Earlier text: WAS THIS YOU?The Third Angel's Message.
Its Basis in the Seven Trumpets.
The trumpet is the symbol of war; as it is written: “Thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” Jer. 4:19. “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” 1 Cor. 14:8. “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain.” Joel 2:1. We have found that the Seven Trumpets prophesy the consequences of the making of the Beast, which grew out of the great apostasy from Christianity. The Beast was made in the Roman Empire by the union of the apostate church with that republic which had degenerated into an imperial despotism; and the result to the Roman Empire, of the making of the Beast, was the utter ruin of that empire. This ruin was accomplished by the mighty armies of the peoples of the north, which, in a succession of mighty tides, overflowed the western empire of Rome, in the time covered by the first four of the Seven Trumpets. At that time, and for five hundred years before, the Roman Empire, as a whole, had “filled the world,”—Gibbon. “Coming last among what are called the great monarchies of prophecy, it was the only one which realized in perfection the idea of a monarchia, being (except for Parthia and the great fable of India beyond it) strictly coincident with the civilized world. Civilization and this empire were commensurate; they were interchangeable ideas and coextensive.” And when that empire perished, to those unenlightened by the word of God it really seemed, in the violence of the times, that the world was at its end. No man can imagine the terror of the times. Of the fall of that empire it has been said that:— Never had the existence of a nation been more completely overthrown; never had individuals had more evils to endure and more dangers to apprehend. Whence came it that the population were dumb and dead? How is it that so many sacked towns, so many ruined positions, so many blasted careers, so many ejected proprietors, have left so few traces, I do not say of their active existence, but only of their sufferings?—Guizot. Although it was not the end of the world, yet, like the fall of Babylon of old, the fall of Rome is full of lessons that indicate exactly the things that will be at the end of the world. For that, with all its terrors, was the consequence of the evils heaped upon society by the making and the working of the Beast. And when the world shall really end, that, with the terrors that accompany it, will be but the consequence of the evil that is heaped upon the society of the world at this time, by the making and the working of the Image of the Beast. And as the Beast itself is the standard of comparison in all things respecting the making and the working of the Image of the Beast, so the state of society and the affairs of the empire and nations of that time of the Beast are a faithful standard of comparison by which to read correctly the course and condition of the nations in these times of the Image of the Beast. A brief sketch of the condition of society at that time will therefore be of double value just here. The same corruptions that had characterized the former Rome were reproduced in the Rome of the 7th century. The primitive rigor of discipline and manners was utterly neglected and forgotten by the ecclesiastics of Rome. The most exorbitant luxury, with all the vices attending it, was introduced among them, and the most scandalous and unchristian arts of acquiring wealth universally practiced. They seemed to have rivaled in riotous living the greatest epicures of pagan Rome when luxury was there at the highest pitch. For Jerome, who was an eye-witness of what he writ, reproaches the Roman clergy with the same excesses which the poet Juvenal so severely censured in the Roman nobility under the reign of Domitian.—Bower. Everything was determined by auguries and auspices; the wild orgies of the Bacchanalians, with all their obscene songs and revelry, were not wanting.—Merivale. And now the criminal and frivolous pleasures of a decrepit civilization left no thought for the absorbing duties of the day nor the fearful trials of the morrow. Unbridled lust and unblushing indecency admitted no sanctity in the marriage tie. The rich and powerful established harems, in the recesses of which their wives lingered, forgotten, neglected, and despised. The banquet, theater, and the circus exhausted what little strength and energy were left by domestic excesses. The poor aped the vices of the rich, and hideous depravity reigned supreme, and invited the vengeance of heaven.—Lea. The pagan superstitions, the pagan delusions, and the pagan vices, which had been brought into the church by the apostasy, and clothed with a form of godliness, had wrought such corruption that the society of which it was a part could no longer exist. From it no more good could possibly come, and it must be swept away. The uncontrollable progress of avarice, prodigality, voluptuousness, theater-going, intemperance, lewdness; in short, of all the heathen vices, which Christianity had come to eradicate, still carried the Roman Empire and people with rapid strides toward dissolution, and gave it at last into the hands of the rude, but simple and morally vigorous, barbarians.