They Vindicate the Truth by Fulfilling the Prophecies.
A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY PROF. GAUSSEN, AT THE RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT GENEVA, OCTOBER 3, 1843.
(Continued.)
You will recollect, gentlemen, that in his chapter 2, Daniel, under the figure of a golden image, had described already at large the future history of nations until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to him, four great monarchies must successively appear upon the stage of the world, gain dominion over all other nations, and trample under foot Jerusalem. The last monarchy, after cruelly enslaving all the countries of the prophetic land, should be devided into ten kingdoms (by the barbarians), and continue, under this new form, until the restoration of Israel, the blessed millennium, and the reign of the saints.
In this seventh chapter, we see again the same succession of four great monarchies; but here presented only for the purpose of revealing to us the time and place of a frightful apostasy which should afflict the church during many ages, and which, taking its rise in the empire of the Latins, soon after its division into ten distinct kingdoms, should not be destroyed till the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But mark how sublime and majestic is this symbolical conception of the future! These four great empires, which contain in their destinies all the glories of this world during twenty-four hundred years, exhibit themselves to the prophet under the view of four great beasts, rising up one after the other on the bosom of a great sea agitated by tempests. These four monarchies will be equally cruel and tyrannical; they will oppress the people of God; they will devastate the earth, and their glory will be that of the destroyers of mankind. The first, the Babylonish empire, is a lion with eagle's wings. Dan. 7:1-3. The second, the empire of the Medes and Persians, a wild bear of the mountains, to whom it is said: Arise, devour much flesh! Dan. 7:5. The third depicts admirably, with a few strokes, Alexander and his history: it is not only a leopard, swift and terrible; it has four wings of a fowl, and it has also four heads; its power is taken away, and its empire is soon scattered to the four winds of heaven. Dan. 7:6. The fourth, lastly, the empire of the Latins, has no name, so terrible is it; it tramples everything under foot; but (as in the prophecy of the golden image) it ends by being devided into ten; its ten horns are the ten kingdoms of the Gothic nations, which, towards the fifth century, all at once (as if at the word of command, from the banks of the Vistula to the Roman frontiers), invaded, with a view to retain, under a divided form, the vast empire of the Latins (Dan. 7:7), namely, the Visigoths, Heruli, Ostrogoths, Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Alans, Suevi, Gepides, and Lombards.
Now listen: You have here already the place of the predicted apostasy, and you have also its time. Its place: it is a Roman apostasy, it is the whole territory of the Latin Monarchy; its time: the ages which shall follow the invasion of this empire by ten barbarian kings. You have also its whole progress; for, narrow as the canvas is, by a few strokes of the pencil, the Holy Spirit describes both the character and destinies of the empire, with wonderful precision. Mark the 8th verse:
"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things."Dan. 7:8.
Then (verses 24, 25) in the interpretation which the angel gives of these symbols to Daniel, we are told this signifies that another king shall rise up after the ten kings and he shall be diverse from the first ten, and he shall subdue three kings, and moreover, he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws.
It would take long, gentlemen, to do justice, by our interpretations, to the divine beauty of this picture. Popery is here found completely described by thirteen or fourteen marks.
I will try to make you understand how, at each of these marks, we are forced to exclaim, not only, Is this the pope? but, "There is nothing under the sun, nor in the history of all ages, to which these divine descriptions can be applied, unless to the pope! it can only be the pope!"
First mark. The NATURE itself of the power prefigured by the little horn. Plainly, according to the prophecy, this must be a PRIEST-KING. It is a KING; for it is written: The little horn came up among the other ten; and another king shall arise after the ten. It is a PRIEST-KING; for it is written that it shall be diverse from the other kings; and all that follows is designed to tell us in what it shall be different, and to show it to us at once in a political and a religious character. What does it do? It blasphemes, persecutes the saints, pretends to change times and laws. As KING, it is feeble and small, it is a little horn; but as PRIEST-KING, it is great and mighty, it has power to oppress the saints for ages, it speaks great words, it governs the world. But (I ask already for this first mark), where will you find under the sun a priest-king, unless at Rome, or perhaps in the mountains of upper Asia in the Grand Lama? Where will you find in the whole history of the world, unless in popery, a priest-king who has pretended to change times and laws, who has reigned with power, and who has made war upon the saints?
