Earlier text: The Works and Word of GodOr the Kingdoms of the World and the Kingdom of God
1. What statement did Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, make to his wise men whom he had assembled? “And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.” Dan. 2:3. 2. After being threatened with death if they did not make known the dream and the interpretation, what did the wise men say to the king? “The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Verses 10, 11. 3. After the wise men had thus confessed their inability to do what the king required, who offered to interpret the dream? “Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.” Verse 16. 4. After Daniel and his fellows had sought God earnestly, how were the dream and its interpretation revealed to Daniel? “Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” Verse 19. 5. When brought before the king, what did Daniel say? “Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these.” Verses 27, 28. 6. What did Daniel say the king had seen in his dream? “Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; . . . Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.” Verses 28-31. 7. Of what were the different parts of the image composed? “This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.” Verses 32, 33. 8. By what means was the image broken to pieces? “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.” Verse 34. 9. What became of the various parts of the image? “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Verse 35. 10. With what words did Daniel begin the interpretation of the dream? “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.” Verses 37, 38. Note.—The character of the Babylonian Empire is fittingly indicated by the nature7 of the material composing that portion of the image by which it was symbolized—the head of gold. It was “the golden kingdom of a golden age.” The city of Babylon, its metropolis, according to history towered to a height never equaled by any of its later rivals. “Situated in the garden of the East; laid out in a perfect square sixty miles in circumference, fifteen miles on each side, surrounded by a wall three hundred and fifty feet high and eighty-seven feet thick, with a moat, or ditch, around this, of equal cubic capacity with the wall itself; divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, laid out in luxuriant pleasure grounds and gardens, interspersed with magnificent dwellings,—this city, containing in itself many things which were themselves wonders of the world, was itself another and still mightier wonder. . . . Such was Babylon, with Nebuchadnezzar, youthful, bold, vigorous, and accomplished, seated upon its throne.” 11. What was to be the nature of the next kingdom after Babylon? “After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee.” Verse 39, first part. 12. Who was the last Babylonian king? “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” Dan. 5:30, 31. See also verses 1, 2. 13. To whom was Belshazzar’s kingdom given? “Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Verse 28. 14. By what is the Medo-Persian Empire represented in the great image? 15. By what is Grecia, the kingdom succeeding Medo-Persia, represented in the image? “His belly and his thighs of brass.” Verse 32. “And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.” Verse 39. 16. What is said of the fourth kingdom? “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.” Verse 40. 17. What scripture shows that the Roman emperors ruled the world? “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” Luke 2:1. Note.—Describing the Roman conquests, Gibbon uses the very imagery employed in the vision of Daniel 2. He says: “The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome.”—“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” chap. 38, par. 1, under “General Observations,” at the close of the chapter. 18. What was indicated by the mixture of clay and iron in the feet and toes of the image? “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided.” Dan. 2:41. 19. In what prophetic language was the varying strength of the ten kingdoms of the divided empire indicated? “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [“brittle,” margin].” Verse 42. 20. Were any efforts to be made to reunite the divided empire of Rome? “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Verse 43. Notes.—Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, and Napoleon all tried to reunite the broken fragments of the Roman Empire, but failed. By marriage and intermarriage ties have been formed with a view to strengthening and cementing together the shattered kingdom; but none have succeeded. The element of disunion remains. Many political revolutions and territorial changes have occurred in Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire in A. D. 476; but its divided state still remains. This remarkable dream, as interpreted by Daniel, presents in the briefest form, and yet with unmistakable clearness, the course of world empires from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the close of earthly history and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God. The history confirms the prophecy. The sovereignty of the world was held by Babylon from the time of this dream, 603 B. C., until 538 B. C., when it passed to the Medes and Persians. The victory of the Grecian forces at the battle of Arbela, in 331 B. C., marked the downfall of the Medo-Persian Empire, and the Greeks then became the undisputed rulers of the world. The battle of Pydna, in Macedonia, in 168 B. C., was the last organized effort to withstand a world-wide conquest by the Romans, and at that time therefore the Romans, and the fourth kingdom was fully established. The division of Rome into ten kingdoms is definitely foretold in the vision recorded in the seventh chapter of Daniel, and occurred between the years A. D. 351 and A. D. 476. 21. What is to take place in the days of these kingdoms? “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: . . . but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Verse 44. Note.