—Schaff. It was impossible that it should be otherwise. By apostasy that gospel had lost its purity and its power in the multitudes who professed it. It was now used only as a cloak to cover the same old pagan wickedness. This form of godliness, practiced not only without the power but in defiance of it, permeated the great masses of the people, and the empire had thereby become a festering mass of corruption. When thus the only means which it was possible for the Lord himself to employ to purify the people, had been taken and made only the cloak under which to increase unto more ungodliness, there was no other remedy; destruction must come. And it did come, by a host, wild and savage, it is true, but whose social habits were so far above those of the people which they destroyed, that, savage as they were, they were caused fairly to blush at the shameful corruptions which they found in this so-called Christian society of Rome. A writer who lived at the time of the barbarian invasions, and who wrote as a Christian, exclaims:— “The church, which ought everywhere to propitiate God, what does she but provoke him to anger? How many may one meet, even in the church, who are not still drunkards, or debauchees, or adulterers, or fornicators, or robbers, or murderers, or the like, or all these at once, without end? It is even a sort of holiness among Christian people to be less vicious.” From the public worship of God, and almost during it, they pass to deeds of shame. Scarce a rich man but would commit murder and fornication. We have lost the whole power of Christianity, and offend God the more, that we sin as Christians. We are worse than the barbarians and heathen. If the Saxon is wild, the Frank faithless, the Goth inhuman, the Alanian drunken, the Hun licentious, they are, by reason of their ignorance, far less punishable than we, who, knowing the commandments of God, commit all these crimes.—Schaff. You, Romans, Christians, and Catholics, are defrauding your brethren, are grinding the faces of the poor, are frittering away your lives over the impure and heathenish spectacles of the amphitheater, you are wallowing in licentiousness and inebriety. The barbarians, meanwhile, heathen or heretics though they may be, and however fierce toward us, are just and fair in their dealings with one another. The men of the same clan, and following the same king, love one another with true affection. The impurities of the theater are unknown amongst them. Many of their tribes are free from the taint of drunkenness, and among all, except the Alans and the Huns, chastity is the rule. Not one of these tribes is altogether vicious. If they have their vices, they have also their virtues, clear, sharp, and well defined. Whereas you, my beloved fellow provincials, I regret to say, with the exception of a few holy men among you, are altogether bad. Your lives from the cradle to the grave are a tissue of rottenness and corruption, and all this notwithstanding that you have the sacred Scriptures in your hands. In what other race of men would you find such evils as these which are practiced among the Romans? Where else is there such injustice as ours? The Franks know nothing of this villainy. The Huns are clear of crimes like these. None of these exactions are practiced among the Vandals, none among the Goths. So far are the barbarian Goths from tolerating frauds like these, that not even the Romans who live under the Gothic rule are called upon to endure them, and hence the one wish of all the Romans in those parts is that it may never be necessary for them to pass under the Roman jurisdiction. With one consenting voice the lower orders of Romans put up the prayer that they may be permitted to spend their life, such as it is, alongside of the barbarians. And then we marvel that our arms should not triumph over the arms of the Goths, when our own countrymen would rather be with them than with us.—Salvian. These events of the Seven Trumpets are important in another sense also: that is, that the peoples by whom was wrought “the divine judgment of destruction upon this nominally Christian, but essentially heathen, world,” are, in their descent, the great nations of to-day and are to-day the living subjects of the prophecies relating to our times. In the destruction of the Western Empire there were planted, in its place, the ten kingdoms of the seventh chapter of Daniel, of which the seven that remain after the rooting up of the three before the papacy, are the kingdoms in whose “days,” according to Dan. 2:44, “shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” The first four trumpets are not, however, an account of the planting of the ten kingdoms. These are prophetic pictures of the most terrible of the mighty invasions by which Western Rome was ruined, and through which the ten kingdoms were planted. There were more than ten nations engaged in the invasion and ruin of the Roman Empire. Indeed, there were more than fifteen of those nations; and, out of this number, ten kingdoms, no more, and no less, divided among themselves the territory of Western Rome. The False Sunday Doctrine