Second mark. You have here, too, the geography of this power. Where must we seek for the little horn? Where is its "holy see?" Where its lands, its patrimony, the "domain of the church?" Where must we place the theater of these abominations?
How clear is the prophecy? It points you to the Roman monarchy; places this holy see in Rome; these lands of the church in Italy; and this theater of a wicked power in the vast empire of the ten Latin kingdoms. You are not ignorant with what care John elsewhere points us to it in Rome, the city of seven hills, the Babylon of the last times. You know, too, that the Roman Catholics, as well as we, all recognize that Babylon, in John, can be no other than Rome. If, then, this power is a territorial State, it is according to Daniel, a Roman State; if it is a church, this church, according to Daniel, is a Romish church; if it is a pontiff, this pontiff, according to Daniel, is a Roman pontiff; if it is a great apostasy, this apostasy extends according to Daniel, between the Rhine, the Danube, the Greek Empire, the Adriatic, Mount Atlas, and the great ocean, that is to say, throughout the whole territory of the "Fourth Beast." In other words, we must seek it in France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Savoy, Italy, Bavaria, Austria, and in a part of Hungary.
Third Mark. The ORIGIN of this power and the nature of its growth. How did it come into the world? Slowly, little by little, by constant increase, as the horn grows on the head of a bullock. Remark that the first ten horns (or the ten kingdoms established by the barbarians in the Roman empire) had appeared to the view of the prophet as already full-formed; but not so with the eleventh horn: it presents itself as coming up after the others, silently and imperceptibly, as a horn grows. And now inquire of all historians, if this is not an exact description of the origin of the papal tyranny; and if it has not become threatening, imposing and terrible, without their being able to tell the year when it began.
Fourth Mark. The chronology of this apostasy; by which I mean to say the time of its commencement and of its end. When ought it to commence, according to Daniel? (This is a striking mark.) It is, according to the vision, it is immediately after the division of the Latin empire into its ten Gothic kingdoms; that is to say, towards the sixth or seventh century. And, according to the same vision, this divided state must continue till the coming of Christ! But, I ask, if it is possible to find, anywhere but in the papacy, the least solution to so clear and distinct a problem. I ask, if all the histories of the popes do not show us this power springing up from the ruins of the Roman empire, towards the sixth or seventh century, rising out of the very midst of the ten kingdoms formed from these ruins in the days of Clovis, Justinian and Belisarius! Point me, then, in all the world (but especially in the Roman empire and in Rome), to a priest-king who began to reign 1200 years ago, and who reigns in our day, still to continue till the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(To be Continued.)
A Field for Every Worker
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The man who has in him the elements of a worker for Christ will find a field or make one. Paul, when a prisoner, made converts in Cæsar's household.—Spurgeon.
Joseph Barker and the Quaker.
SOME twenty-five or thirty years ago, Joseph Barker had quite a notoriety as an avowed infidel —highly intelligent, and actively earnest in spreading his views and opposing the Bible and the Christian religion.
On one occasion, when in the United States, he went out to Frankford, now a part of Philadelphia, and there lectured against the Bible to a large audience. At the close of his address, when he evidently felt that he had made a strong impression, he invited either replies or questions from any of the audience. After a moment's silence, a substantial looking Quaker rose up and said, "Friend Barker, thou saidst that the Bible was not only a pack of lies and fables, but that every preacher was a hypocrite, and well knew that in his preaching he was telling what was not true—didst thou not?" Barker asserted that he did say so, and that it was true. "Well, friend Barker, wast thou not a preacher so many years ago, and didst thou not then preach just as other ministers do?"
Barker was taken by surprise, for he did not suppose that any one present knew his early history (for he had been a minister before he apostatized to infidelity), but coloring not a little, he was compelled to admit that he had been a preacher, but had long ago given up everything like preaching. "Well," said the Quaker, "if thou wast not a hypocrite then, surely thou couldst not say that all preachers were hypocrites; and if thou wast a hypocrite then, thou mayst be so now, in what thou art telling us. And besides," he continued, "the Bible must be true, for ages ago it exactly described thyself, saying, 'in the last days there shall come scoffers, false teachers, bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, . . . . of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of,' and this is just what thou art doing."
