Not only the world, but our lives and work are crowded with duties and cares. The busiest of us never accomplish all we have to do; we fail to accomplish, perhaps, all that is expected of us. And, then, either without system we leave undone the things we would last reach, or with system we plan to leave out those things we deem least important. What shall we neglect?
In the home comes the round of cooking and house-cleaning and mending; on the farm is the care of the crops and the stock, the marketing of produce, and other business; in the institution is the following of the prescribed routine of work and study or the management; in the ministry is the proclaiming of gospel truths, and the service rendered to bodies and souls of men. Always something suffers, something is neglected; what shall it be?
Too frequently the thing neglected is study and prayer. And thereby is time wasted; for without study and prayer no worker can accomplish anything of value. It is as if the typewriter, earnest to do a great day's work, should not have time to clean and oil his machine; as if the engineer, needing a high pressure of steam, should not have time to draw out the ashes and cinders; as if the farmer, with a long day's plowing before him, should not have time to feed his horses. A fellow worker said to me recently, when urged to study some helpful portions of “Ministry of Healing:”7“I can not keep up with everything I am expected to do. Unless I keep abreast of the times, of the religious liberty work, the temperance work, the Sabbath-school work, the foreign mission work, etc., I shall not meet the favor of the conference.”
How much of all these many lines of thought the worker can compass, or how much he must neglect, is a matter for each one to determine with God for himself; but certain it is that before the one great essential is omitted, all these might better be neglected, “lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” The worker who spends time with God will not be behind the times; his spirituality will be worth more to the church than all the feverish researches and the funds of information of him who neglects God.
“Remember that prayer is the source of your strength. A worker can not gain success while he hurries through his prayers, and rushes away to look after something that he fears may be neglected or forgotten. He gives only a few hurried thoughts to God; he does not take time to think, to pray, to wait upon the Lord for a renewal of physical and spiritual strength. He soon becomes weary. He does not feel the uplifting, inspiring influence of God's Spirit. He is not quickened by fresh life. His jaded frame and tired brain are not soothed by personal contact with Christ. ‘Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.’ ‘It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.’ Ps. 27:14; Lam. 3:26. There are those who work all day and far into the night to do what seems to them must be done. The Lord looks pityingly upon these weary, heavy-laden burden-bearers, and says to them, ‘Come unto me, . . . and I will give you rest.’”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VII, pages 243, 244.
One of the greatest sources of weakness in our people is the neglect of the writings of the spirit of prophecy. In these times of lukewarmness and apostasy, how perilous to remain unacquainted with the Testimonies God has sent to guard us against our dangers! It is not sufficient to talk in favor of the Testimonies, to say Amen when we hear them, or to accuse others of disbelieving them; we must know their personal messages to us, and by diligently studying and practising them, know them in the sense of receiving power from their study, that they may bring forth fruit from us to God.
There are hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist homes that have not one volume of the Testimonies; there are many workers who rarely ever study them; and all of us are ignorant in practise, if not in mind, of much of the message they bear to us. The books “Education” and “Ministry of Healing,” with the clearest directions for action and the most searching and comforting messages for the lagging and the weary, have been studied by few of those who have them. Yet not only do we know that they, with the rest of the Word of God, will try us in the day of judgment, but we see to-day what mistakes we make, what false positions we take, what prolongation of the agony of Christ we cause, because of our ignorance of them.
If something must be neglected,—either, on the one hand, better food, more clothing, or a cherished visit, or, on the other hand, the procuring of the Testimonies of God's Spirit,—let it be those things of material life, and let us have the word of God in our homes. If something must be neglected,—either, on the one hand, the hour of gossip or the frills on a new dress or some of the back-breaking work that means the earning or the saving of a few more dollars, or, on the other hand, the earnest, prayerful study of the Bible and the Testimonies,—then let it be our thronging cares and foolishnesses, and let us have the word of God in our lives.