—This verse foretells the establishment of another universal kingdom, the kingdom of God. This kingdom is to overthrow and supplant all existing earthly kingdoms and is to stand forever. The time for the setting up of this kingdom was to be “in the days of these kings.” This cannot refer to the four preceding empires, or kingdoms; for they were not contemporaneous, but successive; neither can it refer to an establishment of the kingdom at Christ’s first advent, for the ten kingdoms which arose out of the ruins of the Roman Empire were not yet in existence. It must therefore be yet future. 22. In what announcement in the New Testament is the establishment of the kingdom of God made known? “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 11:15. 23. For what have we been taught to pray? “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matt. 6:10. 24. What event is closely associated with the establishment of God’s everlasting kingdom? “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” 2 Tim. 4:1. 25. With what prayer do the Scriptures close? “He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Rev. 22:20.—“Bible Readings for the Home Circle,” new edition, pages 204-208. Voices of Life
By Worthie Harris Holden
THERE are voices of sorrow and voices of pain,
There are voices that laugh like the sun after rain,
But the voice that we welcome and cherish as best
Is the voice telling always of peace and of rest. Rest in the conflict that causes the pain,
Peace when the storm clouds are pregnant with rain;
Constant in spirit no matter the weather,—
Mingling of faith, love, and courage together. Voices spring forth from the life of the heart,
Telling the sources from which they depart;
Cleanse well the stream by protecting the spring,
Wall it by prayer from each poisonous thing. Voices of nature speak to the soul;
So will the life when God's graces control,
Luring the weary to heaven and rest,
Uttering things that the heart loves the best. Why I Go to Church on Rainy Sabbaths
By Frances R. Havergal
I ATTEND church on rainy Sabbaths because,— 1. God has blessed the Lord’s Day and hallowed it, making no exceptions for rainy Sabbaths. 2. I expect my minister to be there. I should be surprised if he were to stay at home for the weather. 3. If his hands fall through weakness, I shall have reason to blame myself, unless I sustain him with my prayers and my presence. 4. By staying away I may lose the prayers which may bring God’s blessing, and the sermon which would have done me great good. 5. My presence is more needful on Sabbaths when there are few than on those days when the church is crowded. 6. Whatever station I may hold in the church, my example may influence others. If I stay away, why may not they? 7. On any important business rainy weather does not keep me at home; and church attendance, in God’s sight, is very important. 8. Among the crowds of pleasure seekers, I see that no weather keeps the delicate woman from the ball or party. 9. Among other blessings, such weather will show me on what foundation my faith is built. It will prove how much I love Jesus. True love rarely fails to keep an appointment. 10. Those who stay away from church because it is too warm, or too cold, or too rainy, will frequently absent themselves on fair Sabbaths. 11. Though my excuses may satisfy myself, they still must undergo the scrutiny of God; and they must be well grounded to bear that. Luke 14:18. 12. There is a special promise that when two or three meet together in God’s name, he will be in the midst of them. 13. An avoidable absence from church is an infallible evidence of spiritual decay. Disciples who first follow Christ at a distance, afterwards, like Peter, do not know him. 14. My faith is to be shown by my self-denying Christian life, and not by the rise and fall of the thermometer. 15. Such yielding to surmountable difficulties prepare for yielding to those merely imaginary, until thousands never enter a church, and yet think they have good reason for such neglect. 16. I know not how many more Sabbaths God may give me, and it would be a poor preparation for my first Sabbath in heaven to have slighted my last Sabbath on earth.—Frances R. Havergal. The New Year and the Old
By Editor
WE have come to another milestone on time’s great highway. It seems but a few short months since the beginning of the twentieth century, but we have already passed fourteen of the milestones on the hundred-mile highway. With many the closing year has been the most eventful of them all. It has brought to the majority of the readers of the REVIEW its full measure of blessing and happiness, of trial and sorrow. But while we can look over the last twelve months with some degree of satisfaction, and with praise to God for his mercies, our highest joy is tinged with regret for the things that might have been. Let us make right, as far as lies in our power, the wrongs that have been committed. Let us close the old year without personal grievance against a soul in the world. Let us seek God to blot out from the heavenly record every mistake that has been made, and then resolutely enter the portals of the new year, determined, under God, to make it a grand success. Forgetting the things which are behind, we must reach forward unto those things which are before. The standard of yesterday must not become our gauge for today. Higher and still higher must be our aim. Have we gained ground in the year that is closing? Let us determine by God’s help to make still greater gains in the year to come. Let us form, beginning with the new year, the habit of frequent daily prayer. Let us form the habit of systematic daily Bible study. Let us resolve that we will permit no day to pass without definite labor for some soul. Holding ourselves to this program faithfully every day during 1915 will unconsciously affect and mold our lives throughout the year. The quickening of personal missionary effort in our churches has brought thousands to a knowledge of the truth during 1914. Let this spirit of quickening so take possession of our church members that the fruitage of 1914 shall be doubled and trebled during the year to come. We wish for all our readers a happy and prosperous new year, physically, temporally, and above all, spiritually. Let us remember that in Christ Jesus we may enjoy all that is necessary in God’s wisdom in this world, and eternal life in the world to come. An Old-Time Answer to an Old Objection
By W. A. S.