Barker seemed not a little confused, and making no reply, the Quaker again said, "Friend Barker, I would ask thee another question—Didst thou ever know a mother to teach her child to be an infidel? And if thou wast dying, wouldst thou not just as lief have a Christian's faith and hope as to be without them?"
The questions evidently cut poor Barker to the quick, and made a strong impression on the audience. Barker did not attempt to answer them, and the assembly soon dispersed. And they may, by God's blessing, have made a lasting impression on Barker himself, for some years afterward, about 1870, he renounced his infidelity, and again professed the truth of Christianity. He has since died, leaving behind him a remarkable recantation of his infidel views, which may be found in his memoirs, published by his son.—Selected.
Sympathy.
The whole world is yearning for sympathy. The human heart cries out for it. How quick the child detects the presence of it in one who seeks his love and confidence.
Wisdom and knowledge are not enough for one who would "raise the fallen and cheer the faint." The successful teacher must reach the heart of the learner. His head may be as clear as the mountain atmosphere, but if his heart be cold he will drive humanity from him.
The Christian worker must not only have sympathy, but he must be able to express it; it must not be seen to be the profession of that which is not felt, but the manifestation of sympathy which convinces another.
There is a story of an old Scotchman who loved his excellent wife dearly, but never used the word until she had passed away, and he erected the stone, which said to the passer-by: "Here lies my dear wife." We need to have proper sympathy with others, for our own good as well as theirs. There are those who need it on every hand; they long for it, hunger for it, and we need to deepen the well-spring by drawing much from it.
Of this out-go of sympathy was it written, "There is that which scattereth and yet increaseth." Were the followers of Jesus full to overflowing with sympathy, they would be more like him.—Church Guide.
Patience and Action
An Arabic proverb says: “When you are an anvil, be patient; when you are a hammer, strike.”
The contemplation of a vice is a vice.
Patience and Action
anvil, be patient; when you are a hammer, strike.
The contemplation of a vice is a vice.
The Women at the Tomb.
By Ellen G. White
The spices with which the body of Jesus was to be anointed had been prepared on the day preceding the Sabbath. Early in the morning of the first day of the week, the Marys, with certain other women, went to the sepulcher to proceed with the work of embalming the body of the Saviour. As they neared the garden, they were surprised to see the heavens beautifully lighted up, and the earth trembling beneath their feet. They hastened to the sepulcher, and were astonished to find that the stone was rolled away from the door, and that the Roman guard were not there. They noticed a light shining about the tomb, and, looking in, saw that it was empty.
Mary then hastened with all speed to the disciples, and informed them that Jesus was not in the sepulcher where they had laid him. While she was upon this errand, the other women, who waited for her at the sepulcher, made a more thorough examination of the interior, to satisfy themselves that their Lord was indeed gone. Suddenly they beheld a beautiful young man, clothed in shining garments, sitting by the sepulcher. It was the angel who had rolled away the stone, and who now assumed a character that would not terrify the women who had been the friends of Christ, and assisted him in his public ministry. But notwithstanding the veiling of the brightness of the angel, the women were greatly amazed and terrified at the glory of the Lord which encircled him. They turned to flee from the sepulcher, but the heavenly messenger addressed them with soothing and comforting words: "Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him; lo, I have told you."
As the women responded to the invitation of the angel, and looked again into the sepulcher, they saw another angel of shining brightness, who addressed them with the inquiry: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen; remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." These angels were well acquainted with the words of Jesus to his disciples, for they had been with him in the capacity of guardian angels, through all the scenes of his life, and had witnessed his trial and crucifixion.
Mary, who had first discovered that the tomb was empty, hurried to Peter and John, and announced that the Lord had been taken out of the sepulcher, and she knew not where they had laid him. At these words the disciples both hastened to the sepulcher, and found it as Mary had said. The body of their Master was not there, and the linen clothes lay by themselves. Peter was perplexed; but John believed that Jesus had risen from the dead, as he had told them he should do. They did not understand the scripture of the Old Testament, which taught that Christ should rise from the dead; but the belief of John was based upon the words of Jesus himself while he was yet with them.
