the resurrection ? " 
 
 It is an undeniable fact that the hope of immortal bles- 
 sedness at death has led to widespread neglect of the Bible 
 doctrine of the resurrection. This tendency was remarked 
 by Dr. Adam Clarke, who, early in the present century, 
 said: " The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been 
 thought of much more consequence among the primitive 
 Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were 
 continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God 
 to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And 
 their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So 
 apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so 
 we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doc-, 
 trine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there 
 is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which 
 is treated with more neglect! " 
 
 This has continued until the glorious truth of the res- 
 urrection has been almost wholly obscured, and lost sight 
 of by the Christian world. Thus a leading religious writer, 
 l l Cor. 15:16-18. 
 
548 T1IK GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 coinmeiiting on the words of Paul in 1 Thess. 4 : 13-18, 
 says: "For all practical purposes of comfort the doctrine of 
 the blessed immortality of the righteous takes the place for 
 us of any doubtful doctrine of the Lord's second coming. 
 At our death the Lord comes for vis. That is what we are 
 to wait and watch for. The dead are already passed into 
 glory. They do not wait for the trump for their judgment 
 and blessedness." 
 
 But when about to leave his disciples, Jesus did not tell 
 them that they would soon come to him. " I go to prepare a 
 place for you," he said. " And if I go and prepare a place for 
 you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself." ] And 
 Paul tells us, further, that " the Lord himself shall descend 
 from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
 and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall 
 rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
 caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the 
 Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 
 And he adds, "Comfort one another with these words." 2 
 'How wide the contrast between these words of comfort and 
 those of the Universalist minister previously quoted. The 
 latter consoled the bereaved friends with the assurance, that, 
 however sinful the dead might have been, when he breathed 
 out his life here he was to be received among the angels. 
 Paul points his brethren to the future coming of the Lord, 
 when the fetters of the tomb shall be broken, and the " dead 
 in Christ" shall be raised to eternal life. 
 
 Before any can enter the mansions of the blest, their cases 
 must be investigated, and their characters and their deeds 
 must pass in review before God. All are to be judged ac- 
 cording to the things written in the books, and to be re- 
 warded as their works have been. This Judgment does 
 not take place at death. Mark Ihe words of Paul: "He 
 hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world 
 in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; 
 
 i John 14 : 2, 3. 2 1 Thess. 4 : 10-18. 
 
THE FIRST GREA T DECEPTION. 540 
 
 whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he 
 hath raised him from the dead." ' Here the apostle plainly 
 stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed 
 upon for the Judgment of the world. 
 
 Jude refers to the same period : " The angels which kept 
 not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath 
 reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
 Judgment of the great day." And again he quotes the 
 words of Enoch : " Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thou- 
 sands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." 2 John 
 declares that he " saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
 God ; and the books were opened ; " " and the dead were 
 judged out of those things which were written in the books." 3 
 
 But if the dead are already enjoying the bliss of Heaven 
 or writhing in the flames of hell, what need of a future 
 Judgment? The teachings of God's Word on these im- 
 portant points are neither obscure nor contradictory; they 
 may be understood by common minds. But what candid 
 mind can see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? 
 Will the righteous, after the investigation of their cases at 
 the Judgment, receive the commendation, " Well done, good 
 and faithful servant," "enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," 4 
 when they have been dwelling in his presence, perhaps for 
 long ages? Are the wicked summoned from the place of 
 torment to receive the sentence from the Judge of all the 
 earth, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"?* 
 Oh, solemn mockery! shameful impeachment of the wisdom 
 and justice of God ! 
 
 The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of 
 those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, 
 incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin 
 Luther classed it with " the numberless prodigies' of the 
 Romish dunghill of decretals." Commenting on the words 
 of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not any- 
 thing, the reformer says : " Another proof that the dead are 
 
 1 Acts 17 : 31. . a Jude 6, 14, 15. i ie v. 20 : 12. * Matt. 25 : 21, 41. 
 
550 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 insensible. Solomon thinks therefore, that the dead are 
 altogether asleep, and think of nothing. They lie, not 
 reckoning days or years, but when awakened, will seem to 
 themselves to have slept scarcely a moment." 
 
 Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement 
 that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their 
 punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have 
 left no such assurance. Christ and his apostles have given 
 no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do 
 not go immediately to Heaven. They are represented as 
 sleeping until the resurrection. 1 In the very day when the 
 silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken, 2 man's 
 thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are in 
 silence. They know no more of anything that is done under 
 the sun. 8 Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be 
 it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep, they 
 are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immor- 
 tality. " For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
 raised incorruptible. . . . So when this corruptible shall 
 have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put 
 on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying 
 that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."* As 
 they are called forth from their deep slumber, they begin 
 to think just where they ceased. The last sensation was the 
 pang of death, the last thought that they were falling be- 
 neath the power of the grave. When they arise from the 
 tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the tri- 
 umphal shout, "0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
 where is thy victory?" 4 
 
 1 Thess. 4:14; Job 14:10-12. 'Ecel. 12:6. Job 14:21. 
 1 Cor. 15:52-55. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 SPIRITUALISM. 
 
 THE ministration of holy angels, as presented in the 
 Scriptures, is a truth most comforting and precious to every 
 follower of Christ. But the Bible teaching upon this point 
 has been obscured and perverted by the errors of popular 
 theology. The doctrine of natural immortality, first bor- 
 rowed from the pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of 
 the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, 
 has supplanted the truth, so plainly taught in Scripture, 
 that " the dead know not anything." Multitudes have come 
 to believe that it is the spirits of the dead who are the 
 "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who 
 shall be heirs of salvation." And this notwithstanding the 
 testimony of Scripture to the existence of heavenly angels, 
 and their connection with the history of man, before the 
 death of a human being. 
 
 The doctrine of man's consciousness in death, especially 
 the belief that the spirits of the dead return to minister to 
 the living, has prepared the way for modern Spiritualism. 
 If the dead are admitted to the presence of God and holy 
 angels, and privileged with knowledge far exceeding what 
 they before possessed, why should they not return to the 
 earth to enlighten and instruct the living ? If, as taught 
 by popular theologians, the spirits of the dead are hovering 
 about their friends on earth, why should they not be per- 
 mitted to communicate with them, to warn them against 
 evil, or to comfort them in sorrow ? How can those who 
 believe in man's consciousness in death reject what comes 
 to them as divine light communicated by glorified spirits? 
 
 (561) 
 
552 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Here is a channel regarded as sacred, through which Satan 
 works for the accomplishment of his purposes. The fallen 
 angels who do his bidding appear as messengers from the 
 spirit w r orld. While professing to b 'ing the living into com- 
 munication with the dead, the prince of evil exercises his 
 bewitching influence upon their minds. 
 
 He has power to bring before men the appearance of their 
 departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect; the familiar 
 look, the words, the tone, are reproduced with marvelous 
 distinctness. Many are comforted with the assurance that 
 their loved ones are enjoying the bliss of Heaven; and 
 without suspicion of danger, they give ear to " seducing 
 spirits, and doctrines of devils." 
 
 When they have been led to believe that the dead actually 
 return to communicate with them, Satan causes those to 
 appear who went into the grave unprepared. They claim 
 to be happy in Heaven, and even to occupy exalted posi- 
 tions there; and thus the error is widely taught, that no 
 difference is made between the righteous and the wicked. 
 The pretended visitants from the world of spirits sometimes 
 utter cautions and warnings which prove to be correct. 
 Then, as confidence is gained, they present doctrines that 
 directly undermine faith in the Scriptures. With an ap- 
 pearance of deep interest in the well-being of their friends 
 on earth, they insinuate the most dangerous errors. The 
 fact that they state some truths, and are able at times to 
 foretell future events, gives to their statements an appear- 
 ance of reliability; and their false teachings are accepted 
 by the multitudes as readily, and believed as implicitly, as 
 if they were the most sacred truths of the Bible. The law 
 of ( }od is set aside, the Spirit of grace despised, the blood 
 of the covenant counted an unholy tiling. The spirits deny 
 the divinity of ( 1 hrist, and place even the <'ivat<r on a level 
 with themselves. Thus under a new disguise the great 
 rebel still carries forward his warfare against ( Jod, begun in 
 Heaven, and for nearly six thousand years continued upon 
 the earth. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 553 
 
 Many endeavor to account for spiritual manifestations by 
 attributing them wholly to fraud and sleight of hand on 
 the part of the medium. But while it is true that the re- 
 sults of trickery have often been palmed off as genuine 
 manifestations, there have been, also, marked exhibitions 
 of supernatural power. The mysterious rapping, with which 
 modern Spiritualism began was not the result of human 
 trickery or cunning, but was the direct work of evil angels, 
 who thus introduced one of the most successful of soul- 
 destroying delusions. Many will be ensnared through the 
 belief that Spiritualism is a merely human imposture; 
 when brought face to face with manifestations which they 
 cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, 
 and will be led to accept them as the great power of God. 
 
 These persons overlook the testimony of the Scriptures 
 concerning the wonders wrought by Satan and his agents. 
 It was by Satanic aid that Pharaoh's magicians were en- 
 abled to counterfeit the work of God. Paul testifies that 
 before the second advent of Christ there will be similar 
 manifestations of Satanic power. The coming of the Lord 
 is to be preceded by " the working of Satan with all power 
 and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness 
 of unrighteousness." 1 And the apostle John, describing 
 the miracle-working power that will be manifested in the 
 last days, declares: " He doeth great wonders, so that he 
 maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the 
 sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth 
 by the means of those miracles which he had power to do." a 
 No mere impostures are here foretold. Men are deceived 
 by the miracles which Satan's agents have power to do, not 
 which they pretend to do. 
 
 The prince of darkness, who has so long bent the powers 
 of his master-mind to the work of deception, skillfully adapts 
 his temptations to men of all classes and conditions. To per- 
 sons of culture and refinement he presents Spiritualism in 
 
 1 2 Thess. 2 : 9, 10. 2 Rev. 13 : 13, 14. 
 
554 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 its more refined and intellectual aspects, and thus succeeds 
 in drawing many into his snare. The wisdom which Spir- 
 itualism imparts is that described by the apostle James, 
 which " descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, 
 devilish." l This, however, the great deceiver conceals, when 
 concealment will best suit his purpose. He who could ap- 
 pear clothed w r ith the brightness of the heavenly seraphs 
 before Christ in the wilderness of temptation, comes to men 
 in the most attractive manner, as an angel of light. He 
 appeals to the reason by the presentation of elevating themes, 
 he delights the fancy with enrapturing scenes, and he en- 
 lists the affections by his eloquent portrayals of love and 
 charity. He excites the imagination to lofty flights, leading 
 men to take so great pride in their own wisdom that in 
 their hearts they despise the Eternal One. That mighty 
 being who could take the world's Redeemer to an exceed- 
 ingly high mountain, and bring before him all the king- 
 doms of the earth and the glory of them, will present his 
 temptations to men in a manner to pervert the senses of 
 all who are not shielded by divine power. 
 
 Satan beguiles men now as he beguiled Eve in Eden, by 
 flattery, by kindling a desire to obtain forbidden knowledge, 
 by exciting ambition for self-exaltation. It was cherishing 
 these evils that caused his fall, and through them he aims 
 to compass the ruin of men. "Ye shall be as gods," he 
 declares, " knowing good and evil." 2 Spiritualism teaches 
 " that man is the creature of progression ; that it is his des- 
 tiny from his birth to progress, even to. eternity, toward the 
 Godhead." And again: "Each mind will judge itself and 
 not another." "The judgment will be right, because it is 
 the judgment of self. . . . The throne is within you." 
 Said a Spiritualistic teacher, as the "spiritual consciousness" 
 awoke within him, "My fellow-men, all were un fallen demi- 
 gods." And another declares, " Any just and perfect being 
 is Christ," 
 
 iJas. :}:15. 2 Gen. 3:5. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 555 
 
 Thus, in place of the righteousness and perfection of the 
 infinite God, the true object of adoration; in place of the 
 perfect righteousness of his law, the true standard of human 
 attainment, Satan has substituted the sinful, erring nature 
 of man himself, as the only object of adoration, the only 
 rule of judgment, or standard of character. This is progress, 
 not upward, but downward. 
 
 It is a law both of the intellectual and the spiritual nature, 
 that by beholding, we become changed. The mind grad- 
 ually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed 
 to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accus- 
 tomed to love and reverence. Man will never rise higher 
 than his standard of purity or goodness 'or truth. If self 
 is his loftiest ideal, he will never attain to anything more 
 exalted. Rather, he will constantly sink lower and Iow 7 er. 
 The grace of God alone has power to exalt man. Left to 
 himself, his course must inevitably be downward. 
 
 To the self-indulgent, the pleasure-loving, the sensual, 
 Spiritualism presents itself under a less subtle disguise than 
 to the more refined and intellectual; in its grosser forms 
 they find that which is in harmony with their inclinations. 
 Satan studies every indication of the frailty of human nat- 
 ure, he marks the sins which each individual is inclined to 
 commit, and then he takes care that opportunities shall not 
 be wanting to gratify the tendency to evil. He tempts men 
 to excess in that which is in itself lawful, causing them, 
 through intemperance, to weaken physical, mental, and 
 moral power. He has destroyed and is destroying thousands 
 through the indulgence of the passions, thus brutalizing the 
 entire nature of man. And to complete his work, he de- 
 clares, through the spirits, that "true knowledge places man 
 above all law;" that "whatsoever is, is right;" that "God 
 doth not condemn;" and that "all sins which are committed 
 are innocent." When the people are thus led to believe that 
 desire is the highest law, that liberty is license, and that man 
 is accountable only to himself, who can wonder that corrup- 
 
556 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 tion and depravity teem on every hand? Multitudes ea- 
 gerly accept teachings that leave them at liberty to obey the 
 promptings of the carnal heart. The reins of self-control are 
 laid upon the neck of lust, the powers of mind and soul are 
 made subject to the animal propensities, and Satan exult- 
 ingly sweeps into his net thousands who profess to be fol- 
 lowers of Christ. 
 
 But none need be deceived by the lying claims of Spir- 
 itualism. God lias given the w r orld sufficient light to enable 
 them to discover the snare. As already shown, the theory 
 which forms the very foundation of Spiritualism is at war 
 with the plainest statements of Scripture. The Bible de- 
 clares that the dead know not anything, that their thoughts 
 have perished; they have no part in anything that is done 
 under the sun; they know nothing of the joys or sorrows 
 of those who were dearest to them on earth. 
 
 Furthermore, God has expressly forbidden all pretended 
 communication with departed spirits. In the days of the 
 Hebrews there w*as a class of people who claimed, as do the 
 Spiritualists of to-day, to hold communication with the <le;nl. 
 But the " familiar spirits," as these visitants from other 
 worlds were called, are declared by the Bible to be the 
 "spirits of devils." 1 The work of dealing with familiar 
 spirits was pronounced an abomination to the Lord, and 
 was solemnly forbidden under penalty of death. 2 The very 
 name of witchcraft is now held in contempt. The claim 
 that men can hold intercourse with evil spirits is regarded 
 as a fable of the Dark Ages. But Spiritualism, which num- 
 bers its converts by hundreds of thousands, yea, by millions, 
 which has made its way into scientific circles, which has 
 invaded churches, and has found favor in legislative bodies, 
 and even in the courts of kings this mammoth deception 
 is hut a revival, in a new disguise, of the witchcraft con- 
 demned and prohibited of old. 
 
 1 ( ompare Num. 25 : 1-3; Vs. lOli : 28; 1 for. 10 : 20; Kev. 16 : 14. 
 
 2 Lev. 19:31; 20:27. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 557 
 
 If there were no other evidence of the real character of 
 Spiritualism, it should be enough for the Christian that the 
 spirits make no difference between righteousness and sin, 
 between the noblest and purest of the apostles of Christ and 
 the most corrupt of the servants of Satan. By representing 
 the basest of men as in Heaven, and highly exalted there, 
 Satan says to the world: "No matter how wicked you are; 
 no matter whether you believe or disbelieve God r.nd the 
 Bible. Live as you please; Heaven is your home." The 
 Spiritualist teachers virtually declare, " Every one that doeth 
 evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in 
 them; or, Where is the God of judgment?" 1 Saith the 
 Word of God, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and 
 good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for dark- 
 ness." 2 
 
 The apostles, as personated by these lying spirits, are 
 made to contradict what they wrote at the dictation of the 
 Holy Spirit when on earth. They deny the divine origin 
 of the Bible, and thus tear away the foundation of the Chris- 
 tian's hope, and put out the light that reveals the way to 
 Heaven. Satan is making the world believe that the Bible 
 is a mere fiction, or at least a book suited to the infancy of 
 the race, but now to be lightly regarded, or cast aside as 
 obsolete. And to take the place of the Word of God he 
 holds out spiritual manifestations. Here is a channel wholly 
 under his control; by this means he can make the world 
 believe what he will. The Book that is to judge him 
 and his followers he puts in the shade, just where he 
 wants it; the Saviour of the world he makes to be no more 
 than a common man. And as the Roman guard that 
 watched the tomb of Jesus spread the lying report which 
 the priests and elders put into their mouths to disprove his 
 resurrection, so do the believers in spiritual manifestations 
 try to make it appear that there is nothing miraculous in 
 the circumstances of our Saviour's life. After thus seeking 
 
 1 Mai. 2:17. 2 Iaa. 5:20. 
 
 40 
 
558 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 to put Jesus in the background, they call attention to their 
 own miracles, declaring that these far exceed the works of 
 Christ. 
 
 It is true that Spiritualism is now changing its form, and, 
 veiling some of its more objectionable features, is assuming 
 a Christian guise. But its utterances from the platform and 
 the press have been before the public for nearly forty years, 
 and in these its real character stands revealed. These teach- 
 ings cannot be denied or hidden. 
 
 Even in its present form, so far from being more worthy 
 of toleration than formerly, it is really a more dangerous, 
 because a more subtle deception. While it formerly de- 
 nounced Christ and the Bible, it now professes to accept 
 both. But the Bible is interpreted in a manner that is 
 pleasing to the unrenewed heart, while its solemn and vital 
 truths are made of no effect. Love is dwelt upon as the 
 chief attribute of God, but it is degraded to a weak senti- 
 mentalism making little distinction between good and evil. 
 God's justice, his denunciations of sin, the requirements of 
 his holy law, are all kept out of sight. The people are 
 taught to regard the decalogue as a dead letter. Pleasing, 
 bewitching fables captivate the senses, and lead men to re- 
 ject the Bible as the foundation of their faith. Christ is as 
 verily denied as before; but Satan has so blinded the eyes 
 of the people that the deception is not discerned. 
 
 There are few who have any just conception of the de- 
 ceptive power of Spiritualism and the danger of coming 
 under its influence. Many tamper with it, merely to gratify 
 their curiosity. They have no real faith in it, and would 
 be filled' with horror at the thought of yielding themselves 
 to the spirits' control. But they venture upon the forbidden 
 ground, and the mighty destroyer exercises his power upon 
 them against their will. Let them once be induced to sub- 
 mit their minds to his direction, and he holds them captive. 
 It is impossible, in their own strength, to break away from 
 the bewitching, alluring spell. Nothing but the power of 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 559 
 
 God, granted in answer to the earnest prayer of faith, can 
 deliver these ensnared souls. 
 
 All who indulge sinful traits of character, or willfully 
 cherish a known sin, are inviting the temptations of Satan. 
 They separate themselves from God and from the watchcare 
 of his angels; as the evil one presents his deceptions, they 
 are without defense, and fall an easy prey. Those who 
 thus place themselves in his power, little realize where their 
 course will end. Having achieved their overthrow, the 
 tempter will employ them as his agents to lure others to 
 ruin. 
 
 Says the prophet Isaiah : " When they shall say unto you, 
 Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards 
 that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto 
 their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to 
 the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, 
 it is because there is no light in them." 1 If men had been 
 willing to receive the truth so plainly stated in the Script- 
 ures, concerning the nature of man and the state of the 
 dead, they would see in the claims and manifestations of 
 Spiritualism the working of Satan with power and signs 
 and lying wonders. But rather than yield the liberty so 
 agreeable to the carnal heart, and renounce the sins which 
 they love, multitudes close their eyes to the light, and walk 
 straight on, regardless of warnings, while Satan weaves his 
 snares about them, and they become his prey. " Because 
 they received not the love of the truth, that they might be 
 saved," therefore " God shall send them strong delusion, that 
 they should believe a lie." 2 
 
 Those who oppose the teachings of Spiritualism are assail- 
 ing, not men alone, but Satan and his angels. They have 
 entered upon a contest against principalities and powers 
 and wicked spirits in high places. Satan will not yield one 
 inch of ground except as he is driven- back by the power 
 of heavenly messengers, The people of God should be able 
 
 1 Isa. 8 : 19, 20. 2 Thess. 2 : 10, 11. 
 
560 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 to meet him, as did our Saviour, with the words, " It is 
 written. 7 ' Satan can quote Scripture now as in the days of 
 Christ, and he will pervert its teachings to sustain his de- 
 lusions. Those who would stand in this time of peril must 
 understand for themselves the testimony of the Scriptures. 
 
 Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils person- 
 ating beloved relatives or friends, and declaring the most 
 dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our ten- 
 derest sympathies, and will work miracles to sustain their 
 pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with 
 the Bible truth that the dead know not anything, and that 
 they who thus appear are the spirits of devils. 
 
 Just before us is the "hour of temptation, which shall 
 come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the 
 earth." ' All whose faith is not firmly established upon the 
 Word of God will be deceived and overcome. Satan " works 
 with all deceivableness of unrighteousness " to gain control 
 of the children of men; and his deceptions will continually 
 increase. But he can gain his object only as men volun- 
 tarily yield to his temptations. Those who are earnestly 
 seeking a knowledge of the truth, and are striving to purify 
 their souls through obedience, thus doing what they can to 
 prepare for the conflict, will find, in the God of truth, a sure 
 defense. " Because thou hast kept the w T ord of my patience, 
 I also will keep thee," 1 is the Saviour's promise. He would 
 sooner send every arigel out of Heaven to protect his people, 
 than leave one soul that trusts in him to be overcome by 
 Satan. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah brings to view the fearful deception 
 which will come upon the wicked, causing them to count 
 themselves secure from the judgments of God: "We have 
 made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agree- 
 ment; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, 
 it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, 
 and under false) lood have we hid ourselves." 2 In the class 
 
 1 Rev. 3 : 10. a Isa. 28 : 15. 
 
SPIRITUALISM. 561 
 
 here described are included those who in their stubborn 
 impenitence comfort themselves with the assurance that 
 there is to be no punishment for the sinner; that all man- 
 kind, it matters not how corrupt, are to be exalted to Heaven, 
 to become as the angels of God. But still more emphat- 
 ically are those making a covenant with death and an agree- 
 ment with hell, who renounce the truths which Heaven has 
 provided as a defense for the righteous in the day of trouble, 
 and accept the refuge of lies offered by Satan in its stead, 
 the delusive pretensions of Spiritualism. 
 
 Marvelous beyond expression is the blindness of the people 
 of this generation. Thousands reject the Word of God as 
 unworthy of belief, and with eager confidence receive the 
 deceptions of Satan. Skeptics and scoffers denounce the 
 bigotry of those who contend for the faith of prophets and 
 apostles, and they divert themselves by holding up to ridi- 
 cule the solemn declarations of the Scriptures concerning 
 Christ and the plan of salvation, and the retribution to be 
 visited upon the rejecters of the truth. They affect great 
 pity for minds so narrow, weak, and superstitious as to ac- 
 knowledge the claims of God, and obey the requirements 
 of his law. They manifest as much assurance as if, indeed, 
 they had made a covenant with death and an agreement 
 with hell, as if they had erected an impassable, impene- 
 trable barrier between themselves and the vengeance of God. 
 Nothing can arouse their fears. So fully have they yielded 
 to the tempter, so closely are they united with him, and so 
 thoroughly imbued with his spirit, that they have no power 
 and no inclination to break away from his snare. 
 
 Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to de- 
 ceive the world. The foundation of his work was laid by 
 the assurance given to Eve in Eden, "Ye shall not surely 
 die." " In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be 
 opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." l 
 Little by little he has prepared the way for his master- piece 
 
 3:4, 5. 
 
562 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 of deception in the development of Spiritualism. He has 
 not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs ; but 
 it will be reached in the last remnant of time. Says the 
 prophet: "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs; . . . 
 they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 
 forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
 gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." 1 
 Except those who are kept by the power of God, through 
 faith in his Word, the whole world will be swept into the 
 ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to 
 a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of 
 the wrath of God. 
 
 Saith the Lord God: "Judgment also will I lay to the 
 line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall 
 sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow 
 the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be 
 disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; 
 when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye 
 shall be trodden down by it." a 
 
 ^ev. 16 : 13, 14. 2 Isa. 28 : 17, 18. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 
 
 ROMANISM is now regarded by Protestants with far greater 
 favor than in former years. In those countries where Cathol- 
 icism is not in the ascendency, and the papists are taking a 
 conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an in- 
 creasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate 
 the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opin- 
 ion is gaining ground, that, after all, we do not differ so 
 widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a 
 little concession on our part will bring us into a better un- 
 derstanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants 
 placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which 
 has been so dearly purchased. They taught their children 
 to abhor popery, and held that to seek harmony with Rome 
 would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are 
 the sentiments now expressed. 
 
 The defenders of popery declare that the church has been 
 maligned; and the Protestant world are inclined to accept 
 the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the 
 church of to-day by the abominations and absurdities that 
 marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and 
 darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of 
 the barbarism of the times, and plead that the influence of 
 modern civilization has changed her sentiments. 
 
 Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put 
 forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So 
 far from being relinquished, this claim has been affirmed in 
 ihe nineteenth century with greater positiveness than ever 
 before. As Rome asserts that she "never erred, and never 
 
 (563) 
 
564 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 can err" . how can she renounce the principles which gov- 
 erned her course in past ages ? 
 
 The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infal- 
 libility. All that she has done in her persecution of those 
 who reject her dogmas, she holds to be right; and would she 
 not repeat the same acts, should the opportunity be pre- 
 sented ? Let the restraints now imposed by secular govern- 
 ments be removed, and Rome be re-instated in her former 
 power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny 
 and persecution. 
 
 A recent writer 1 speaks thus of the attitude of the papal 
 hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience, and of the perils 
 which especially threaten the United States from the success 
 of her policy : 
 
 " There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear 
 of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or 
 childishness. Such see nothing in the character and atti- 
 tude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or 
 find nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first 
 compare some of the fundamental principles of our govern- 
 ment with those of the Catholic Church. 
 
 " The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty 
 of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope 
 Pius IX., in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: 
 * The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of 
 liberty of conscience, are a most pestilential error a pest, of 
 all others, most to be dreaded in a State/ The same pope, in 
 his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized 
 1 those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious 
 worship/ also ' all such as maintain that the church may not 
 employ force.' 
 
 " The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not 
 imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is help- 
 less. Says Bishop O'Connor : ' Religious liberty is merely en- 
 dured until the opposite can be carried into effect without 
 
 1 Josiah Strong, D. D., in "Our Country," pp. 46-48. 
 
CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 565 
 
 peril to the Catholic world.' " " The archbishop of St. Louis 
 once said: ' Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian 
 countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the 
 people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an 
 essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as 
 other crimes.' " 
 
 " Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic 
 Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which 
 occur the following words: ' Heretics, schismatics, and rebels 
 to our said lord the pope, or his aforesaid successors, I will 
 to my utmost persecute and oppose.' " 
 
 It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman 
 Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving 
 God according to the best light they have. They are not 
 allowed access to his Word, and therefore they do not dis- 
 cern the truth. They have never seen the contrast between 
 a living heart-service and a round of mere forms and cere- 
 monies. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these 
 souls, educated as they are in a faith that is delusive and 
 unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the 
 dense darkness that surrounds them. He will reveal to them 
 the truth, as it is in Jesus, and many will yet take their 
 position with his people. 
 
 But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with 
 the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her 
 history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or 
 they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman 
 Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. 
 She is employing every device to extend her influence and 
 increase her power in preparation for a fierce and deter- 
 mined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish 
 persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. 
 Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side. 1 See the 
 increasing number of her churches and chapels in Protest- 
 ant countries. Look at the popularity of her colleges and 
 
 *See Appendix, Note 10. 
 
566 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 seminaries in America, so widely patronized by Protestants. 
 Look at the growth of ritualism in England, and the fre- 
 quent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things 
 should awaken the anxiety of all who prize the pure prin- 
 ciples of the gospel. 
 
 Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; 
 they have made compromises and concessions which papists 
 themselves are surprised to see, and fail to understand. Men 
 are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism, and 
 the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The 
 people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most 
 dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty. 
 
 Many Protestants suppose that the Catholic religion is un- 
 attractive, and that its worship is a dull, meaningless round of 
 ceremony. Here they mistake. While Romanism is based 
 upon deception, it is not a coarse and clumsy imposture. The 
 religious service of the Romish Church is a most impressive 
 ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate 
 the senses of the people, and silence the voice of reason and 
 of conscience. The eye is charmed. Magnificent churches, 
 imposing processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice 
 paintings, and exquisite sculpture appeal to the love of 
 beauty. The ear also is captivated. The music is unsur- 
 passed. The rich notes of the deep-toned organ, blending 
 with the melody of many voices as it swells, through the 
 lofty domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, can- 
 not fail to impress the mind with awe and reverence. 
 
 This outward splendor, pomp, and ceremony, that only 
 mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul, is an evidence of 
 inward corruption. The religion of Christ needs not such 
 attractions to recommend it. In the light shining from the 
 cross, true Christianity appears so pure and lovely that no 
 external decorations can enhance its true worth. It is the 
 beauty of holiness, a meek and quiet spirit, which is of value 
 with God. 
 
 Brilliancy of style is not necessarily an index of pure, ele- 
 
CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 567 
 
 vated thought. High conceptions of art, delicate refinement 
 of taste, often exist in minds that are earthly and sensual. 
 They are often employed by Satan to lead men to forget the 
 necessities of the soul, to lose sight of the future, immortal 
 life, to turn away from their infinite Helper, and to live for 
 this world alone. 
 
 A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed 
 heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship 
 have a seductive, bewitching power, by which many are de- 
 ceived; and they come to look upon the Roman Church as 
 the very gate of Heaven. None but those who have planted 
 their feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose 
 hearts sire renewed by the Spirit of God, are proof against 
 her influence. Thousands who have not an experimental 
 knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godli- 
 ness without the power. Such a religion is just what the 
 multitudes desire. 
 
 The church's claim to the right to pardon, causes the 
 Romanist to feel at liberty to sin; and the ordinance of 
 confession, without which her pardon is not granted, tends 
 also to give license to evil. He who kneels before fallen 
 man, and opens in confession the secret thoughts and imag- 
 inations of his heart, is debasing his manhood, and degrad- 
 ing every noble instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of 
 his life to a priest, an erring, sinful mortal, and too often 
 corrupted with wine and licentiousness, his standard of 
 character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His 
 thought of God is degraded to the likeness of fallen human- 
 ity ; for the priest stands as a representative of God. This 
 degrading confession of man to man is the secret spring 
 from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the 
 world, and fitting it for the final destruction. Yet to him 
 who loves self-indulgence, it is more pleasing to confess to a 
 fellow-mortal than to open the soul to God. It is more pal- 
 atable to human nature to do penance than to renounce sin ; 
 it is easier to mortify the flesh by sackcloth and nettles and 
 
568 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 galling chains than to crucify fleshly lusts. Heavy is the 
 yoke which the carnal heart is willing to bear rather than 
 bow to the yoke of Christ. 
 
 There is a striking similarity bet ween the Church of Rome 
 and the Jewish Church at the time of Christ's first advent. 
 While the Jews secretly trampled upon every principle of 
 the law of God, they were outwardly rigorous in the observ- 
 ance of its precepts, loading it down with exactions and 
 traditions that made obedience painful and burdensome. 
 As the Jews professed to revere the law, so do Romanists 
 claim to reverence the cross. They exalt the symbol of 
 Christ's sufferings, while in their lives they deny him whom 
 it represents. 
 
 Papists place crosses upon their churches, upon their altars, 
 and upon their garments. Everywhere is seen the insignia 
 of the cross. Everywhere it is outwardly honored and ex- 
 alted. But the teachings of Christ are buried beneath a 
 mass of senseless traditions, false interpretations, and rigorous 
 exactions. The Saviour's words concerning the bigoted 
 Jews, apply with still greater force to the Romish leaders: 
 " They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and 
 lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not 
 move them with one of their fingers." 1 Conscientious souls 
 are kept in constant terror, fearing the wrath of an offended 
 God, while the dignitaries of the church are living in lux- 
 ury and sensual pleasure. 
 
 The worship of images and relics, the invocation of saints, 
 and the exaltation of the pope, are devices of Satan to at- 
 tract the minds of the people from God and from his Son. 
 To accomplish their ruin, he endeavors to turn their atten- 
 tion from Him through whom alone they can find salvation. 
 He will direct them to any object that can be substituted for 
 the One who has said, " Come unto me, all ye that labor 
 and are heavy-laden, and T will give you rest." 2 
 
 It is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character 
 
 1 Matt. 23:4. 2 Matt. 11:28. 
 
CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 569 
 
 of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the 
 great controversy. His sophistry lessens the obligation of 
 the divine law, and gives men license to sin. At the same 
 time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of God, so 
 that they regard him with fear and hate, rather than with 
 love. The cruelty inherent in his own character is attrib- 
 uted to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion, 
 and expressed in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men 
 are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents to war 
 against God. By perverted conceptions of the divine attri- 
 butes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices 
 necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties 
 have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry. 
 The Romish Church, uniting the forms of paganism and 
 Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting the char- 
 acter of God, has resorted to practices no less cruel and re- 
 volting. In the days of Rome's supremacy, there were 
 instruments of torture to compel assent to her doctrines. 
 There was the stake for those who would not concede to her 
 claims. There were massacres on a scale that will never be 
 known until revealed in the Judgment. Dignitaries of the 
 church studied, under Satan their master, to invent means 
 to cause the greatest possible torture, and not end the life of 
 their victim. The infernal process was repeated to the ut- 
 most limit of human endurance, until nature gave up the 
 struggle, and the sufferer hailed death as a sweet release. 
 