IN a work entitled “All in One,” published in London in 1677, Francis Bampfield, one of the old-time Seventh-day Baptists of London, gave his answer to the one-day-in-seven theory: There are few new objections to be urged against the Sabbath. Nearly all the arguments in use today to turn aside the force of the fourth commandment have done service for generations wherever the claims of the truth were being pressed. Evidently in Bampfield’s day some were arguing that not only was one day in seven all that the commandment implied, but that the first day should really have the preeminence because it came first in order. It may be of interest to some to read the old Sabbatarian’s answer to this quibble. He said:—9 Some rise up against it [the Sabbath truth] and object that no special honor is put by the Lord and by his Word upon the seventh day more than upon any other day of the week, and that it is but a seventh, not the seventh; and that that part of time that is and will be accepted with God is declared and determined to be the seventh part of it, or one day in seven; and that one day in seven hath and must have a natural priority unto the seventh day, because, say such, the seventh day is one of the seven. Whereas such should have more deliberately considered that one day of seven was not before the seventh day in order of time. It could not be truly affirmed of any one day that it was one of seven before the seventh day was created. For when the one day was so named, there was but that one day; so but two on the second day, but three on the third day, but four on the fourth, but five on the fifth, but six on the sixth, till the seventh had its natural existence, and its created being; and until then no one of the foregoing days of the week could be called one in seven. For, till then, there were not seven; and the seventh day is the last number of days, and the only seventh in the days of the week. So that here is a stop made, and we go no further forward, as to the natural created order and accompt of a week. And therefore that objection which some do bring in against this from ten lambs, any of which may be the tenth according as they may run out, is nothing pertinent and applicable to the present matter. For the days of the week do not run voluntarily at their pleasure which can be before or behind as they will, to go backward or forward when they list; but they keep their created order in this successive continued weekly course, by a well-established natural, unalterable law: although in the exception and objection this should be noted, that when the ten lambs were run out, they had each distinct names, and the last was the only tenth, and no other but the last. That particular day of the week is the weekly Sabbath day which alone (as to this of the weekly Sabbath) has proper marks of note and of honor put upon it, as Jehovah’s own peculiar day, which he has called out from all the rest of the days of the week for his created ends and instituted purposes.—Part 2, page 25. Yet doubtless some who listened to Bampfield’s argument could not see the point. Some principles recognized as perfectly plain in matters of everyday life become very abstruse when applied to Bible doctrine. A will, for instance, that provided certain bequests to seven sons, would involve no difficulty whatever in specifying the first son or the seventh son to be the recipient of a certain gift. No one would for a moment think that the seventh son could be any one of the seven. But all these hundreds of years since the Reformation restored the Word of God and revealed the fact that Christendom had departed from the fourth commandment during the days of apostasy and darkness, multitudes have argued that, after all, “the seventh day” may be any one of the seven. His stand for the true Sabbath in that olden time sent Bampfield to prison, and to death from the hardships suffered. The Outlook and the Uplook
By Francis M. Wilcox
THE date of this number of the REVIEW marks the close of another year, a year which will be recorded by the annalist as one of the most striking of all the years of history. Who would have predicted one year ago that the close of 1914 would have brought the world into such a condition as we find today—more than one half of it engaged in deadly mortal combat. Thousands have hugged the delusive hope that general war was impossible; that the spirit of Christianity, of society, of commerce, prohibited it; that the immense navies and large standing armies would forever safeguard the peace of the nations. But all these theories have failed. The pent-up spirit of war has burst forth, and it has been demonstrated that human nature today is the same as in all the ages of the past. The dissipation of these pleasing theories of peace has brought to many a lessening of Christian faith, and many today are stumbling over what they consider the failure of Christianity. But Christianity has not failed. The vaunted civilization of the twentieth century, in which men have trusted; the fancied security of armed peace; the power of international treaties and alliances; human ingenuity and devisings,— these have failed, but God still lives. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of man, still sits enthroned at the right hand of power. He is as abundantly able today as ever in the history of the church to save unto the uttermost all who will come unto God by him. His power to change the human heart, to work miracles of saving grace in the lives of sinners, is not without many witnesses today. In this hour of fearful trial which has come upon the world, when men's hearts are failing them for fear, and when in their mistaken zeal the professed followers of the Nazarene do despite to his teaching and bring disgrace upon his holy name, in every nation and in every land are sincere, trusting children in whose lives is manifested the power of the gospel of Christ. The apparent failure of Christianity has been the failure of the human agent in the redemptive scheme,— the failure of men and of the rulers of men to submit their lives and their ways to the principles of the Word of God. As never before in the history of the world have men the opportunity today of demonstrating in their lives the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the mission to which God calls the readers of this paper in the year to come. In his grace we have been made the conservators of a message which is to go to all the world; a message of warning, of admonition, of reform; a message which calls men away from the worship of sin and self to the worship of the Creator of the heavens and the earth; a message which exalts the commandments of God above the precepts and traditions of men. This message calls for surrender and for sacrifice, for consecration of heart and life to divine service. In these days when uncertainty is possessing so many hearts, may God give to us a clear and living testimony of his grace in our lives. Above the strife and the darkness and the confusion God is today keeping watch over his own. His eye is upon every faithful believer. He will show himself mighty in behalf of him whose heart is set to do right. We need not fear for the future. The outlook in the world is dark, but the uplook is bright. God is above the brightness. Let us look upward. F. M. W. The “Sacrifice of the Mass”
By C. M. S.
“Rome Never Changes”—No. 8
The “Sacrifice of the Mass”
IN that service of the Roman Catholic Church which is known at the present time as “the sacrifice of the mass,” the center and soul of the ordinance is the wafer. When Jesus instituted the service of the Lord’s Supper, of which the mass purports to be a replica, or reproduction, he “took bread, . . . and brake it,” and divided the pieces among those who sat at supper with him. It was not a whole, but a broken piece of bread which they received. But the wafer used in the mass is whole, not broken. The Saviour’s words, “This is my body, which is broken for you,” find nothing in the Roman Catholic service to fulfill them. The wafer is not broken. This discrepancy in the ordinance shows in itself that the “sacrifice of the mass” is not the continuation of the Lord’s Supper as instituted by him, but finds its origin in some other source. If we begin to seek among the religions of ancient paganism, we have not long to search in order to find the key that unlocks the mystery. That we may understand just what the mass is, from an authoritative Roman Catholic viewpoint, I quote the following decree of the Council of Trent:— And forasmuch as, in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner, who once offered himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross; the holy synod teaches that this sacrifice is truly propitiatory (canon 6), and that by means thereof this is effected that we obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid, if we draw nigh unto God, contrite and penitent, with a sincere heart and upright faith, with fear and reverence. For the Lord, appeased by the oblation thereof and granting the grace and gift of penitence, forgives even heinous crimes and sins. For the victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different. The fruits indeed of which oblation, of that bloody one, to wit, are received most plentifully through this unbloody one; so far is this (latter) from derogating in any way from that (former oblation) (canon 4). Wherefore, not only for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities of the faithful who are living, but also for those who are departed in Christ, and who are not as yet fully purified, is it rightly offered, agreeably to a tradition of the apostles (canon 3).