The disciples left the sepulcher, and returned to their homes; but Mary could not bear to leave while all was uncertainty as to what had become of the body of her Lord. As she stood weeping, she stooped down to once more look into the sepulcher; and lo, there were two angels, clothed in garments of white. They were disguised by an appearance of humanity, and Mary did not recognize them as celestial beings. One sat where the head of Jesus had rested, and the other where his feet had been. They addressed Mary with the words: "Woman, why weepest thou?" She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." In view of the open sepulcher, and the disappearance of her Master's body, Mary was not easily comforted.
In her abandonment of grief she did not notice the heavenly appearance of those who addressed her. As she turned aside to weep, another voice inquired, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" Her eyes were so blinded by tears that she did not observe the person who spoke to her, but she immediately grasped the idea of obtaining from her interrogator some information concerning the whereabouts of her Master's body. She thought that the speaker might be the one who had charge of the garden, and she addressed him pleadingly: "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."
She felt that if she could only gain possession of the precious crucified body of her Saviour, it would be a great consolation to her grief. She thought that if this rich man's tomb was considered too honorable a place for her Lord, she would herself provide a place for him. Her great anxiety was to find him, that she might give him honorable burial. But now the voice of Jesus himself fell upon her astonished ears. He said to her, "Mary." Instantly her tears were brushed away; and he whom she supposed was the gardener stood revealed before her—it was Jesus! For a moment she forgot in her joy that he had been crucified; she stretched forth her hands to him, saying, "Rabboni!" Jesus then said, "Touch not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
Jesus refused to receive the homage of his people until he knew that his sacrifice had been accepted by the Father, and until he had received the assurance from God himself that his atonement for the sins of his people had been full and ample, that through his blood they might gain eternal life. Jesus immediately ascended to Heaven and presented himself before the throne of God, showing the marks of shame and cruelty upon his brow, his hands and feet. But he refused to receive the coronet of glory, and the royal robe, and he also refused the adoration of the angels as he had refused the homage of Mary, until the Father signified that his offering was accepted.
He also had a request to prefer concerning his chosen ones upon earth. He wished to have the relation clearly defined that his redeemed should hereafter sustain to Heaven, and to his Father. His church must be justified and accepted before he could accept heavenly honor. He declared it to be his will that where he was, there his church should be; if he was to have glory, his people must share it with him. They who suffer with him on earth must finally reign with him in his kingdom. In the most explicit manner Christ pleaded for his church, identifying its interest with theirs, and advocating, with a love and constancy stronger than death, their rights and titles gained through him.
God's answer to this appeal goes forth in the proclamation: "Let all the angels of God worship him." Every angelic commander obeys the royal mandate, and "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain; and that lives again a triumphant conqueror!" echoes and re-echoes through all Heaven. The innumerable company of angels prostrate themselves before the Redeemer. The request of Christ is granted; the church is justified through him, its representative and head. Here the Father ratifies the contract with his Son, that he will be reconciled to repentant and obedient men, and take them into divine favor through the merits of Christ. Christ guarantees that he will make a man "more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." All power in Heaven and on earth is now given to the Prince of life; yet he does not for a moment forget his poor disciples in a sinful world, but prepares to return to them, that he may impart to them his power and glory. Thus did the Redeemer of mankind, by the sacrifice of himself, connect earth with Heaven, and finite man with the infinite God.
The brightest morning that ever dawned upon a fallen world, was that in which the Saviour rose from the dead; but it was of no greater importance to man than the day upon which his trial and crucifixion took place. It was no marvel to the heavenly host that He who controlled the power of death, and had life in himself, should awaken from the sleep of the grave. But it was a marvel to them that their loved Commander should die for rebellious men.
Christ rested in the tomb on the Sabbath day, and when holy beings of both Heaven and earth were astir on the morning of the first day of the week, he rose from the grave to renew his work of teaching his disciples. But this fact does not consecrate the first day of the law, and make it a sabbath. Jesus, prior to his death, established a memorial of the breaking of his body and the spilling of his blood for the sins of the world, in the ordinance of the Lord's supper, saying, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." And the repentant believer, who takes the steps required in conversion, commemorates in his baptism the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He goes down into the water in the likeness of Christ's death and burial, and he is raised out of the water in the likeness of his resurrection—not to take up the old life of sin, but to live a new life in Christ Jesus.