 Such was the fate of Rome's opponents. For her adher- 
 ents she had the discipline of the scourge, of famishing 
 hunger, of bodily austerities in every conceivable, heart- 
 sickening form. To secure the favor of Heaven, penitents 
 violated the laws of God by violating the laws of nature. 
 They were tau'ght to sunder every tie which he has formed 
 to bless and gladden man's earthly sojourn. The church- 
 yard contains millions of victims, who spent their lives in 
 vain endeavors to subdue their natural affections, to repress, 
 as offensive to God, every thought and feeling of sympathy 
 with their fellow-creatures. 
 
 41 
 
570 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 If we desire to understand the determined cruelty of Satan, 
 manifested for hundreds of years, not among those who 
 never heard of God, but in the very heart and throughout 
 the extent of Christendom, we have only to look at the 
 history of Romanism. Through this mammoth system of 
 deception the prince of evil achieves his purpose of bringing 
 dishonor to God and wretchedness to man. And as we see 
 how he succeeds in disguising himself, and accomplishing 
 his work through the leaders of the church, we may better 
 understand why he has so great antipathy to the Bible. If 
 that book is read, the mercy and love of God will be re- 
 vealed; it will be seen that he lays upon men none of these 
 heavy burdens. All that he asks is a broken and contrite 
 heart, a humble, obedient spirit. 
 
 Christ gives no example in his life for men and women to 
 shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fitted for 
 I leaven. He has never taught that love and sympathy must 
 be repressed. The Saviour's heart overflowed with love. The 
 nearer man approaches to moral perfection, the keener are his 
 sensibilities, the more acute is his perception of sin, and the 
 deeper his sympathy for the afflicted. The pope claims to 
 be the vicar of Christ; but how does his character bear com- 
 parison witli that of our Saviour? Was Christ ever known to 
 consign men to the prison or the rack because they did not 
 pay him homage as the King of Heaven ? Was his voice 
 heard condemning to death those who did not accept him ? 
 When he was slighted by the people of a Samaritan village, 
 the apostle John was filled with indignation, and inquired, 
 " Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from 
 heaven, and consume them, even as Ellas. did ? " Jesus looked 
 with pity upon his disciple, and rebuked his harsh spirit, 
 saying, " The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, 
 hut to save them." 1 How different from the spirit mani- 
 fested by Christ is that of his professed vicar. 
 
 The Romish Church no\v presents a fair front to the world, 
 1 Luke 9 : 54, 56. 
 
CHARACTER AND AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 571 
 
 covering with apologies her record of horrible .cruelties. She 
 has clothed herself in Christ-like garments; but she is un- 
 changed. Every principle of popery that existed in past 
 ages exists to-day. The doctrines devised in the darkest 
 ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The 
 popery that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the 
 same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, 
 when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to ex- 
 pose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arro- 
 gant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and 
 claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel 
 and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty, 
 and slew the saints of the Most High. 
 
 Popery is just what prophecy declared that she would be, 
 the apostasy of the latter times. 1 It is a part of her policy 
 to assume the character which will best accomplish her pur- 
 pose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon, 
 she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. " We are 
 not bound to keep faith and promises to heretics," she de- 
 clares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years 
 is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged 
 as a part of the church of Christ ? 
 
 It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth 
 in Protestant countries, that Catholicism differs less widely 
 from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a 
 change ; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism 
 indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists; 
 because Protestantism, has so greatly degenerated since the 
 days of the reformers. 
 
 As the Protestant churches have been seeking the favor of 
 the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do not 
 see but that it is right to believe good of all evil ; and as the 
 inevitable result, they will finally believe evil of all good. 
 Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to 
 the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for 
 
 1 2 Thess. 2 : 3, 4. 
 
572 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their 
 bigotry. 
 
 A large class, even of those who look upon Romanism 
 with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and 
 influence. Many urge that the intellectual and moral dark- 
 ness prevailing during me Middle Ages favored the spread 
 of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that the 
 greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion of 
 knowledge, and the increasing liberality in matters of re- 
 ligion, forbid a revival of intolerance and tyranny. The 
 very thought that such a state of things will exist in this 
 enlightened age is ridiculed. It is true that great light, in- 
 tellectual, moral, and religious, is shining upon this genera- 
 tion. In the open pages of God's holy Word, light from 
 Heaven has been shed upon the world. But it should be re- 
 membered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater 
 the darkness of those who pervert or reject it. 
 
 A prayerful study of the Bible would show Protestants the 
 real character of the papacy, and would cause them to abhor 
 and to shun it; but many are so wise in their own conceit 
 that they feel no need of humbly seeking God that they may 
 be led into the truth. Although priding themselves on their 
 enlightenment, they are ignorant both of the Scriptures and 
 of the power of God. They must have some means of quiet- 
 ing their consciences; and they seek that which is least 
 spiritual and humiliating. What they desire is a method of 
 forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remember- 
 ing him. The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of 
 all these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, em- 
 bracing nearly the whole world, those who would be saved 
 by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. 
 Here is the secret of its power. 
 
 A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be 
 favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demon- 
 strated that a day of great intellectual light is equally fa- 
 vorable for its success. In past ages, when men were with- 
 
AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 573 
 
 out God's Word, and without the knowledge of the truth, 
 their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were ensnared, 
 not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation 
 there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of 
 ftuman speculations, " science falsely so-called ; " they dis- 
 cern not the net, and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. 
 God designed that man's intellectual powers should be held as 
 a gift from his Maker, and should be employed in the service 
 of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are 
 cherished, and men exalt their own theories above the Word 
 of God, then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than 
 ignorance. Thus the false science of the nineteenth century, 
 which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful 
 in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with 
 its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in 
 opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages. 
 
 In the movements now in progress in the United States to 
 secure for the institutions and usages of the church the sup- 
 port of the State, Protestants are following in the steps of 
 papists. 1 Nay, more, they are opening the door for popery to 
 regain in Protestant America the -supremacy which she has 
 lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater sig- 
 nificance to this movement, is the fact that the principal 
 object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observ- 
 ance, a custom which originated with Rome, and which 
 she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of 
 the papacy, the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, 
 the veneration for human traditions above the command- 
 ments of God, that is permeating the Protestant churches, 
 and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exalta- 
 tion which the papacy has done before them. 
 
 If the reader would understand the agencies to be em- 
 ployed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the 
 record of the means which Rome employed for the same ob- 
 ject in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protest 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 11. 
 
574 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 ants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, 
 let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the 
 Sabbath and its defenders. 
 
 Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sus- 
 tained by secular power, were the steps by which the pagan 
 festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. 
 The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was 
 the law enacted by Constantine. 1 This edict required towns- 
 people to rest on " the venerable day of the sun,", but per- 
 mitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits. 
 Though virtually .a heathen statute, it was enforced by the 
 emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity. 
 
 The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for 
 divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor 
 of princes, and who was the special friend and flatterer of 
 Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred 
 the Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Script- 
 ures was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius 
 himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity, and points to 
 the real authors of the change. "All things," he says, " what- 
 soever that it was duty to-do on the Sabbath, these we have 
 transferred to the Lord's day." But the Sunday argument, 
 groundless as it was, served to embolden men in trampling 
 upon the Sabbath of the Lord. All who desired to be hon- 
 ored by the world accepted the popular festival. 
 
 As the papacy became firmly established, the work of 
 Sunday exaltation was continued. For a time the people en- 
 gaged in agricultural labor when not attending church, and 
 the seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath. But 
 steadily a change was effected. Those in holy office were 
 forbidden to pass judgment in any civil controversy on the 
 Sunday. Soon after, all persons, of whatever rank, were 
 commanded to refrain from common labor, on pain of a fine 
 for freemen, and stripes in the case of servants. Later it 
 was decreed, that rich men should be punished with the loss 
 
 1 A. D. 321. 
 
AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 575 
 
 of half of their estates; and finally, that if still obstinate 
 they should be made slaves. The lower classes were to suf- 
 fer perpetual banishment. 
 
 Miracles also were called into requisition. Among other 
 wonders it was reported that as a husbandman who was 
 about to plow his field on Sunday, cleaned his plow with 
 an iron, the iron stuck fast in his hand, and for two years 
 he carried it about with him, " to his exceeding great pain 
 and shame." 
 
 Later, the pope gave directions that the parish priest 
 should admonish the violators of Sunday, and wish them 
 to go to church and say their prayers, lest they bring some 
 great calamity on themselves and neighbors. An ecclesi- 
 astical council brought forward the argument, since so widely 
 employed, even by Protestants, that because persons had 
 been struck by lightning w T hile laboring on Sunday, it must 
 be the Sabbath. " It is apparent," said the prelates, " how 
 high the displeasure of God was upon their neglect of this 
 day." An appeal was then made that priests and ministers, 
 kings and princes, and all faithful people, "use their utmost 
 endeavors and care that the day be restored to its honor, 
 and, for the credit of Christianity, more devoutly observed 
 for time to come." 
 
 The decrees of councils proving insufficient, the secular 
 authorities were besought to issue an edict that would strike 
 terror to the hearts of the people, and force them to refrain 
 from labor on the Sunday. At a synod held in Rome, all 
 previous decisions were reaffirmed with greater force and 
 solemnity. They were also incorporated into the ecclesi- 
 astical law, and enforced by the civil authorities throughout 
 nearly all Christendom. 
 
 Still the absence of scriptural authority for Sunday-keeping 
 occasioned no little embarrassment. The people questioned 
 the right of their teachers to set aside the positive declaration 
 of Jehovah, " The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 
 thy God," in order to honor the day of the sun. To supply 
 
576 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the lack of Bible testimony, other expedients were necessary. 
 A zealous advocate of Sunday, who about the close of the 
 twelfth century visited the churches of England, was re- 
 sisted by faithful witnesses for the truth; and so fruitless 
 were his efforts that he departed from the country for a 
 season, and cast about him for some means to enforce his 
 teachings. When he returned, the lack was supplied, and 
 in his after-labors he met with greater success. He brought 
 with him a roll purporting to be from God himself, which 
 contained the needed command for Sunday observance, with 
 awful threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious docu- 
 ment as base a counterfeit as the institution it supported 
 was said to have fallen from Heaven, and to have been 
 found in Jerusalem, upon the altar of St. Simeon, in Gol- 
 gotha. But in fact, the pontifical palace at Home was the 
 source whence it proceeded. Frauds and forgeries to ad- 
 vance the power and prosperity of the church have in all 
 ages been esteemed lawful by the papal hierarchy. 
 
 The roll forbade labor from the ninth hour, three o'clock, 
 on Saturday afternoon, till sunrise on Monday; and its 
 authority was declared to be confirmed by many miracles. 
 It was reported that persons laboring beyond the appointed 
 hour were stricken with paralysis. A miller who attempted 
 to grind his corn, saw, instead of flour, a torrent of blood 
 come forth, and the mill-wheel stood still, notwithstanding 
 the strong rush of the water. A woman who placed dough 
 in the oven, found it raw when taken out, though the oven 
 was very hot. Another who had dough prepared for bak- 
 ing at the ninth hour, but determined to set it aside till 
 Monday, found, the next day, that it had been made into 
 loaves and baked by divine power. A man who baked 
 bread after the ninth hour on Saturday, found, when he 
 broke it the next morning, that blood started therefrom. 
 By such absurd and superstitious fabrications did the ad- 
 vocates of Sunday endeavor to establish its sacredness. 
 
AIMS OF THE PA PACT. 577 
 
 In Scotland, as in England, a greater regard for Sunday 
 was secured by uniting with it- a portion of the ancient Sab- 
 bath. But the time required to be kept holy varied. An 
 edict from the king of Scotland declared that Saturday from 
 twelve at noon ought to be accounted holy, and that no 
 man, from that time till Monday morning, should engage 
 in worldly business. 
 
 But notwithstanding all the efforts to establish Sunday 
 sacredness, papists themselves publicly confessed the divine 
 authority of the Sabbath, and the human origin of the in- 
 stitution by which it had been supplanted. In the sixteenth 
 century a papal council plainly declared: "Let all Chris- 
 tians remember that the seventh day was consecrated by 
 God, and hath been received and observed, not only by the 
 Jews, but by all others who pretend to worship God ; though 
 we Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord's 
 day." Those who were tampering with the divine law were 
 not ignorant of the character of their work. They were 
 deliberately setting themselves above God. 
 
 A striking illustration of Rome's policy toward those who 
 disagree with her was given in the long and bloody per- 
 secution of the Waldenses, some of whom were observers of 
 the Sabbath. Others suffered in a similar manner for their 
 fidelity to the fourth commandment. The history of the 
 churches of Ethiopia and Abyssinia is especially significant. 
 Amid the gloom of the Dark Ages, the Christians of Central 
 Africa were lost sight of and forgotten by the world, and for 
 many centuries they enjoyed freedom in. the exercise of their 
 faith. But at last Rome learned of their existence, and the 
 emperor of Abyssinia was soon beguiled into an acknowl- 
 edgment of the pope as the vicar of Christ. Other con- 
 cessions followed. An edict was issued forbidding the ob- 
 servance of the Sabbath under the severest penalties. But 
 papal tyranny soon became a yoke so galling that the Abys- 
 sinians determined to break it from their necks. After a 
 terrible struggle, the Romanists were banished from their 
 
578 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 dominions, and the ancient faith was restored. The churches 
 rejoiced in their freedom, and they never forgot the lesson 
 they had learned concerning the deception, the fanaticism, 
 and the despotic power of Rome. Within their solitary 
 realm they were content to remain, unknown to the rest of 
 Christendom. 
 
 The churches of Africa held the Sabbath as it was held 
 by the papal church before her complete apostasy. While 
 they kept the seventh day in obedience to the command- 
 ment of God, they abstained from labor on the Sunday in 
 conformity to the custom of the church. Upon obtaining 
 supreme power, Rome had trampled upon the Sabbath of 
 God to exalt her own ; but the churches of Africa, hidden 
 for nearly a thousand years, did not share in this apostasy. 
 When brought under the sway of Rome, they were forced 
 to set aside the true and exalt the false Sabbath; but no 
 sooner had they regained their independence than they- re- 
 turned to obedience to the fourth commandment. 1 
 
 These records of the past clearly reveal the enmity of 
 Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders, and the 
 means which she employs to honor the institution of her 
 creating. The Word of God teaches that these scenes are 
 to be repeated as papists and Protestants shall unite for the 
 exaltation of the Sunday. 
 
 The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power 
 represented by the beast with lamb-like horns shall cause 
 "the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the 
 papacy there symbolized by the beast "like unto a leopard." 
 The beast with two horns is also to say "to them that dwell 
 on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast; " 
 and, furthermore, it is to command all, "both small ami 
 great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive "the mark 
 of the beast." 2 It has been shown that the United Stales 
 is the power represented by the beast with lamb-like horns, 
 and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 12. a Rev. 13:11-16. 
 
AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 579 
 
 States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims 
 as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But in 
 this homage to papacy the United States will not be alone. 
 The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowl- 
 edged her dominion, is still far from being destroyed. And 
 prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. " I saw one 
 of his heads as it were wounded to death ; and his deadly 
 wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the 
 beast." 1 The infliction of the deadly wound points to the 
 abolition of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, 
 "His deadly wound was healed; and all the world won- 
 dered after the beast." Paul states plainly that the man 
 of sin will continue until the second advent. 2 To the very 
 close of time he will carry forward his work of deception. 
 And the Revelator declares, also referring to the papacy, 
 "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose 
 names are not written in the book of life." 3 In both the 
 Old and the New World, papacy will receive homage in the 
 honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon 
 the authority of the Romish Church. 
 
 For about forty years, students of prophecy in the United 
 States have presented this testimony to the world. In the 
 events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the 
 fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there 
 is the same claim of divine authority for Sunday-keeping, 
 and the same lack of scriptural evidence, as with the papist 
 leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a 
 command from God. The assertion that God's judgments 
 are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday- 
 sabbath, will be repeated ; already it is beginning to be urged. 
 And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gain- 
 ing ground. 
 
 Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Romish 
 Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, 
 
 1 Rev. 13 : 3. 2 2 Thess. 2:8. 3 Rev. 13:8. 
 
580 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage 
 in their acceptance of the false Sabbath, and that they are 
 preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself 
 employed in by-gone days. Those who reject the light of 
 truth will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power 
 to exalt an institution that originated with her. How readily 
 she will come to the help of Protestants in this work, it is 
 not difficult to conjecture. Who understands better than 
 the papal leaders how to deal with those who are disobedient 
 to the church ? 
 
 The Koman Church, with all its ramifications throughout 
 the world, forms one vast organization, under the control, 
 and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its 
 millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, 
 are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to 
 the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, 
 they are to regard the authority of the church as above all 
 .other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loy- 
 alty to the State, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience 
 to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her 
 interests. 
 
 Protestants little know what they are doing when they 
 propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday 
 exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment 
 of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, 
 to recover her lost supremacy. Let history testify of 1 in- 
 artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs 
 of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her 
 own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. Romanism 
 openly puts forth the claim that the pope "can pronoun* r 
 sentences and judgments in contradiction to the right of 
 nations, to the law of God and man" * 
 
 And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she 
 never changes. The principles of Gregory A' II. and Inno- 
 cent III. are still the principles of the Romish Church. And 
 
 iThe "Decretalia." 
 
AIMS OF THE PAPACY. 58 J 
 
 had she but the power, she would put them in practice with 
 as much vigor now as in past centuries. Let the principle 
 once be established in the United States, that the church 
 may employ or control the power of the State ; that religious 
 observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that 
 the authority of church and State is to dominate the con- 
 science, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured. 
 God's Word has given warning of the impending danger; 
 let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn 
 what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too 
 late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. 
 Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, 
 in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling 
 up her lofty and massive structures, in the secret recesses of 
 which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily 
 and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further 
 her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. 
 All that she desires is vantage-ground, and this is already 
 being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the 
 purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe 
 and obey the Word of God will thereby incur reproach and 
 persecution. 
 
 42 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE IMPENDING CONFLICT ITS CAUSES. 
 
 FROM the very beginning of the great controversy in 
 Heaven, it has been Satan's purpose to overthrow the law 
 of God. It was to accomplish this that he entered upon his 
 rebellion against the Creator; and though he was cast out 
 of Heaven, he has continued the same warfare upon the 
 earth. To deceive men, and thus lead them to transgress 
 God's law, is the object which he has steadfastly pursued. 
 Whether this be accomplished by casting aside the law 
 altogether, or by rejecting one of its precepts, the result will 
 be ultimately the same. He that offends " in one point," 
 manifests contempt for the whole law; his influence and 
 example are on the side of transgression; he becomes "guilty 
 of all." 1 
 
 In seeking to cast contempt upon the divine statutes, 
 Satan has perverted the doctrines of the Bible, and errors 
 have thus become incorporated into the faith of thousands 
 who profess to believe the Scriptures. The last great con- 
 flict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the 
 long-standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon 
 this battle we are now entering, a battle between the laws 
 of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion 
 of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition. 
 
 The agencies which will unite against truth and right- 
 eousness in this contest are now actively at work. God's 
 holy Word, which has been handed down to us at such a 
 cost of suffering and blood, is but little valued. The Bible 
 is within the reach of all, but there are few who really 
 accept it as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an 
 
 1 James 2 : 10. 
 (582) 
 
THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 583 
 
 alarming extent, not in the world merely, but in the church. 
 Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pil- 
 lars of the Christian faith. The great facts of creation as 
 presented by the inspired writers, the fall of man, the atone- 
 ment, and the perpetuity of the law of God, are practically 
 rejected, either wholly or in part, by a large share of the 
 professedly Christian world. Thousands who pride them- 
 selves upon their wisdom and independence regard it an 
 evidence of weakness to place implicit confidence in the 
 Bible; they think it a proof of superior talent and learning 
 to cavil at the Scriptures, and to spiritualize and explain 
 away their most important truths. Many ministers are 
 teaching their people, and many professors and teachers are 
 instructing their students, that the law of God has been 
 changed or abrogated; and those who regard its require- 
 ments as still valid, to be literally obeyed, are thought to 
 be deserving only of ridicule or contempt. 
 
 In rejecting the truth, men reject its Author. In tramp- 
 ling upon the law of God, they deny the authority of the 
 Lawgiver. It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines 
 and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone. By 
 misrepresenting the attributes of God, Satan leads men to 
 conceive of him in a false character. With many, a philo- 
 sophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah; while 
 the living God, as he is revealed in his Word, in Christ, and 
 in the works of creation, is worshiped by but few. Thou- 
 sands deify nature, while they deny the God of nature. 
 Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian 
 world to-day as verily as it existed among ancient Israel 
 in the days of Elijah. The god of many professedly wise 
 men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists, the god 
 of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and uni- 
 versities, even of some theological institutions, is little bet- 
 ter than Baal, the sun-god of Phenicia. 
 
 No error accepted by the Christian world strikes more 
 boldly against the authority of Heaven, none is more di- 
 
584 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 rectly opposed to the dictates of reason, none is more per- 
 nicious in its results, than the modern doctrine, so rapidly 
 gaining ground, that God's law is no longer binding upon 
 men. Every nation has its laws, which command respect 
 and obedience; no government could exist without them; 
 and can it be conceived that the Creator of the heavens and 
 the earth has no law to govern the beings he has made ? 
 Suppose that prominent ministers were publicly to teach 
 that the statutes which govern their land and protect the 
 rights of its citizens were not obligatory, that they re- 
 stricted the liberties of the people, and therefore ought not 
 to be obeyed ; how long would such men be tolerated in the 
 pulpit? But is it a graver offense to disregard the laws of 
 States and nations than to trample upon those divine pre- 
 cepts which are the foundation of all government? 
 
 It would be far more consistent for nations to abolish their 
 statutes, and permit the people to do as they please, than 
 for the Ruler of the universe to annul his law, and leave 
 the world without a standard to condemn the guilty or 
 justify the obedient. Would we know the result of making 
 void the law of God? The experiment has been tried. 
 Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism 
 became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated 
 to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has 
 imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. 
 When the standard of righteousness is set aside, the way 
 is open for the prince of evil to establish his power in the 
 earth. 
 
 Wherever the divine precepts are rejected, sin ceases to 
 appear sinful, or righteousness desirable. Those who refuse 
 to submit to the government of God are wholly unfitted to 
 govern themselves. Through their pernicious teachings, 
 the spirit of insubordination is implanted in the hearts of 
 children and youth, who are naturally impatient of control; 
 and a lawless, licentious state of society results. While 
 scoffing at the credulity of those who obey the requirements 
 
THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 58;") 
 
 of God, the multitudes eagerly accept the delusions of Satan. 
 They give the rein to lust, and practice the sins which have 
 called down judgments upon the heathen. 
 
 Those who teach the people to lightly regard the com- 
 mandments of God, sow disobedience, to reap disobedience. 
 Let the restraint imposed by the divine law be wholly cast 
 aside, and human laws would soon be disregarded. Be- 
 cause God forbids dishonest practices, coveting, lying, and 
 defrauding, men are ready to trample upon his statutes as 
 a hindrance to their worldly prosperity; but the results of 
 banishing these precepts would be such as they do not antic- 
 ipate. If the law were not binding, why should any fear 
 to transgress? Property would no longer be safe. Men 
 would obtain their neighbor's possessions by violence; and 
 the strongest would become richest. Life itself would not 
 be respected. The marriage vow would no longer stand as 
 a sacred bulwark to protect the family. He who had the 
 power, would, if he desired, take his neighbor's wife by vio- 
 lence. The fifth commandment would be set aside with the 
 fourth. Children would not shrink from taking the life of 
 their parents, if by so doing they could obtain the desire of 
 their corrupt hearts. The civilized world would become a 
 horde of robbers and assassins; and peace, rest, and hap- 
 piness would be banished from the earth. 
 
 Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience 
 to God's requirements has weakened the force of moral obli- 
 gation, and opened the flood-gates of iniquity upon the 
 world. Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweep- 
 ing in upon us like an overwhelming tide. In the family, 
 Satan is at work. His banner waves, even in professedly 
 Christian households. There is envy, evil surmising, hypoc- 
 risy, estrangement, emulation, strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, 
 indulgence of lust. The whole system of religious prin- 
 ciples and doctrines, which should form the foundation and 
 frame-work of social life, seems to be a tottering mass, ready 
 to fall to ruin. The vilest of criminals, when thrown into 
 
.*' 6 THE. ORE A T CON TR VERS Y. 
 
 prison for their offenses, are often made the recipients of 
 gifts and attentions, as if they had attained an enviable dis- 
 tinction. Great publicity is given to their character and 
 crimes. The press publishes the revolting details of vice, 
 thus initiating others into the practice of fraud, robbery, and 
 murder; and Satan exults in the success of his hell i si i 
 schemes. The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of 
 life, the terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of 
 every order and degree, should arouse all who fear God, to 
 inquire what can be done to stay the tide of evil. 
 
 Courts of justice are corrupt. .Rulers are actuated by 
 desire for gain, and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance 
 has beclouded the faculties of many, so that Satan lias 
 almost complete control of them. Jurists are perverted, 
 bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy, 
 dishonesty of every sort, are represented among those v>h o 
 administer the laws. "Justice standeth afar off; for truth 
 is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." l 
 
 The iniquity and spiritual darkness that prevailed under 
 the supremacy of Rome were the inevitable result of Ler 
 suppression of the Scriptures; but where is to be found the 
 cause of the widespread infidelity, the rejection of the law 
 of God, and the consequent corruption, under the full Maze 
 of gospel light in an age of religious freedom ? Now that 
 Satan can no longer keep the world under his control by 
 withholding the Scriptures, he resorts to other means to 
 accomplish the same object. To destroy faith in the Bible 
 serves his purpose as well as to destroy the Bible itself. By 
 introducing the belief that God's law is not binding, he as 
 effectually leads men to transgress as if they were wholly 
 ignorant of its precepts. And now, as in former ages, he 
 has worked through the church to further his designs. The 
 religious organizations of the day have refused to listen to 
 unpopular truths plainly brought to view in the Scriptures, 
 and in combating them they have adopted interpretations 
 and taken positions which have sown broadcast the seeds 
 
THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 587 
 
 of skepticism. Clinging to the papal error of natural im- 
 mortality and man's consciousness in death, they have re- 
 jected the only defense against the delusions of Spiritualism. 
 The doctrine of eternal torment has led many to disbelieve 
 the Bible. And as the claims of the fourth commandment 
 are urged upon the people, it is found that the observance 
 of the seventh-day Sabbath is enjoined ; and as the only 
 way to free themselves from a duty which they are un- 
 willing to perform, .popular teachers declare that the law 
 of God is no longer binding. Thus they cast away the law 
 and the Sabbath together. As the work of Sabbatli reform 
 extends, this rejection of the divine law to avoid the claims 
 of the fourth commandment will become well-nigh universal. 
 The teachings of religious leaders have opened the door to 
 infidelity, to Spiritualism, and to contempt for God's holy 
 law, and upon these leaders rests a fearful responsibility for 
 the iniquity that exists in the Christian world. 
 
 Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast- 
 spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecra- 
 tion of the so-called "Christian Sabbath," and that the en- 
 forcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the 
 morals of society. This claim is especially urged in America, 
 where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely 
 preached. Here the temperance work, one of the most 
 prominent and important of moral reforms, is often com- 
 bined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the 
 latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest 
 interest of society; and those who refuse to unite with them 
 are denounced as the enemies of temperance and reform. 
 But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected 
 with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in 
 favor of the error. We may disguise poison by mingling 
 it with wholesome food, but we do not change its nature. 
 On the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is more 
 likely to be taken unawares. It is one of Satan's devices to 
 combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it plan si- 
 
088 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 bility. The leacbrs of the Sunday movement may advocate 
 reforms which the people need, principles which are in har- 
 mony with the Bible, yet while there is with these a re- 
 quirement which is contrary to God's law, his servants can- 
 not unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting 
 aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men. 
 
 Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul, 
 and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under 
 his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of 
 Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with 
 Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be fore- 
 most in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the 
 hand of Spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to 
 clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the in- 
 fluence of this threefold union, this country will follow in 
 the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience. 
 
 As Spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Chris- 
 tianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and en- 
 snare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order 
 of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of 
 light. Through the agency of Spiritualism, miracles will 
 be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable 
 wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess 
 faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions 
 of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation 
 of divine power. 
 
 The line of distinction between professed Christians and 
 the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church-mem- 
 bers love what the world loves, and are ready to join with 
 them ; and Satan determines to unite them in one body, and 
 thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks 
 of Spiritualism. Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain 
 sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this 
 wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away 
 the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protest- 
 ants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness 
 
THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 589 
 
 without the power, and they will see in this union a grand 
 movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering 
 in of the long-expected millennium. 
 
 Through Spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of 
 the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing 
 to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith ; 
 but at the same time he works as a destroyer. His temp- 
 tations are leading multitudes to ruin. Intemperance de- 
 thrones reason; sensual indulgence, strife, and bloodshed 
 follow. Satan delights in war; for it excites the worst pas- 
 sions of the soul, and then sweeps into eternity its victims 
 steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the 
 nations to war against one another; for he can thus divert 
 the minds of the people from the work of preparation to 
 stand in the day of God. 
 
 Satan works through the elements also to garner his 
 harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets 
 of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to 
 control the elements as far as God allows. When he was 
 suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, 
 houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding 
 another as in a moment. It is God that shields his creat- 
 ures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. 
 But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of 
 Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what he has declared 
 that he would, he will withdraw his blessings from the 
 earth, and remove his protecting care from those who are 
 rebelling against his law, and teaching and forcing others 
 to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does 
 not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some, in 
 order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble 
 upon others, and Jead men to believe that it is God who is 
 afflicting them. 
 
 While appearing to the children of men as a great phy- 
 sician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease 
 and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and 
 
590 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 desolation. Even now ho is at work. In accidents and 
 calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in 
 fierce tornadoes and terrific hail-storms, in tempests, floods, 
 cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in. every place and 
 in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He 
 sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress 
 follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands 
 perish by the pestilence.* These visitations are to become 
 more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will 
 be upon both man and beast. " The earth mourneth and 
 fadeth away," "the haughty people ... do languish. 
 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; be- 
 cause they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordi- 
 nance, broken the everlasting covenant." 1 
 
 And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those 
 who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have 
 provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their 
 troubles upon those whose obedience to God's command- 
 ments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be 
 declared that men are offending God by the violation of the 
 Sunday-sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities wliich 
 will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly en- 
 krced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth 
 commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are 
 trou biers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine 
 favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged 
 of old against the servant of God will be repeated, and upon 
 grounds equally well established. "And it came to pass, 
 when Ahal> saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou 
 he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not 
 troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye 
 have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou 
 hast followed Baalim."^ As the wrath of the people shall 
 be exeiled by i'alse charges, they will pursue a eourse toward 
 ( lod's ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel 
 pursued toward Elijah. 
 
 Uaa. 24:4. 5. '1 Kings 18:17, 18. 
 
THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. 591 
 
 The miracle-working power manifested through Spirit- 
 ualism will exert its influence against those who choose to 
 obey God rather than men. Communications from the 
 spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the 
 rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws 
 of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will 
 lament the great wickedness in the world, and second the 
 testimony of religious teachers, that the degraded state of 
 morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will 
 be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept . 
 their testimony. 
 
 Satan's policy in this final conflict with God's people is 
 the same that he employed in the opening of the great con- 
 troversy in Heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote 
 the stability of the divine government, while secretly bend- 
 ing every effort to secure its overthrow. And the very work 
 which he was thus endeavoring to accomplish, he charged 
 upon the loyal angels. The same policy of deception has 
 marked the history of the Romish Church. It has professed 
 to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, while seeking to exalt 
 itself above God, and to change his law. Under the rule 
 of Rome, those who suffered death for their fidelity to the 
 gospel were denounced as evil-doers; they were declared to 
 be in league with Satan; and every possible means was 
 employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to 
 appear, in the eyes of the people, and even to themselves, 
 as the vilest of criminals. So it will be now. While Satan 
 seeks to destroy those who honor God's law he will cause 
 them to be accused as law-breakers, as men who are dis- 
 honoring God, and bringing judgments upon the world. 
 
 God never forces the will or the conscience; but Satan's 
 constant resort to gain control of those whom he cannot 
 otherwise seduce is compulsion by cruelty. Through fear 
 or force he endeavors to rule the conscience, and to secure 
 homage to himself. To accomplish this, he works through 
 both religious and secular authorities, moving them to the 
 enforcement of human laws in defiance of the law of God. 
 
592 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced 
 as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral 
 restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and 
 calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their 
 conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stub- 
 bornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused 
 of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny 
 the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit 
 the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as 
 ordained of God. In legislative -halls and courts of justice, 
 commandment-keepers will be misrepresented and con- 
 demned. A false coloring will be given to their words; 
 the worst construction will be put upon their motives. 
 
 As the Protestant churches reject the clear, scriptural 
 arguments in defense of God's law, they will long to silence 
 those whose faith they cannot overthrow by the Bible. 
 Though they blind their own eyes to the fact, they are now 
 adopting a course which will lead to the persecution of 
 those who conscientiously refuse to do what the rest of the 
 Christian world are doing, and acknowledge the claims of 
 the papal Sabbath. 
 