—Dogmatic Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, sess. 22, chap. 2, authorized translations. Note in the above the expression “unbloody,” referring to the “sacrifice of the mass.” This is a peculiar expression to use in connection with a “sacrifice” which purports to be “propitiatory,” in view of the declaration of the Word of God that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” That one statement of Scripture completely wipes out the mass as a propitiatory sacrifice or as having any connection whatever with the remission of sins. But it is the key which unlocks the mystery of the origin of the mass. Not without reason is the Roman Church called the Babylon of the Apocalypse. There are many of her practices which are of Babylonian derivation, and the “unbloody sacrifice” is one of them. We learn from Tacitus (Historia, lib. 2, cap. 3, Vol. III, page 106) that “no blood was allowed to be offered on the altars of Paphian Venus.” While they slew animals in order to discover future events by examining the entrails of the victims, “the altars of the Paphian goddess were required to be kept pure from blood.” Tacitus further shows that the haruspex of the temple of the Paphian Venus was brought from Cilicia, “the Cilicians having peculiar knowledge of her rites.” Hislop, in his work “Two Babylons,” says:— Now Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, was built by Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, in express imitation of Babylon (Bunsen, Vol. I, page 718). Its religion would naturally correspond; and when we find “unbloody sacrifice” in Cyprus, whose priest came from Cilicia, that, in the circumstances, is itself a strong presumption that the “unbloody sacrifice” came to it through Cilicia from Babylon. This presumption is greatly strengthened when we find from Herodotus that the peculiar and abominable institution of Babylon in prostituting virgins in honor of Mylitta, was observed also in Cyprus in honor of Venus. But the positive testimony of Pausanias brings this presumption to a certainty. . . . The Assyrian Venus, then,—that is, the great goddess of Babylon,—and the Cyprian Venus were one and the same, and consequently the “bloodless” altars of the Paphian goddess show the character of the worship peculiar to the Babylonian goddess, from whom she was derived.—Page 157. In other countries similar “unbloody sacrifices” were offered on heathen altars, but without question they also had their origin in Babylon, the mother of false religions. In India the goddess Lakshmi, “the Mother of the Universe,” and the consort of Vishnu, had her festivals and her sacrifices. But “in the festivals of Lakshmi no sanguinary [bloody] sacrifices are offered.”—Hindoo Mythology, page 61. When Israel had forgotten Jehovah and had turned to the gods of the heathen world, we find them carrying on a system of worship very similar to that of the mass, Jeremiah testifies against their idolatry in these words:—10 “Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, . . . which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?” Jer. 44:9. What that particular wickedness consisted in is shown in the answer which the people gave to Jeremiah:— “Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, . . . answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. . . . And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our husbands?” Jer. 44:15–19. Verse 15 of the above chapter shows plainly that Israel learned this abominable idolatry from Egypt; and Babylon was Egypt’s tutor in idolatry, as she was also of other nations. Those idolaters specify particularly the burning of incense to the queen of heaven and the making of cakes to worship her. The “cakes” were an “unbloody sacrifice.” “In the fourth century,” says Hislop, “when the queen of heaven, under the name of Mary, was beginning to be worshiped in the Christian church, this ‘unbloody sacrifice’ also was brought in. Epiphanius states that the practice of offering and eating it began among the women of Arabia (Epiphanius, Adversus Hæreses, Vol. I, page 1054); and at that time it was well known to have been adopted from the pagans. The very shape of the ‘unbloody sacrifice’ of Rome may indicate whence it came. It is a small, thin, round wafer; and on its roundness the Church of Rome lays so much stress that, to use the pithy language of John Knox in regard to the wafer god, ‘If, in making the roundness the ring be broken, then must another of his fellow cakes receive that honor.’” — Begg’s Handbook of Popery, page 259. Why is stress laid upon the shape of the bread that is supposed to represent—or, rather to be—the body of our Lord that was broken for us? The cakes which Rome consecrates on her altars, like the cakes which the Israelites offered to the queen of heaven, are a reproduction in form of the cakes offered on the altars of the sun god in Egypt. Wilkinson, speaking of the altar service of the Egyptians, says: “The thin, round cake occurs on all altars.”—Wilkinson’s Egyptians, Vol. V, page 353. “The round disk, so frequent in the sacred emblems of Egypt,” says Hislop, “symbolized the sun.”—Two Babylons, page 160. In a work entitled “Rites and Ceremonies,” by Hurd, we find this description of the embellishments of a Roman Catholic altar on which the wafer is placed:— A plate of silver, in the form of a sun, is fixed opposite to the sacrament [or round wafer] on the altar; which, with the light of the tapers, makes a most brilliant appearance.