Der Lutheraner, a German Lutheran religious paper published at St. Louis, Mo., dated June 13, 1899, contains an excellent article bearing on the all-absorbing Sunday observance question. The following extracts are taken from the same:— The false Sunday doctrine of the Presbyterians has, according to the newspaper reports of the General Assembly of this sect, recently convened at Minneapolis, been brought prominently before the people. The Presbyterians believe that the Sunday was instituted by the Lord as the New Testament sabbath, although they have not, as yet, found a single text in the new Testament, and never will find any, where God instituted the Sunday as the “New Testament sabbath.” This false Sunday doctrine is one of their favorite teachings. There is great stress laid by them upon Puritanical Sunday sanctification. They tell us that the “American Christian sabbath is in great danger,” etc. We remark: If the American-Puritan Sunday observance, regarding which there arose so many petty and ridiculous restrictions by law in the American colonies over a hundred years ago, is dying out, it is not to be deplored. No person will ever be made better by an outward, more or less compulsory, sabbath (Sunday) observance; but through such pernicious practices pharisaical hypocrisy will only be encouraged. Our country needs no Puritan customs and Puritanical union of church and state laws regarding the Sunday. In the above-mentioned abominable expressions of the Presbyterians about their “American Christian sabbath” we again see plainly how false doctrine can benight the people. Sad it is that the report of the committee regarding Sabbath (Sunday) observance, in which they have overreached themselves by making such groundless claims, was received with enthusiasm by the General Assembly. “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Through unbelief and distrust of the promise of God in his covenant with Abraham, the eyes of Sarai and Abraham were hidden from the truth and blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, God’s everlasting covenant. Therefore, the real truth and merit of that covenant they must be taught. Through the disappointing experience of Sarai’s scheme in bringing in Hagar and her son Ishmael, Sarai and Abraham were brought to sincerely trust in the promise of God by which they received the child of promise; and by which Abraham was enabled to see the day of Christ, and, in seeing it, to rejoice and be glad. John 8 : 56. Through the darkness of Egypt, which was upon their minds and hearts,—the darkness of unbelief and self-righteousness,—Israel at Sinai could not discern the truth and blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. “All this they must be taught.” By their experience in the covenant at Sinai, they were brought to the knowledge of themselves, of “their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings,” and “were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.” Through the darkness of Egypt, which was upon their minds and hearts,—the darkness of unbelief and self-righteousness,—Israel, before Calvary, and at Calvary, and “the Pharisees which believed” after Calvary, could not discern the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings—the blessings of the new covenant. All this they must be taught. And by Stephen, and especially by Paul; and by the church in council at Jerusalem, and especially by inspiration in the epistle to the Galatians, they were taught that there was not to be put upon the necks of Christians the yoke which neither their fathers nor themselves were able to bear; but that Christians are to stand fast in the freedom of the Abrahamic covenant,—God’s everlasting covenant,—“the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Therefore it is written: “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.” It is the truth that Timothy was circumcised, and it is also the truth that Christ did profit Timothy unto the very fullness of the salvation of God. How, then, can it be true that “if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing,” and yet Timothy be both circumcised and profited by Christ? The key of this problem lies in the purpose for which circumcision was employed. The Pharisees which believed, who had confused the Galatians, and were making this contention against Paul, “taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved.” Acts 15 : 1. With them, then, circumcision was the means of salvation; and to be saved was the object in the circumcision. And how entirely salvation was made to depend upon circumcision is shown in the fact that this was said to persons who were already saved by the faith of Jesus Christ. The Galatians had heard the gospel in its purity, preached by Paul. They had believed the gospel; and in that they had believed on the Lord Jesus, and had received him as their Saviour. Thus, they were already saved by faith in Christ; for by that they had received the gospel, which is “the power of God unto salvation [working salvation] to every one that believeth.” And it was to these Christians who were already saved by Christ, through the faith of Christ,—to these it was that “the Pharisees which believed” had said, “Except ye be circumcised, . . . ye can not be saved.” This was, therefore, nothing else than to put circumcision above Jesus Christ as the way of salvation. It was to set Christ aside as the Saviour, and to put circumcision in his place as the savior. Therefore it is perfectly plain, in itself, that whosoever was circumcised under that scheme and for that purpose, Christ would profit him nothing; because, in the very process, he set Christ aside for circumcision: he repudiated Christ as the Saviour, and took circumcision as his savior. And while that controversy was going on, as yet unsettled, Paul would not give countenance for a moment to any suggestion to circumcise Titus, or anybody else. But when the controversy had been settled by the Holy Spirit, and the decree had been published by the Holy Spirit from the council at Jerusalem, that people are saved by Christ, and by faith alone in Christ, without circumcision, and where there was no question of salvation in the circumcision that was performed,—then Paul circumcised Timothy, so that a wider door should be open to both Paul and Timothy in the preaching of the gospel without