 The dignitaries of church and State will unite to bribe, 
 persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The 
 lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive en- 
 actments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice 
 and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and 
 legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the 
 popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. 
 Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, 
 will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict 
 we shall see exemplified the prophet's words: "The dragon 
 was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the 
 remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, 
 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." l 
 
 'Rev. 12:17. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 
 
 " To THE law and to the testimony. If they speak not 
 according to this word, 'it is because there is no light in 
 them." l The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as 
 their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and 
 the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan employs 
 every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a 
 knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his 
 deceptions. At every revival of God's work, the prince of 
 evil is aroused to more intense activity ; he is now putting 
 forth his utmost efforts for a final struggle against Christ and 
 his followers. The last great delusion is soon to open before 
 us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our 
 sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true, that 
 it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by 
 the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement 
 and every miracle must be tested. 
 
 Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of 
 God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in 
 God. In order to endure the trial before them, -they must 
 understand the will of God as revealed in his Word ; they 
 can honor him only as they have a right conception of his 
 character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance 
 with them. None but those who have fortified the mind 
 with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great 
 conflict. To every soul will come the searching test, Shall I 
 obey God rather than men ? The decisive hour is even now 
 at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's iminu- 
 
 J Isa. 8 : 20. 
 
 X593) 
 
594 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 table Word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of 
 the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus ? 
 
 Before his crucifixion, the Saviour explained to his disci- 
 ples that he was to be put to death, and to rise again from 
 the tomb ; and angels were present to impress his words on 
 minds and hearts. But the disciples were looking for tem- 
 poral deliverance from the Roman yoke, and they could not 
 tolerate the thought that He in whom all their hopes cen- 
 tered should suffer an ignominious death. The words which 
 they needed to remember were banished from their minds; 
 and when the time of trial came, it found them unprepared. 
 The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if he 
 had not forewarned them. So in the prophecies the future 
 is opened before us as plainly as it was opened to the disci- 
 ples by the words of Christ. The events connected with the 
 close of probation and the work of preparation for the time 
 of trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no 
 more understanding of these important truths than if they 
 had never been revealed. Satan watches to catch away 
 every impression that would make them wise unto salvation, 
 and the time of trouble will find them unready. 
 
 When God sends to men warnings so important that they 
 are represented as proclaimed by holy angels flying in the 
 midst of heaven, he requires every person endowed with rea- 
 soning powers to heed the message. The fearful judgments 
 denounced against the worship of the beast and his imago, 1 
 should lead all to a diligent study of the prophecies to learn 
 what the mark of the beast is, and how they are to avoid 
 receiving it. But the masses of the people turn away their 
 ears from hearing the truth, and are turned unto fables. 
 The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days, 
 " The time will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
 trine." 2 That time has fully come. The multitudes do not 
 want Bible truth, because it interferes with the desires of the 
 sinful, world-loving heart; and Satan supplies the deceptions 
 which they love. 
 
 'ttev. H :'. 11. '2 Tim. 4 : 3. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 595 
 
 But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the 
 Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, 
 and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, 
 the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesi- 
 astical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the 
 churches which they represent, the voice of the majority, 
 not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or 
 against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any 
 doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain " Thus saith 
 the Lord " in its support. 
 
 Satan is constantly endeavoring to attract attention to man 
 in the place of God. He leads the people to look to bishops, 
 to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides, instead of 
 searching the Scriptures to learn their duty for themselves. 
 Then, by controlling the minds of these leaders, he can in- 
 fluence the multitudes according to his will. 
 
 When Christ came to speak the words of life, the common 
 people heard him gladly ; and many, even of the priests and 
 rulers, believed on him. But the chief of the priesthood 
 and. the leading men of the nation were determined to con- 
 demn and repudiate his teachings. Though they were 
 baffled in all their efforts to find accusations against him, 
 though they could not but feel the influence of the divine 
 power and wisdom attending his words, yet they encased 
 themselves in prejudice; they rejected the clearest evidence 
 of his Messiahship, lest they should be forced to become his 
 disciples. These opponents of Jesus were men whom the 
 people had been taught from infancy to reverence, to whose 
 authority they had been accustomed implicitly to bow. 
 " How is it," they asked, " that our rulers and learned scribes 
 do not believe on Jesus ? Would not these pious men re- 
 ceive him if he were the Christ ? " It was the influence of 
 such teachers that led the Jewish nation to reject their 
 Redeemer. 
 
 The spirit which actuated those priests and rulers is still 
 manifested by many who make a high profession of piety. 
 43 
 
596 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 They refuse to examine the testimony of the Scriptures con- 
 cerning the special truths for this time.. They point to their 
 own numbers, wealth, and popularity, and look with con- 
 tempt upon the advocates of truth as few, poor, and unpop- 
 ular, having a faith that separates them from the world. 
 
 Christ foresaw that the undue assumption of authority 
 indulged by the scribes and Pharisees would not cease with 
 the dispersion of the Jews. He had a prophetic view of the 
 work of exalting human authority to rule the conscience, 
 which has been so terrible a curse to the church in all ages. 
 And his fearful denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees, 
 and his warnings to the people not to follow these blind 
 leaders, were placed on record as an admonition to future 
 generations. 
 
 The Romish Church reserves to the clergy the right to 
 interpret the Scriptures. On the ground that ecclesiastics 
 alone are competent to explain God's Word, it is withheld 
 from the common people.. Though the Reformation gave 
 the Scriptures to all, yet the self-same principle which was 
 maintained by Rome prevents multitudes in Protestant 
 Churches from searching the Bible for themselves. They are 
 taught to accept its teachings as interpreted by the church; 
 and there are thousands who dare receive nothing, however 
 plainly revealed in Scripture, that is contrary to their creed, 
 or the established teaching of their church. 
 
 Notwithstanding the Bible is full of warnings against false 
 teachers, many are ready thus to commit the keeping of 
 their souls to the clergy. There are to-day thousands of 
 professors of religion who can give no other reason for points 
 of faith which they hold than that they were so instructed 
 by their religious leaders. They pass by the Saviour's teach- 
 ings almost unnoticed, and place implicit confidence in the 
 words of the ministers. But are ministers infallible ? How 
 can we trust our souls to their guidance unless we know 
 from God's Word that they are light-l><>;uvrs? A lack of 
 moral courage to step aside from the beaten track of the 
 
THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 597 
 
 world, leads many to follow in the steps of learned men; 
 and by their reluctance to investigate for themselves, they 
 are becoming hopelessly fastened in the chains of error. 
 They see that the truth for this time is plainly brought to 
 view in the Bible, and they feel the power of the Holy Spirit 
 attending its proclamation; yet they allow the opposition 
 of the clergy to turn them from the light. Though reason 
 and conscience are convinced, these deluded souls dare not 
 think differently from the minister; and their individual 
 judgment, their eternal interests, are sacrificed to the un- 
 belief, the pride and prejudice, of another. 
 
 Many are the ways by which Satan works through human 
 influence to bind his captives. He secures multitudes to 
 himself by attaching them by the silken cords of k affection 
 to those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. Whatever 
 this attachment may be, parental, filial', conjugal, or social, 
 the effect is the same; the opposers of truth exert their 
 power to control the conscience, and the souls held under 
 their sway have not sufficient courage or independence to 
 obey their own convictions of duty. 
 
 The truth and the glory of God are inseparable; it is 
 impossible for us, with the Bible within our reach, to honor 
 God by erroneous opinions. Many claim that it matters 
 not what one believes, if his life is only right. But the life 
 is moulded by the faith. If light and truth are within our 
 reach, and we neglect to improve the privilege of hearing 
 and seeing it, we virtually reject it; we are choosing dark- 
 ness rather than light. 
 
 " There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the 
 end thereof are the ways of death." l Ignorance is no ex- 
 cuse for error or sin, when there is every opportunity to 
 know the will of God. A man is traveling, and comes to 
 a place where there are several roads, and a guide-board 
 indicating where each one leads. If he disregards the guide- 
 board, and takes whichever road seems to him to be right, 
 
 1 Prov. 16 : 25. 
 
598 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 he may be ever so sincere, but will in all probability find 
 himself on the wrong road. 
 
 God has given us his Word that we may become ac- 
 quainted with its teachings, and know for ourselves what 
 he requires of us. When the lawyer came to Jesus with 
 the inquiry, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" the 
 Saviour referred him to the Scriptures, saying, " What is 
 written in the law ? how readest thou?" Ignorance will not 
 excuse young or old, or release them from the punishment 
 due for the transgression of God's law, because there is in 
 their hands a faithful presentation of that law and of its 
 principles and its claims. It is not enough to have good 
 intentions; it is not enough to do what a man thinks is right, 
 or what the minister tells him is right. His soul's salvation 
 is at stalte, and he should search the Scriptures for himself. 
 However strong may be *his convictions, however confident 
 he may be that the minister knows what is truth, this is not 
 his foundation. He has a chart pointing out every way- 
 mark on the heavenward journey, and he ought not to 
 guess at anything. 
 
 It is the first and highest duty of every rational being to 
 learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk 
 in the light, and encourage others to follow his example. 
 We should day by day study the Bible diligently, weighing 
 every thought, and comparing scripture with scripture. 
 With divine help, we are to form our opinions for our- 
 selves, as we are to answer for ourselves before God. 
 
 The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been 
 involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with 
 a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have 
 a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in tin- 
 language employed. These men are false teachers. It was 
 to such a class that Jesus declared, " Ye know not the Script- 
 ures, neither the power of God." 1 The language of the 
 Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, 
 
 'Mark 12:24. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 599 
 
 unless a symbol or figure is employed. Christ has given the 
 promise, " If any man will do His will, he shall know of the 
 doctrine." 1 If men would but take the Bible as it reads, 
 if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their 
 minds, a work would be accomplished that would make 
 angels glad, and that would bring into the fold of Christ 
 thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error. 
 
 \\V should exert all the powers of the mind in the study 
 of the Scriptures, and should task the understanding to com- 
 prehend, as far as mortals can, the deep things of God; yet 
 we must not forget that the docility and submission of a 
 child is the true spirit of the learner. Scriptural difficulties 
 can never be mastered by the same methods that are em- 
 ployed in grappling with philosophical problems. We 
 should not engage in the study of the Bible with that self- 
 reliance with which so many enter the domains of science, 
 but with a prayerful dependence upon God, and a sincere 
 desire to learn his will. We must come with a humble and 
 teachable spirit to obtain knowledge from the great I AM. 
 Otherwise, evil angels will so blind our minds and harden 
 our hearts that we shall not be impressed by the truth. 
 
 Many a portion of Scripture which learned men pro- 
 nounce a mystery, or pass over as unimportant, is full of 
 comfort and instruction to him who has been taught in the 
 school of Christ. One reason why many theologians have 
 no clearer understanding of God's Word is, they close their 
 eyes to truths which they do not wish to practice. An un- 
 derstanding of Bible truth depends not so much on the 
 power of intellect brought to the search as on the singleness 
 of purpose, the earnest longing after righteousness. 
 
 The Bible should never be studied without prayer. The 
 Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the importance of 
 those things easy to be understood, or prevent us from wrest- 
 ing truths difficult of comprehension. It is the office of 
 heavenly angels to prepare the heart to so comprehend God's 
 
 i John 7 : 17. 
 
600 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Word that we shall be charmed with its beauty, admonished 
 by its warnings, or animated and strengthened by its prom- 
 ises. We should make the psalmist's petition our own: 
 " Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things 
 out of thy law." 1 Temptations often appear irresistible 
 because, through neglect of prayer and the study of the 
 Bible, the tempted one cannot readily remember God's 
 promises and meet Satan with the Scripture weapons. But 
 angels are round about those who are willing to be taught 
 in divine things; and in the time of great necessity, they will 
 bring to their remembrance the very truths which are needed. 
 Thus " when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit 
 of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." 2 
 
 Jesus promised his disciples, "The Comforter, the Holy 
 Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
 teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem- 
 brance, whatsoever I have said unto you." 3 But the teach- 
 ings of Christ must previously have been stored in the mind, 
 in order for the Spirit of God to bring them to our remem- 
 brance in the time of peril. "Thy Word have I hid in 
 mine heart," said David, " that I might not sin against thee." 4 
 
 All who value their eternal interests should be on their 
 guard against the inroads of skepticism. The very pillars 
 of truth will be assailed. It is impossible to keep beyond 
 the reach of the sarcasms and sophisms, the insidious and 
 pestilent teachings, of modem infidelity. Satan adapts his 
 temptations to all classes. He assails the illiterate with a. 
 jest or sneer, while he meets the educated with scientific 
 objections and philosophical reasoning, alike calculated to 
 excite distrust or contempt of the Scriptures. Even youth 
 of little experience presume to insinuate doubts concerning 
 the fundamental principles of Christianity. And this youth- 
 ful infidelity, shallow as it is, has its influence. Many are 
 thus led to jest at the faith of their fathers, and to do despite 
 to the Spirit of grace. 5 Many a life that promised to be an 
 
 'Ps. 119:18. 'I8a.59:19. 3 Johnl4:26. * Ps. 119:11. 
 5 Heb. 10:29. 
 
THE SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD. 601 
 
 honor to God and a blessing to the world, has been blighted 
 by the foul breath of infidelity. All who trust to the boast- 
 ful decisions of human reason, and imagine that they can 
 explain divine mysteries, and arrive at truth unaided by 
 the wisdom of God, are entangled in the snare of Satan. 
 
 We are living in the most solemn period of this world's 
 history. The destiny of earth's teeming multitudes is about 
 to be decided. Our own future well-being, and also the 
 salvation of other souls, depends upon the course which we 
 now pursue. We need to be guided by the Spirit of truth. 
 Every follower of Christ should earnestly inquire, " Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to do ? " We need to humble our- 
 selves before the Lord, with fasting and prayer, and to 
 meditate much upon his Word, especially upon the scenes 
 of the Judgment. We should now seek a deep and living 
 experience in the things of God. We have not a moment 
 to lose. Events of vital importance are taking place around 
 us; we are on Satan's enchanted ground. Sleep not, sen- 
 tinels of God ; the foe is lurking near, ready at any moment, 
 should you become lax and drowsy, to spring upon you and. 
 make you his prey. 
 
 Many are deceived as to their true condition before God. 
 They congratulate themselves upon the wrong acts which 
 they do not commit, and forget to enumerate the good and 
 noble deeds which God requires of them, but which they 
 have neglected to perform. It is not enough that'they are 
 trees in the garden of God. They are to answer his expec- 
 tation by bearing fruit. He holds them accountable for 
 their failure to accomplish all the good which they could 
 have done, through his grace strengthening them. In the 
 books of Heaven they are registered as cumberers of the 
 ground. Yet the case of even this class is not utterly hope- 
 less. With those who have slighted God's mercy and abused 
 his grace, the heart of long-suffering love yet pleads. " Where- 
 fore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye 
 
602 THi: GUKAT 
 
 walk circumspectly, . . . redeeming the time, because 
 the days are evil." l 
 
 AVhen the testing time shall come, those who have made 
 God's Word their rule of life will be revealed. In summer 
 there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and 
 other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the ever- 
 greens remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of 
 their foliage. So the false-hearted professor may not now 
 be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just 
 upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let oppo- 
 sition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let 
 persecution be kindled, and the half-hearted and hypocritical 
 will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will 
 stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, 
 than in days of prosperity. 
 
 Says the psalmist : " Thy testimonies are my meditation." 
 "Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I 
 hate every false way." 2 
 
 "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom." "He shall be 
 as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her 
 roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but 
 her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year 
 of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." 3 
 
 1 Eph. 5 : 14-16. Ps, 1 19 : 99, 104. 3 Prov. 3:13; Jer. 17:8. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE FINAL WARNING. 
 
 " I SAW another angel come down from Heaven, having 
 great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon 
 the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation 
 of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of 
 every unclean and hateful bird." " And I heard another 
 voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, 
 that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not 
 of her plagues." l 
 
 This scripture points forward to a time when the an- 
 nouncement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second 
 angel 2 of Revelation 14, is to be repeated, with the addi- 
 tional mention of the corruptions which have been entering 
 the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that 
 message was first given, in the summer of 1844. A terrible 
 condition of the religious world is here described. With 
 every rejection of truth, the minds of the people will become 
 darker, their hearts more stubborn, until they are entrenched 
 in an infidel hardihood. In defiance of the warnings which 
 God has given, they will continue to trample upon one of 
 the precepts of the decalogue, until they are led to persecute 
 those who hold it sacred. Christ is set at naught in the 
 contempt placed upon his Word and his people. As the 
 teachings of Spiritualism are accepted by the churches, the 
 restraint imposed upon the carnal heart is removed, and the 
 profession of religion will become a cloak to conceal the 
 basest iniquity. A belief in spiritual manifestations opens 
 
 1 Rev. 18 : 1, 2, 4. 'Rev. 14:8. 
 
 (603) 
 
004 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the door to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, and thus 
 the influence of evil angels will be felt in the churches. 
 
 Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, 
 it is declared, " Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God 
 hath remembered her iniquities." 1 She has filled up the 
 measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon 
 her. But God still has a people in Babylon ; and before the 
 visitation of his judgments, these faithful ones must be called 
 out, that they "partake not of her sins, and receive not of 
 her plagues." Hence the movement symbolized by the 
 angel coming down from Heaven, lightening the earth with 
 his glory, and crying mightily with a strong voice, announc- 
 ing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message 
 the call is heard, "Come out of her, my people." These 
 announcements, uniting with the third angel's message, 
 constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants 
 of the earth. 
 
 Fearful is the issue to which the world is to be brought. 
 The powers of earth, uniting to war against the command- 
 ments of God, will decree that all, ."both small and great, 
 rich and poor, free and bond," 2 shall conform to the cus- 
 toms of the church by the observance of the false sabbath. 
 All who refuse compliance will be visited with civil pen- 
 alties, and it will finally be declared that they are deserving 
 of death. On the other hand, the law of God enjoining the 
 Creator's rest-day demands obedience, and threatens wrath 
 against all who transgress its precepts. 
 
 With the issue thus clearly brought before him, whoever 
 shall trample upon God's law to obey a human enactment, 
 receives "the mark of the beast ; he accepts the sign of alle- 
 giance to the power which he chooses to obey instead of God. 
 The warning from Heaven is, " If any man worship the 
 boMst and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, 
 or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the 
 wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the 
 cup of his indignation." 3 
 
 1 Rev. 18 : 5. 2 Rev. 13 : 16. 3 Rev. 14 : 9, la 
 
Till; /-7AM L \\.\RMXG. 605 
 
 But not one is made to suffer the wrath of God until the 
 truth lias been brought home to his mind and conscience, 
 and has been rejected. There are many who have never 
 had an opportunity to hear the special truths for this time. 
 The obligation of the fourth commandment has never been 
 set before them in its true light. He who reads every heart, 
 and tries every motive, will leave none who desire a knowl- 
 edge of the truth, to be deceived as to the issues of the con- 
 troversy. The decree is not to be urged upon the people 
 blindly. Every one is to have sufficient light to make his 
 decision intelligently. 
 
 The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty ; for it is the 
 point of truth especially controverted. When the final test 
 shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of dis- 
 tinction will be drawn between those who serve God and 
 those who serve him not. While the observance of the false 1 
 sabbath in compliance with the law of the State, contrary 
 to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance 
 to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the 
 true Sabbath, in obedience to God's law, is an evidence of 
 loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the 
 sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of 
 the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to 
 divine authority, receive the seal of God. 1 
 
 Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third 
 angel's message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. 
 Their predictions that religious intolerance would gain con- 
 trol in the United States, that church and State would unite 
 to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, 
 have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It has been 
 confidently declared that this land could never become other 
 than what it has been, the defender of religious freedom. 
 But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely 
 agitated, the event so long doubted and disbelieved is seen 
 to be approaching, and the third message will produce an 
 effect which it could not have had before. 
 
 1 See Appendix, Note 13. 
 
C0(j THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 In every generation God has sent his servants to rebuke 
 sin, both in the world and in the church. But the people 
 desire smooth things spoken to them, and the pure, un- 
 varnished truth is not acceptable. Many reformers, in en- 
 tering upon their work, determined to exercise great pru- 
 dence in attacking the sins of the church and the nation. 
 They hoped, by the example of a pure Christian life, to lead 
 the people back to the doctrines of the Bible. But the Spirit 
 of God came upon them as it came upon Elijah, moving 
 him to rebuke the sins of a Avicked king and an apostate 
 people; they could not refrain from preaching the plain 
 utterances of the Bible, doctrines which they had been 
 reluctant to present. They were impelled to zealously de- 
 clare the truth, and the danger which threatened souls. 
 The words which the Lord gave them they uttered, fearless 
 of consequences, and the people were compelled to hear the 
 warning. 
 
 Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. 
 As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, 
 the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading 
 the minds of those who consecrate themselves to his service. 
 The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of his 
 Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of 
 faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy 
 zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins 
 of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of en- 
 forcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the 
 inroads of Spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of 
 the papal power, all will be unmasked. By these solemn 
 warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thou- 
 sands will listen who have never heard words like these. 
 In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is tin- 
 church, fallen because of her 'errors and sins, because of her 
 rejection of the truth sent to her from Heaven. As the 
 people go to their former teachers with the eager inquiry, 
 Are these things so? the ministers present fables, prophesy 
 
THE FJXA L WA RXING. 607 
 
 smooth things, to soothe their fears, and quiet the awakened 
 conscience. But since many refuse to be satisfied with the 
 mere authority of men, and demand a plain " Thus saith 
 the Lord," the popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, 
 filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will de- 
 nounce the message as of Satan, and stir up the sin-loving 
 multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it. 
 
 As the controversy extends into new fields, and the minds 
 of the people are called to God's down -trodden law, Satan 
 is astir. The power attending the message will only madden 
 those'who oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost super- 
 human efforts to shut away the light, lest it should shine 
 upon their flocks. By every means at their command they 
 will endeavor to suppress the discussion of these vital ques- 
 tions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, 
 and in this work, papists and Protestants unite. As the 
 movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and 
 decided, the law will be invoked against commandment- 
 keepers. They will be threatened with fines and impris- 
 onment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and 
 other rewards and advantages, as inducements to renounce 
 their faith. But their steadfast answer is, " Show us from 
 the Word of God our error/' the same plea that was made 
 by Luther under similar circumstances. Those who are 
 arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of 
 the truth, and some who hear them are led to take thejr 
 stand to keep all the commandments of God. Thus light 
 will be brought before thousands who otherwise would know 
 nothing of these truths. 
 
 Conscientious obedience to the Word of God will be treated 
 as rebellion. Blinded by Satan, the parent will exercise 
 harshness and severity toward the believing child; the 
 master or mistress will oppress the commandment-keeping 
 servant. Affection will be alienated; children will be dis- 
 inherited, and driven from home. The words of Paul will 
 be literally fulfilled, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus 
 
608 7777? GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 shall suffer persecution." 1 As the defenders of truth refuse 
 to honor the Sunday -sabbath, some of them will be thrust 
 into prison, some will be exiled, some will be treated as 
 slaves. To human wisdom, all this now seems impossible; 
 but as the restraining Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from 
 men, and they shall be under the control of Satan, who 
 hates the divine precepts, there will be strange develop- 
 ments. The heart can be very cruel when God's fear and 
 love are removed. 
 
 As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed 
 faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanc- 
 tified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position, 
 and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the 
 world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view 
 matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is 
 brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. 
 Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in 
 the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. 
 They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. 
 When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to 
 answe^ for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient 
 agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by 
 false reports and insinuations tc stir up the rulers against 
 them. 
 
 In this time of persecution the faith of the Lord's servants 
 wjll be tried. They have faithfully given the warning, 
 looking to God and to his Word alone. God's Spirit, mov- 
 ing upon their hearts, lias constrained them to speak. 
 Stimulated with holy zeal, and with the divine impulse 
 strong upon them, they entered upon the performance of 
 their duties wifhout coldly calculating the consequences of 
 speaking to the people the word which the Lord had given 
 them. They have not consulted their temporal interests, 
 or sought to preserve their reputation or their lives. Yet 
 when the storm of opposition and reproach bursts upon 
 
 1 2 Tim. 3 : 12. 
 
THE FINAL WARNING. 609 
 
 them, some, overwhelmed with consternation, will be ready 
 to exclaim, " Had we foreseen the consequences of our words, 
 we would have held our peace." They are hedged in with 
 difficulties. Satan assails them with fierce temptations. 
 The work which they have undertaken seems far beyond 
 their ability to accomplish. They are threatened with de- 
 struction. The enthusiasm which animated them is gone; 
 yet they cannot turn back. Then, feeling their utter help- 
 lessness, they flee to the Mighty One for strength. They 
 remember that the words which they have spoken were not 
 theirs, but His who bade them give the warning. God put 
 the truth into their hearts, and they could not forbear to 
 proclaim it. 
 
 The same trials have been experienced by men of God in 
 ages past. Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Tyiidale, Baxter, Wesley, 
 urged that all doctrines be brought to the test of the Bible, 
 and de'clared that they would renounce everything which 
 it condemned. Against these men, persecution raged with 
 relentless fury; yet they ceased not to declare the truth. 
 Different periods in the history of the church have each 
 been marked by the development of some special truth* 
 adapted to the necessities of God's people at that time. 
 Every new truth has made its w 7 ay against hatred and oppo- 
 sition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted 
 and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people 
 in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He com- 
 mands his servants to present the last invitation of mercy 
 to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at the 
 peril of their souls. Christ's ambassadors have .nothing to 
 do with consequences. They must perform their duty, and 
 leave results with God. 
 
 As the opposition rises to a fiercer height, the servants of 
 God are again perplexed; for it seems to them that they 
 have brought the crisis. But conscience and the Word of 
 <ind assure them that their course is right; and although 
 the trials continue, they are strengthened to bear them. 
 
610 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The contest grows closer and sharper, but their faith and 
 courage rise with the emergency. Their testimony is, " We 
 dare not tamper with God's Word, dividing his holy law, 
 calling one portion essential and another non-essential, to 
 gain the favor of the world. The Lord whom we serve is 
 able to deliver us. Christ has conquered the powers of 
 earth; and shall we be afraid of a world already conquered?" 
 
 Persecution in its varied forms is the development of a 
 principle which will exist as long as Satan exists, and Chris- 
 tianity has vital power. No man can serve God without 
 enlisting against himself the opposition of the hosts of dark- 
 ness. Evil angels will assail him, alarmed that his influence 
 is taking the prey from their hands. Evil men, rebuked 
 by his example, will unite with them in seeking to separate 
 him from God by alluring temptations. When these do 
 not succeed, then a compelling power is employed to force 
 the conscience. 
 
 But so long as Jesus remains man's intercessor in the 
 sanctuary above, the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit 
 is felt by rulers and people. It still controls, to some ex- 
 tent, the laws of the land. Were it not for these laws, the 
 condition of the world would be much worse than it now 
 is. While many of our rulers are active agents of Satan, 
 God also has his agents among the leading men of the 
 nation. The enemy moves upon his servants to propose 
 measures that would greatly impede the w r ork of God; but 
 statesmen who fear the Lord are influenced by holy angels 
 to oppose such propositions with unanswerable arguments. 
 Thus a few men will hold in check a powerful current of 
 evil. The opposition of the enemies of truth will bo re- 
 strained that the third angel's message may do its work. 
 When (lie final warning shall be given, it will arrest the 
 attention of these leading men through whom the Lord is 
 now working, and some of them will accept it, and will 
 stand with the people of (lod through the time of trouble. 
 
 The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third 
 
THE FINAL WARNING. 611 
 
 angel's message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. 
 A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here 
 foretold. The Advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious 
 manifestation of the power of God; the first angel's message 
 was carried to every missionary station in the world, and 
 in some countries there was the greatest religious interest 
 which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation 
 of the sixteenth century; but these are to be far exceeded 
 by the mighty movement under the last warning of the 
 third angel. 
 
 The work will be similar to that of the day of Pentecost. 
 As the " former rain " was given, in the outpouring of the 
 Holy Spirit at the opening of the gospel, to cause the up- 
 springing of the precious seed, so the " latter rain " will be 
 given at its close, for the ripening of the harvest. " 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." l 
 " Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord 
 your God; for he hath given you the former rain mod- 
 erately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, 
 the former rain, and the latter rain." 2 "In the last days, 
 saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." 
 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the 
 name of the Lord shall be saved." 8 The great work of the 
 gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power 
 of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which 
 were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the 
 opening of the gospel, are again to be fulfilled in the latter 
 rain at its close. Here are "the times of refreshing" to 
 which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said, "Re- 
 pent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be 
 blotted out [in the investigative Judgment], when the times 
 of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and 
 he shall send Jesus." 4 
 
 1 Hosea 6:3. 2 Joel 2 : 23. * Acts 2 : 17, 21 , Acts 3 : 19, 20. 
 44 
 
612 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining 
 with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to 
 proclaim the message from Heaven. By thousands of 
 voices, all over the earth, the warning w r ill be given. Mir- 
 acles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and 
 wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with 
 lying wonders, even bringing- down fire from heaven in the 
 sight of men. l Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be 
 brought to take their stand. 
 
 The message will be carried not so much by argument 
 as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The argu- 
 ments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and 
 now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications dis- 
 tributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, 
 yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented 
 from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obe- 
 dience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the 
 truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God 
 sever the bands which have held them. Family connec- 
 tions, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. 
 Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding 
 the agencies combined against the truth, a large number 
 take their stand upon the Lord's side. 
 
 1 Rev. 13 : 13. 
 
RA:R^ 
 
 Or THE 
 
 fERSlTT 
 
 CF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 ' <THE TIME OF TROUBLE." 
 
 " AT that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince 
 which standeth for the children of thy people; and there 
 shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was 
 a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people 
 shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in 
 the book." 1 
 
 When the third angel's message closes, mercy no longer 
 pleads for the guilty inhabitants of the earth. The people of 
 God have accomplished their work. They have received 
 " the latter rain," " the refreshing from the presence of the 
 Lord," and they are prepared for the trying hour before them. 
 Angels are hastening to and fro in Heaven. An angel re- 
 turning from the earth announces that his work is done ; the 
 final test has been brought upon the world, and all who have 
 proved themselves loyal to the divine precepts have received 
 " the seal of the living God." 2 Then Jesus ceases his interces- 
 sion in the sanctuary above. He lifts his hands, and with a 
 loud voice says, " It is done ;" and all the angelic host lay off 
 their crowns as he makes the solemn announcement: "Pie 
 that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filth)-, 
 let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let him be 
 righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." 3 
 Every case has been decided for life or death. Christ has 
 made the atonement for his people, and blotted out their 
 sins. The number of his subjects is made up; " the king- 
 dom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under 
 the whole heaven," is about to be given to the heirs of sal-* 
 
 1 Dan. 12:1. * See Appendix, Note 13. 3 Rev. 22 : 11. 
 
 (013) 
 
614 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 vation, and Jesus is to reign as King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords. 
 
 When he leaves the sanctuary, darkness covers the inhab- 
 itants of the earth. In that fearful time the righteous must 
 live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. The 
 restraint which has been upon the wicked is removed, and 
 Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent. God's 
 long-suffering has ended. The \vorld has rejected his mercy, 
 despised his love, and trampled upon his law. The wicked 
 have passed the boundary of their probation; the Spirit of 
 God, persistently resisted, has been at last withdrawn. Un- 
 sheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the 
 wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the 
 earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God 
 cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, 
 all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world 
 will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came 
 upon Jerusalem of old. 
 
 A single angel destroyed all the first-born of the Egyp- 
 tians, and filled the land with mourning. When David 
 offended against God by numbering the people, one angel 
 caused that terrible destruction by which his\sin was pun- 
 ished. The same destructive power exercised IJv holy angels 
 when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels when 
 he permits. There are forces now ready, and <\nly waiting 
 the divine permission, to spread desolation everywhere. 
 
 Those who honor the law of God have been accused of 
 bringing judgments upon the world, and they will be re- 
 garded as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and 
 the strife and bloodshed among men that are filling the 
 earth with woe. The power attending the last warning has 
 enraged the wicked; their anger is kindled against all who 
 have received the message, and Satan will excite to still 
 greater intensity the spirit of hatred and persecution. 
 
 When God's presence was finally withdrawn from tlio 
 Jewish nation, priests and people knew it not. Though 
 
y///: rntK OF TitornLK. 
 
 under the control of Satan, and swayed by the most horrible 
 and malignant passions, they still regarded themselves as 
 the chosen of God. The ministration in the temple con- 
 tinued; sacrifices were offered upon its polluted altars, and 
 daily the divine blessing was invoked upon a people guilty 
 of the blood of God's dear Son, and seeking to slay his min- 
 isters and apostles. So when the irrevocable decision of the 
 sanctuary has been pronounced, and the destiny of the 
 world has been forever fixed, the inhabitants of the earth 
 will know it not. The forms of religion will be continued 
 by a people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally 
 withdrawn; and the Satanic /.cal with which the prince of 
 evil will inspire them for the accomplishment of his malig- 
 nant designs, will bear the semblance of zeal for God. 
 
 As the Sabbath has become the special point of contro- 
 versy throughout Christendom, and religious and secular 
 authorities have combined to enforce the observance of the 
 Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to 
 the popular demand, will make them objects of universal 
 execration. It will be urged that the few who stand in op- 
 position to an institution of the church and a law of the 
 State, ought not to be tolerated; that it is better for them to 
 suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion 
 and lawlessness. The same argument eighteen hundred 
 years ago was brought against Christ by the " rulers of the 
 people." " It is expedient for us," said the wily Caiaphas, 
 " that one man should die for the people, and that the whole 
 nation perish not." l This argument will appear conclusive; 
 and a decree will finally be issued against those who hallow 
 the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, denouncing them 
 as deserving of the severest punishment, and giving the 
 people liberty, after a certain time, to put them to death. 
 Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in 
 the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who 
 honor all the divine precepts. 
 
 i John 11 :50. 
 