—Page 196, col. 1. What is the significance of this “brilliant” representation of the sun over against the round disk of the wafer on the altar? It is a reproduction of the altars erected to the worship of the sun in the land of Egypt, and a reproduction also of the altars and the worship of the sun god of Babylon. In the great temple of Babylon, the golden image of the sun was exhibited for the worship of the Babylonians. In the temple of Cuzco, in Peru, the disk of the sun was fixed up in flaming gold upon the wall, that all who entered might bow down before it. The Pæonians of Thrace were sun worshipers; and in their worship they adored an image of the sun in the form of a disk at the top of a long pole. In the worship of Baal, as practiced by the idolatrous Israelites in the days of their apostasy, the worship of the sun’s image was equally observed; and it is striking to find that the image of the sun, which apostate Israel worshiped, was erected above the altar. When the good king Josiah set about the work of reformation, we read that his servants in carrying out the work, proceeded thus (2 Chron. 34:4): “And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images [“sun images,” Revised Version], that were on high above them, he cut down.”—Two Babylons, pages 162, 163. The Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudela, gives this description of sun worship and the sun altars among the Cushites of the East:— There is a temple of the posterity of Cush, addicted to the contemplation of the stars. They worship the sun as a god, and the whole country, for half a mile round their town, is filled with great altars dedicated to him. By the dawn of morn they get up and run out of town, to wait the rising sun, to whom, on every altar, there is a consecrated image, not in the likeness of a man, but of the solar orb, framed by magic art. These orbs, as soon as the sun rises, take fire, and resound with a great noise, while everybody there, men and women, hold censers in their hands, and all burn incense to the sun.—Savary’s Letters, Vol. II, pages 562, 563, note. The sun image on or above the altar, and the round wafer or cake on the altar, are thus seen to be the recognized symbols of Baal worship or sun worship. Whence, then, could have been derived the sun disk and the round wafer in the Roman Church, save from ancient Babylon, the mother of mysteries, through the unconverted heathen who flocked into the Christian church in the early centuries of the Christian era? The analogy is too close for a mere coincidence. Other striking features of the “sacrifice of the mass,” together with proof as to when this change came into the Roman Church, will be considered in another article. It is the rule that new recruits to the message enter upon the work of its proclamation with great zeal. The message has captivated them and inspired them with new hope, and it is fitting that they should very zealously pass it on to cheer the hearts and bless the lives of others. But it is very ill-advised for them to fall under the delusion that it is their duty to sift the church of the indifferent and unbelieving. That is God’s part of the work, and he has ever maintained that he needed no Uzzah to steady the ark. There are many too indifferent. There should be an awakening, but God always sifts the church before he begins any great work requiring triumphant faith and united action. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, their sympathizers, and all the murmurers in Israel, together with Achan, clinging to his wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment, were sifted out before Israel was prepared to march by faith into the promised inheritance. Christ sought to prepare the early church for Pentecost. The sixth chapter of John records his instruction to his disciples as he plainly taught them that a more deeply spiritual experience was necessary to prevent their being sifted out from among his people in the coming hour of crisis. A large class refused his instruction, and “from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” John 6: 66. It was a shaking time. “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” Then came the immortal words of Peter in response, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” Verses 67, 68. Judas was sifted out; and the other disciples had the spirit of seeking the highest place, jealousy, murmuring, and covetousness sifted out of them before Pentecost. The closing work of the last message will be marked by the greatest manifestations of faith and power for victory of any movement since the fall of man. It will be preceded by a sifting time during which the people of God will be “mightily shaken.” “Every selfish, covetous person will fall out by the way. Like Judas, who sold his Lord, they will sell good principles and a noble, generous disposition for a little of earth’s gain. All such will be sifted out from God’s people.” “The careless and indifferent . . . were left behind in darkness.”—“Spiritual Gifts,” pages 130, 132.