circumcision. Now, with those “Pharisees which believed” circumcision was the badge, the seal, the very pinnacle of works, of self-righteousness; and of salvation by works of self-righteousness. And these works included the law,—all law, moral and ceremonial, which the Lord had given,—and the ceremonies which the Pharisees had heaped upon all that the Lord had given. So that the scheme meant justification, salvation, by “law” and works of law, by ceremonialism, not by Christ and the faith of Christ. Therefore exactly as he wrote of circumcision, so now he writes of law: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by law; ye are fallen from grace.” The Greek is νόμῳ, law, in general: not ὁ νόμος, the law, in particular. In this controversy the question was not whether it is right or wrong to keep the law of God. The question is whether or not men are justified, saved, by works of law, whatever law it may be. These people were already saved by Christ, and by faith in him; and now, to those who were saved by Christ, and by faith alone in him, these “Pharisees which believed” insisted that these must be circumcised, and keep the law, in order to be saved. This was putting law, the keeping of law, above Christ. It was, in fact, the setting aside of Christ as Saviour, and putting in his place as the Saviour their own works of law. And therefore, plainly enough, in the very fact of so doing they were “fallen from grace.” For, for any one to turn from Christ, for any purpose whatever,—and, above all, for the purpose of being saved,—is most definitely to fall from grace. And all this is true forever. Men are never saved by any of their own works in the keeping of any law. They are saved alone by Christ, and the faith of Christ: saved to the uttermost. YET MORE ON THAT “NEEDED REFORM IN EDUCATION.”
In considering the system of education of the present day, we have found, upon the highest authority on the question, that, from the common school to the university and the theological seminary, it is a system in which doubt is the beginning, the process, and the end. This at once marks it as exactly the Greek system of education reproduced. That this may be plainly seen, we present a statement of the Greek system as originated by Socrates and perpetuated by Plato. Here it is, as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica, article on Socrates:— Socrates was not a “philosopher,” nor yet a “teacher,” but rather an “educator,” having for his function “to rouse, persuade, and rebuke.”—Plato, Apology, 30 E. Hence, in examining his life’s work, it is proper to ask, not, What was his philosophy? but, What was his theory, and what was his practice, of education? He was brought to his theory of education by the study of previous philosophies, and his practice led to the Platonic revival. Socrates’ theory of education had for its basis a profound and consistent SKEPTICISM. Taking his departure from some apparently remote principle or proposition to which the respondent yielded a ready assent, Socrates would draw from it an unexpected but undeniable consequence, which was plainly inconsistent with the opinion impugned. In this way he brought his interlocutor to pass judgment upon himself, and reduced him to a state of “doubt,” or “perplexity.” “Before I ever met you,” says Meno in the dialogue which Plato called by his name, “I was told that you spent your time in doubting and leading others to doubt; and it is a fact that your witcheries and spells have brought me to that condition. You are like the torpedo: as it benumbs any one who approaches and touches it, so do you.” In the application of the “dialectical” or “maieutic” method, two processes are distinguishable,—the destructive process, by which the worse opinion was eradicated; and the constructive process, by which the better opinion was induced. . . . Of the two processes, the destructive process attracted the more attention, both in consequence of its novelty and because many of those who willingly or unwillingly submitted to it stopped short at the stage of “perplexity” [or doubt]. But to Socrates and his intimates the constructive process was the proper and necessary sequel. It is true that in the dialogues of Plato the destructive is not always OR EVEN OFTEN followed by construction. Let any one take up the REVIEW of May 22 and read the statement of the Outlook, under its own heading of “A Needed Educational Reform;” then take up the REVIEW of June 26, and read the statements of Professor Hoffman, as originally made in the North American Review, on “The Scientific Method in Theology;” then take up the REVIEW of July 3, and read the statements of the Hon. W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education; and he can readily see that the system of education of the present day and that of Greece, as stated in the foregoing quotation, are, in principle and in method, identical. The result of such an education among the Greeks has been defined by inspiration. And, knowing that, we can know for certain what the result of the identical thing must be to-day. Of the result of this system of education among the Greeks, the word of God says that by it the world was caused to know not God. 1 Cor. 1 : 21. This, however, is plain enough on its face; because when the process is altogether one of doubt, how is it possible to know God? The word of God not only defines the results of that sort of education, but tells what is the remedy. And, so, it is written: “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Cor. 1 : 21. And what is it that is preached?