616 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes 
 of affliction and distress described by the prophet as the 
 time of Jacob's trouble. "Thus saith the Lord: We have 
 heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace." " All 
 faces are turned into paleness. Alas ! for that day is great, 
 so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; 
 but he shall be saved out of it," 1 
 
 Jacob's night of anguish, when he wrestled in prayer for 
 deliverance from the hand of Esau," represents the expe- 
 rience of God's people in the time of trouble. Because of 
 the deception practiced to secure his father's blessing, in- 
 tended for Esau, Jacob had fled for his life, alarmed by his 
 brother's deadly threats. After remaining for manv years 
 an exile, he had set out, at God's command, to return with 
 his wives and children, his flocks and herds, to his native 
 country. On reaching the borders of the land, he was filled 
 with terror by the tidings of Esau's approach at the head 
 of a band of warriors, doubtless bent upon revenge. Jacob's 
 company, unarmed and defenseless, seemed about to fall 
 helpless victims of violence and slaughter. And to the 
 burden of anxiety and fear was added the crushing weight 
 of self-reproach; for it was his own sin that had brought 
 this danger. His only hope was in the mercy of God; his 
 only defense must be prayer. Yet he leaves nothing un- 
 done on his own part to atone for the wrong to his brother, 
 and to avert the threatened danger. So should the followers 
 of Christ, as they approach the time of trouble, make every 
 exertion to place themselves in a proper light before the 
 people, to disarm prejudice, and to avert the danger which 
 threatens liberty of conscience. 
 
 Having sent his family away, that they may not witness 
 his distress, Jacob remains alone to intercede with God. He 
 confesses his sin, and gratefully acknowledges the mercy of 
 God toward him, while with deep humiliation he pleads the 
 covenant made with his fathers, and the promises to liim- 
 
 1 Jer. 30 : 5-7. 2 Gen. 32 : 24-30. 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 617 
 
 self in the night vision at Bethel and in the land of his 
 exile. The crisis in his life has come; everything is at 
 stake. In the darkness and solitude he continues praying 
 and humbling himself before God. Suddenly a hand is 
 laid upon his shoulder. He thinks that an enemy is seek- 
 ing his life, and with all the energy of despair he wrestles 
 with his assailant. As the day begins to break, the stranger 
 puts forth his superhuman power; at his touch the strong 
 man seems paralyzed, and he falls, a helpless, weeping sup- 
 pliant, upon the neck of his mysterious antagonist. Jacob 
 knows now that it is the Angel of the covenant with whom 
 he has been in conflict. Though disabled, and suffering the 
 keenest pain, he does not relinquish his purpose. Long has 
 he endured perplexity, remorse, and trouble for his sin ; now 
 he must have the assurance that it is pardoned. The divine 
 visitant seems about to depart; but Jacob clings to him, 
 pleading for a blessing. The Angel urges, "Let me go; for 
 the day breaketh;" but the patriarch exclaims, "I will not 
 let thee go, except thou bless me." What confidence, what 
 firmness and perseverance, are here displayed! Had this 
 been a boastful, presumptuous claim, Jacob would have been 
 instantly destroyed ; but his was the assurance of one who 
 confesses his weakness and unworthiness, yet trusts the 
 mercy of a covenant-keeping God. 
 
 " He had power over the Angel, and prevailed." l Through 
 humiliation, repentance, and self-surrender, this sinful, erring 
 mortal prevailed with the Majesty of Heaven. He had 
 fastened his trembling grasp upon the promises of God, and 
 the heart of Infinite Love could not turn away the sinner's 
 plea. As an evidence of his triumph, and an encourage- 
 ment to others to imitate his example, his name was changed 
 from one which was a reminder of his sin, to one that com- 
 memorated his victory. And the fact that Jacob had pre- 
 vailed with God was an assurance that he would prevail 
 with men. He no longer feared to encounter his brother's 
 anger; for the Lord was his defense. 
 
 'Hos. 12:4, 
 
618 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Satan had accused Jacob before the angels of God, claim- 
 ing the right to destroy him because of his sin; he had 
 moved upon Esau to march against him; and during the 
 patriarch's long night of wrestling, Satan endeavored to 
 force upon him a sense of his guilt, in order to discourage 
 him, and break his hold upon God. Jacob was driven 
 almost to despair; but he knew that without help from 
 Heaven he must perish. He had sincerely repented of his 
 great sin, and he appealed to the mercy of God. He would 
 not be turned from his purpose, but held fast the Angel, and 
 urged his petition with earnest, agonizing cries, until he 
 prevailed. 
 
 As Satan influenced Esau to march against Jacob, so he 
 will stir up the wicked to destroy God's people in the time 
 of trouble. And as he accused Jacob, he will urge his accu- 
 sations against the people of God. He numbers the world 
 as his subjects; but the little company who keep the com- 
 mandments of God are resisting his supremacy. If he could 
 blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. 
 He sees that holy angels are guarding them, and lie infers 
 that their sins have been pardoned; but he does not know 
 that their cases have been decided in the sanctuary above. 
 He has an accurate knowledge of the sins which he has 
 tempted them to commit, and he presents these before God 
 in the most exaggerated light, representing this people to 
 be just as deserving as himself of exclusion from the favor 
 of God. He declares that the Lord cannot in justice forgive 1 
 their sins, and yet destroy him and his angels. He claims 
 them as his prey, and demands that they be given into his 
 hands to destroy. 
 
 As Satan accuses the people of God on account of their 
 sins, the Lord permits him to try them to the uttermost. 
 Their confidence in God, their faith and firmness, will be 
 severely tested. As they review the past, their hopes sink; 
 for in their whole lives they can see little good. They ;nv 
 fully conscious of their weakness and ua worthiness. Satan 
 
THE TIME OF TROUJiLfi. 
 
 endeavors to terrify them with the thought that their cases 
 are hopeless, that the stain of their defilement will never 
 bo washed away. He hopes to so destroy their faith that 
 they will yield to his temptations, and turn from their alle- 
 giance to God. 
 
 Though God's people will be surrounded by enemies who 
 are bent upon their destruction, yet the anguish which they 
 suffer is not a dread of persecution for the truth's sake; they 
 fear that every sin has not been repented of, and that 
 through some fault in themselves they shall fail to realize 
 the fulfillment of the Saviour's promise, " I will keep thee 
 frpin the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the 
 world." 1 If they could have the assurance of pardon, they 
 would not shrink from torture or death ; but should they 
 prove unworthy, and lose their lives because of their own 
 defects of character, then God's holy name would be re- 
 proached. 
 
 On every hand they hear the plottings of treason, and see 
 the active working of rebellion; and there is aroused within 
 them an intense desire, an earnest yearning of soul, that this 
 great apostasy may be terminated, and the wickedness of the 
 wicked may come to an end. But while they plead with 
 God to stay the work of rebellion, it is with a keen sense of 
 self-reproach that they themselves have no more power to 
 resist and urge back the mighty tide of evil. They feel that 
 had they always employed all their ability in the service of 
 Christ, going forward from strength to strength, Satan's 
 forces would have less power to prevail against them. 
 
 They afflict their souls before God, pointing to their past 
 repentance of their many sins, and pleading the Saviour's 
 promise, " Let him take hold of my strength, that he may 
 make peace with me ; and he shall make peace with me." " 
 Their faith does not fail because their prayers are not im- 
 mediately answered. Though suffering the keenest anxiety, 
 terror, and distress, tliey do not cease their intercessions. 
 
 . 3:10. 8 Isa. 27 : 5. 
 
620 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 They lay hold of the strength of God as Jacob laid hold of 
 the Angel; and the language of their souls is, " I will not let 
 thee go, except thou bless me." 
 
 Had not Jacob previously repented of his sin in obtaining 
 the birthright by fraud, God would not have heard his 
 prayer and mercifully preserved his life. So, in the time of 
 trouble, if the people of God had unconfessed sins to appear 
 before them while tortured with fear and anguish, they 
 would be overwhelmed; despair would cut off their faith, 
 and they could not have confidence to plead with God for 
 deliverance. But while they have a deep sense of their un- 
 worthiness, they have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their 
 sins have gone beforehand to Judgment, and have been 
 blotted out; and they cannot bring them to remembrance. 
 
 Satan leads many to believe that God will overlook their 
 unfaithfulness in the minor affairs of life; but the Lord 
 shows in his dealings with Jacob that he will in nowise 
 sanction or tolerate evil. All who endeavor to excuse or 
 conceal their sins, and permit them to remain upon the 
 books of Heaven, unconfessed and unforgiven, will be over- 
 come by Satan. The more exalted their profession, and the 
 more honorable the position which they hold, the more 
 grievous is their course in the sight of God, and the more 
 sure the triumph of their great adversary. Those who de- 
 lay a preparation for the day of God cannot obtain it in the 
 time of trouble, or at any subsequent time. The case of all 
 such is hopeless. 
 
 Those professed Christians who come up to that last fear 
 ful conflict unprepared, will, in their despair, confess their 
 sins in words of burning anguish, while the wioked exult 
 over their distress. These confessions are of the same char- 
 acter as was' that of Esau or of Judas. Those who make 
 them lament the result of transgression, but not its guilt. 
 They feel no true contrition, no abhorrence of evil. They 
 acknowledge their sin, through fear of punishment ; but, like 
 Pharaoh of old, they would return to their defiance of 
 Heaven, should the judgments be removed. 
 
THE TIME Of 1 TROUBLE. 621 
 
 Jacob's history is also an assurance that God will not cast 
 off those who have been deceived, and tempted, and betrayed 
 into sin, but who have returned unto him with true repent- 
 ance. While Satan seeks to destroy this class, God will send 
 his angels to comfort and protect them in the time of peril. 
 The assaults of Satan are fierce and determined, his delu- 
 sions are terrible; but the Lord's eye is upon his people, and 
 his ear listens to their cries. Their affliction is great, the 
 flames of the furnace seem about to consume them ; but the 
 Refiner will bring them forth as gold tried in the fire. God's 
 love for his children during the period of their severest trial 
 is as strong and tender as in the days of their sunniest pros- 
 perity; but it is needful for them to be placed in the furnace 
 fire; their earthliness must be consumed that the image of 
 Christ may be perfectly reflected. 
 
 The season of distress and anguish before us will require 
 a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger, a 
 faith that will not faint, though severely tried. The period 
 of probation is granted to all to prepare for that time. Jacob 
 prevailed because he was persevering and determined. His 
 victory is an evidence of the power of importunate prayer. 
 All who will lay hold of God's promises, as he did, and be 
 as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he suc- 
 ceeded. Those who are unwilling to deny self, to agonize 
 before God, to pray long and earnestly for his blessing, will 
 not obtain it. Wrestling with God how few know what it 
 is ! How few have ever had their souls drawn out after God 
 with intensity of desire until every power is on the stretch. 
 When waves of despair which no language can express 
 sweep over the suppliant, how few cling with unyielding 
 faith to the promises of God. 
 
 Those who exercise but little faith now, are in the greatest 
 danger of falling under the power of Satanic delusions and 
 the decree to compel the conscience. And even if they en- 
 dure the test, they will be plunged into deeper distress and 
 anguish, in the time of trouble, because they have never 
 
THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 made it a habit to trust in God. The lessons of faith which 
 they have neglected, they will be forced to learn under a 
 terrible pressure of discouragement. 
 
 We should now acquaint ourselves with God by proving 
 his promises. Angels record every prayer that is earnest 
 and sincere. We should rather dispense with selfish grati- 
 fications than neglect communion with God. The deepest 
 poverty, the greatest self-denial, with his approval, is better 
 than riches, honors, ease, and friendship without it. We 
 must take time to pray. If we allow our minds to be ab- 
 sorbed by worldly interests, the Lord may give us time by 
 removing from us our idols of gold, of houses, or of fertile 
 lands. 
 
 The young would not be seduced into sin if they would 
 refuse to enter any path, save that upon which they could 
 ask God's blessing. If the messengers who bear the last 
 solemn warning to the world would pray for the blessing 
 of God, not in a cold, listless, lazy manner, but fervently and 
 in faith, as did Jacob, they would find many places where 
 they could say, "I have seen God face to face, and my life 
 is preserved." 1 They would be accounted of Heaven as 
 princes, having power to prevail with God and with men. 
 
 The " time of trouble such as never was," is soon to open 
 upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not 
 now possess, and which many are too indolent to obtain. 
 It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation 
 than in reality; but this is not true of the cri sis before us. 
 The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude 
 of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand 
 for himself before God. Though Noah, Daniel, and .Job 
 were in the land, u as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall 
 deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver 
 their own souls by their righteousness." J 
 
 Now, while our great High Priest is making the atone- 
 ment for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not 
 even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to 
 
 1 Gen. 32:30. *Eze.U:20. 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 623 
 
 the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some 
 point where he can gain a foot-hold ; some sinful desire is 
 cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their 
 power. But Christ declared of himself, " The prince of this 
 world cometh, and hath nothing in me." * Satan could find 
 nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain 
 the victory. He had kept his Father's commandments, and 
 there was no sin in him that Satan could use to his advan- 
 tage. This is the condition in which those must be found 
 who shall stand in the time of trouble. 
 
 It is in this life that we are to separate sin from us, through 
 faith in the atoning blood of Christ. Our precious Saviour 
 invites us to join ourselves to him, to unite our weakness 
 to his strength, our ignorance to his wisdom, aur unwor- 
 thiness to his merits. God's providence is the school in 
 which we are to learn the meekness and lowliness of Jesus. 
 The Lord is ever setting before us, not the way we would 
 choose, which seems easier and pleasanter to us, but the 
 true aims of life. It rests with us to co-operate with the 
 agencies which Heaven employs, in the work of conforming 
 our characters to the divine model. None can neglect or 
 defer this work but at the most fearful peril to their souls. 
 
 The apostle John in vision heard a loud voice in Heaven 
 exclaiming, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the 
 sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great 
 wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." 2 
 Fearful are the scenes which call forth this exclamation from 
 the heavenly voice. The wrath of Satan increases as his 
 time grows short, and his work of deceit and destruction will 
 reach its culmination in the time of trouble. 
 
 Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be 
 revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle- 
 working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the 
 kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them 
 in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in his 
 last struggle against the government of Heaven. By these 
 
 1 John 14: 30. 2 Rev. 12:13. 
 
624 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Per- 
 sons will arise pretending to be Christ himself, and claiming 
 the title and worship which belong to the world's Eedeemer. 
 They will perform wonderful miracles of healing, and will 
 profess to have revelations from Heaven contradicting the 
 testimony of the Scriptures. 
 
 As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, 
 Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long 
 professed to look to the Saviour's advent as the consum- 
 mation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make 
 it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the 
 earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic 
 being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of 
 the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. 1 The 
 glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that 
 mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings 
 out upon the air, " Christ has come ! Christ has come ! " The 
 people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while 
 he lifts up his hands, and pronounces a blessing upon them, 
 as Christ blessed his disciples when he was upon the earth. 
 His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gen- 
 tle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gra- 
 cious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals 
 the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed char- 
 acter of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to 
 Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has 
 blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy 
 the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to 
 listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This 
 is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the 
 Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the mul- 
 titudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these 
 sorceries, saying, This is " the great power of God." 9 
 
 But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings 
 of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. 
 His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast 
 
 1 Rev. 1:13-15. 3 Acts. 8:10. 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 625 
 
 and his image, the very class upon whom the Bible de- 
 clares that God's vmmingled wrath shall be poured out. 
 
 And, furthermore, Satan is not permitted to counterfeit 
 the manner of Christ's advent. The Saviour has warned 
 his people against deception upon this point, and has clearly 
 foretold the manner of his second coming. " There shall 
 arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great 
 signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they 
 shall deceive the very elect. . . . Wherefore if they shaH 
 say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth : behold, 
 he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the 
 lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto 
 the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 1 
 This coming, there is 110 possibility of counterfeiting. It will 
 be universally known witnessed by the whole world. 
 
 Only those who have been diligent students of the Script- 
 ures, and who have received the love of the truth, will be 
 shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world 
 captive. By the Bible testimony these will detect the de- 
 ceiver in his disguise. To all, the testing time will come. 
 By the sifting of temptation, the genuine Christian will be 
 revealed. Are the people of God now so firmly estab- 
 lished upon his Word that they would not yield to the evi- 
 dence of their senses? Would they, in such a crisis, cling to 
 the Bible, and the Bible only ? Satan will, if possible, pre- 
 vent them from obtaining a preparation to stand in that 
 day. He will so arrange affairs as to hedge up their way, 
 entangle them with earthly treasures, cause them to carry 
 a heavy, wearisome burden, that their hearts may be over- 
 charged with the cares of this life, and the day of trial may 
 come upon them as a thief. 
 
 As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom 
 against commandment-keepers shall withdraw the protection 
 of government, and abandon them to those who desire their 
 destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and 
 
 *Matt. 24 : 24-27, 31; 25 : 31; Rev. 1 :7; 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17. 
 
626 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 villages, and associate together in companies, dwelling in 
 the most desolate and solitary places. Many will find refuge 
 in the strongholds of the mountains. Like the Christians 
 of the Piedmont valleys, they will make the high places of 
 the earth their sanctuaries, and will thank God for the 
 " munitions of- rocks." 1 But many of all nations, and all 
 classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, will 
 be cast into the most unjust and cruel bondage. The be- 
 loved of God pass weary days, bound in chains, shut in by 
 prison bars, sentenced to be slain, some apparently left to 
 die of starvation in dark and loathsome dungeons. No 
 human ear is open to hear their moans; no human hand 
 is ready to lend them help. 
 
 Will the Lord forget his people in this trying hour? Did 
 he forget faithful Noah when judgments were visited upon 
 the antediluvian world ? Did he forget Lot when the firo 
 came down from Heaven to consume the cities of the plain? 
 Did he forget Joseph surrounded by idolaters in Egypt? 
 Did he forget Elijah when the oath of Jezebel threatened 
 him with the fate of the prophets of Baal? Did he forget 
 Jeremiah in the dark and dismal pit of his prison-house ? 
 Did he forget the three worthies in the fiery furnace? or 
 Daniel in the den of lions ? 
 
 "Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath 
 forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that 
 she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? 
 yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I 
 have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." " The Lord 
 of hosts has said, " He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple 
 of his eye." 3 
 
 Though enemies may thrust them into prison, yet dungeon 
 walls cannot cut off the communication between their souls 
 and Christ. One who sees their every weakness, who is 
 acquainted with every trial, is above all earthly powers; ami 
 angels will conn- to them in lonely cells, bringing light and 
 peace from I lea von. The prison will bo as a palace; for 
 Tsa. 33:16. 'Isa. 49:14-16. Zech. 2:8, 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 627 
 
 the rich in faith dwell there, and the gloomy walls will be 
 lighted up with heavenly light, as when Paul and Silas 
 prayed and sung praises at midnight in the Philippian 
 dungeon. 
 
 God's judgments will be visited upon those who are seek- 
 ing to oppress and destroy his people. His long forbearance 
 with the wicked emboldens men in transgression, but their 
 punishment is none the less certain and terrible because it 
 is long delayed. "The Lord shall rise up as in Mount 
 Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that 
 he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass 
 his act, his strange act." 1 To our merciful God the act of 
 punishment is a strange act. " As I live, saith the Lord 
 God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." a The 
 Lord is " merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant 
 in goodness and truth," "forgiving iniquity and trans- 
 gression and sin." Yet he will "by no means clear the 
 guilty." " The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, 
 and will not at all acquit the wicked."* By terrible things 
 in righteousness he will vindicate the authority of his down- 
 trodden law. The severity of the retribution awaiting the 
 transgressor may be judged by the Lord's reluctance to 
 execute justice. * The nation with which he bears long, and 
 which he will not smite until it has filled up the measure 
 of its iniquity in God's account, will finally drink the cup 
 of wrath unmixed with mercy. 
 
 When Christ ceases his intercession in the sanctuary, the 
 unrningled wrath threatened against those who worship the 
 beast and his image and receive his mark, 4 will be poured 
 out. The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to 
 deliver Israel, were similar in character to those more ter- 
 rible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the 
 world just before the final deliverance of God's people. Says 
 the Eevelator, in describing these terrific scourges, " There 
 fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had 
 
 1 Isa. 28 : 21. * Eze. 33 : 11. s Ex. 34 : 6, 7; Nah. 1 :3. 
 
 4 Rev. 14:9,10. 45 
 
628 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his 
 image." The sea "became as the blood of a dead man, and 
 every living soul died in the sea." And "the rivers and 
 fountains of waters became blood." 1 Terrible as these in- 
 flictions are, God's justice stands fully vindicated. The 
 angel of God declares, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, . , . 
 because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the 
 blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them 
 blood to drink; for they are worthy." l By condemning the 
 people of God to death they have as truly incurred the guilt 
 of their blood, as if it had been shed by their hands. In 
 like manner Christ declared the Jews of his time guilty of 
 all the blood of. holy men which had been shed since the 
 days of Abel ; for they possessed the same spirit, and were 
 seeking to do the same work, with these murderers of the 
 prophets. 
 
 In the plague that follows, power is given to the sun " to 
 scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great 
 heat." l The prophets thus describe the condition of the earth 
 at this fearful time: "The land mournetli; . . . because 
 the harvest of the field is perished." "All the trees 'of the 
 field are withered; because joy is withered away from the 
 sons of men." " The seed is rotten under their clods, the 
 garners are laid desolate." " How do the beasts groan ! the 
 herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. 
 . . . The rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath 
 devoured the pastures of the wilderness." "The songs of 
 the temple shall be bowlings in that day, saith the Lord 
 God; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they 
 shall cast them forth with silence." 2 
 
 These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the 
 earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most 
 awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals. All 
 the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, 
 have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of 
 
 1 Rev. 1C : 2-6, 8, 9. a Joel 1 : 10 -12, 17-20; Amos 8 : 3. 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 629 
 
 Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure 
 of his guilt; but in the final Judgment, wrath is poured out 
 iin mixed with mercy. 
 
 In that day, multitudes will desire the shelter of God's 
 mercy which they have so long despised. "Behold, the 
 days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine 
 in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 
 but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall 
 wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the 
 east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, 
 and shall not find it." ] 
 
 The people of God will not be free from suffering; but 
 while persecuted and distressed, while they endure priva- 
 tion, and suffer for want of food, they will not be left to 
 perish. That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one 
 of his self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs 
 of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they 
 shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger 
 and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous, and supply 
 their wants. To him that " walketh righteously " is the 
 promise, "Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be 
 sure." "When the poor and needy seek water, and there 
 is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will 
 hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." 2 
 
 "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall 
 fruit be in the vines;' the labor of the olive shall fail, and 
 the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off 
 from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; " yet 
 shall they that fear him "rejoice in the Lord," and joy in 
 the God of their salvation. 3 
 
 "The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy 
 right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the 
 moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all 
 evil; he shall preserve thy soul." "He shall deliver thee 
 from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pesti- 
 
 i Amos 8:11,12. a Isa. 33 : IB; 41 : 17. 3 Hab. 3 : 17, 18. 
 
630 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 lence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his 
 wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and 
 buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; 
 nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence 
 that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruction that wasteth 
 at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten 
 thousand at thy right hand; bat it shall not come nigh 
 thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the 
 reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, 
 which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; 
 there shall no evil 'befall thee, neither shall any plague 
 come nigh thy dwelling." * 
 
 Yet to human sight it will appear that the people of God 
 must soon seal their testimony witli their blood, as did the 
 martyrs before them. They themselves begin to fear that 
 the Lord has left them to fall by the hand of their enemies. 
 It is a time of fearful agony. Day and night they cry unto 
 God for deliverance. The wicked exult, and the jeering 
 cry is heard, "Where now is your faith? Why does not 
 God deliver you out of our hands if you are indeed his 
 people ? " But the waiting ones remember Jesus dying upon 
 Calvary's cross, and the chief priests and rulers shouting 
 in mockery, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. 
 If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from 
 the cross, and we will believe him." 5 Like Jacob, all are 
 wrestling with God. Their countenances express their in- 
 ternal struggle. Paleness sits upon every face. Yet they 
 cease not their earnest intercession. 
 
 Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold 
 companies of angels that excel in strength stationed about 
 those who have kept the word of Christ's patience. With 
 sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed their dis- 
 tress, and have heard their prayers. They are waiting the 
 word of their Commander to snatch them from their peril. 
 But they must wait yet a little longer. The people of God 
 
 1 Ps. 121 : 5-7; 91 : 3-10. 2 Matt. 27 : 42. 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 631 
 
 must drink of the cup, and be baptized with the baptism. 
 The very delay, so painful to them, is the best answer to 
 their petitions. As they endeavor to wait trustingly for the 
 Lord to work, they are led to exercise faith, hope, and pa- 
 tience, which have been too little exercised during their 
 religious experience. Yet for the elect's sake, the time of 
 trouble will be shortened. "Shall not God avenge his own 
 elect, which cry day and night unto him? ... I tell 
 you that he will avenge them speedily." l The end will 
 come more quickly than men expect. The wheat will be 
 gathered and bound in sheaves for the garner of God ; the 
 tares will be bound as fagots for the fires of destruction. 
 
 The heavenly sentinels, faithful to their trust, continue 
 their watch. Though^ a general decree has fixed the time 
 w r hen commandment-keepers may be put to death, their 
 enemies will in some cases anticipate the decree, and, before 
 the time specified, will endeavor to take their lives. But none 
 can pass the mighty guardians stationed about every faithful 
 soul. Some are assailed in their flight from the cities and 
 villages ; but the swords raised against them break and fall 
 as powerless as a straw. Others are defended by angels in 
 the form of men of war. 
 
 In all ages, God has wrought through holy angels for the 
 succor and deliverance of his people. Celestial beings have 
 taken an active part in the affairs of men. They have ap- 
 peared clothed in garments that shone as the lightning; 
 they have come as men, in the garb of wayfarers. Angels 
 have appeared in human form to men of God. They have 
 rested, as if weary, under the oaks at noon. They have 
 accepted the hospitalities of human homes. They have 
 acted as guides to benighted travelers. They have, with 
 their own hands, kindled the fires of the altar. They have 
 opened prison doors, and set free the servants of the Lord. 
 Clothed with the panoply of Heaven, they came to roll away 
 the stone from the Saviour's tomb. 
 
 In the form of men, angels are often in the assemblies of 
 
 ^ Luke 18: 7, 8. 
 
632 THE GREAT COXTX 
 
 the righteous, and they visit the assemblies of the wicked, 
 as they went to Sodom, to make a record of their deeds, to 
 determine whether they have passed the boundary of God's 
 forbearance. The Lord delights in me'rcy; and for the sake 
 of a few who really serve him, he restrains calamities, and 
 prolongs the tranquillity of multitudes. Little do sinners 
 against God realize that they are indebted for their own 
 lives to the faithful few whom they delight to ridicule and 
 oppress. 
 
 Though the rulers of this world know it not, yet often 
 in their councils angels have been spokesmen. Human 
 eyes have looked upon them ; human ears have listened to 
 their appeals; human lips have opposed their suggestions 
 and ridiculed their counsels; human hands have met them 
 with insult and abuse. In the council hall and the court 
 of justice, these heavenly messengers have shown an inti- 
 mate acquaintance with human history ; they have proved 
 themselves better able to plead the cause of the oppressed 
 than were their ablest and most eloquent defenders. They 
 have defeated purposes and arrested evils that would have 
 greatly retarded the work of God, and would have caused 
 great suffering to his people. In the hour of peril and dis- 
 tress, " the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
 that fear him, and delivereth them." l 
 
 With earnest longing, God^s people await the tokens of 
 their coming King. As the watchmen are accosted, "What 
 of the night ?" the answer is given unfalteringly, "'The 
 morning corn eth, and also the night.' 2 Light is gleaming 
 upon the clouds above the mountain tops. Soon there will 
 be a revealing of His glory. The Sun of Righteousness is 
 about to shine forth. The morning and the night are both 
 at hand, the opening of endless day to the righteous, the 
 settling down of eternal night to the wicked/' 
 
 As tliu wrestling ones urge their petitions before God, the 
 veil separating them from the unseen seems almost with.- 
 
 1 Pa. 34:7. "Isa. 21 :11, 12. 
 
THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 633 
 
 drawn. The heavens glow with the dawning of eternal day; 
 and, like the melody of angel songs, the words fall upon 
 the ear, "Stand fast to your allegiance. Help is coming." 
 Christ, the almighty victor, holds out to his weary soldiers 
 a crown of immortal glory; and his voice comes from the 
 gates ajar: "Lo, I am with you. Be not afraid. I am ac- 
 quainted with all your sorrows; I have borne your griefs. 
 You are not warring against untried enemies. I have 
 fought the battle in your behalf, and in my name you are 
 more than conquerors." 
 
 The precious Saviour will send help just when we need 
 it. The way to Heaven is consecrated by his foot-prints. 
 Every thorn 'that wounds our feet has wounded his. Every 
 cross that we are called to bear, he has borne before us. 
 The Lord permits conflicts, to prepare the soul for peace. 
 The time of trouble is a fearful ordeal for God's people; 
 but it is the time for every true believer to look up, and by 
 faith he may see the bow of promise encircling him. 
 
 " The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with 
 singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their 
 head; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and 
 mourning shall flee away. I, even I, am he that comforteth 
 you; who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man 
 that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made 
 as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker; . . . and 
 hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the 
 oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy?. and where is the 
 fury of the oppressor ? The captive exile hasteneth that he 
 may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor 
 that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, 
 that divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of 
 hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, 
 and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand." 
 
 " Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, 
 but not with wine: Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy 
 God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have 
 
634 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the 
 dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it 
 again. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict 
 thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may 
 go over; and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and 
 as the street, to them that went over." 1 
 
 The eye of God, looking down the ages, was fixed upon 
 the crisis which his people are to meet, when earthly powers 
 shall be arrayed against them. Like the captive exile, they 
 will be in fear of death by starvation or by violence. But 
 the Holy One who divided the Red Sea before Israel, will 
 manifest his mighty power and turn their captivity. "They 
 shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when 
 I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man 
 spareth his own son that serveth him." 2 If the blood of 
 Christ's faithful witnesses were shed at this time, it would 
 not, like the blood of the martyrs, be as seed sown to yield 
 a harvest for God. Their fidelity would not be a testimony 
 to convince others of the truth ; for the obdurate heart has 
 beaten back the waves of mercy until they return no more. 
 If the righteous were now left to fall a prey to their enemies, 
 it would be a triumph for the prince of darkness. Says the 
 psalmist, " In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his 
 pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me." 3 
 Christ has spoken : " Come, my people, enter thou into thy 
 chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as 
 it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over- 
 past. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to 
 punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." 4 
 Glorious will be the deliverance of those who have patiently 
 waited for his coming, and- whose names are written in the 
 book of life. 
 
 Usa. 61: 11-16, 21-23. * Mai. 3:17. Pa. 27:5. 4 Isa. 26 : 20, 2L 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 
 
 WHEN the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn 
 from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in dif- 
 ferent lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. 
 As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the people 
 will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be deter- 
 mined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall 
 utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof. 
 
 The people of God some in prison cells, some hidden in 
 solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains still plead 
 for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of 
 armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing 
 for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost 
 extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the de- 
 liverance of his chosen. Saith the Lord: "Ye shall have 
 a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and 
 gladness of heart, as when one goeth ... to come 
 into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Might/ One of Israel. 
 And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to ^e heard, and 
 shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indig- 
 nation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, 
 with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones." l 
 
 With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs 
 of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when lo, a 
 dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls 
 upon the earth. Then a rainbow, shining with the glory 
 from the throne of God, spans the heavens, and seems to 
 encircle each praying company. The angry multitudes are 
 
 30:29,30. 
 
 (635) 
 
636 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The 
 objects of their murderous rage are forgotten. With fearful 
 forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God's covenant, 
 and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness. 
 
 By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is 
 heard, saying, "Look up," and, lifting their eyes to the 
 heavens, they behold the bow of promise. The black, 
 angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and 
 like Stephen they look up steadfastly into Heaven, and see 
 the glory of God, and the Son of man seated upon his throne. 
 In his divine form they discern the marks of his humilia- 
 tion; and from his lips they hear the request, presented 
 before his Father and the holy angels, "I will that they 
 also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." l 
 Again a voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying, 
 "They come! they come! holy, harmless, and undefiled. 
 They have kept the word of my patience; they shall walk 
 among the angels;" and the pale, quivering lips of those 
 who have held fast their faith, utter a shout of victory. 
 
 It is at midnight that God manifests his power for the 
 deliverance of his people. The sun appears, shining in its 
 strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. 
 The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, 
 while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of 
 their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out 
 of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy 
 clouds come up, and clash against each other. In the midst 
 of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable 
 glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many 
 waters, saying, " It is done." '' 
 
 That voir<> shakes the heavens and the earth. There is 
 a mighty earthquake, "such as was not since men. were 
 upon 1he earth, so mighty an earthquake mid so great." 2 
 The {ii-maiueiit, appears to open and shut. The glory from 
 the throne of God seems flashing through. The mount- 
 
 'John 17 :24. Rev. 16 : 17, 18. 
 
vert Expressly for Great Controversy. 
 
 Copyrighted 1890. 
 
 THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 CF 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 637 
 
 ains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are 
 scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming 
 tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the 
 shriek of the hurricane, like the voice of demons upon a 
 mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells 
 like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. 
 Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain 
 chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The 
 seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness, are 
 swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the Great hath 
 come in remembrance before God, "to give unto her the 
 < cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." 1 Great 
 hailstones, every one "about the weight of a talent," are 
 doing their work of destruction. The proudest cities of 
 the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the 
 world's great men have lavished their wealth in order 
 to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their 
 eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God's people, who 
 have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free. 
 
 Graves are opened, and " many of them that sleep in the 
 dust of the earth" "awake, some to everlasting life, and 
 some to shame and everlasting contempt," 2 All who have 
 died in the faith of the third angel's message come forth 
 from the tomb glorified, to hear God's covenant of peace 
 with those who have kept his law. " They also which pierced 
 Him," 3 those that mocked and derided Christ's dying agonies, 
 and the most violent opposers of his truth and his people, 
 are raised to behold him in his glory, and to see the honor 
 placed upon the loyal and obedient. 
 
 Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and 
 then breaks through, appearing like the avenging eye of 
 Jehovah. Fierce lightnings leap from the heavens, envel- 
 oping the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the terrific roar 
 of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the doom 
 of the wicked. The words spoken are not comprehended 
 
 1 Rev. 16:19, 21. 2 Dan. 12:2. 3 Rev. 1:7. 
 
638 THE ORE A T CONTRO VERS Y. 
 
 by all; but they are distinctly understood by the false 
 teachers. Those who a little before were so reckless, so 
 boastful and defiant, so exultant in their cruelty to God's 
 commandment-keeping people, are now overwhelmed with 
 consternation, and shuddering in fear. Their wails arc 
 heard above the sound of the elements. Demons acknowl- 
 edge the divinity of Christ," and tremble before his power, 
 while men are supplicating for mercy, and groveling in 
 abject terror. 
 
 Said the prophets of old as they beheld in holy vision the 
 day of God: "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; 
 it shall come as a destruction from -the Almighty." l " Enter 
 into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, 
 and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man 
 shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be 
 bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that 
 day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every 
 one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is 
 lifted up; and he shall be brought low." "In that day 
 a man shall cast the idols of his silver, and the idols of his 
 gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to 
 the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, 
 and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, 
 and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake 
 terribly the earth." 2 
 
 Through a rift in the clouds, there beams a star whose 
 brilliancy is increased fourfold in contrast with the dark- 
 ness. It speaks hope and joy to the faithful, but severity 
 and wrath to the transgressors of God's law. Those who 
 have sacrificed all for Christ are now secure, hidden as in 
 the secret of the Lord's pavilion. They have been tested, 
 and before the world and the despisers of truth they havo 
 evinced their fidelity to Him who died for them. A mar- 
 velous change has come over those who have held fast their 
 integrity in the very face of death. They have been sud- 
 
 1 Isa. 13:6. a Isa. 2 : 10-12, 20, 21 (margin). 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELI VERED. 639 
 
 denly delivered from the dark and terrible tyranny of men 
 transformed to demons. Their faces, so lately pale, anxious, 
 and haggard, are now aglow with wonder, faith, and love. 
 Their voices rise in triumphant song: "God is our refuge 
 and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will 
 not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the 
 mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the 
 waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains 
 shake with the swelling thereof." l 
 
 While these words of holv trust ascend to God, the clouds 
 sweep back, and the starry heavens are .seen, unspeakably 
 glorious in contrast with the black and angry firmament 
 on either side. The glory of the celestial city streams from 
 the gates ajar. Then there appears against the sky a hand 
 holding two tables of stone folded together. Says the prophet, 
 "The heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is 
 judge himself." * That holy law, God's righteousness, that 
 amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as the 
 guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment. 
 The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the precepts 
 of the decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The words 
 are so plain that all can read them. Memory is aroused, the 
 darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every mind, 
 and God's ten words, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, 
 are presented to the view of all the inhabitants of the earth. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those 
 who have trampled upon God's holy requirements. The 
 Lord gave them his law ; they might have compared their 
 characters with it, and learned their defects while there was 
 yet opportunity for repentance and reform ; but in order to 
 secure the favor of the world, they set aside its precepts 
 and taught others to transgress. They have endeavored 
 to compel God's people to profane his Sabbath. Now they 
 are condemned by that law which they have despised. 
 With awful distinctness they see that they are without ex- 
 
 46:1-3. 2 Pa. 50:6. 
 
640 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 cuse. They chose whom they would serve and worship. 
 " Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous 
 and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him 
 that serveth him not." l 
 
 The enemies of God's law, from the ministers down to the 
 least among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. 
 Too late they see that the Sabbath of the fourth command- 
 ment is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the 
 true nature of their spurious sabbath, and the sandy foun- 
 dation upon which they have Jbeen building. They find 
 that they have been fighting against God. Religious teach- 
 ers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them 
 to the gates of Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts 
 will it be known how great is the responsibility of men in 
 holy office, and how terrible are the results of their unfaith- 
 fulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss 
 of a single soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom 
 God shall say, Depart, thou wicked servant. 
 
 The voice of God is heard from Heaven, declaring the 
 day and hour of Jesus' coming, and delivering the ever- 
 lasting covenant to his people. Like peals of loudest thun- 
 der, his words roll through the earth. The Israel of God 
 stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their coun- 
 tenances are lighted up with his glory, and shine as did the 
 face of Moses when he came down from Sinai. The wicked 
 cannot look upon them. And when the blessing is pro- 
 nounced on those who have honored God by keeping his 
 Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of victory. 
 
 Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about 
 half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which sur- 
 rounds the Saviour, and which seems in the distance to be 
 shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be 
 the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze 
 upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and 
 more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory 
 
 l Mal. 3:18. 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 641 
 
 like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the cove- 
 nant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. Not now 
 a " man of sorrows," to drink the bitter cup of shame and 
 woe, he comes, victor in Heaven and earth, to judge the 
 living and the dead. " Faithful and True," " in righteous- 
 ness he doth judge and make war." And "the armies in 
 Heaven follow him." 1 With anthems of celestial melody 
 the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend him on 
 his way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms, 
 "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
 sands." No human pen can portray the scene, nor mortal 
 mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. " His glory cov- 
 ered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And 
 his brightness was as the light."" As the living cloud 
 comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No 
 crown of thorns now mars that sacred head, but a diadem 
 of glory rests on his holy brow. His countenance outshines 
 the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. "And he hath 
 on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of 
 kings, and Lord of lords." 3 
 
 Before his presence, "all faces are turned into paleness;" 
 upon the rejecters of God's mercy falls the terror of eternal 
 despair. " The heart melteth, and the knees smite together," 
 " and the faces of them all gather bl ackness." * The righteous 
 cry with trembling, " Who shall be able to stand?" The 
 angels' song is hushed, and there is a period of awful silence. 
 Then the voice of Jesus is heard, saying, " My grace is suf- 
 ficient for you." The faces of the righteous are lighted up, 
 and joy fills every heart. And the angels strike a note 
 higher, and sing again, as they draw still nearer to the earth. 
 
 The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in 
 flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, 
 the earth trembles before him, and every mountain and 
 island is moved out of its place. " Our God shall come, and 
 
 J Rev. 19 : 1 1, 14. 2 Hah. 3 : 3, 4, 8 Rev. 19 : 16. 
 
 *Jer. 30:6; Nah. 2:10. 
 46 
 
642 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and 
 it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall 
 call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he 
 may judge his people." l 
 
 "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the 
 rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and 
 every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the 
 dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the 
 mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face 
 of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of 
 the Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath is come ; and who 
 shall be able to stand? " 2 
 
 The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed 
 into silence. The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, " with 
 confused noise, and garments rolled in blood," 3 is stilled. 
 Naught now is heard but the voice of prayer and the sound 
 of weeping and lamentation. The cry bursts forth from 
 lips so lately scoffing, " The great day of His wrath is come; 
 and who shall be able to stand?" The wicked pray to be 
 buried beneath the rocks of the mountains, rather than meet 
 the face of Him whom they have despised and rejected. 
 
 That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead, they 
 know. How often have its plaintive, tender tones called 
 them to repentance. How often has it been heard in the 
 touching entreaties of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. To 
 the rejecters of his grace, no other could be so full of con- 
 demnation, so burdened with denunciation, as that voice 
 which has so long pleaded, "Turn ye, turn ye from your 
 evil ways; for why will ye die?" 4 Oh that it were to them 
 the voice of a stranger! Says Jesus: " I have called, and ye 
 refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man re- 
 garded. But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and 
 would none of my reproof." 5 That voice awakens memories 
 which they would fain blot out, warnings despised, invi- 
 tations refused, privileges slighted. 
 
 1 Ps. 50 : 3, 4. Rev. 6 : 15-17. 3 laa. 9 : 5. 
 
 * Eze. 33 : 11. 5 Frov. 1 : 24, 25. 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 643 
 
 There are those who mocked Christ in his humiliation. 
 With thrilling power come to their minds the Sufferers 
 words, when, adjured by the high priest, he solemnly de- 
 clared, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting 
 on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of 
 heaven." 1 Now they behold him in his glory, and they 
 are yet to see him sitting on the right hand of power. 
 
 Those who derided his claim to be the Son of God are 
 speechless now. There is the haughty Herod who jeered 
 at his royal title, and bade the mocking soldiers crown him 
 king. There are the very men who with impious hands 
 placed upon his form the purple robe, upon his sacred brow 
 the thorny crown, and in his unresisting hand the mimic 
 scepter, and bowed before him in blasphemous mockery. 
 The men who smote and spit upon the Prince of life, now 
 turn from his piercing gaze, and seek to flee from the over- 
 powering glory of his presence. Those who drove the nails 
 through his hands and feet, the soldier who pierced his side, 
 behold these marks with terror and remorse. 
 
 With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall the 
 events of Calvary. With shuddering horror they remember 
 how, wagging their heads in Satanic exultation, they ex- 
 claimed, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he 
 be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the 
 cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God ; let him 
 deliver him now, if he will have him." a 
 
 Vividly they recall the Saviour's parable of the husband- 
 men who refused to render to their lord the fruit of the 
 vineyard, who abused his servants and slew his son. They 
 remember, too, the sentence which they themselves pro- 
 nounced : The lord of the vineyard will miserably destroy 
 those wicked men. In the sin and punishment of those 
 unfaithful men, the priests and elders see their own course 
 and their own just doom. And now there rises a cry of 
 mortal agony. Louder than the shout, " Crucify him! cru- 
 cify him!" which rang through the streets of Jerusalem, 
 
 1 Matt, 26 : 64. 2 Matt. 27 : 42, 43. 
 
644 777^ GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 swells the awful, despairing wail, " He is the Son of God ! 
 He is the true Messiah ! " They seek to flee from the pres- 
 ence of the King of kings. In the deep caverns of the earth, 
 rent asunder by the warring of the elements, they vainly 
 attempt to hide. 
 
 In the lives of all who reject truth, there are moments 
 when conscience awakens, when memory presents the tor- 
 turing recollection of a life of hypocrisy, and the soul is har- 
 assed with vain regrets. But what are these compared with 
 the remorse of that day when "fear cometh as desolation," 
 when "destruction cometh as a whirlwind!" 1 Those who 
 would have destroyed Christ and his faithful people, now 
 witness the glory which rests upon them. In the midst of 
 their terror they hear the voices of the saints in joyful strains 
 exclaiming, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, 
 and he will save us." 2 
 
 Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and 
 the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth 
 the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the right- 
 eous, then raising his hands to heaven he cries, "Awake, 
 awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise ! " Through- 
 out the length and breadth of the earth, the dead shall hear 
 that voice; and they that hear shall live. And the whole 
 earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army 
 of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. From the 
 prison-house of death they come, clothed with immortal 
 glory, crying, "O death, where is thy sting? grave, w r here 
 is thy victory?" 3 And the living righteous and the risen 
 saints unite their voices in a long, glad shout of victory. 
 
 All come forth from their graves the same in stature as 
 when they entered the tomb. Adam, who stands among 
 the risen throng, is of lofty height and majestic form, in 
 stature but ' little below the Son of (Jod. JIc presents a 
 marked contrast to the people of later generations; in this 
 one respect is shown the great degeneracy of the race. But 
 1 Prov. 1 : 27. 3 Isa. 25 : 9. 3 1 Cor. 15 : 55. 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 
 
 645 
 
 all arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. In 
 the beginning, man was created in the likeness of God, not 
 only in character, but in form and feature. Sin defaced and 
 almost obliterated the divine image; but Christ came to 
 restore that which had been lost. He will change our vile 
 bodies, and fashion them like unto his glorious body. The 
 mortal, corruptible form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted 
 with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful, and immortal. All 
 blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. Restored 
 to the tree of life in the long-lost Eden, the redeemed will 
 " grow up " l to the full stature of the race in its primeval 
 glory. The last lingering traces of the curse of sin will be 
 removed, and Christ's faithful ones will appear "in the 
 beauty of the Lord our God ; " in mind and soul and body 
 reflecting the perfect image of their Lord. Oh, wonderful 
 redemption! long talked of, long hoped for, contemplated 
 with eager anticipation, but never fully understood. 
 
 The living righteous are changed "in a moment, in the 
 twinkling of an eye." At the voice of God they were glo- 
 rified; now they are made immortal, and with the risen 
 saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels 
 "gather together the elect from the four winds, from one 
 end of heaven to the other." Little children are borne by 
 holy angels to their mothers' arms. Friends long separated 
 by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of 
 gladness ascend together to the city of God. 
 
 On each side of the cloudy chariot are wings, and beneath 
 it are living wheels; and as the chariot rolls upward, the 
 wheels cry, " Holy," and the wings, as they move, cry, 
 " Holy," and the retinue of angels cry, " Holy, holy, holy, 
 Lord God Almighty." And the redeemed shout " Alleluia ! " 
 as the chariot moves onward toward the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Before entering the city of God, the Saviour bestows upon 
 his followers the emblems of victory, and invests them with 
 the insignia of their royal state. The glittering ranks are 
 
 *Mal. 4:2. 
 
64.fi THE ORE A T CON TR I 'Kits } '. 
 
 drawn up, in the form of a hollow square, about their King, 
 whose form rises in majesty high above saint and angel, 
 whose countenance beams upon them full of benignant love. 
 Throughout the unnumbered host of the redeemed, every 
 glance is fixed upon him, every eye beholds His glory whose 
 " visage was so marred more than any man, and his form 
 more than the sons of men." Upon the heads of the over- 
 comers, Jesus with his own right hand places the crown of 
 glory. For each there is a crown, bearing his own "new 
 name," 1 and the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." In 
 every hand are placed the victor's palm and the shining 
 harp. Then, as the commanding angels strike the note, 
 every hand sweeps the harp strings with skillful touch, 
 awaking sweet music in rich, melodious strains. Rapture 
 unutterable thrills every heart, and each voice is raised in 
 grateful praise: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
 and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and 
 dominion forever and ever." 2 
 
 Before the ransomed throng is the holy city. Jesus opens 
 wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the 
 truth enter in. There they behold the Paradise of God, the 
 home of Adam in his innocency. Then that voice, richer 
 than any music that ever fell on mortal ear, is heard, say- 
 ing, " Your conflict is ended." "Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world." 
 
 Now is fulfilled the Saviour's prayer for his disciples, "I 
 will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me 
 where I am." " Faultless before the presence of His glory 
 with exceeding joy," s Christ presents to the Father the pur- 
 chase of his blood, declaring, " Here am I, and the children 
 whom thou hast given me." " Those that thou gavest me 
 I have kept." Oh, the wonders of redeeming love! the 
 rapture of that hour when the infinite Father, looking 
 
 1 Rev. 2:17. 2 Rev.l:5, 6. Jude24. 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 64? 
 
 upon the ransomed, shall behold his image, sin's discord 
 banished, its blight removed, and the human once more in 
 harmony with the divine ! 
 
 With unutterable love, Jesus welcomes his faithful ones 
 to the "joy of their Lord." The Saviour's joy is in seeing, 
 in the kingdom of glory, the souls that have been saved by 
 his agony and humiliation. And the redeemed will be 
 sharers in this joy, as they behold, among the blessed, those 
 who have been won to Christ through their prayers, their 
 labors, and loving sacrifice. As they gather about the great 
 white throne, gladness unspeakable will fill their hearts, 
 when they behold those whom they have won for Christ, and 
 see that one has gained others, and these still others, all 
 brought into the haven of rest, there to lay their crowns at 
 Jesus' feet, and praise him through the endless cycles of 
 eternity. 
 
 As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the city of God, 
 there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. 
 The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is 
 standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our 
 race, the being whom he created, who sinned against his 
 Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are 
 borne upon the Saviour's form. As Adam discerns the 
 prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom 
 of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at his feet, 
 crying, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" 
 Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up, and bids him look once 
 more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been 
 exiled. 
 
 After his expulsion from Eden, Adam's life on earth was 
 filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sac- 
 rifice, every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain 
 upon man's purity, was afresh reminder of .liis siu. Ter- 
 rible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abound- 
 ing, and, in answer to his warnings, met the reproach os cast 
 upon himself as the cause of sin.- With patient humility 
 
648 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 he bore, for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of trans- 
 gression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin, and trust in 
 the merits of the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope 
 of a resurrection. The Son of God redeemed man's failure 
 and fall, and now, through the work of the atonement, Adam 
 is re-instated in his first dominion. 
 
 Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once 
 his delight, the very trees whose fruit he himself had gath- 
 ered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines 
 that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he 
 once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the 
 scene; he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, 
 more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The 
 Saviour leads him to the tree of life, and plucks the glorious 
 fruit, and bids him eat. He looks about him, and beholds 
 a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise 
 of God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of 
 Jesus, and, falling upon his breast, embraces the Redeemer. 
 He touches the golden harp, and the vaults of Heaven echo 
 the triumphant song, "Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain, and lives again! " The family of Adam take 
 up the strain, and cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet as 
 they bow before him in adoration. 
 
 This reunion is witnessed by the angels who wept at the 
 fall of Adam, and rejoiced when Jesus, after his resurrection, 
 ascended to Heaven, having opened the grave for all who 
 should believe on his name. Now they behold the work 
 of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in 
 the song of praise. 
 
 Upon the crystal sea before the throne, that sea of glass 
 as it were mingled with fire, so resplendent is it with the 
 glory of God, are gathered the company that have "gotten 
 li., victory over the. beast, and over his image, and over his 
 11 1. -irk. a; id over" the number of his name." 1 With the Lamb 
 upon Mount /ion, "having the harps of God," they stand, 
 
 . 15:2. 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 649 
 
 the hundred and forty and four thousand that were re- 
 deemed from among men ; and there is heard, as the sound 
 of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder, " the 
 voice of harpers harping with their harps." l And they sing 
 " a new song " before the throne, a song which no man can 
 learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand. It 
 is the song of Moses and the Lamb, a song of deliverance. 
 None but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn 
 that song; for it is the song of their experience, an ex- 
 . perience such as no other company have ever had. " These 
 are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
 These, having been translated from the earth, from among 
 the living, are counted as "the first-fruits unto God and to 
 the Lamb." "These are they which came out of great 
 tribulation;" 1 they have passed through the time of trouble 
 such as never was since there was a nation ; they have en- 
 dured the anguish of the time of Jacob's trouble; they have 
 stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring 
 of God's judgments. But they have been delivered, for they 
 have "washed their robes, and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb." "In their mouth was found no guile; 
 for they are without fault" before God. "Therefore are they 
 before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in 
 his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell 
 among them." 1 They have seen the earth wasted with, 
 famine and pestilence, the sun having power to scorch men 
 with great heat, and they themselves have endured suffering, 
 hunger, and thirst. But "they shall hunger no more; nei- 
 ther thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, 
 nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the 
 throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
 fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from 
 their eyes." ' 
 
 In all ages the Saviour's chosen have been educated and 
 disciplined in the school of trial. They walked in narrow 
 1 Rev. 14:1-5; 18:3; 7:14-17. 
 
650 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 paths on earth; they were purified in the furnace of afflic- 
 tion. For Jesus' *sake they endured opposition, hatred, cal- 
 umny. They followed him through conflicts sore; they 
 endured self-denial and experienced bitter disappointments. 
 By their own painful experience they learned the evil of 
 sin, its power, its guilt, its woe; and they look upon it with 
 abhorrence. A sense of the infinite sacrifice made for its 
 cure, humbles them in their own sight, and fills their hearts 
 with gratitude and praise which those who have never fallen 
 cannot appreciate. They love much, because they have been 
 forgiven much. Having been partakers of Christ's suffer- 
 ings, they are fitted to be partakers with him of his glory. 
 
 The heirs of God have come from garrets, from hovels, 
 from dungeons, from scaffolds, from mountains, from deserts, 
 from the caves of the earth, from the caverns of the sea. 
 On earth they were " destitute, afflicted, tormented." Mill- 
 ions went down to the grave loaded with infamy, because 
 they steadfastly refused to yield to the deceptive claims of 
 Satan. By human, tribunals they were adjudged the vilest 
 of criminals. But now "God is judge himself." 1 Now the 
 decisions of earth are reversed. " The rebuke of his people 
 shall he take away." 2 " They shall call them, The holy peo- 
 ple, The redeemed of the Lord." He hath appointed "to 
 give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn- 
 .ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 1 
 They are no longer feeble, afflicted, scattered, and oppressed. 
 Henceforth they are to be ever with the Lord. They stand 
 before the throne clad in richer robes than the most honored 
 of the earth have ever worn. They are crowned with dia- 
 dems more glorious than were ever placed upon the brow of 
 earthly monarchs. The days of pain and weeping are for- 
 ever ended. The King of glory has wiped the tears from 
 all faces; every cause of grief has been removed. Amid 
 the waving of palm-branches they pour forth a song of 
 praise, clear, sweet, and harmonious ; every voice takes up 
 
 ^s. 50:6. 3 Isa.25:8- " Isa. 62 : 12; 61 : 3. 
 
GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED. 
 
 651 
 
 the strain, until the anthem swells through the vaults of 
 Heaven, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb." And all the inhabitants of 
 Heaven respond in the ascription, "Amen: Blessing, and 
 glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
 and might, be unto our God forever and ever." 
 
 In this life we can only begin to understand the wonder- 
 ful theme of redemption. With our finite comprehension 
 we may consider most earnestly the shame and the glory* 
 the life and the death, the justice and the mercy, that meet 
 in the cross; yet with the utmost stretch of our mental pow- 
 ers we fail to grasp its full significance. The length and 
 the breadth, the depth and the height of redeeming love 
 are but dimly comprehended. The plan of redemption will 
 not be fully understood, even when the ransomed see as they 
 are seen and know as they are known; but through the 
 eternal ages, new truth will continually unfold to the won- 
 dering and delighted mind. Though the griefs and pains 
 and temptations of earth are ended, and the cause removed, 
 the people of God will ever have a distinct, intelligent knowl- 
 edge of what their salvation has cost. 
 
 The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of 
 the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they 
 will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that 
 He whose pow r er created and upheld the unnumbered worlds 
 through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the 
 Majesty of Heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph 
 delighted to adore, humbled himself to uplift fallen man ; 
 that he bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of 
 his Father's face, till the woes of a lost world broke his heart, 
 and crushed out his life on Calvary's cross. That the Maker 
 of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside 
 his glory, and humiliate himself from love to man, will 
 ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As 
 the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer, and be- 
 
 J Rev. 7:10, 12. 
 
652 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 hold the eternal glory of the Father shining in his counte- 
 nance; as they behold his throne, which is from everlasting 
 to everlasting, and know that his kingdom is to have no end, 
 they break forth in rapturous song, " Worthy, worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his 
 own most precious blood ! " 
 
 The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries. In 
 the light that streams from Calvary, the attributes of God 
 which had filled us with fear and awe appear beautiful and 
 attractive. Mercy, tenderness, and parental love are seen to 
 blend with holiness, justice, and power. While we behold 
 the majesty of his throne, high and lifted up, we see his 
 character in its gracious manifestations, and comprehend, 
 as never before, the significance of that endearing title, our 
 Father. 
 
 It will be seen that He who is infinite in wisdom could 
 devise no plan for our salvation except the sacrifice of his 
 Son. The compensation for this sacrifice is the joy of peo- 
 pling the earth with ransomed beings, holy, happy, and 
 immortal. The result of the Saviour's conflict with the 
 powers of darkness is joy to the redeemed, redounding to 
 the glory of God, throughout eternity. And such is the 
 value of the soul that the Father is satisfied with the price 
 paid ; and Christ himself, beholding the fruits of his great 
 sacrifice, is satisfied. 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 
 
 "HER sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath 
 remembered her iniquities." " In the cup which she hath 
 filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified her- 
 self, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give 
 her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no 
 widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues 
 come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and 
 she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord 
 God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who 
 have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, 
 shall bewail her, and lament for her, ... saying, Alas, 
 alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one 
 hour is thy judgment come." ! 
 
 "The merchants of the earth," that have "waxed rich 
 through the abundance of her delicacies," " shall stand afar 
 off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and 
 saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine 
 linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and 
 precious stones, and pearls ! For in one hour so great riches 
 is come to naught." l 
 
 Such are the judgments that fall upon Babylon in the 
 day of the visitation of God's wrath. She has filled up the 
 measure of her iniquity; her time has come; she is ripe for 
 destruction. 
 
 When the voice of God turns the captivity of his people, 
 there is a terrible awakening of those who have lost all in 
 the great conflict of life. While probation continued, they 
 were blinded by Satan's deceptions, and they justified their 
 
 . 18:5-10, 3, 15-17. 
 
 (8M) 
 
654 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 course of sin. The rich prided themselves upon their supe- 
 riority to those who were less favored; but they had ob- 
 tained their riches by violation of the law of God. They 
 had neglected to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to 
 deal justly, and to love mercy. They had sought to exalt 
 themselves, and to obtain the homage of their fellow-creat- 
 ures. Now they are stripped of all that made them great, 
 and are left destitute and defenseless. They look with terror 
 upon the destruction of the idols which they preferred be- 
 fore their Maker. They have sold their souls for earthly 
 riches and enjoyments, and have not sought to become rich 
 toward God. The result is, their lives are a failure; their 
 pleasures are now turned to gall, their treasures to corrup- 
 tion. The gain of a life-time is swept away in a moment. 
 The r;ch bemoan the destruction of their grand houses, the 
 scattering of their gold and silver. But their lamentations 
 are silenced by the fear that they themselves are to perish 
 with their idols. 
 
 The wicked are filled with regret, not because of their 
 sinful neglect of God and their fellow-men, but because God 
 has conquered. They lament that the result is what it is; 
 but they do not repent of their wickedness. They would 
 leave no means untried to conquer if they could. 
 
 The world see the very class whom they have mocked 
 and derided, and desired to exterminate, pass unharmed 
 through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake. He who is 
 to the transgressors of his law a devouring fire, is to his 
 people a safe pavilion. 
 
 The minister who lias sacrificed trutli to gain the favor 
 of men, now discerns the character and influence of his 
 teachings. It is apparent that an omniscient eye was fol- 
 lowing him as he stood in the desk, as he walked the streets, 
 as he mingled with men in the various scenes of life. Every 
 emotion of the soul, every line written, every word uttered, 
 every act that led men to rest in a refuge of falsehood, has 
 been scattering seed; ;m<l now, in the wretched, lost souls 
 around him, he beholds the harvest. 
 
DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 655 
 
 Saith the Lord: "They have healed the hurt of the 
 daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when 
 there is no peace." "With lies ye have made the heart 
 of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and 
 strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not 
 return from His wicked way, by promising him life." * 
 
 " Woe be unto the pastors tl^at destroy and scatter the 
 sheep of my pasture ! . . . Behold, I will visit upon you 
 the evil of your doings." "Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; 
 and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock; 
 for your days for slaughter and your dispersions are accom- 
 plished; . . . and the shepherds shall have no way to 
 flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape." 2 
 
 Ministers and people see that they have not sustained the 
 right relation to God. They see that they have rebelled 
 against the Author of all just and righteous law. The set- 
 ting aside of the divine precepts gave rise to thousands of 
 springs of evil, discord, hatred, iniquity, until the earth 
 became one vast field of strife, one sink of corruption. This 
 is the view that now appears to those who rejected truth 
 and chose to cherish error. No language can express the 
 longing which the disobedient and disloyal feel for that 
 which they have lost forever, eternal life. Men whom the 
 world has worshiped for their talents and eloquence now 
 see these things in their true light. They realize what they 
 have forfeited by transgression, and they fall at the feet of 
 those whose fidelity they have despised and derided, and 
 confess that God has loved them. 
 
 The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse 
 one another of having led them to destruction; but all unite 
 in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. 
 Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they 
 have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to 
 persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their 
 despair, these teachers confess before the world their work 
 of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. " We 
 
 i Jer. 8:11; Eze. 13 : 22, 3 Jer. 23 : 1, 2; 25 : 34, 35 (margin). 
 
656 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 are lost! " they cry, " and you are the cause of our ruin; " and 
 they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once 
 admired them most, will pronounce the most dreadful curses 
 upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with 
 laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which 
 were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their 
 enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed. 
 
 "A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the 
 Lord hath a controversy with the nations : he will plead with 
 all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword." l 
 For six thousand years the great controversy has been in 
 progress; the Son of God and his heavenly messengers have 
 bmi in conflict with the power of the evil one, to warn, en- 
 lighten, and save the children of men. Now all have made 
 their decision; the wicked have fully united with Satan in 
 his -warfare against God. The time has come for God to 
 vindicate the authority of his downtrodden law. Now the 
 controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men. " The 
 Lord hath a controversy with the nations;" "he will give 
 them that are wicked to the sword." 
 
 The mark of deliverance has been set upon those " that 
 sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done." 
 Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel's 
 vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom 
 the command is given: " Slay utterly old and young, boil i 
 maids, and little children, and women ; but come not near 
 any man upon whom is the mark; and begin 'at my sanct- 
 uary." * Says the prophet, " They began at the ancient men 
 which were before the house." 2 The work of destruction 
 begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual 
 guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first 
 to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, 
 maidens, and little children perish together. 
 
 " The Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhab- 
 itants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall 
 disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." 3 
 
 1 Jer. 25 : 31. 3 Eze. 9:1-6. 3 Isa. 26 : 21. 
 
DESOLATION OF TllK EARTH. 
 
 657 
 
 "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite 
 all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: Their 
 flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, 
 and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their 
 tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall 
 come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord 
 shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one 
 on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up 
 against the hand of his neighbor." * In the mad strife of 
 their own fierce passions, and by the awful outpouring of 
 God's unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of the 
 earth, priests, rulers, and people, rich and poor, high and 
 low. " And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from 
 one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 
 they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried." 2 
 
 At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the 
 face of the whole earth, consumed with the spirit of his 
 mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his glory. Christ 
 takes his people to the city of God, and the earth is emptied 
 of its inhabitants. "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth 
 empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, 
 and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." "The land 
 shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled ; for the Lord 
 hath spoken this word." "Because they have transgressed 
 the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting 
 covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and 
 they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhab- 
 itants of the earth are burned." 3 
 
 The whole earth appears like a desolate wilderness. The 
 ruins of cities and villages destroyed by the earthquake, 
 uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown out by the sea or torn 
 out of the earth itself, are scattered over its surface, while 
 vast caverns mark the spot where the mountains have been 
 rent from their foundations. 
 
 Now the event takes place, foreshadowed in the last solemn 
 
 1 Zech. 14 : 12, 13. " Jer. 25 : 33. 3 Isa. 24 : 1, 3, 5, 6. 
 
 47 
 
658 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 service of the day of atonement. When the ministration 
 in the holy of holies had been completed, and the sins 01 
 Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of 
 the blood of the sin-offering, then the scape-goat was pre- 
 sented alive before the Lord; and in presence of the con- 
 gregation the high priest confessed over him "all the in- 
 iquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions 
 in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat." l 
 In like manner, when the work of atonement in the heav- 
 enly sanctuary has been completed, then in the presence of 
 God and heavenly angels, and the host of the redeemed, the 
 sins of God's people will be placed upon Satan; he will be 
 declared guilty of all the evil which he has caused them to 
 commit. And as the scape-goat w T as sent away into a land 
 not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the desolate earth, 
 an uninhabited and dreary wilderness. 
 
 The Revelator foretells the banishment of Satan, and the 
 condition of chaos and desolation to which the earth is to 
 be reduced; and he declares that this condition will exist 
 for a thousand years. After presenting the scenes of the 
 Lord's second coming and the destruction of the wicket 1, 
 the prophecy continues: "I saw an angel come down from 
 Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great 
 chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old 
 serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a 
 thousand years; and cast him into the bottomless pit, and 
 shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should de- 
 ceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should 
 be fulfilled ; and after that he must be loosed a little season." a 
 
 That the expression, " bottomless pit," represents the earth 
 in a state of confusion and darkness, is evident from other 
 scriptures. Concerning the condition of the earth "in the 
 beginning," the Bible- record says that it "was without form, 
 and void; and darkness was upon llic inrn of iho deep." 1 
 
 3 Gen. 1 :'2; the word here translated "deep" is the same that ir ROT 
 20 : 1-3 is rendered " bottomless pit." 
 
 J Lev. JO :'_']. niev. 20:1-3. 
 
DESOLATION OF THE EARTH. 659 
 
 Prophecy teaches that it will be brought back, partially, at 
 least, to this condition. Looking forward to the great day 
 of God, the prophet Jeremiah declares: "I beheld the earth, 
 and, lo, it was without form, and void ; and the heavens, and 
 they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they 
 trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, 
 lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were 
 fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, 
 and all the cities thereof were broken down." 1 
 
 Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for 
 a thousand years. Limited to the earth, he will not have 
 access to other worlds, to tempt and annoy those who have 
 never fallen. It is in this sense that he is bound; there are 
 none remaining, upon whom he can exercise his power. 
 He is wholly cut off from the work of deception and ruin 
 which for so many centuries has been his sole delight. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah, looking forward to the time of Satan's 
 overthrow, exclaims: "How art thou fallen from Heaven, 
 O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cast down to 
 the ground, which didst weaken the nations." " Thou hast 
 said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt 
 my throne above the stars of God." " I will be like the Most 
 High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides 
 of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon 
 thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made 
 the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made 
 the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; 
 that opened not the house of his prisoners f " 2 
 
 For six thousand years, Satan's work of rebellion has 
 " made the earth to tremble." He has " made the world as 
 a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof." And "he 
 opened not the house of his prisoners." For six thousand 
 years his prison-house has received God's people, and he 
 would have held them captive forever, but Christ has broken 
 his bonds, and set the prisoners free. 
 
 Even the wicked are now placed beyond the power ol 
 
 1 Jer. 4 : 23-27. 2 Isa. 14 : 12-1J. 
 
660 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Satan; and alone with his evil angels he remains to realize 
 the effect of the curse which sin has brought. " The kings 
 of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in 
 his own house [the grave]. But thou art cast out of thy 
 grave like an abominable branch. . . . Thou shalt not 
 be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed 
 thy land, and slain thy people." ! 
 