The other women who had seen and been addressed by the angels, left the sepulcher with mingled feelings of fear and great joy. They hastened to the disciples, as the angels had directed, and related to them the things which they had seen and heard. Peter was expressly mentioned by the angel as one to whom the women were to communicate the news. This disciple had been the most despondent of all the little company of Christ's followers, because of his shameful denial of the Lord. Peter's remorse for his crime was well understood by the holy angels, and their tender compassion for the wayward and sorrowing is revealed in the solicitude they manifested for the unhappy disciple, and which evidenced to him that his repentance was accepted, and his sin forgiven.
When the disciples heard the account which the women brought, they were astonished. They began to recall the words of their Lord which foretold his resurrection. Still, this event, which should have filled their hearts with joy, was a great perplexity to them. After their great disappointment in the death of Christ, their faith was not strong enough to accept the fact of the resurrection. Their hopes had been so blighted that they could not believe the statement of the women, but thought that they were the subjects of an illusion. Even when Mary Magdalene testified that she had seen and spoken with her Lord, they still refused to believe that he had risen.—Spirit of Prophecy.
"IN the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulcher." Some difficulty has been experienced in harmonizing this verse with the account given by the other evangelists. Luke says it was on "the first day of the week, very early in the morning," and Mark says: "And when the Sabbath was past, . . . . . very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun." There is really no difference in the accounts, but the translation of Matt. 28:1 is misleading. Clarke says: "After the end of the week; this is the translation given by several eminent critics; and in this way the word opse is used by the most eminent Greek writers." The "Speakers' Commentary" says: "The rendering, after the Sabbath, or at a late hour after the Sabbath, is fully justified by quotations from Hellenistic writers, and is adopted by Fritzsche, Ewald, and Dr. Wette. The holy women left their home at the first dawn of day, nearly twelve hours after the close of the Sabbath." John says: "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark." It appears from this that she reached the sepulcher before the rest of the women. John speaks only of her coming; the other evangelists relate the coming of the women as a whole.
E. J. W.
Teachers' Meetings.
By United Presbyterian
CONCEDING all that may be said by way of excuse for those who cannot attend, it must be acknowledged that the real reason for poor meetings is a want of interest in the work. The teacher who is not imperatively kept away by some providence will be there if he wishes to be there, and his wish will depend on the state of his heart. In this, as in everything else, the way to secure success is to begin at the root, and to so stimulate and nourish it that the improved life will be felt in all the branches.—United Presbyterian.
The Nature of Humility
HUMILITY is one of the rarest of virtues; but the moment it becomes conscious of itself it is no longer humility, but pride.
English Sabbath-keepers.
By John Nevins Andrews
CHAMBERS speaks thus of Sabbath-keepers in the sixteenth century:—
“In the reign of Elizabeth, it occurred to many conscientious and independent thinkers (as it had previously done to some Protestants in Bohemia), that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of the first, but of the specified seventh day of the week, and a strict bodily rest, as a service then due to God; while others, though convinced that the day had been altered by divine authority, took up the same opinion as to the scriptural obligation to refrain from work. The former class became numerous enough to make a considerable figure for more than a century in England, under the title of ‘Sabbatarians’—a word now exchanged for the less ambiguous appellation of ‘Seventh-day Baptists.’”
Gilfillan quotes an English writer of the year 1584, John Stockwood, who says that there was then
“A great diversity of opinion among the vulgar people and simple sort concerning the Sabbath day, and the right use of the same.”
And Gilfillan states one of the grounds of controversy thus:—
“Some maintaining the unchanged and unchangeable obligation of the seventh-day Sabbath.”
In 1607, an English first-day writer, John Sprint, gave the views of the Sabbath-keepers of that time, which in truth have been substantially the same in all ages:—
“They allege reasons drawn, 1. From the precedence of the Sabbath before the law, and before the fall; the laws of which nature are immutable. 2. From the perpetuity of the moral law. 3. And from the large extent thereof appertaining to [the Sabbath above] all [the other precepts]. 4. . . . And of the cause of [this precept of] the law which maketh it perpetual, which is the memorial and meditation of the work of God; which belongs unto the Christians as well as to the Jews.”