—“We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” Verses 23, 24. Thus, against that Greek system of education, God sets the preaching of the cross of Christ,—the power of God. And against the Greek method, which is doubt, God sets the divine method, which is faith. Thus there is set before us, by the word of God, the gospel as the true principle and method of education; for the gospel is “the power of God” to every one that believeth, because in it “is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith.” Rom. 1 : 17, 18. Since, then, there is confessedly a sorely needed educational reform, and since true education is that alone of which the gospel is the source and substance, it follows that there must be presented to the world now a system of education, of which the gospel shall be the source and substance. And exactly to meet this demand, there is now due to the world that message from God,—“the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” As the worldly method is one only of doubt, and as against this God sets the true method, which is only of faith, so there is just now due to the world that mighty Third Angel’s Message, preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, calling upon them to “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” And just now there is a people in the world who profess to be the people to whom is committed this great threefold message of the everlasting gospel, which calls all people to “the faith of Jesus.”10 It is, therefore, as certain as the word of God, and as plain as A B C, that to the people to whom is committed the Third Angel’s Message, in that, there is committed this sorely needed reform in education, for which so many in the world are calling, and which the world must have if it shall ever be saved from the fate of knowing not God. This reform in education—this establishing of thoroughly Christian education—this education of faith, in faith, by faith,—this education is the Third Angel’s Message. Now is the time, and in this work of Christian education it is, when the promise of God is to be fulfilled: “I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.” Zech. 9:13, R. V. And this “in the time of the latter rain.” Zech. 10:1. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.
By Uriah Smith
PETER, speaking of the resurrection of Christ, said of him to those assembled on the day of Pentecost: “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” Acts 2 : 24. The strongest bonds known to this world are the bonds of death. In these bonds our Lord was placed in our behalf. He, the divine Son of God, was literally dead. The prophet says, “He hath poured out his soul unto death.” And when he had done this, he had satisfied the debt he undertook to pay. He did not see corruption; and it was not necessary that he should. Having given his life, nothing further could have borne any relation to our redemption. But from these bonds he was released for this most comforting and encouraging of all reasons—that it was not possible that he should be holden of it. That is the word that comes from the throne of heaven, against all the combinations of the powers of darkness, and every enterprise set in operation against the work and purposes of God, with the hope and expectation that they may accomplish their evil designs. But that can not be. It is not possible. And when God says, “It is not possible,” no power of men, either singly or combined, and no efforts of spiritual wickedness in high places, may have any hope of succeeding in their malevolent, evil-loving designs. Christ had been made superior to the power of death, by the command of his Father. The word “power” here would more correctly be rendered “right.” The plan of redemption provided Christ’s right to lay down his life, and his right to take it again. “This commandment,” he said, “have I received of my Father.” Therefore, though Christ was, for a time, wholly in the power of death to satisfy the conditions of the plan of salvation, that being done, there was no power, aside from that which had organized it, that could hold him further. So he was released from the pains of death, because it was not possible that he could be holden further of it. Who can comprehend the comforting thought in that declaration: “It was not possible”? It is a setting forth of the relative strength of the powers of good and evil, of light and darkness, of our friends and foes. It is not possible that the power of evil can countervail in any respect the gracious purposes of God. It is not possible. Fall into line, then, with the designs and will of God. Then, though all the powers of evil may try to harm and destroy you, they can not prevail. It is not possible. God has a design that preoccupies the ground which their machinations attempt to enter. But they are too late; and it is impossible that anything can come in to frustrate the way God has marked out, except our own perverse spirits, working at cross-purposes with him. But why was it not possible for Christ to be holden by the power of death?