 For a thousand years, Satan will wander to and fro in the 
 desolate earth, to behold the results of his rebellion against 
 the law of God. During this time his sufferings are intense. 
 Since his fall, his life of unceasing activity has banished re- 
 flection; but he is now deprived of his power, and left to 
 contemplate the part w T hich he has acted since first he re- 
 belled against the government of Heaven, and to look for- 
 ward with trembling and terror to the dreadful future, when 
 he must suffer for all the evil that he has done, and be pun- 
 ished for the sins that he has caused to be committed. 
 
 To God's people, the captivity of Satan will bring gladness 
 and rejoicing. Says the prophet: "It shall come to pass in 
 the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, 
 and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou 
 wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb 
 against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and 
 say, How hath the oppressor ceased ! . . . The Lord hath 
 broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; that 
 smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that 
 ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none 
 restrained." a 
 
 During the thousand years between the first and the 
 second resurrection, the Judgment of the wicked takes place. 
 The apostle Paul points to this Judgment as an event that 
 follows the second advent. "Judge nothing before the time, 
 until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden 
 things of clarkiH'ss. and will make manifest the counsels of 
 the hearts." 3 Daniel declares that when the Ancient of days 
 
 1 Jsa. 14 : 18-20, 2 Jsa. 14 : 3-6, Revised Version. 3 1 Cor. 4 : 5. 
 
DESOLATION OP THE 
 
 661 
 
 came, "Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." l 
 At this time the righteous reign as kings and priests unto 
 God. John in the Revelation says: "I saw thrones, and 
 they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." 
 " They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign 
 with him a thousand years." ' J It is at this time that, as 
 foretold by Paul, "the saints shall judge the world." 2 In 
 union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their 
 acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every 
 case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the 
 portion which the wicked must suffer is meted out, accord- 
 ing to their works; and it is recorded against their names 
 in the book of death. 
 
 Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and his 
 people. Says Paul, " Know ye not that we shall judge 
 angels?" And Jude declares that " the angels which kept 
 not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath 
 reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
 Judgment of the great day." 3 
 
 At the close of the thousand years the second resurrec- 
 tion will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from 
 the dead, and appear before God for the execution of "the 
 judgment written." Thus the Revelator, after describing 
 the resurrection of the righteous, says, " The rest of the dead 
 lived not again until the thousand years were finished." 4 
 And Isaiah declares, concerning the wicked, "They shall be 
 gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and 
 shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they 
 be visited" * 
 
 1 Dan. 7 : 22. 2 Rev. 20 :4, 6; 1 Cor 6 :2, 3. 
 
 * Rev. 20:5; Isa. 24:22. 
 
 3 Jude 6. 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 
 
 AT the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns 
 to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the re- 
 deemed, and attended by a retinue of angels. As he de- 
 scends in terrific majesty, he bids the wicked dead arise to 
 receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host, num- 
 berless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to those 
 who were raised at the first resurrection! The righteous 
 were clothed with immortal youth and beauty. The wicked 
 bear the traces of disease and death. 
 
 Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the 
 glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked hosts 
 exclaim, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord!" It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. 
 The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As 
 the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth, with 
 the same enmity to Christ, and the same spirit of rebellion. 
 They are to have no new probation, in which to remedy the 
 defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by this. 
 A life-time of transgression has* not softened their hearts. A 
 second probation, were it given them, would be occupied as 
 was the first, in evading the requirements of God and ex- 
 citing rebellion against him. 
 
 Christ descends upon the Mount -of Olives, whence, aft or 
 his resurrection, he ascended, and where angels repeated the 
 promise of his return. Says the prophet, "The Lord my 
 God shall come, and all the saints with thee." "And his 
 feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which 
 is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives 
 
 (662) 
 
THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 663 
 
 shall cleave in the midst thereof, . . . and there shall 
 be a very great valley." " And the Lord shall be king over 
 all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his 
 name one." 1 As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splen- 
 dor, comes down out of Heaven, it rests upon the place puri- 
 fied and made ready to receive it, and Christ with his people 
 and the angels, enters the holy city. 
 
 Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the 
 supremacy. While deprived of his power, and cut off from 
 his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and 
 dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised, and he sees the 
 vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he 
 determines not to yield the great controversy. He will 
 marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner, and 
 through them endeavor to execute his plans. The wicked 
 are Satan's captives. In rejecting Christ they have accepted 
 the rule of the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his 
 suggestions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early 
 cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He 
 claims to be the Prince who is the rightful owner of the 
 world, and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested 
 from him. He represents himself to his deluded subjects 
 as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought 
 them forth from their graves, and that he is about to rescue 
 them from the most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ 
 having been removed, Satan works wonders to support his 
 claims. He makes the weak strong, and inspires all with 
 his own spirit and energy. He proposes to lead them 
 against the camp of the saints, and to take possession of 
 the city of God. With fiendish exultation he points to the 
 unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead, 
 and declares that as their leader he is well able to over- 
 throw the city, and regain his throne and his kingdom. 
 
 In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race 
 that existed before the flood ; men of lofty stature and giant 
 intellect, who, yielding to the control of fallen angels, de- 
 
 1 Zech. 14 : 5, 4, 9. 
 
664 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 voted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation of 
 themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led the 
 world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil 
 inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of 
 God, caused him to blot them from the face of his creation. 
 There are kings and generals who conquered nations, val- 
 iant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors 
 whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these 
 experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, 
 they resume the current of their thoughts just where it 
 ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to conquer 
 that ruled them when they fell. 
 
 Satan consults with his angels, and then with these 
 kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon 
 the strength and numbers on their side, and declare that 
 the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, 
 and that it can be overcome. They lay their plans to take 
 possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. 
 All immediately begin to prepare for battle. Skillful arti- 
 sans construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed 
 for their success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into 
 companies and divisions. 
 
 At last the order to advance is given, and the countless 
 host moves on, an army such as was never summoned by 
 earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces of all ages 
 since war began on earth could never equal. Satan, the 
 mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels unite 
 their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are 
 in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, 
 each under its appointed leader. With military precision, 
 the serried ranks advance over the earth's broken and un- 
 even surface to the city of God. By command of Jesus, the 
 gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of 
 Satan surround the city, and make ready for the onset. 
 
 Now Christ again appears to the view of his enemies. 
 Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is 
 u throne, high and lifted up. Upon this throne sits the Son 
 
TtiE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 665 
 
 of God, and around him are the subjects of his kingdom. 
 The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, 
 no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is en- 
 shrouding his Son. The brightness of his presence fills the 
 city of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the 
 whole earth with its radiance. 
 
 Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the 
 cause of Satan, but who, phicked as brands from the burn- 
 ing, have followed their Saviour w r ith deep, intense devotion. 
 Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the 
 midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the 
 law of God w r hen the Christian world declared* it void, and 
 the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith. 
 And beyond is the "great multitude, which no man could 
 number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues," "before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed 
 with white robes, and palms in their hands." ! Their war- 
 fare is ended, their victory won. They have run the race 
 and reached the prize. The palm branch in their hands is a 
 symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem of the 
 spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs. 
 
 The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re- 
 echoes through the vaults of heaven, " Salvation krour God 
 which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." And 
 angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration. As the 
 redeemed have beheld the power and malignity of Satan, 
 they have seen, as never before, that no power but that of 
 Christ could have made them conquerors. In all that shin- 
 ing throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, 
 as if they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. 
 Nothing is said of what they have done or suffered ; but the 
 burden of every song, the key-note of every anthem, is, Sal- 
 vation to our God, and unto the Lamb. 
 
 In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and 
 Heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place. 
 And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the 
 
 . 7:9. 
 
666 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against 
 his government, and executes justice upon those who have 
 transgressed his law and oppressed his people. Says the 
 prophet of God: "I saw a great white throne, and Him that 
 sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled 
 away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw 
 the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books 
 were opened; and another book was opened, which is the 
 book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things 
 which were written in the books, according to their works." 1 
 
 As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of 
 Jesus looks'upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin 
 which they have ever committed. They see just where 
 their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness, just 
 how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the viola- 
 tion of the law of God. The seductive temptations which 
 they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the blessings per- 
 verted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings re- 
 jected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn, 
 unrepentant heart, all appear as if written in letters of fire. 
 
 Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a pano- 
 ramic view appear the scenes of Adam's temptation and 
 fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of redemp- 
 tion. The Saviour's lowly birth; his early life of simplicity 
 and obedience; his baptism in Jordan; the fast and temp- 
 tation in the wilderness; his public ministry, unfolding to 
 men Heaven's most precious blessings; the days crowded 
 with deeds of love and mercy, the nights of prayer and 
 watching in the solitude of the mountains; the plottings of 
 envy, hate, and malice which repaid his benefits; the awful, 
 mysterious agony in Gethsemane, beneath the crushing 
 weight of the sins of the whole world; his betrayal into the 
 hands of the murderous mob; the fearful events of that 
 night of horror, the unresisting prisoner, forsaken by his 
 best-loved disciples, rudely hurried through the streets of 
 Jerusalem; the Son of God exultingly displayed before 
 
 ^ev. 20:11, 12. 
 
OONTRO VERSY ENDED. 
 
 667 
 
 Annas, arraigned in the liigh priest's palace, in the judg- 
 ment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly and cruel Herod, 
 mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to die, all are 
 vividly portrayed. 
 
 And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the 
 final scenes, the patient Sufferer treading the path to Cal- 
 vary; the Prince of Heaven hanging upon the cross; the 
 haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding his expiring 
 agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the 
 rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the 
 world's Redeemer yielded up his life. 
 
 The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his 
 angels, and his subjects have no power to turn from the 
 picture of their own work, Each actor recalls the part 
 which he performed. Herod, who slew the innocent chil- 
 dren of Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel; 
 the base Herodias, upon whose guilty soul rests the blood of 
 John the Baptist ; the weak, time-serving Pilate ; the mock- 
 ing soldiers; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng 
 who cried, "His blood be on us, and our children!" all 
 behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek to 
 hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining 
 the glory of the sun, while the redeemed cast their crowns 
 at the Saviour's feet, exclaiming, "He died for me!" 
 
 Amid the ransomed throng are the apostles of Christ, the 
 heroic Paul, the ardent Peter, the loved and loving John, 
 and their true-hearted brethren, and with them the vast 
 host of martyrs; while outside the walls, with every vile 
 and abominable thing, are those by whom they were per- 
 secuted, imprisoned, and slain. There is Nero, that monster 
 of cruelty and vice, beholding the joy and exaltation of those 
 whom he once tortured, and in whose extremest anguish he 
 found Satanic delight. His mother is there to witness the 
 result of her own work ; to see how the evil stamp of char- 
 acter transmitted to her son, the passions encouraged and 
 developed by her influence and example, have borne fruit 
 in crimes that caused the world to shudder. 
 
668 THE GREAT 
 
 There are papist priests and prelates, who claimed to be 
 Christ's ambassadors, yet employed the rack, the dungeon, 
 and the stake to control the consciences of his people. There 
 are the proud pontiffs who exalted themselves above God, 
 and presumed to change the law of the Most High. Those 
 pretended fathers of the church have an account to render 
 to God from which they would fain be excused. Too late 
 they are made to see that the Omniscient One is jealous of 
 his law, arid that he will in nowise clear the guilty. They 
 learn now that Christ identifies his interest with that of his 
 suffering people; and they feel the force of his own words, 
 " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me." l 
 
 The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of 
 God, on the charge of high treason against the government 
 of Heaven. They have none to plead their cause; they are 
 without excuse; and the 'sentence of eternal death is pro- 
 nounced against them. 
 
 It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble 
 independence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death. 
 The wicked see what they have forfeited by their life of 
 rebellion. The far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory was despised when offered them; but how desirable 
 it now appears. "All this," cries the lost soul, "I might 
 have had; but I chose to put these things far from me. 
 Oh, strange infatuation! I have exchanged peace, happi- 
 ness, and honor, for wretchedness, infamy, and despair.' 1 
 All see that their exclusion from Heaven is just. By their 
 lives they have declared, "We will not have this Jesus to 
 reign over us." 
 
 As if entranced, the wicked have looked upon the coro- 
 nation of the Son of God. They see in his hands the tables 
 of the divine law, the statutes which they have despised and 
 transgressed. They witness the outburst of wonder, rapture, 
 and adoration from the saved; and as the wave of melody 
 sweeps over the multitudes without the city, all with one 
 
 1 Matt. 25 : 40. 
 
THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 669 
 
 voice exclaim, "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord 
 God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of 
 saints; " and falling prostrate, they worship the Prince of life. 
 
 Satan seems paralyzed as he beholds the glory and majesty 
 of Christ. He who was once a covering cherub remembers 
 whence he has fallen. A shining seraph, "son of the morn- 
 ing;' 7 how changed, how degraded! From the council 
 where once he was honored, he is forever excluded. He sees 
 another now standing near to the Father, veiling his glory. 
 He has seen the crown placed upon the head of Christ by an 
 angel of lofty stature and majestic presence, and he knows 
 that the exalted position of this angel might have been his. 
 
 Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity, 
 the peace and content that were his until he indulged in 
 murmuring against God, and envy of Christ. His accu- 
 sations, his rebellion, his deceptions to gain the sympathy 
 and support of the angels, his stubborn persistence in mak- 
 ing no effort for self-recovery when God would have granted 
 him forgiveness, all come vividly before him. He reviews 
 liis work among men and its results, the enmity of man 
 toward his fellow-man, the terrible destruction of life, the 
 rise and fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the 
 long succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He 
 recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and 
 to sink man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots 
 have been powerless to destroy those who have put their 
 trust in Jesus. As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit 
 of his toil, he sees only failure -and ruin. He has led the 
 .multitudes to believe that the city of God would be an easy 
 prey ; but he knows that this is false. Again and again, in 
 the progress of the great controversy, he has been defeated, 
 and compelled to yield. He knows too well the power and 
 majesty of the Eternal. 
 
 .The aim of the great rebel has ever been to justify him- 
 self, and to prove the divine government responsible for the 
 rebellion. To this end he has bent all the power of his 
 
 i flev, 15 : 3. 
 
670 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 giant intellect. He has worked deliberately and systemat- 
 ically, and with marvelous success, leading vast multitudes 
 to accept his version of the great controversy which has 
 been so long in progress. For thousands of years this chief 
 of conspiracy has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the 
 time has now come when the rebellion is to be finally de- 
 feated, and the history and character of Satan disclosed. 
 In his last great effort to dethrone Christ, destroy his people, 
 and take possession of the city of God, the arch-deceiver lias 
 been fully unmasked. Those who have united with him 
 see the total failure of his cause. Christ's followers and the 
 loyal angels behold the full extent of his machinations 
 against the government of God. He is the object of uni- 
 versal abhorrence. 
 
 Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him 
 for Heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; 
 the purity, peace, and harmony of Heaven would be to him 
 supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and 
 justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which lie 
 lias endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon 
 himself. And now Satan bows down, and confesses the 
 justice of his sentence. 
 
 "Who shall not fear tliee, Lord, and glorify thy name? 
 for thou only art holy: for all nation.-: shall come ami wor- 
 ship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." 1 
 Every question of truth and error in the long-standing con- 
 troversy has now been made plain. The results of rebellion, 
 the fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, hav<- been laid 
 open to the view of all created intelligences. The working 
 out of Satan's rule in contrast with the government of God, 
 has been presented to the whole universe. Satan's own 
 works have condemned him. God's wisdom, his justice, 
 and his goodness stand fully vindicated. It is seen that 
 all his dealings in the great controversy have been con- 
 ducted with respect t< the eternal good of his people, and 
 the good of all the worlds that he has m-ated. "All thy 
 
 'Rev. 15:4. 
 
THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 671 
 
 works shall praise thee, Lord ; and thy saints shall bless 
 thee." 1 The history of sin will stand to all eternity as a 
 witness that with the existence of God's law is bound up the 
 happiness of all the beings he has created. With all the 
 facts of the great controversy in view, the whole universe, 
 both loyal and rebellious, with one accord declare, "Just and 
 true are thy ways, thou King of saints." 
 
 Before the universe has been clearly presented the great 
 sacrifice made by the Father and the Son in man's behalf. 
 The hour has come when Christ occupies his rightful posi- 
 tion, and is glorified above principalities and powers and 
 every name that is named. It was for the joy that was set 
 before him, that he might bring many sons unto glory, 
 that he endured the cross and despised the shame. And 
 inconceivably great as was the sorrow and the shame, yet 
 greater is the joy and the glory. He looks upon the re- 
 deemed, renewed in his own image, every heart bearing the 
 perfect impress of the divine, every face reflecting the like- 
 ness of their King. He beholds in them the result of the 
 travail of his soul, and he is satisfied. Then, in a voice that 
 reaches the assembled multitudes of the righteous and the 
 wicked, he declares, "Behold the purchase of my blood! 
 For these I suffered; for these I died; that they might dwell 
 in my presence throughout eternal ages." And the song of 
 praise ascends from the white-robed ones about the throne, 
 "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
 riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
 blessing." 2 
 
 Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to uc- 
 Knowledge God's justice, and to bow to the supremacy of 
 Christ, his character remains unchanged. The spirit of re- 
 bellion, like a in ighty torrent, again bursts forth. Filled with 
 frenzy, he determines not to yield the great controversy. 
 The time has come for a last desperate struggle against the 
 King of Heaven He rushes into the midst of his subjects, 
 T,n<? andeavors tc inspire them with his o\vn fury, and arouse 
 Jfs, 145 ;!<>, -Rcv c 5:12, 
 
672 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 them to instant battle. But of all the countless millions 
 whom he has allured into rebellion, there are none now to 
 acknowledge his supremacy. His power is at an end. The 
 wicked are filled with the same hatred of God that inspires 
 Satan; but they see that their case is hopeless, that they 
 cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is kindled 
 against Satan and those who have been his agents in decep- 
 tion, and with the fury of demons they turn upon them. 
 
 Saith the Lord: "Because thou hast set thine heart as the 
 heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon 
 thee, the terrible of the nations ; and they shall draw their 
 swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall 
 defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the 
 pit." "I will destroy thee, covering cherub, from the 
 midst of the stones of fire. ... I will cast thee to the 
 ground. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold 
 thee." "I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the- 
 sight of all them that behold thee. . . . Thou shalt be 
 a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." 1 
 
 " Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and 
 garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning 
 and fuel of fire." "The indignation of the Lord is upon 
 all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath 
 utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the 
 slaughter." "Upon the wicked he shall rain quick burning 
 coals, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall 
 be the portion of their cup." a Fire comes down from God 
 out of Heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons con- 
 cealed in its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames 
 burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are <>n 
 fire. The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The 
 elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the 
 works that are therein are burned up. 3 The earth's surface 
 sooms one molten mass. a vast, soothing lake of tiro. It is 
 the time of the judgment and pordition of ungodly men, 
 
 1 Eze. 28 : 6-8, 16-19. a laa. 9 : 5; 34 : 2; Ps. 11:6 (margin). 
 
 8 Mai. 4:1; 2 Pet. 3:10. 
 
THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 673 
 
 " the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recom- 
 penses for the controversy of Zion." ] 
 
 The wicked receive their recompense in the earth. 1 They 
 " shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them 
 up, saith the Lord of hosts." 2 Some are destroyed as in a 
 moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished 
 " according to their deeds." The sins of the righteous hav- 
 ing been transferred to Satan, he is made to suffer not only 
 for his own rebellion, but for all the sins which he has caused 
 God's people to commit. His punishment is to be far greater 
 than that of those whom he has deceived. After all have 
 perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and 
 suffer on. In the cleansing flames the wicked are at last 
 destroyed, root and branch, Satan the root, his followers the 
 branches. The full penalty of the law has been visited; the 
 demands of justice have been met; and Heaven and earth, 
 beholding, declare the righteousness of Jehovah. 
 
 Satan's work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand 
 years he has wrought his will, filling the. earth with woe, 
 and causing grief throughout the universe. The whole 
 creation has groaned and travailed together in pain. Now 
 God's creatures are forever delivered from his presence and 
 temptations. " The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they 
 [the righteous] break forth into singing." 3 And a shout 
 of praise and triumph ascends from the whole loyal uni- 
 verse. " The voice of a great multitude," " as the voice of 
 many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," is 
 heard, saying, "Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent 
 reigneth." 
 
 While the earth was wrapped in the fire of destruction, 
 the. righteous abode safely in the holy city. Upon those 
 that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has 
 no power. 4 While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, 
 he is to his people both a sun and a shield. 4 
 
 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first 
 
 lisa. 34:8; Prov. 11:31. * Mai. 4:1. 3 Isa.U:7. 
 
 * Rev. 20:6; Ps. 84:11. 
 48 
 
674 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 heaven and the first earth were passed away." 1 The lire 
 that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace 
 of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will 
 keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin. 
 
 One reminder alone remains : our Redeemer will ever bear 
 the marks of his crucifixion. Upon his wounded head, upon 
 his side, his hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel 
 work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding 
 Christ in his glory, " He had bright beams coming out of his 
 side ; and there was the hiding of his power." 2 That pierced 
 side w r hence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man 
 to God, there is the Saviour's glory, there "the hiding of 
 his power." " Mighty to save," through the sacrifice of re- 
 demption, he was therefore strong to execute justice upon 
 them that despised God's mercy. And the tokens of his 
 humiliation are his highest honor; through the eternal ajjvs 
 the wounds of Calvary will show forth his praise, and de- 
 clare his power. 
 
 " Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of 
 Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." 3 The 
 time has come, to which holy men have looked with long- 
 ing since the flaming sword barred the first pair from Eden, 
 the time for "the redemption of the purchased possession." 3 
 The earth originally given to man as his kingdom, betrayed 
 by him into the hands of Satan, and so long held by the 
 mighty foe, has been brought back by the great plan of 
 redemption. All that was lost by sin lias been restored. 
 "Thus saith the Lord . . . that formed the earth and 
 made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he 
 formed it to be inhabited." * God's original purpose in the 
 creation of the earth is fulfilled as it is made the eternal 
 abode of the redeemed. "The righteous shall inherit the 
 land, and dwell therein forever." fi 
 
 A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material 
 has led many to spiritualize away the very trull is which k-a<l 
 
 . 21:1. 3 Hab. 3 : 4 (margin). 3 Micah 4:8; Kph. 1 : 14. 
 
 4 Isa. 45 : 18. 6 Ps. 37 : 29. 
 
THE CONTR VERS Y ENDED. 675 
 
 us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured his disciples 
 that he went to prepare mansions for them in the Father's 
 house. Those who accept the teachings of God's Word will 
 not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. 
 And yet, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
 entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath 
 prepared for them that love him." 1 Human language is 
 inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will 
 be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can 
 comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God. 
 
 In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a coun- 
 try. 2 There the heavenly Shepherd leads his flock to 
 fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit 
 every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service 
 of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as 
 crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows 
 upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. 
 There the widespreading plains swell into hills of beauty, 
 and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On 
 those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's 
 people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home. 
 
 "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and 
 in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." "Violence 
 shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction 
 within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, 
 and thy gates Praise." " They shall build houses, and in- 
 habit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the 
 fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; 
 they shall not plant, and another eat: . . . mine elect 
 shall long enjoy the work of their hands." 3 
 
 There, "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be 
 glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as 
 the rose." "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, 
 and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree." * 
 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
 
 1 1 Cor. 2:9. 2 Heb. 11 : 14-16. 3 Isa. 32 : 18; 60 : 18; 65 : 21, 22. 
 *Isa. 35:1; 55:13. 
 
676 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 shall lie down with the kid; . . . and a little child shall 
 lead them." " They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
 holy mountain," 1 saith the Lord. 
 
 Pain cannot exist in the atmosphere of Heaven. There 
 will be no more tears, no funeral trains, no badges of mourn- 
 ing. "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
 crying, . . . for the former things are passed away."" 
 "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that 
 dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." 1 
 
 There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified 
 new earth, " a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and 
 a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." 1 " Her light was like 
 unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear 
 as crystal." " The nations of them which are saved shall 
 walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring 
 their glory and honor into it." 2 Saith the Lord, "I will 
 rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people." 1 "The tab- 
 ernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, 
 and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with 
 them, and be their God."' 
 
 In the city of God "there shall be no night." None will 
 need Or desire repose. There will be no weariness in doing 
 the will of God and offering praise to his name. We shall 
 ever feel the freshness of the morning, and shall ever be far 
 from its close. "And they need no candle, neither light of 
 the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light." 3 The light 
 of the sun will be superseded by a radiance which is not 
 painfully dazzling, yet which immeasurably surpasses the 
 brightness of our noontide. The glory of God and the Lomb 
 floods the holy city with unfeiding light. The redeemed 
 walk in the sunless glory of perpetual day. 
 
 "I saw ho temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty 
 and the Lamb are the temple of it." 3 The people of God 
 are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and 
 the Son. Now we "see through a glass, darkly." 4 We be- 
 
 11 :6, 9; 33:24; 62:3; 65:19. *l!ev. 21 :4, 11,24, 3. 
 
 8 Rev. 22:5; 21:22. *1 Cor. 13:12. 
 
THE DOMINION RESTORED. 
 
T1IK CONTROVERSY ENDED. 677 
 
 hold the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works 
 of nature and in his dealings with men; but then we shall 
 see him face to face, without a dimming veil between. "We 
 shall stand in his presence, and behold the glory of his 
 countenance. 
 
 There the redeemed shall "know, even as also they are 
 known." The loves and sympathies which God himself has 
 planted in the soul, shall there find truest and sweetest ex- 
 ercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the har- 
 monious social life with the blessed angels and with the 
 faithful ones of all ages, who have washed their robes and 
 made them white in the blood of the Larnb, the sacred ties 
 that bind together " the whole family in Heaven and earth,' n 
 these help to constitute the happiness of the redeemed. 
 
 There, immortal minds will contemplate with never-failing 
 delight the wonders of creative power-, the mysteries of re- 
 deeming love. There is no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt to 
 forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every 
 capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not 
 weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest 
 enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations 
 reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will 
 arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new 
 truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers 
 of mind and soul and body. 
 
 All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study 
 of God's redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their 
 tireless flight to worlds afar, worlds that thrilled with sorrow 
 at the spectacle of, human woe, and rang with songs of glad- 
 ness at the tidings of a ransomed soul. With unutterable 
 delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the 
 wisdom of un fallen beings. .They share the treasures of 
 knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon 
 ages in contemplation of God's handiwork. With un- 
 dimmed vision they gaze upon the glory of creation, suns 
 and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling 
 
 l Eph. 3:15. 
 
678 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. 
 
 the throne of Deity. Upon all things, from the least to the 
 greatest, the Creator's name is written, and in all are the 
 riches of his power displayed. 
 
 And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer 
 and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As 
 knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and hap- 
 piness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater 
 will be their admiration of his character. As Jesus opens 
 before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing 
 achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts 
 of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with 
 more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten 
 thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of 
 voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise. 
 
 "And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the 
 earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 
 all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, 
 and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." ' 
 
 The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no 
 more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony 
 and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him 
 who created all, flow life and light and gladness, through- 
 out the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest 
 atom to the greatest world,, all things, animate and inani- 
 mate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare 
 that God is Love. 
 
 1 Rev. 5: 13. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 GENERAL NOTES. 
 
 NOTE i. PAGE 53. Constantino's Sunday law, issued A. D. 321, was as 
 follows: 
 
 "Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades 
 rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the 
 country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture; be- 
 cause it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting 
 vines; lest, the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commod- 
 ities granted by Heaven." 
 
 Of this law, so high an authority as the "Encyclopedia Brittannica" 
 plainly says: " It was Coustantine the Great who first made a law for the 
 proper observance of Sunday; and who, according to Eussbius, appointed, 
 that it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman Empire. Before 
 him, and even in his time, they observed the Jewish Sabbath, as well as 
 Sunday." As to the degree of reverence with which Sunday was regarded, 
 and the manner of its observance, Mosheim says that in consequence of the 
 law enacted by Constantine, the first day of the week was " observed ivith greater 
 solemnity than it had formerly been." l Yet Constantine permitted all kinds of 
 agricultural labor to be performed on Sunday! Bishop Taylor declares that 
 "the primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day."' 2 
 The same statement is made by Morer: "The day [Sunday] was not wholly 
 kept in abstaining from common business; nor did they [Christians] any 
 longer rest from their ordinary affairs (such was the necessity of those times) 
 than during the divine service." 3 Says Cox: "There is 110 evidence that 
 either at this [the time of Cunstantine], or at a period much later, the ob- 
 servance was viewed as deriving any obligation from the fourth command- 
 ment; it seems to have been regarded as an institution corresponding in 
 nature with Christmas, Good Friday, and other festivals of the church " 4 
 
 NOTE 2. PAGE 54. In the twelfth chapter of Revelation we have ar, 
 a symbol a great red dragon. In the ninth verse of that chapter this symbol 
 is explained as follows: " And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, 
 called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast 
 out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Undoubtedly 
 the dragon primarily represents Satan. But Satan does not appear upon the 
 
 1 Eccl. Hist. , cent. 4, part 2, chap. 4, sec. 5. 
 
 2 Duct. Dubitant., part 1, book 2, chap. 2, rule 6, sec. 59. 
 
 3 Dialogues on the Lord's Day, p. 233. 
 
 4 Cox's Sabbath Laws, p. 281. 
 
 (679) 
 
680 APPK\I>1X. 
 
 earth in person; he works through agents. It was in the person of wicked 
 men that he sought to destroy Jesus as soon as he was born. Wherever Satan 
 has been able to control a government so fully that it would carry out his 
 designs, that nation became, for the time, Satan's representative. This was 
 the case with all the great heathen nations. For instance, see Ezekiel 28, 
 where Satan is represented as actual king of Tyre. This was because he 
 fully controlled that government. In the first centuries of the Christian era, 
 Rome, of all the pagan nations, was Satan's chief agent in opposing the gospel, 
 and was therefore represented by the dragon. 
 
 But there came a time when paganism in the Roman Empire fell before 
 the advancing fonn of Christianity. Then, as is stated on page 54, " Paganism 
 had given place to the p ipacy. The dragon had given to the beast ' his power, 
 and his seat, and great authority.'" That is, Satan then began to work 
 through the papacy, just as he had formerly worked through paganism. But 
 the papacy is not represented by the dragon, because it is necessary to in- 
 troduce another symbol in order to show the change in the form of the oppo- 
 sition to God. Previous to the rise of the papacy, all opposition to the law 
 of God had been in the form of paganism, God had been openly defied; but 
 from that time the opposition was carried on under the guise of professed 
 allegiance to him. The papacy, however, was no less the instrument of Satan 
 than was pagan Rome; for all the power, the seat, and the great authority 
 of the papacy, were given it by the dragon. And so, although the pope pro- 
 fesses to be the vicegerent of Christ, he is, in reality, the vicegerent of Satan 
 he is antichrist. 
 
 The beast which is a symbol of the papacy is introduced in Revelation 
 13; and following it, in the same line of prophecy, "another beast" ia 
 seen "coming up," 1 which exercises "all the power of the first beast before 
 him," that is, in his sight. This other beast must therefore be a persecuting 
 power also; and this is shown in that "it spake as a dragon. " The papacy 
 received all its power from Satan, and the two-horned beast exercises the 
 same power; it also becomes the direct agent of Satan. And its Satanic char- 
 acter is further shown in that it enforces the worship of the image of the beast, 
 by means of false miracles. " He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh 
 fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and decein-t/t 
 them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had 
 power to do. " 
 
 The first persecuting power is represented by the dragon itself; in 
 heathenism there was open alliance with Satan, and open defiance of God. 
 In the second persecuting power, the dragon is masked; but the spirit of 
 Satan actuates it, the dragon supplies the motive power. In. the third |>-r- 
 secuting power, all traces of the dragon are absent, and a lamb like beast 
 appears; but when it speaks, its dragon voice betrays the Satanic power con- 
 cealed under a fair exterior, and shows it to be of the same family as the two 
 preceding powers. In all the opposition to Christ and his pure religion, " that 
 old serpent, called the devil, and Satan," "the god of this world," is tin; 
 moving power; earthly persecuting powers are simply instruments in his 
 handd. 
 
 Uiev. 13:11-14- 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 681 
 
 NOTE 3. PAGE 328. That the reader may see the reasonableness of 
 Mr. Miller's position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which 
 was published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1850, in answer to a 
 correspondent : 
 
 " It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period of the 
 seventy weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes 
 in the year B. c. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon is demonstrated by the 
 concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. The seventy weeks 
 date from the going forth of a decree respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. 
 There were no decrees between the seventh and twentieth years of Arta- 
 xerxes. Four hundred and ninety years, beginning with the seventh, must 
 commence in B. c. 457, and end in A. D. 34. Commencing in the twentieth, 
 they must commence in B. C. 444, and end in A. D. 47. As no event occurred 
 in A. D. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from the twentieth; 
 we must therefore look to the seventh of Artaxerxes. This date we cannot 
 change from B. C. 457 without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy's 
 Canon. To do this, it would be necessary to show that the large number of 
 eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not 
 been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chrono- 
 logical date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of eras 
 entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no 
 more value than mere guess-work. As the seventy weeks must terminate in 
 
 A. D. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot 
 be changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, What evidence 
 marked that termination ? The time when the apostles turned to the Gen- 
 tiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named. 
 And the crucifixion, in A. D. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained 
 by a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated." 
 