John Trask began to speak and write in favor of the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, about the time that King James I. and the archbishop of Canterbury, published the famous “Book of Sports for Sunday,” in 1618. His field of labor was London, and being a very zealous man, he was soon called to account by the persecuting authority of the Church of England. He took high ground as to the sufficiency of the Scriptures to direct in all religious services, and that the civil authorities ought not to constrain men’s consciences in matters of religion. He was brought before the infamous Star Chamber, where a long discussion was held respecting the Sabbath. It was on this occasion that Bishop Andrews first brought forward that now famous first-day argument, that the early martyrs were tested by the question, “Hast thou kept the Lord’s day?”
Gilfillan, quoting the words of cotemporary writers, says of Trask’s trial that,
“For ‘making of conventicles and factions, by that means which may tend to sedition and commotion, and for scandalizing the king, the bishops, and the clergy,’ he was censured in the Star Chamber to be set upon the pillory at Westminster, and from thence to be whipt to the fleet, there to remain a prisoner.”
This cruel sentence was carried into execution, and finally broke his spirit. After enduring the misery of his prison for one year, he recanted his doctrine. The559case of his wife is worthy of particular mention. Pagitt gives her character thus:—
“She was a woman endued with many particular virtues, well worthy the imitation of all good Christians, had not error in other things, especially a spirit of strange, unparalleled opinionativeness and obstinacy in her private conceits, spoiled her.”
Pagitt says that she was a school-teacher of superior excellence. She was particularly careful in her dealings with the poor. He gives her reasons thus:—
“This she professed to do out of conscience, as believing she must one day come to be judged for all things done in the flesh. Therefore she resolved to go by the safest rule, rather against than for her private interest.”
Pagitt gives her crime in the following words:—
“At last for teaching only five days in the week, and resting upon Saturday, it being known upon what account she did it, she was carried to the new prison in Maiden Lane, a place then appointed for the restraint of several other persons of different opinions from the Church of England.”
Observe the crime: it was not what she did, for a first-day person might have done the same, but because she did it to obey the fourth commandment. Her motive exposed her to the vengeance of the authorities. She was a woman of indomitable courage, and would not purchase her liberty by renouncing the Lord’s Sabbath. During her long imprisonment, Pagitt says that some one wrote her thus:—
“Your constant suffering would be praiseworthy, were it for truth; but being for error, your recantation will be both more acceptable to God, and laudable before men.”
But her faith and patience held out till she was released by death.
“Mrs. Trask lay fifteen or sixteen years a prisoner for her opinion about the Saturday Sabbath; in all which time she would receive no relief from anybody, notwithstanding she wanted much: alleging that it was written, ‘It is more blessed . . . to give than to receive.’ Neither would she borrow, because it was written, ‘Thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow.’ So she deemed it a dishonor to her head, Christ, either to beg or borrow. Her diet for the most part during her imprisonment, that is, till a little before her death, was bread and water, roots and herbs; no flesh, nor wine, nor brewed drink. All her means was an annuity of forty shillings a year; what she lacked more to live upon she had of such prisoners as did employ her sometimes to do business for them.”
Pagitt, who was the cotemporary of Trask, thus states the principles of the Sabbatarians of that time, whom he calls Traskites:—
“The positions concerning the Sabbath by them maintained were these:—
“1. That the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’ [Ex. 20] is a divine precept, simply and entirely moral, containing nothing legally ceremonial in whole or in part, and therefore the weekly observation thereof ought to be perpetual, and to continue in force and virtue to the world’s end.
“2. That the Saturday, or seventh day in every week, ought to be an everlasting holy day in the Christian church, and the religious observation of this day obligeth Christians under the gospel, as it did the Jews before the coming of Christ.
“3. That the Sunday, or Lord’s day, is an ordinary working day, and it is superstition and will-worship to make the same the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.”
It was for this noble confession of faith that Mrs. Trask was shut up in prison till the day of her death. For the same, Mr. Trask was compelled to stand at the pillory, and was whipped from thence to the fleet, and then shut up in a wretched prison, from which he escaped by recantation after enduring its miseries for more than a year.