—It was not only because of the command of the Father in accordance with his great work of redemption, but because of his union with the Father; for in him was all the fullness of the Godhead manifested bodily. Because the propitiation he had offered was complete, the debt was canceled, therefore he must be free, The plan and purpose of grace involved the dealing with the members the same as with the Head. John 19 : 24. “This is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” John 6 : 39. Because of this promise to him, death could not hold him. The promise concerning him respecting his office was, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Ps. 45 : 6. Christ is the great Shepherd of the sheep, and was brought from the dead by the blood of the everlasting covenant. It was not possible for him to be holden of it. Heb. 13 : 20. Death could not hold our Lord, because without his resurrection we should have had no surety of our own resurrection (1 Cor. 15 : 17), nor should we have any certainty of our justification. Rom. 4 : 25. But the Lord would not leave his people without the comfort and consolation of these great facts; therefore it was not possible that he should be holden of the pains of death. It was also necessary that we should have a personal representative in the presence of God for us. Heb. 9 : 24. Without the resurrection of Christ to honor and power, man never could have been raised, as it is promised that he shall be, to glory and immortality, and given possession over the works of God’s hands. Heb. 2 : 9. The foundation has been well and securely laid, and we may extend the conclusions to all the conditions and environments of the work of God in the earth. How the gospel from small and feeble beginnings has prospered and triumphed over all forms of opposition that it has had to meet! But our Lord told the feeble instruments who were sent forth to establish the church, that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. Error has been rampant and widespread in the world, but it has not been able to smother and choke out the truth. The colossal systems of Greek philosophy, and the pagan Roman idolatry, which once so powerfully dominated the world, have, at least in form and profession, gone down before it. Error, of course, will live; but truth will live also, and will hold the field when error has perished in its own corruption. And even when the Lord comes, he will find some faith on the earth. Luke 18 : 8. The scholarship and pompous boasting of all its foes have not been able, and will not be able, to overthrow the gospel. Christ, when on earth, baffled the wisdom and cunning of those who tried to catch him in his words. Much more will he do it through the operation of his Holy Spirit, as the closing struggle approaches. 1 Cor. 1 : 20. The poverty and ignorance of this world will never be able to nullify the gospel. One of the triumphal notes of Christ’s ministry was, “The poor have the gospel preached to them.” Matt. 11 : 5. And the ignorant and degraded among men receive the truth. Matt. 4 : 16. The power, wealth, and fashion of this world, and the prestige of hoary-headed systems of false religions, shall not crush down and destroy the power of the truth. Acts 4 : 26. All the evil influences of this world shall not be able to quench the flame of life in the church. John 16 : 33. The bold and defiant power of unbelief shall not be able to stifle the voice of the word of the Lord. Matt. 16 : 18. Carry the same principles out into individual experiences; for they apply there as well. It is not possible to hold anything in bondage that is God’s. The poor, struggling, discouraged sinner shall escape the bondage of sin and depravity and the power of Satan, and shall go free. Ps. 124 : 7. Tribulation, temptation, depression, shall not hold any one in captivity who puts his trust in God. Ps. 34 : 19; 116 : 7. The bodies of the saints can not be held in the bondage of the grave. 1 Cor. 15 : 23; 1 Peter 1 : 3–5. Yea, the whole groaning creation shall at last emerge into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Rom. 8 : 21–23. But what about the special work of God for this time? Is there anything about this that is not possible?—Yes, failure. God has set before us an open door; and no man can shut it. He has ordained a great threefold message of warning to the world, to prepare them for his final scene, the coming of the Lord; and it is not possible that it should be arrested in its work. Is it possible for it to continue through all the perilous, exciting, bewildering scenes of the last days? Will not men lose their bearings, their faith, and their patience, and give up their hope?—Some will; for we are expressly forewarned that “some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” 1 Tim. 4 : 1. Will not the love of many wax cold?—So we are forewarned; but not all; for some will endure to the end. It seems indeed strange that after the message has been well inaugurated, and has progressed in some measure of strength for years, all the time growing stronger, the signs of the times more vivid, the testimony of God’s word unshaken as to the great underlying foundations of our position, and the final movements that are to take place in heaven and earth, to bring the whole stupendous scheme of redemption to a close, and the evidences of the correctness of our position multiplying on every hand,—it seems strange, we say, to us that at such a time as this any should conclude, with apparent coolness and deliberation, that all our views and expectations are wrong, and there is nothing to this whole thing, and then, after having once been interested in, and loved, the truth, should turn back to some unsubstantial and wornout system of theology for spiritual refreshment and support. But we may look for just such things; for without this, the picture of the last-day times would hardly be complete. But however inviting the prospect may be made to look, there is nothing to draw back to but “perdition;” while that for which we believe is the “saving of the soul.”