 As the 70 weeks and the 2300 days have a common starting-point, the 
 calculation of Mr. Miller is verified at a glance by subtracting the 457 year& 
 
 B. c. from the 2300. Thus, 
 
 2300 
 457 
 
 1843 A. D. 
 
 The year 1843 was, however, regarded as extending to the spring of 1844. 
 The reason for this, briefly stated, is as follows: Anciently the year did not 
 commence in midwinter, as now, but at the first new moon after the vernal 
 equinox. Therefore, as the period of 2300 days was begun in a year reckoned 
 by the ancient method, it was considered necessary to conform to that method 
 to its close. Hence, 1843 was counted as ending in the spring, and not in 
 the winter. 
 
 But the 2300 days cannot be reckoned from the beginning of the year 457 
 B. c. ; for the decree of Artaxerxes which is the starting-point did not go 
 into effect until the autumn of that year. Consequently the 2300 days, be- 
 ginning in the autumn of 457 B. c., must extend to the autumn of 1844 A. D. 
 (See small diagram on plate opposite page 328.) 
 
682 ^APPENDIX. 
 
 This fact not being at first perceived by Mr. Miller aud his associates, 
 they looked for the corning of Christ in 1843, or in the spring of 1844; hence 
 the first disappointment and the seeming delay. It was the discovery of the 
 correct time, in connection with other Scripture testimony, that led to the 
 movement known as the "midnight cry " of 1844. And to this day the com- 
 putation of the prophetic periods placing the close of the 2300 days in the 
 autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment. 
 
 NOTE 4. PAGE 373. The story that the Adventists made robes with 
 which to ascend "to meet the Lord in the air," was invented by those who 
 wished to reproach the cause. It was circulated so industriously that many 
 believed it; but careful inquiry proved its falsity. For many years a large 
 reward has been offered for proof that one such instance ever occurred; but 
 the proof has not been produced. None who loved the appearing of the 
 Saviour were so ignorant of the teachings of the Scriptures as to suppose that 
 robes which they could make would be necessary for that occasion. The only 
 robe which the saints will need to meet the Lord will be that of the right- 
 eousness of Christ. See Rev. 19 : 8. 
 
 NOTE 5. PAGE 374. Dr. Geo. Bush, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental 
 Literature in the New York City University, in a letter addressed to Mr. 
 Miller, and published in the Advent Herald for March, 1844, made some very 
 important admissions relative to his calculations of the prophetic times. Mr. 
 Bush says:-- 
 
 "Neither is it to be objected, as I conceive, to yourself or your friends, 
 that you have devoted much time and attention to the study of the chronolo<jy 
 of prophecy, and have labored much to determine the commencing and closing 
 dates of its great peri >ds. If these periods are actually given by the Holy 
 Ghost in the prophetic books, it was doubtless with the design that thej 
 s/iould be studied, and probably, in the end, fully understood; and no man 
 is to be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently makes the attempt 
 to do this. ... In taking a day as the prophetical term for a year, I 
 believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by 
 the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Kirby, Scott, 
 Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to substantially your 
 conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned 
 by Daniel and John do actually expire about this aye of the world, and it would 
 be a strange logic that would convict you of here y for holding in effect the 
 same views which stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent 
 divines." "Your results in this field of inquiry do not strike me as s<> tar 
 out of the way as to affect any of the great interests of truth and duty." 
 " Your error, as I apprehend, lies in another direction than your chronology." 
 "You have entirely mistaken the nature of the events which are to occur 
 when those periods have expired. This is the head and front of your ex- 
 pository offending. . . . The great event before the world is not its 
 physical conflagration, but its moral regeneration. Although there is doubtless 
 a sense in which Christ may be said to c^me in connection with the passing 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 683 
 
 away of the fourth empire and of the Ottoman power, and his kingdom to be 
 illustriously established, yet that will be found to be a spiritual coming in the 
 power of his gospel, in the ample outpouring of his Spirit, and the glorious 
 administration of his providence." Evidently, Mr. Bush looked for the con- 
 version of the world as the event to mark the termination of the 2300 days. 
 Both Mr. Miller and Mr. Bush were right on the time question, and both 
 were mistaken in the event to occur at the close of the great periods. 
 
 The doctrines taught by Mr. Miller did not originate with him; every 
 point advanced in his expositions of prophecy, taken separately, was admitted 
 by some among his opponents. Hence there were none who condemned all 
 his views, and those who attempted to refute him found that there was as 
 great diversity among themselves as between him and them. They had not 
 only to overthrow Mr. Miller s theory, but each had to correct those of the 
 others. This being the case, their arguments could, of course, have little 
 weight with those who had received his views. 
 
 To oppose Miller, men who had been regarded as leaders of religious 
 thought were ready to abandon long-established principles of Protestant 
 interpretation. The Boston Recorder (Orthodox Cong.) said: " It must needs 
 be acknowledged that our faith is greatly shaken in the interpretations on which, 
 in common with most of our own brethren, we have heretofore relied, and which 
 form the foundation of the baseless theories of Miller " ! 
 
 In their determination to disprove Mr. Miller's positions, some were ready 
 even to join with Universalists, adopting indefinite and spiritualizing methods 
 of exposition, ia place of those principles of literal interpretation which are 
 an essential feature of the Protestant faith. Of the arguments brought for- 
 ward by Professors Stuart and Bush the New York Evangelist spoke as follows: 
 "The tendency of these views is to destroy th Scripture evidence of the 
 doctrine of any real end of the world, any day of final judgment, or general 
 resurrection of the body. The style of interpretation, we assert, tends fear- 
 fully to Universalism. This tendency we are prepared to prove." So also 
 the Hartford Universalist said of Professor Stuart: "He puts an uncom- 
 promising veto upon the popular interpretations of Daniel and . Revelation, 
 and unites with Universalists in contending that most of their contents had 
 special reference to, and their fulfillment in, scenes and events which trans- 
 pired but a few years after those books were written." It was thus that 
 popular ministers prepared the minds of thousands to lightly regard the tes- 
 timony of the Scriptures. 
 
 NOTE 6. PAGE 411 .That the earth is the sanctuary was inferred from 
 those scriptures which teach that the earth will be purified and fitted up for 
 the eternal dwelling-place of the saints, according to the original design of 
 the Creator. Adventists understood this just as it was taught by Wesley 
 and others. And their minds did not rest on any other dwelling-place or any 
 other thing which needed cleansing. The only scriptures which we ever 
 knew to be offered in favor of the earth or any dwelling-place of man being 
 called the sanctuary, fairly disprove the position. They are only three in 
 number, as follows: 
 
684 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ex. 15 : 17: " Thou shalt bring them [the people] in, and plant them in 
 the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast 
 made for thee to dwell in; in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have 
 established. " Without taking time or space to give an exposition of the text, 
 it is sufficient for the present purpose to remark that it disproves the idea of the 
 earth being the sanctuary. Whatever construction may be placed upon the 
 text, it teaches that the people were not then in the sanctuary; but they were 
 in the earth. Then it is claimed that it referred to that part of the earth into 
 which they were to be brought, namely, Palestine. This is disproved by the 
 second text. 
 
 Josh. 24 :26: "And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of 
 God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, tiiat was by 
 the sanctuary of the Lord." The stone and the oak were in Palestine, but 
 they were by the sanctuary of the Lord not in it. And the other text is 
 more restrictive still, and equally conclusive against the inference to which 
 reference is herein made. 
 
 Ps. 78 : 54: " And he brought them [his people] to the border of his sanct- 
 uary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. '' The 
 mountain was Mount Moriah, on which the temple of Solomon was built; 
 yet being brought unto it is called being brought "to the border of his 
 sanctuary." Thus these texts do not prove that the earth is the sanctuary, 
 but rather the reverse. 
 
 Jehoshaphat's prayer gives the true idea of the relation of that land to 
 the sanctuary: "Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants 
 of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham 
 thy friend forever ? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary 
 therein for thy name." 2 CJaron. 20 : 7, 8. This corresponds to the* command 
 in Ex. 25 : 8: "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among 
 them." In this same book is given a minute description of the sanctuary, its 
 erection, and approval by the Lord. The process of cleansing the sanctuary 
 is described in Leviticus 16. While the children of Israel possessed Canaan, 
 Solomon built a temple, in which was a holy and a most holy place; and the 
 vessels of the movable sanctuary, which was made in the desert of Sinai, 
 were transferred to the temple. This was then the sanctuary, the dwelling- 
 place of God's glory upon the earth. 
 
 Some have inferred that the earthly sanctuary was a symbol of the church, 
 reasoning from those scriptures in which the church is called the temple of 
 God. But it is not infrequently the case in Scripture that in different con- 
 nections the same figure is employed to represent different objects. The Bible 
 plainly teaches that the holy places of the earthly sanctuary were " patterns 
 of things in the heavens." Heb. 9:23. The expression, "temple of God," 
 is sometimes employed to designate the sanctuary in Heaven, and sometimes 
 the church. Its significance, in each case, must be determined by the context. 
 
 NOTE 7. PAGE 429. Almost all Adventists, including Mr. Miller, did, 
 for a short time after their disappointment in 1844, believe that the world 
 had received its last warning. They could hardly think otherwise, with theii 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 685 
 
 faith in the message which they had given, " The hour of his Judgment is 
 come." Rev. 14 :6, 7. They naturally thought that this proclamation must 
 close the dispensation. 
 
 But the idea that the work of the gospel was finished was soon renounced, 
 except by some fanatical ones who would neither be counseled nor receive 
 instruction. One class who relinquished the view that "the door of mercy 
 was shut," were led to do this because they discovered that other messages were 
 to be proclaimed after that declaring, The hour of Judgment is come; and that 
 that of the third angel, the last one, was to go to "many peoples, and nations, 
 and tongues, and kings." They learned that the Judgment sits in Heaven 
 before the coming of the Lord; that the judgment of the righteous is fully 
 accomplished while Jesus is yet their Advocate before the Father's throne; 
 that eternal life is instantly given to the saints when their Saviour comes, 
 which is proof that they have been judged and acquitted. 
 
 With the light on the third message they also received light on the 
 sanctuary and its cleansing, by which they understood that the antitypical 
 work of the day of atonement, which was accomplished in the most holy 
 place, was that which was pointed out by the message which they had given. 
 They saw that there were two veils or doers in the temple of God (Heb. 9 : 3), 
 and that at that time one was shut and the other was opened. With earnest 
 zeal and new hope they preached these truths, and "urged their" fellow-men 
 to seek an entrance by faith into the most holy place within the second veil, 
 where our great High Priest is gone to blot out the sins of all his faithful ones, 
 from Abel to the present time. 
 
 NOTE 8. PAGE 435. Rev. 14:6, 7, foretells the proclamation of the 
 first angel's message. Then the prophet continues: "There followed another 
 angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, . . and the third arigel fol- 
 lowed them." The word here rendered "followed," means, in constructions 
 like that in this text, " to go with." Liddell and Scott render the word thus: 
 " To follow one, go after or with him." Robinson says: " To folloiv, to go with, 
 to accompany anyone." It is the same word that is used in Mark 5 : 24: " And 
 Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him." 
 It is also used of the redeemed one hundred and forty-four thousand, where 
 it is said: " These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." 
 Rev. 14:4. In both these places it is evident that the idea intended to be 
 conveyed is that of going together, in company with. So in 1 Cor. 10:4, 
 where we read of the children of Israel that "they drank of that spiritual 
 Rock that followed them," the word "followed" is translated from the same 
 Greek word, and the margin has it, " went with them." From this we learn 
 that the idea in Rev. 14 : 8, 9, is not simply that the second and third angels 
 followed the first in point of time, but that they went with it. The three 
 messages are but one threefold message. They are three only in the order 
 of their rise. But having risen, they go on together, and are inseparable. 
 
 NOTE 9. P,U;K 447. The bishops of Rome began, very early ; to de- 
 mand obedience from all the churches. Of this the dispute between the 
 Eastern and the Western churches respecting Easter is a striking illustration. 
 
686 APPENDIX. 
 
 This dispute arose in the second century. Says Mosheim: "The Christians of 
 this century celebrated anniversary festivals in commemoration of the death 
 and resurrection of Christ. . . . The day which was observed as the anni- 
 versary of Christ's death was called the paschal day, or Passover." Like the 
 Jews, Christians celebrated "a sacred feast, at which they distributed a pas- 
 chal lamb in memory of the holy supper." The Christians of Asia Minor kept 
 this feast on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish mouth, when the Jews 
 celebrated their Passover, and when Christ is said to have eaten the paschal 
 lamb with his disciples. Three days thereafter, a festival was observed in 
 honor of the resurrection. The Western churches, on the other hand, cele- 
 brated the resurrection of Christ on the Sunday following the Jewish Pass- 
 over, and observed the paschal feast on the night preceding Sunday, thus 
 connecting the commemoration of Christ's death with that of his resurrection. 
 
 "Toward the conclusion of this [the second] century, Victor, bishop of 
 Rome, endeavored to force the Asiatic Christians, by the pretended authority of 
 his laws and decrees, to follow the rule which was observed by the Western 
 churches in this point. Accordingly ... he wrote an imperious letter 
 to the Asiatic prelates, commanding them to imitate the example of the 
 Western Christians with respect to the time of celebrating the festival of Easter. 
 The Asiatics answered this lordly requisition . . . with great spirit and 
 resolution, that they would by no means depart, in this manner, from the 
 custom handed down to them by their ancestors. Upon this the thunder 
 of excommunication began to roar. Victor, exasperated by this resolute an- 
 swer of the Asiatic bishops, broke communion with them, pronounced them 
 unworthy of the name of his brethren, and excluded them from all fellowship 
 with the Church of Rome." 1 This, says Bower, was "the first essay of 
 papal usurpation." 
 
 For a time, however, Victor's efforts availed little. No regard was paid 
 to his letters, and the Asiatics continued to follow their ancient practice. 
 But by enlisting the support of the imperial power, which the church for so 
 many centuries controlled to serve her purposes, Rome finally conquered. 
 The Council of Nice, "out of complaisance to Constantino the Great, ordered 
 the solemnity of Easter to be kept everywhere on the same day, after the 
 custom of Rome." 2 This decree, "backed by the authority of so great an 
 emperor," was decisive; " none but some scattered schismatics, now and then 
 appearing, that durst oppose the resolution of that famous synod." 3 
 
 NOTE 10. PAGE 565. There is no more remarkable movement of the 
 present day, and no one fraught with more vital consequences to men and 
 nations, than the rapidly reviving influence of the papacy in national affairs. 
 The papacy is fast moving into the place of the greatest influence of any 
 earthly organization. In Europe, to say nothing of Catholic countries, 
 which, as a matter of course, are subject to the pope, Chancellor Bismarck 
 has made Germany virtually subject to the dictation of the papacy; England 
 has invited the interference of the pope in her political affairs in the contest 
 
 1 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4., IT 9, 11. 
 
 2 Bower's History of the Popes, vol. 1, pp. 18, 19. 
 8 Heylyn, History of the Sabbath, part 2, chap. 2, sees. 4, 0. 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 687 
 
 with Ireland; and even the Czar of .Russia has shown himself willing to make 
 overtures to the papacy. On the occasion of the golden jubilee of the priest- 
 hood of Leo XIII., it is well known that, except the kingdom of Italy and 
 the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, every nation, Protestant as well 
 as Catholic, paid grateful respect to Rome. 
 
 If any nation might justly be expected to keep clear of Romish influences, 
 the United States of America should be the one above all others, as it is 
 constitutionally pledged to have nothing at all to do toward "an establish- 
 ment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Yet this nation is 
 in nowise behind the others in paying assiduous court to Rome. When the 
 papal delegates came to America bearing to Cardinal Gibbons the trappings 
 of his Roanish dignity, a government vessel was dispatched down New York 
 harbor to meet them, with the papal flag, instead of the stars and stripes, 
 flying from the place of honor. And at the investiture of Cardinal Gibbons 
 with the purple of a papal prince, President Cleveland sent him a letter of 
 congratulation. The Converted Catholic says that a larger number of senators 
 and representatives send their sons to the Jesuit College at Georgetown one 
 of the suburbs of the national capital than to all the other institutions oi 
 learning at Washington, which proves either that the larger number of senators 
 and representatives are Catholics, or that Rome has more influence with 
 senators and representatives than have all the educational institutions in 
 Washington put together. In view of this fact, it is not to be wondered at 
 that Rome decided to build her national university at the national capital. 
 
 Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under President Cleve- 
 land, was charged with giving to Catholics more positions in his department 
 than to other denominations. His reply was that "if Roman Catholics have 
 been recognized to a greater extent than other denominations, it is only be- 
 cause they have asked more largely; " and explained this by saying that the 
 Romish Church has at Washington "an energetic and tireless director, who 
 is active to seize opportunities for extending missionary and educational work 
 among the Indians." The Christian Union says that four-fifths of the gov- 
 ernment Indian schools, under religious control, have been given to Roman 
 Catholics. The Assistant Attorney-General, of the Department of the In- 
 terior, under President Cleveland's administration, Mr. Zach. Montgomery, 
 is a Roman Catholic, with all the Roman Catholic enmity to the public schools, 
 and hesitates not to use his official position and influence to show it. During 
 his term of office, in an address at Carroll Institute, he openly denounced the 
 public-school system as godless, anti-parental, and destructive of happiness. 
 And the United States Senate fully knew his enmity to the public schools 
 when it confirmed his appointment as Assistant Attorney-General. The New 
 York Observer says that the only public hospital that receives any government 
 aid is a Roman Catholic one. 
 
 In a published letter to Hon Warner Miller, one ot the delegates at 
 large from New York to the National Republican Convention, 1888, Hon. 
 John Jay, late Minister to Austria, says that the Roman Catholics even now 
 "coolly discuss the disposition they will make of the United States, as a 
 people already subject to the Vatican by the Irish votes. Archbishop Lynch, 
 49 
 
688 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Canada, wrote to Lord Eandolph Churchill (the Churchman, New York, 
 April 2, 1887): 'The Irish vote is a great factor in America.' 'The power 
 of their organizations is increasing every day.' 'They hold already the bal- 
 ance of power in the presidential and other elections.'" Further Mi 1 . Jay 
 says: "The announcement of Mr. Chamberlain's appointment as Fishery 
 Commissioner was promptly followed by a reminder that no treaty he might 
 make would stand a chance of ratification. The suggestion that Mr. Phelps, 
 our Minister to England, might be nominated as Chief Justice, brought a 
 quick announcement that the nomination would be defeated. ... It was 
 recently stated in the United States Senate (February 16, 1888), in a debate 
 on the bill for 'national aid in the establishment and temporary support of 
 common schools,' . . . that a senator had showed to the speaker, who 
 had read it with his own eyes, the original letter of a Jesuit priest. In this 
 letter he begged a member of Congress to oppose the bill and kill it, saying 
 that they had organized all over the country for its destruction, that they 
 had succeeded in the Committee of the House, and that they would destroy 
 the bill inevitably; and it is a fact that the bill, having three times passed 
 the Senate in three different Congresses, each time with a larger vote in its 
 favor, has been repeatedly smothered in the Committee of the House, by 
 those who knew that there was a majority in the House in favor of the bill; 
 and for six years the legislation of Congress has been [thus] arrested. " 
 
 The Roman Church largely controls the secular press of the country; 
 and the leading "Protestant" religious papers, such as the New York Evan- 
 gelist, the Christian at Work, the Christian Union, and the Independent, all pay 
 nattering tribute to the papacy. The Evangelist, of March 29, 1888, acknowl- 
 edges Cardinal Gibbons as its " only cardinal;" the Independent wishes Pope 
 Leo XIII. "a long reign and Godspeed in his liberalizing policy;" Christian 
 at Work salutes him as "Holy Father," and in the name of " the whole Chris- 
 tian world " glorifies him as "this venerable man whose loyalty to God and 
 zeal for the welfare of humanity are as conspicuous as his freedom from many 
 errors and bigotries of his predecessors is remarkable;" and the Christian Union, 
 January 26, 1888, acknowledges him as " a temporal prince " and "supreme 
 pontiff. " 
 
 NOTE ii. PAGE 573. These movements are apparent under diverse 
 forms and in different ways, but the organization which embodies almost 
 every form, and works in every way to gain its end, is the National Reform 
 Association. It originated in a conference representing "eleven different 
 denominations of Christians from seven of the States of the Union. " It now 
 has the support of prominent men from "all branches of the church," of the 
 National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Prohibition party. 
 It proposes to have our national Constitution amended, " in order to constitute 
 a Christian government," "acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all 
 authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler 
 among the nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the laud;" and 
 so placing "all Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on 
 an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land." One of its 
 propositions, announced by David Gregg, D. D., pastor Park Street Church, 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 689 
 
 Boston, is that the State has " the right to command the consciences of men." 
 Another, announced by the Christian Statesman, is that government must 
 "enforce upon all that come among us the laws of Christian morality." 
 Another, announced by the Rev. E. B. Graham, is that ' ' if the opponents 
 of the Bible do not like our government and its Christian features, let them go 
 to some wild, desolate land; and, in the name of the devil, and for the sake 
 of the devil, subdue it, and set up a government of their own on infidel and 
 atheistic ideas, and then, if they can stand it, stay there till they die." 
 Another, announced by Jonathan Edwards, D. D., is that Jews, and all Chris- 
 tians who keep the seventh day, are to be classed as atheists, and " must 
 be treated, as for this [National Reform] question, one party " with atheists, 
 who " cannot dwell together on the same continent " with the National Re- 
 form Christianity. 
 
 Anybody can see at a glance that the establishment of the National Re- 
 form theory of government would be but the establishment of a theocracy. 
 And this is, in fact, what they propose to establish. They say that "a re- 
 public thus governed is of Him, through the people, and is as really and 
 truly a theocracy as the government of Israel." A monthly reading of the 
 National W. C. T. U., written by Miss Willard, on God in government, 
 says: "A true theocracy is yet to come, [and] the enthronement of Christ 
 in law and law-makers, hence I pray devoutly, as a Christian patriot, for the 
 ballot in the hands of women." And in her annual address to the National 
 W. C. T. U. Convention, of 1887, Miss Willard said: "The kingdom of 
 Christ ' must enter the realm of law through the gateway of politics. . . . 
 There are enough temperance men in both [the Democratic and Republican 
 parties] to take possession of the government and give us national prohibition 
 in the party of the near future, which is to be the party of God. . . . We 
 pray Heaven to give them no rest . . . until they shall . . . swear 
 an oath of allegiance to Christ in politics, and march in one great army ' up 
 to the polls to worship God.' ... I firmly believe that the patient, 
 steadfast work of Christian women will so react on politics within the next 
 generation that the party of God will be at the front." Now a man-made 
 theocracy is only a scheme of government which puts man in the place of 
 God. That is precisely the theory upon which the papacy was built, and 
 that is just what the papacy is. The National Reform theory is identical 
 with that of the papacy; therefore the establishment of the National Reform 
 theory in this government will be but the setting up of a living image of the 
 papacy. Advocating, as these parties are, the papal theory, it is not to be 
 wondered at that they are anxious to secure the co-operation of the papacy 
 In carrying their scheme to success. The Christian Statesman is the official 
 organ of the National Reform Association, and in an editorial, December 1 1, 
 1884, that paper said: "We cordially, gladly, recognize the fact that in the 
 South American republics, and in France and other European countries, the 
 Roman Catholics are the recognized advocates of national Christianity, and 
 stand opposed to all the proposals of secularism. . . . Whenever they are 
 willing to co-operate in resisting the projress of political atheism, we will gladly join 
 hands with them. In a World's Conference for the promotion of national 
 
890 APPENDIX. 
 
 Christianity which ought to be held at no distant day many countries 
 could be represented only by Roman Catholics. " And in that same paper, 
 August 31, 1881, Rev. Sylvester Scovil said: "This common interest ["of 
 all religious people in the Sabbath " Sunday] ought both to strengthen our 
 determination to work, and our readiness to co-operate in every way with 
 our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. We may be subjected to some rebuffs 
 in our first proffers, and the time is not yet come when the Roman Church 
 will consent to strike hands with other churches as such; but the time has 
 come to make repeated advances, and gladly to accept co-operation in any 
 form in which they may be willing to exhibit it. It is one of the necessities 
 of the situation. The nexus between the two great divisions of Christianity 
 on questions of moral legislation is a thing worthy the consideration of our 
 best minds and our men of largest experience in such affairs." In perfect 
 accord with this is the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII., 1885, which directs 
 that " all Catholics should do all in their power to cause the constitutions of 
 States, and legislation, to be modeled on the principles of the true church, 
 and all Catholic writers and journalists should never lose sight, for an in- 
 stant, from the view of the above prescriptions." Therefore as the purpose 
 of the National Reform Association is identical \\ ith that of Rome, it is only 
 to be expected that they should show a readiness to " gladly join hands. " 
 And whenever Protestantism gains control of the civil power, whether with 
 or without the aid of Rome, that will be but to erect an image of the papacy. 
 
 NOTE 12. PAGE 578. There are still observers of the Bible Sabbath 
 in Abyssinia. Joseph Wolff, in his journal for 1836, giving an. account of his 
 visit to that country, says that "the Sabbath of the Jews, i. e., Saturday, is 
 kept strictly among the Abyssiniaiis in the province of Hamazien." 
 
 NOTE 13. PAGES 605.. 613. The word ''seal " is used in the Scriptures 
 in various senses, even as in common life. The definition given by Webster, 
 the most comprehensive, is as follows: "That which confirms, ratifies, or 
 makes stable; assurance; that which authenticates; that which secures, makes 
 reliable, or stable." The terms "mark" and "sign," also given by him, are 
 used in the Scriptures as synonymous with seal, as in Eom. 4:11. 
 
 In the covenant with Noah it is used in the sense of assurance, or evi- 
 dence of stability. The bow in the cloud was given as a sign or token that 
 God would not again destroy the earth by a ilood. Gen. 9:13. In the 
 covenant with Abraham, circumcision was the token or sign. This ratified, 
 or made sure; for they who had not this token were cut off. Gen. 17 : 11, 14. 
 This sign or token was an institution, a rite. Gesenius gives "a memorial" 
 as one definition of the word found in the original of these texts. But a 
 memorial, in the sense of a reminder, or a remembrancer, is a token or sign. 
 
 In Ex. 31 : 17 and Eze. 20 : 12, 20, the Sabbath of the Lord is called a 
 sign. It is a memorial of the Creator's work, and so a sign of his power and 
 Godhead. Rom. 1 :20. This is also an institution, as was circumcision; but 
 there is this distinction: circumcision was a sign in the flesh, while the Sab- 
 baih is a sign in the mind. "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a 
 sign between me and you, tlua ye may know that I am the Lord your God. " 
 Eze. 20:20. 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 
 
 691 
 
 In Eze. 9 : 4 the word used in the original is translated mark. Geseiiius 
 says, " a mark, sign." The Septuagint gives the same word in this text that 
 is given in the Greek of Rom. 4:11, rendered "sign." Thus the words 
 sign, mark, and seal are applied to the same things, or used as of like sig- 
 nification, in the Scriptures. 
 
 In Eze. 9 : 4 and Rev. 7:2, 3, the mark or sign is said to be placed in the 
 foreheads of the servants of God. Both these scriptures refer to a time when 
 utter destruction is coming on the ungodly. The seal is placed upon God's 
 people as a safeguard to preserve them from the evil impending. But "the 
 forehead " is evidently used as a figure, to denote the intellect or mind, as 
 "the heart" is used to denote the disposition or affections. To mark or seal 
 in the forehead is the same as to " write in the mind." Heb. 10 : 16. 
 
 The Sabbath is the sign of God; it is the seal of his law. Isa. 8:16. It 
 is the token of his authority and power. It is a sign whereby we may know 
 that he is God, and therefore it is appropriately said to be placed in the fore- 
 head. The worshipers of the beast (Revelation 13) are said to receive his mark 
 in their foreheads or in their hands. As the forehead represents the intellect, 
 the hand represents power, as Ps. 89 :48, "Shall he deliver his soul from the 
 hand of the grave?" Compulsory worship is not acceptable to God; his 
 servants are sealed only in their foreheads. But it is acceptable to wicked 
 powers; it has always been craved by the Romish hierarchy. See chapter 
 25 for proof on the nature of this mark. The sign or seal of God is his 
 Sabbath, and the seal or mark of the beast is in direct opposition to it; it 
 is a counterfeit sabbath on the "day of the sun." According to Rev. 14: 
 9-12, they who do not receive the mark of the beast keep the com- 
 mandments of God; and the Sabbath is in the fourth precept; they keep 
 the Sabbath of the Lord; they have his sign or seal. The importance of this 
 sign is shown in this, that the fourth commandment is the only one in the 
 law which distinguishes the Creator from false gods. Compare Jer. 10 : 10-12; 
 Acts 17 : 23, 24; Rev. 14 : 6, 7, etc. And it is that part of his law for keeping 
 which his people will suffer persecution. But when the wrath of God comes 
 upon the persecutors who are found enforcing the sign or mark of the beast, 
 then they will realize the importance of the Sabbath, the seal of the living 
 God. They who turn away from that which the Lord spoke when his voice 
 shook the earth, will confess their fatal error when his voice shall shake the 
 heavens and the earth. Heb. 12 :25, 26; Joel 3 : 9-16, aud others. See alsr 
 pages 639, 640 of this book. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 
 
 COLUMBA. The gospel was first carried to Great Britain in the second 
 century; and thence, through the labors of Succat, or St. Patrick, in thj 
 fourth century, it spread to Ireland. The invasion of Britain by the pagan 
 Saxons, A. D. 449, resulted in very nearly uprooting the Christian faith in 
 England and Scotland. But it was revived, a hundred years later, through 
 the labors of Columba, a native of Ireland, from one of the churches that had 
 grown up under Succat 's labors. Colurnba was very active in spreading the 
 gospel in his own country, when, his attention being called to the condition 
 of the heathen Picts, he determined to undertake their conversion. With a 
 few companions he established himself on the little island of lona, or Icolrnkill, 
 off the west coast of Scotland. A church and college grew up here; and 
 through the evangelists sent out from thence, the gospel was disseminated 
 through a considerable part of Europe. 
 
 Columba was of princely birth, "of lofty stature, and noble bearing. He 
 was a man of quick perception, and great force of character; one of those mas- 
 terful minds that mould and sway others." "He had an intense love for the 
 Word of God, and spent much time in reading, studying, and copying it. He 
 gave much time also to prayer and to the guiding of the communities which 
 put themselves under his care, endeavoring to train them in useful arts as 
 well as in Christian knowledge." 
 
 Columba labored personally, and with great success, in Scotland and 
 England, and several times visited Ireland. His last days were spent at lona, 
 "the isle of his heart," as he usually called it. The closing scene was most 
 touching. The day before his death, being taken to the hill which overlooked 
 the mission house and its little farm, he stood surveying it for some time, and, 
 lifting up both his hands, he invoked upon it the divine blessing. "Return- 
 ing to his hut, he resumed his daily task in transcribing the Psalter, ard 
 proceeded to the place where it is written, ' They that seek the Lord shall net 
 lack any good thing. ' ' Here, ' he said, at the close of the page, ' I must stop. ' 
 When the bell for matins rang, he hastened to the church, and, ere the breth- 
 ren could join him, he had fainted before the altar. Unable to speak, he 
 made a feeble effort once more to raise his right hand to bless them, and, with 
 joy beaming in his face, passed to his rest." 
 
 Columba was born at Gartan, County Donegal, Ireland, A. D. 521; died 
 at lona, Scotland, 597. 
 
 THE WALDENSES The name Waldenses is said to have been deriven 
 from Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, France, who lived about 1150 
 A. D. Finding opportunity, in the midst of a life of business activity, for the 
 study of letters, he was led to the Bible, and, receiving the truths of the 
 gospel, he devoted his life to the work of an evangelist. He rendered an im- 
 (692) 
 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 693 
 
 portant service to the cause of reform, by procuring, at his own expense and 
 under his supervision, a translation of the New Testament into the Romaunt 
 tongue, then the vernacular of Southern France. This was the first complete 
 translation of the Scriptures into any of the languages of medieval Europe, 
 and was the only one available for popular use. 
 
 But the primitive Christians known as Waldenses, or Vaudois, existed 
 before the days of Waldo. From the earliest times there have been Christians 
 holding the faith of the apostolic church, and bearing testimony against 
 Romish tyranny and corruption. The diocese of Milan which included the 
 plains of Lombardy, the Alps of Piedmont, and the southern provinces of 
 France exceeded in extent the temporal dominions of the Roman see; and 
 it was not until the middle of the eleventh century that Mihn acknowledged 
 the supremacy of the pope. Even then many of the people repudiated the 
 action of their prelates, and in the mountains of Piedmont maintained their 
 independence of Rome. In the south of France the Albigenses offered a 
 similar resistance to the popish usurpations. 
 
 The persecution which began under Innocent III., in the thirteenth 
 century, resulted in the extinction of the Albigeuses, and it continued, with 
 murderous violence, against the Vaudois for hundreds of years. For the 
 sake of peace, many at last resorted to an outward conformity to Rome. 
 But wibh the Reformation, a new life animated the dwellers in the Piedmont 
 valleys. Again they witnessed for their faith, and the fires of persecution 
 were rekindled. Again and again bodies of soldiers were dispatched against 
 them. Massacre succeeded massacre. Tortures the most horrible that were 
 ever perpetrated by fiends in human form, were visited upon aged men, 
 helpless \vomen, and little children. In 1C85 the conquest was completed. 
 All the surviving inhabitants of the valleys were dragged away to fill the 
 prisons of their conquerors. Neglect, barbarity, and pestilence wrought 
 their dreadful work; and in less than one year, out of fourteen thousand who 
 had entered, only three thousand came forth when the prison doors were 
 opened. These were sentenced to exile, and in the dead of winter a large 
 number made their way across the Alps, to a place of refuge. Hundreds 
 perished, and after terrible suffering, the survivors reached the gates of 
 Geneva. A few years later, part of this company returned to their mount- 
 ains, and recovered possession of their deserted homes. 
 
 In the eighteenth century, religious persecution generally subsided. Yet 
 in 1799 tne Waldenses were still subjected to many civil restrictions; their 
 children were often stolen, or taken from them by fo^e, in order to be edu- 
 cated in the Catholic faith, and they had to pay tithes to the Romish clergy. 
 It was not until 1848 that they were admitted, by the rulers of Piedmont, to 
 equal enjoyment with others of all social and political rights. Within the 
 States of the church, however, the pope still reigned supreme, and his power 
 was a standing menace to religious freedom. But in 1870 the stronghold of 
 popery feiL Soon the New Testament was printed in Rome, by the hand of 
 a young Waldensian, tinder the very windows of the Vatican. And one of 
 the prisons was converted into a publishing house, aud in the torture- 
 
694 APPENDIX. 
 
 chamber that once echoed the cries of the martyrs of Jesus, the press was set 
 up, from which the gospel of peace was sent out to all the land. 
 
 JOHN WYCLIFFE, or John of Wycliffe, the greatest of "the re- 
 formers before the Reformation," was born about 1324, in the village of the 
 same name, in Yorkshire, England. His death occurred in 1384. Of his 
 early life, little is known. He received his education at the University of 
 Oxford, which even at that early date numbered not less than thirty thousand 
 students.* Until near the olose of his life he continued t J reside and to teach 
 here. By his defense of the action of Edward III. in refusing the pope's 
 demand for tribute, and his advocacy of popular rights when delegated to 
 treat with the papal nuncios in the Netherlands, Wycliffe won the confidence 
 and approval of the king and the people. Though pursued by the relentless 
 enmity of the pope and his supporters, and at last driven from the university, 
 he was appointed by the king to the rectory of Lutterwprth, where he devoted 
 himself to the translation o* the Bible into the mother-tongue. ' ' Wycliffe 
 was eminent as a scholar, a diplomatist, and a preacher." "His wonderful 
 learning and intellectual ability gave him a commanding influence in the uni- 
 versity. But the Bible was his standard and staple; his sermons are really 
 saturated with it. His object is always to defend the truth of Christ." 
 
 JOHN HUSS, of Hussinetz, Bohemia, born in 1378, was chief among 
 those by whom the torch of truth was handed down from Wycliffe to the 
 reformers of the sixteenth century. He was educated at the University of 
 Prague, and in 1402 became rector of the university, and preacher of Beth- 
 lehem Chapel. He did not apprehend the truth so clearly as did WyclifFe, 
 he held to papal doctrines which the English reformer had renounced; but he 
 maintained the great fundamental truth of the infallibility of the Scriptures, 
 and faithfully rebuked the vices of the church; and he laid down his life as 
 a witness to his fidelity. He was burned at Constance, in 1415. 
 
 "Huss was much less remarkable for the amount of his mental endow- 
 ments and acquirements than for the candor with which he formed his con- 
 victions, the tenacity with which he held them, the unselfish enthusiasm with 
 which he spoke them. He cannot be said to have added ... to the 
 intellectual wealth of the world; but his contribution to its moral capital 
 was immense." He has been justly pronounced "one of the bravest of the 
 martyrs who have died in the cause of honesty and freedom, of progress and 
 of growth toward the light. " 
 
 JEROME OF PRAGUE, the devoted friend of Huss, was a descendant 
 of a noble Bohemian family. After spending several years at the University 
 of Prague, he continued his studies at the leading universities of France, 
 Germany, and England, at each receiving the degree of doctor of divinity. 
 At Oxford he became acquainted with the writings of Wycliffe, and studied 
 them with great enthusiasm. "Until now, "he said, "we had nothing but 
 the shell of sc:ence; WyclifFe first laid open the kernel." He engaged in trans 
 lating Wycliffe's writings into the Bohemian language, and, on returning to Bo- 
 hemia, joined Huss in promulgating the reformed doctrines. Jerome was born 
 about 1305, and was burned at the stake in Constance, in 1416. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 695 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER Eisleben, a little towii in the Thuringian forest, 
 Saxony, was the birthplace of Luther, the greatest of the reformers. Born 
 in 14S3, when the revival of letters had already begun, and the minds of men. 
 were awakening from the stupor of medievalism, Luther was, under God, to 
 lead them from the bondage of superstition. In his boyhood he was sent to 
 school at Mansfeld, at Magdeburg, and at Eisenach, and even then manifested 
 a keen power of intellect. At Eisenach, as he sang before the houses, and 
 asked for bread for Christ's sake, he attracted the notice of the kindly Ursula 
 Cotta, who received him into her home, and gave a mother's care to the poor 
 young scholar. In 1501 Luther entered the University of Erfurt; four years 
 later he abandoned his studies, for the monastery. He was ordained priest in 
 1507, and the following year was called to a chair in the University at Witten- 
 berg. The famous theses against indulgences were posted in 1517; and in 
 1521 he appeared at the Diet of Worms. For twenty-five years the decree 
 of outlawry here pronounced hung over him; yet, like Wycliffe, he was to die 
 in peace. Though nearly the whole of his active life was spent at Witten- 
 berg, his death occurred at Eisleben, his native place, where, worn out with 
 his mighty labors, he expired February 18, 1546. 
 
 " Luther's physical life was largely one of suffering. His form, in early 
 life, was spare, though in after-years approaching to corpulence. The full- 
 ness of face given him in his later pictures, however, is said to have been the 
 result, not of robustness, but of a dropsical tendency resulting from his early 
 austerities. His habits were abstemious. His voice was not loud nor strong; 
 it was their lightning, not their thunder, by which the mighty effects of his 
 words were produced. 
 
 "The character of Luther lies so open in his life that it is hardly neces- 
 sary to trace its lines. He was so ingenuous that if all the world had con- 
 spired to cover up his faults, his own hand would have uncovered them. HU 
 violence was that of a mighty nature, strong in conviction, waging the battle 
 of truth against implacable foes. That he was unselfish, earnest, honest, in- 
 flexibly brave in danger, full of tenderness and humanity; that he was one of 
 the great creative spirits of the race, mighty in word and deed, matchless as 
 a popular orator, one of the very people, yet a prince among princes, a child 
 of faith, a child of God, this is admitted by all." 
 
 PHILIP MELANCTHON, the friend of Luther, and his co-laborer in 
 the German Reformation, was born in 1497- He was the son of a master- 
 armorer of Bretten, in the duchy of Baden, and was a relative and pupil of the 
 celebrated Reuchlin, who did so much ijo introduce the study of Greek and 
 Hebrew into Germany. The strength and clearness of Melancthon's under- 
 standing made the acquisition of knowledge a delight. At the age of twelve 
 ysars, he entered the University of Heidelberg, and at seventeen took his 
 doctor's degree. It was about this time that he changed his name from 
 Schwartzerd ("black earth") to the Greek Melancthon, v. hich signifies the 
 same thing. In those times it was not unusual for learned men to translate 
 their names from German to Latin or Greek. At twenty-one, Melancthon 
 was called to the Greek professorship at Wittenberg, and then began the 
 
696 APPENDIX. 
 
 friendship with Luther which continued till the great reformer's death. 
 Melancthon compares Luther to Elijah, and calls him "the man full of the 
 Holy Ghost." And Luther, contrasting himself with Melancthon, wrote: 
 " I was bound to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are 
 very belligerent. I am the rough pioneer, who must break road; but Master 
 Philip conies along softly and gently, sows and waters heartily, since God 
 hath richly endowed him with gifts. " It was Melancthon 's logical mind and 
 polished pen that wrote the confession of Augsburg, whose clearness, strength, 
 simplicity, and elegance were acknowledged even by its foes. He died at 
 Wittenberg, in 1560, and was buried beside Luther in the castle church. 
 
 ULRIC ZWINGLE was born New Year's day, 1484, in the little village 
 of Wildhaus, in a narrow valley of southeastern Switzerland. He was the first 
 of Swiss reformers, and his work exerted a widespread influence. Zurich was 
 the scene of his most important labors; he was called to this city in iri9,, and 
 in 1525 the Reformation had become established here without violence, and 
 almost without disturbances. As other cities and entire districts accepted 
 the reformed faith, the popish cantons took up arms to oppose the right of 
 religious liberty. In the struggle that followed, Zwingle, who acted as chap- 
 lain for the reformed forces, fell on the field of Cappel, October il, 1531. 
 
 " Zwingle was a bold reformer, an able scholar, an eloquent preacher, a 
 patriotic republican, and far-sighted statesman. He lacked the genius and 
 depth of Luther and Galvin, the learning of Melancthon and (Ecolampadius; 
 but he was their equal in honesty of purpose, integrity of character, heroic 
 courage, and devotion to the cause of reformation, and he surpassed them in 
 liberality." 
 
 JOHN CECOLAMPADIUS. (Ecolampadius is called " the reformer of 
 Basel," but the wide extent of his influence entitles him to a more compre- 
 hensive appellation. In his intellectual and moral qualities he bore a striking 
 resemblance to Melancthon. " There are several illustrations in the period of 
 the Reformation, that the Lord delights to send out his disciples in pairs 
 when he has a great work to accomplish. Luther stood side by side with 
 Melancthon, Calvin with Beza, and (Ecolampadius with Zwingle." 
 
 CEcolampadius was born in 1482, in the present kingdom of VViirtemberg. 
 He early regarded Lather's teaching with favor, and, in 1522, upon being 
 invited to Basel, he entered upon his work as a reformer. The city was at 
 this time the most important intellectual center in Switzerland, the seat of its 
 only university, and the residence of its most extensive printers. (Ecolampa 
 dius was soon appointed to a chair in the university, and in 1529 the Reforma- 
 tion was established in. Basel. Here CEcolampadius died, in 1531. 
 
 JACQUES LEFEVRE, an eminent scholar, and one of the earliest of 
 French reformers, was born about 1450, and died in 1536. Lefevre was a pro- 
 fessor in the University of Paris, when, about 1507, he began to study the 
 Bible. He published commentaries on different portions of the Scriptures, and 
 in 1521 one of his works was condemned as heretical. But by the favor of 
 Francis I. and the princess Margaret, the proceedings against him were stopped. 
 In 1523 his Frau<;h version of the New Testament was issued After the battle 
 
mo (1 A' . 1 / 'T1WA L NO TES. 697 
 
 of Pavia, however, and the imprisonment of Francis in Madrid, the papist 
 party resorted to the most vigorous measures against the reformers, and 
 Lefevre, then seventy-five years of age, fled to Strasburg. Soon after the king's 
 release he was recalled, and, after publishing his translation of the Old Testa- 
 ment, he retired to Nerac, the residence of Margaret of Navarre, where he 
 died. Lefevre had accepted the fundamental principles of the Reformation, 
 and maintained them in his writings; yet he retained his connection with the 
 Romish Church, hoping that a reform might take place in the church itself. 
 Studious and peace-loving, he shrank from open conflict. But his lack of 
 boldness to confess the truth caused him bitter remorse in his last hours. 
 With tears ami heart-rending anguish he exclaimed, "I am condemned. I 
 have concealed the truth which I ought to have professed and openly borne 
 witness to. " Day and night he continued to utter this cry, but was at last 
 enabled to cast his burden upon Christ, and he died trusting in the mercy 
 of God. 
 
 WILLIAM FAREL, one of the boldest pioneers of the Reformation 
 in Switzerland and France, was born in Dauphiny, a province of Eastern 
 France, in 1489. He was a zealous and successful student, and became pro- 
 fessor in one of the colleges of Paris. Receiving the principles of the reformed 
 faith, he threw himself, with all the strength of his ardent nature, into the 
 work of the gospel. Being forced to flee from France, he repaired to Basel, 
 and formed a warm friendship with Zwingle and (Ecolampadius, who could not 
 but be attracted by his energy and self-sacrifice, while they perceived his lack 
 of discretion, which sometimes led him to imprudence and even rashness. 
 But Erasmus, the politic and conservative scholar, could not tolerate the un- 
 compromising reformer, and, through his influence, Farel was forced to leave 
 Basel. A large part of his long and active life was, however, spent in Switz- 
 erland, in labors that were at once vast and perilous; and they resulted in 
 establishing the reformed faith in a considerable part of that country. 
 
 In 1532, Farel went as deputy from the reformers to the Waldensian Synod 
 in the valley of Angrogna. He was ever after held in high esteem by the 
 Vaudois, and exerted a strong influence over them. Through many vicissi- 
 tudes, dangers, and sufferings, he continued laboring for the Reformation until 
 the very day of his death, which occurred at Neuchatel, in 1565. Farel was 
 an ardent, impulsive man; a missionary rather than an organizer; an iconoclast 
 rather than a theologian. " Beza says that in his preaching "he excelled in 
 a certain sublimity, so that none could hear his thunders without trembling." 
 
 JOHN CALVIN At Noyon, in Picardy, about seventy miles northeast 
 
 of Paris, Calvin was born in 1509; he died at Geneva in 1564. Calvin early 
 renounced Romanism, and in 1534 was forced to flee from France. In 1536 
 he published at Basel the most celebrated of all his works, "The Institutes of 
 the Christian Religion. " The same year he entered upon his labors at Geneva, 
 where nearly all his subsequent life was spent. Here his methods of govern- 
 ment and reform were strictly observed, this being the conditi >o. upon which 
 alone he would consent to remain. Under his rule, immorality f eVery sort 
 was sternly suppressed. Besides the refugees that flocked to Geneva from 
 
698 APPENDIX. 
 
 nearly all parts of Europe, thousands of students resorted thither, drawn by 
 the fame of his lectures and those of Beza. 
 
 "Calvin's habits were frugal and unostentatious. He had a clear under- 
 standing, an extraordinary memory, and a firmness and inflexibility of purpose 
 which no opposition could overcome, no variety of objects defeat, no vicissi- 
 tude shake. In his principles he was devout and sincere. " Some acts of 
 intolerance have cast a shadow upon his public career, but his character in 
 private life was without a stain. As preacher, author, pastor, and leader of 
 the Reformation throughout Europe, the extent of his labors is almost in- 
 credible. His health was feeble, yet he continued his work almost to the day 
 of his death. He chose to be poor, refusing additions to his moderate salary, 
 and declining presents, except for the purpose of giving them to the poor. 
 Though often accused of amassing wealth, he left at his death little moiv 
 than two hundred dollars. At his own request, he was buried without pomp, 
 and no monument marks his grave. 
 
 MENNO SIMONS, "a reformer whose apostolic spirit and labors have 
 thus far failed to receive the recognition they deserve." He was born about 
 1492, in Northern Holland. He died in Holstein in 1559. 
 
 In 1536, Menno withdrew from the Romish Church. His opposition to 
 the doctrine of infant baptism separated him from the Lutheran and Reformed 
 churches. It was his earnest effort, while firmly opposing fanaticism, to 
 restore in the church the purity and simplicity of apostolic days; a personal 
 profession of faith in Christ was required as a prerequisite to baptism, and 
 purity of life was a condition of church-membership. 
 
 HANS TAUSEN, born in Denmark, in 1494; died in 1561. In 1524 he 
 began to preach the reformed doctrines. He was the first preacher of the 
 Reformation in Denmark, and, with Bugenhagen, was the chief agent in its 
 establishment in that country. 
 
 OLAF AND LAURENTIUS PETRI were born at Orebro, Sweden, 
 the former in 1497, the latter in 1499. Olaf died at Stockholm in 1552, 
 Laurentius at Upsala in 1573. They were chiefly instrumental in the es- 
 tablishment of the Reformation in Sweden, under the protection of the king, 
 Gustavus Vasa. 
 
 WILLIAM TYNDALE, one of the most eminent English reformers o f 
 the sixteenth century, was born about 1484. Soon after accepting the re- 
 formed faith he formed the design of translating the Scriptures into the En 
 glish language, and was forced to flee to the Continent to escape persecution. 
 The New Testament was printed at Cologne and Worms in 1525.. His subse- 
 quent history is involved in obscurity. He was engaged in the translation and 
 printing of the Old Testament, and the publication of various works setting 
 forth the doctrines of the Reformation. To elude the emissaries of the 
 English king and prelates, he pursued his work in secret, and so carefully did 
 he conceal his places of retreat that they are even yet unknown. In 1534 he 
 ventured to settle at Antwerp, where he was arrested. At the castle of Vilvor- 
 den, a few miles from Brussels, he was strangled and burned, October 6, 1536. 
 It cannot be proved that Henry VIII. had any direct agency in his execution, 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 699 
 
 but he made no effort to save him. The martyr's last prayer was, " Lord, open 
 the eyes of the king of England." 
 
 The value of Tyndale 's labors as a translator of the Scriptures and a 
 promoter of the Reformation in England, has never been adequately appreci- 
 ated. The millions who in all quarters of the earth enjoy the blessings of the 
 , English Bible, owe him a debt of gratitude; for the authorized version has 
 his for its basis. In his own time his teachings shaped -the views of many of 
 the leaders in the English Reformation, who also sealed their testimony with 
 their blood. 
 
 HUGH LATIMER, sometimes called " the John Knox of England," was 
 born about 1470. His father was a plain yeoman, "who," says Latimer, 
 " brought up his children in godliness and the fear of God." Latimer was 
 educated at Cambridge, and was a zealous papist, but, through the efforts of 
 the martyr Bilney, he accepted the doctrines of the Reformation. His fearless 
 presentation of the truth won the favor of Henry VIII., who appointed him 
 bishop of Worcester, but upon the passage of " the bloody act of the six 
 articles," enforcing a belief in transubstantiation, with other popish errors, 
 Latimer promptly resigned his position. He was afterward arrested, and was 
 for six years held a prisoner in the Tower. Released on the accession of 
 Edward VI., he was offered his bishopric, but he firmly declined the honor, 
 and continued faithfully to rebuke the vices of the times. When Mary came 
 to the throne he was again committed to the Tower. Though he was now 
 eighty years old, no respect was shown for his great age. He steadfastly 
 maintained his faith, and was burned at Oxford in 1555. Latimer was not a 
 man of great learning; he was plain in speech; but he was brave, honest, 
 and devoted, a reprover of sin both in high places and in low. 
 
 NICHOLAS RIDLEY, an English bishop and martyr, eminent for his 
 learning and piety, was born about 1500. He studied at Cambridge, also at 
 the most celebrated universities of France and the Netherlands. Through the 
 favor of Cranmer he was appointed chaplain to King Henry, and, in the reign 
 of Edward, he became bishop of London. After Mary's accession he was, 
 with Latimer, burned at the stake in 1555. Being denied permission to speak 
 unless he recanted, he said, " So long as the breath is in my body, I will never 
 deny my Lord Christ and his known truth. God's will be done in me." 
 
 In his private life, Bishop Ridley. was pronounced "a pattern of piety, 
 humility, temperance, and regularity." Fox speaks of him as "a man beau- 
 tified with excellent qualities, . . . godly learned, and now written, 
 doubtless, in the book of life. " 
 
 JOHN KNOX, the reformer of Scotland, was born in 1505. He was edu- 
 cated at the University of Glasgow, and was ordained a Catholic priest. The 
 writings of Jerome and Augustine, and the influence of the martyr Wishart, 
 set him free from the fetters of Rome, and he became a preacher of the gospel. 
 When the castle of St. Andrews was taken by the French, Knox was made 
 prisoner, and being carried to Rouen he served for nineteen months as a galley- 
 slave. Upon his release the state of affairs in Scotland forbade his return, 
 and he spent some time in England, acting as chaplain to Edward VI. When 
 
700 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mary came to the throne, 'he went to Frankfort and Geneva, in each place 
 becoming pastor of the English exiles. He was much esteemed by Calvin, 
 whose doctrines he advocated. Returning to Scotland in 1559, he was, 
 through the influence of the Romanists, proclaimed an outlaw and a rebel, 
 but, nothing daunted, he pursued his labors, taking an active part in the estab- 
 lishment of the Reformation in that country until his death, in 1572. 
 
 JOHN BUN YAN, so widely known as the author of "Pilgrim's Progress," 
 was born in England, in. 1628. He was the son of a tinker of ElstoW;, and 
 was himself bred to the same trade. He, however, acquired some of the 
 rudiments of education, and, though little inclined to religion, was far supe- 
 rior ii. morals to most of his class. He served for a time in the parliamentary 
 army, and here one of his comrades, while filling his post, was killed. 
 Bunyan felt that a divine hand had interposed to save his life, and he was 
 thus led to give his attention to religious things. After long and severe con- 
 flicts he found peace in Christ. He joined the Baptists, and became an 
 exhorter, and, after a time, one of their most distinguished preachers. 
 
 In 1660, under the oppressive measures enforced at the Restoration, 
 Bunyan was thrown into Bedford jail, where he remained for twelve years. 
 For the support of his family he took up the making of tagged thread boot- 
 laces, but he firmly refused either to sacrifice his faith or to escape from his 
 prison by strategem, as he might easily have done. He was offered his 
 freedom if he would give up preaching, and was told that if he persisted in 
 defying the law, he would be sentenced to banishment, and to death should 
 he return to England. His answer was, "If you let me out to-day, I will 
 preach again to-morrow. " But his persecutors were thwarted; for the "Pil- 
 grim's Progress," which he wrote in his dungeon, has taught the truths of 
 salvation wherever the English language is spoken, and it has been translated 
 into every tongue of Christendom. It is one of the favorite books that, after 
 Holy Scripture, the missionary to the heathen translates for his converts. 
 
 After his release, Bunyan preached with great zeal and success, gaining 
 the appellation of "Bishop Bunyan." The Bible was his constant companion, 
 the source of his wisdom, and the inspiration of his genius. Self-sacrifice for 
 the truth's sake and for the good of others was the rule of his life. He died 
 at the age of sixty, from exposure in a storm while returning from a success- 
 ful effort to reconcile a father to his sop. There are few more striking exam- 
 ples of the educating, transforming pOM r er of the Holy Scriptures upon both 
 the intellect and the heart, than is presented in the history of John Bunyan. 
 
 J.OHN WESLEY, the founder of Methodism, was born at Epworth, 
 England, in 1703. His father was a minister of the Church of England. His 
 mother, from whom he received his early training and education, was a woman 
 of great intelligence and deep piety, firm yet wise in discipline, and a skillful 
 teacher. He studied at Oxford, and won a high reputation for scholarship. 
 It was here that the famous "Holy Club" was formed, John and Charles 
 Wesley, Whitefield, and others uniting together for devotional exercises, min- 
 istering to the sick and the poor, visiting prisons, etc. 
 
 In 1725, Wesley received ordination to the ministry. When a mission to 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 701 
 
 Georgia for the conversion of the Indians was projected, and a call was made 
 for "a clergyman inured to contempt of the ornaments and conveniences of 
 life, to bodily austerities, and to serious thoughts," Wesley responded. He 
 remained two years in the colony, but without opportunity to accomplish the 
 object of his mission. He returned to England in 1738, and the same year 
 fully received the doctrine of justification by faith, and began to preach it. 
 He especially devoted himself to the work of carrying the gospel to the poor 
 and neglected classes. Finding the churches closed against him, he finally 
 vesorted to open-air preaching. "I could hardly reconcile myself, "he says, 
 "to this strange way of preaching in the fields, . . . having been all my 
 life (till very lately) so very tenacious of every point relating to decency and 
 order that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had 
 not been done in a church." Until his death, in 1791, he continued his labors 
 in England, Scotland, and Ireland. During his life he traveled upwards of 
 two hundred and fifty thousand miles, and preached forty thousand sermons, 
 besides the oversight of all his churches and congregations, an immense cor- 
 respondence, and the preparation of his voluminous writings. 
 
 GEORGE WHITEFIELD, one of the most celebrated evangelists of 
 modern times, was a native of Gloucester, England. Educated at Oxford, and 
 a member of the Methodist Club, he was the first of their number who pro- 
 fessed conversion. He was ordained in 1736, and labored especially to benefit 
 the multitudes who were .not reached by the ordinary ministrations of the 
 church. He seven times visited America, preaching in all the large cities. 
 He also labored extensively in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and made a 
 visit to Holland. Whitefield differed from Mr. Wesley in regard to the doc- 
 trine of predestination, and the separation which resulted gave rise to the 
 two branches, Calvinistic and Wesley an Methodists. He died in 1770, at the 
 age of fifty- six, as he was preparing for a seventh missionary tour through 
 the United States. 
 
 The power of Whitefield's preaching was acknowledged by all classes; 
 multitudes coked to hear him, and extensive revivals followed his labors. 
 Not infrequently he preached three or four times a day. The day before his 
 death he spoke at Exeter, Mass., holding a large audience spell-bound for two 
 hours. He wsnt to Newburyport, intending to preach next day. As he was 
 retiring to his chamber at night, seeing the people gathered in the hall below, 
 he stopped, and spoke to them from the staircase until his candle burned out 
 in the socket. The next morning he was dead. 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON, the Pilgrim pastor, was born in England, in 1575. 
 He was educated at Cambridge, and became a minister of the Established 
 Church; but feeling that the ecclesiastical supremacy accorded to the king was 
 contrary to the teachings of Christ, he resolved upon separation. The decision 
 was a painful one, and in referring to it he says, "Had not the truth been 
 in my heart ' as a burning fire shut up in my bones, ' I had never broken 
 those bonds, . . . but had suffered the light of God, to have been put out 
 in mine own unthankful heart by other men's darkness." Robinson was 
 among the exiles who found refuge in Holland, and he became pastoi ot the 
 
702 APPENDIX. 
 
 Pilgrim church at Leyden, where he was highly esteemed both for piety and 
 scholarship. When the Pilgrims decided to seek a home in America, it was 
 found necessary to divide the company, and as the majority remained at 
 Leyden, to follow their brethren at a later period, they claimed the min- 
 istry of their pastor. But Robinson was not to accompany his flock to the 
 New World. He died at Leyden, in 1625. His family afterward joined the 
 exiles, and his descendants were among the colonists of New England. 
 
 Robinson's character may be read in his farewell address to the Pilgrims. 
 He was one of the few men that, in every age, have been the hope of reform, 
 men who, instead of resting their faith upon the creed or teaching of the 
 church, will build only upon the eternal foundation of the Word of God. 
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS, pre-eminently the advocate of religious freedom, 
 was a native of Wales, born about 1600. He died in Rhode Island, in 1683. 
 Williams toek orders in the Church of England; but soon, he says, his 
 " conscience was persuaded against the national church and ceremonies and 
 bishops." He went to America in 1631, but being too radical and outspoken 
 even for the Puritan colonies, he was sentenced to banishment. One of the 
 regulations enacted by those law-makers was: "If any person or persons 
 within this jurisdiction . . . shall deny their [the magistrates'] lawful 
 right or authority ... to punish the outward breaches of the first table 
 [of the decalogue], . . . every such person or persons shall be sentenced 
 to banishment. " As Williams stoutly denied the jurisdiction of the magis- 
 trates in religious matters, he stood condemned. 
 
 He had been accused of advancing opinions that were dangerous to the 
 peace and order of the commonwealth; but upon proceeding to Rhode Island 
 he founded a community in which perfect religious liberty prevailed, and 
 where these very teachings were freely permitted; yet life, property, and civil 
 government were as secure here as in Massachusetts. Thus it was demon- 
 strated that Williams' teachings were not dangerous to the peace and order 
 of the State, that the charges against him were unsustained, and that his 
 banishment from Massachusetts was unjust. 
 
 " Williams' character as a man and a Christian was above reproach. Even 
 his bitterest opponents spoke of him personally in terms of high respect. 
 He was an especial friend of the Indians. He studied their language, re- 
 spected and defended their title to their lands, and when the Massachusetts 
 Colony and other white settlements were threatened with Indian hostilities, 
 he was able, by his acquaintance and friendship with leading chiefs, to avert 
 the impending dangers." It was thus that Williams requited the injustice 
 which he had suffered. 
 
 WILLIAM MILLER, the well-known prophetic expositor, was born 
 at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1782. During the greater part of his life, however, 
 his home was at Low Hampton, New York, where he died in 1849. The son 
 of an officer in the army of the Revolution, Mr. Miller himself served in the 
 war of 1812, holding a captain's commission in the regular army. He had 
 imbibed deistical sentiments before entering the army, but his integrity of 
 character rendered the profligacy of the camp so distasteful to him that upon 
 the expiration of the war he gladly abandoned a military life. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 703 
 
 The fact that deism denies a future existence prevented him from giving 
 a cordial assent to the doctrine, though he did not accept the Scriptures as 
 inspired. When, however, he came to look upon the Bible as its own in- 
 terpreter, instead of accepting the current theological teaching as the ex- 
 ponent of revelation, all his difficulties were swept away. From the year 
 1818, when he reached the conclusion that the personal coming of Christ was 
 near, he continued for thirteen years prayerfully investigating the subject, 
 but mentioning his views only in private. He entered upon their public pre- 
 sentation in 1831, and, between this time and 1844, delivered four thousand 
 lectures in five hundred different towns. About two hundred ministers ac- 
 cepted his views, and five hundred public lecturers engaged in their promul- 
 gation. In nearly a thousand places, congregations of believers were raised 
 up, comprising about fifty thousand persons. Under Mr. Miller's labors/ 
 alone, not less than six thousand souls were converted to Christ, and the 
 number was probably much greater. Of the converts, fully seven hundred 
 were avowed infidels before attending his lectures. 
 
 Though mistaken in regard to the exact time of the second advent, his 
 belief was unchanged as to the manner and nearness of the Saviour's coming. 
 In 1845 he wrote: "I have candidly weighed the objections advanced 
 against these views; but I have seen no arguments that were sustained by 
 the Scriptures, that, in my opinion, invalidated my position. I cannot, 
 therefore, conscientiously refrain from looking for my Lord, or from exhorting 
 my fellow-men, as I have opportunity, to be in readiness for that great event.*' 
 Yet he felt that his own work was nearly ended. "I shall leave to my 
 younger brethren," he said, "the task of contending for the truth. Many 
 years I toiled on alone; God has now raised up those who will fill my place." 
 He continued, however, to preach from time to time, as the increasing in- 
 firmities of age would permit; and he died in full faith of the doctrines which 
 he had proclaimed. 
 
 JOSEPH WOLFF, the famous Hebrew missionary and traveler, was 
 born in 1795, in Bavaria. "Endowed with almost unprecedented linguistic 
 talent, a quick power of perception, lively temperament, and great prudence, 
 he became acquainted, at a very early age, with the most prominent men in 
 different countries of Europe. In 1812 he was baptized at Prague by a 
 Benedictine monk. At Rome, where he went to be educated as a missionary, 
 he devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages, intending to carry the 
 gospel to both Jews and Mohammedans. He enjoyed the favor of the most 
 prominent men, including that of Pope Pius VII.; but the liberal views 
 which he expressed on various occasions made him suspected in the eyes of 
 the Inquisition, and he had to leave the college and the eternal city. In 
 England, he speedily found friends. The founders of the London Society for 
 the Jews, perceiving his special fitness for missionary work, effected his en- 
 trance to Cambridge University, where he continued his Oriental studies. 
 
 " During his adventurous life as a traveler, in Europe, Asia, America, 
 and a part of Africa, he became acquainted with kings and princes, as well 
 as with the most learned men of all ecclesiastical relations. In the greatest 
 perils he howed an undaunted courage, and great presence of mind. He 
 
704 APPENDIX. 
 
 preached everywhere, at one time in this language, at another in a different 
 one; and wherever he went, he understood how to interest the most promi- 
 nent men and women in behalf of his mission. " Worn with the labors and 
 exposures of his long journeyings, he spent his last years as the rector of an 
 English country parish, where he died, in 1862. 
 
 JOHN ALBERT BENGEL was born in Wiirtemburg, in 1687; died in 
 1751. He is universally regarded as a man of critical judgment, of extensive 
 learning, and solid piety. He was the author of several Biblical works of 
 great value, both critical and exegetical, which still form a part of the treas- 
 ures of the Bible student. Bengel's rule of interpretation was ' ' to put noth- 
 ing into the Scriptures, but to draw every thing from them, and suffer nothing 
 to remain hidden that is really in them. " 
 
 LOUIS GAUSSEN, born in 1790, was a native of Geneva, and a clergy- 
 man of the Reformed Church. He was known throughout Switzerland as an 
 earnest upholder of evangelical Christianity, and was associated with Dr. 
 Merle d'Aubigne and others, in seeking to substitute a scriptural faith for 
 the rationalistic philosopy which pervaded G eneva. He encountered deter- 
 mined opposition, and was at last suspended by the consistory. In 1834 he 
 took the chair of theology in the newly-founded evangelical school of Geneva, 
 and became the author of various works upon the Scriptures. His death 
 occurred in 1863. 
 
 PIUS IX. AND THE DECREE OF INFALLIBILITY From Mr. 
 Gladstone's tract, "The Vatican Decrees," we condense the following brief 
 account of the promulgation of the decree of infallibility under Pope Pius IX.: 
 The Vatican Council was solemnly opened, amid the sound of innumerable 
 bells and the cannon of St. Angelo, December 8, 1869, in the Basilica of the 
 Vatican. At the fourth public session, July 18, 1870, the decree of papal 
 infallibility was proclaimed. This decree not only asserts the power of the 
 Roman pontiff over all other churches, but attributes to him "an immediate 
 jurisdiction, to which all Catholics, both pastors and people, are bound to 
 submit in matters not only of faith and morals, but even of discipline and 
 government." It declares that the pope, when speaking "in his official 
 capacity, to the Christian world on subjects relating to faith and morals, is 
 infallible^ and that his decisions are final and irreversible. 
 
 This crowning act of papal blasphemy was speedily followed by the fall 
 of the pope's temporal sovereignty. On the second of September, 1870, six 
 weeks from the time when the decree of infallibility was proclaimed, " the 
 French Empire, which had been the main support of the temporal power of 
 the pope, collapsed with the surrender of Napoleon III., at the old Huguenot 
 stronghold of Sedan, to the Protestant King William of Prussia; and on the 
 twentieth of September the Italian troops, in the name of King Victor 
 Emanuel, took possession of Rome, as the future capital of united Italy." 
 From the day when Pius IX. appeared before the people of Rome, at the 
 announcement of his infallibility, he was never again seen in public. Shorn 
 of his temporal power, and disdaining to own himself subject to the national 
 authority, the proud pontiff of Rome conf ued, until his death, in 1878, a 
 elf-constituted prisoner ia the palace of iht Vatican. S 
 

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