The days of strife are upon us, they are not away in the future. We see arising, with their scourges in their hands, the vengeful Hazels foretold in the spirit of prophecy. Perils are on every hand: perils from the elements and perils from the passions of men; perils from without and from within, from unrelenting enemies and from false brethren. Alone, unsheltered, we are but as autumn leaves before the whirlwind. Who is heeding the invitation: ‘Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast’? Years ago were these words of warning written, which we begin to see fulfilled:—
“The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing. Those who have rendered supreme homage to ‘science falsely so-called,’ will not then be the leaders. Those who have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent, will not then stand at the head of rank and file.” “The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. . . . In this time, the gold will be separated from the dross in the church. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy, will then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.” “It may be that the destroyers are already training under the hand of Satan, and only wait the departure of a few more standard-bearers to take their places, and with the voice of the false prophet cry, Peace, peace, when the Lord hath not spoken peace. I seldom weep, but now I find my eyes blinded with tears; they are falling upon my paper as I write. It may be that ere long all prophesying among us will be at an end, and the voice which has stirred the people may no longer disturb their carnal chambers. When God shall work his strange work on the earth, when holy hands bear the ark no longer, woe will be upon the people. O, that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace! O, that our people may, as did Nineveh, repent with all their might and believe with all their heart, that God may turn away his fierce anger from them!”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, pages 80, 81, 77, 78.
What shall be neglected, prayer and the study of God's messages, or the pleasures of life and the manifold cares of our daily work? Which shall engross our thoughts, the husks of form and profession, or the kernels of God's truth and life?
“Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: . . . for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Alpharetta, Ga.
Delivered
By J. A. SWENEY
J. A. SWENEY
God has always delivered those who put their trust in him and call upon him in prayer. We think at once of Noah, whom God told to build an ark for the saving of his family from the destruction that was coming upon the world. Queen Esther and the Jews, who fasted and prayed day and night, calling upon God to deliver them from threatened destruction, were delivered; while those who would have destroyed the Jews were themselves destroyed.
The children of Israel were delivered at the Red Sea because they believed God and went forward at his word, while their pursuers were destroyed.
Daniel, when he knew the decree was signed forbidding him to call upon God, went into his house and prayed three times a day. He had no fear of the lions’ den, and God honored his faith. But those who plotted his death were slain by the very beasts they had expected would slay Daniel.
When Christ was placed in the tomb, and the stone rolled to its mouth and sealed with the seal of Rome, God sent his angel to break that seal and roll away the stone. Christ was delivered out of the power of the grave, and those who brought about his death will suffer death.
Peter, bound with chains between two soldiers, was delivered by an angel sent in answer to the prayer of the church. There is wonderful power in the united prayer of God’s chosen people. We know that they will be delivered out of the hand of those who are plotting their persecution and their destruction.
Times of danger are before us. Let us follow the example of Enoch, of Queen Esther, of Daniel, of our Saviour, and deliverance from all the plottings of the enemy will be certain. God has promised to hear and answer our prayers.
Albuquerque, N. Mex.
Editorial
By F. M. W.
Editorial Correspondence
COLLEGE VIEW, NEBR., Feb. 1, 1912.
FOLLOWING the excellent ministerial institute held at College View, Nebr., the Northern and Central Union Conferences held their regular biennial session. As the proceedings of these meetings will be reported later through the REVIEW, we will not make detailed mention of these meetings at this time.
The proceedings were most harmonious, and a spirit of earnest, aggressive labor was indicated in the plans laid and the resolutions adopted. The failure of crops for the last two years in a large part of the Northern Union has greatly hampered the work in that field; but the brethren are hopeful for the future, and are laying plans for the extension of the work.
Elder R. A. Underwood, who has faithfully served this conference for the last eight years, felt that he should be relieved from the presidency. His request was reluctantly granted, and Elder Chas. Thompson, the president of the Southeastern Union Conference, was asked to take the presidency of the Northern Union. Brother Thompson arrived before the meetings closed, to come in touch with his new field, and to assume charge of the work.
Elder E. T. Russell was reelected president of the Central Union Conference. Very important denominational interests are centered in this strong union. Union College, the Clinton (Mo.) German Seminary, the International Publishing Association, and the sanitariums at Wichita, College View, and Boulder are all important institutions, and to do active, aggressive work, must have fostering care.
Union College draws its support not only from the Central Union territory, but also from the Northern Union. A commendable spirit was manifested by the delegates of these two unions in considering the interests of this institution. The operation of the college last year showed a financial deficit, notwithstanding the earnest efforts put forth by those in immediate charge of the institution. The brethren heartily responded to the demands of the situation. By action of the delegates, each of the various State conferences in the two unions was asked to assume responsibility for a proportion of the indebtedness, as well as the support of one or more teachers for the ensuing year. This plan will furnish very substantial assistance to this worthy institution. It is to be hoped that the enthusiasm and earnestness shown by the delegates may extend throughout the field, and that the workers in the Central West will heartily unite in inducing many young men and women who are now attending public schools to enroll as students of Union College.
One feature of the gathering at College View was particularly pleasing, and that was the old-time spirit of hospitality shown by our church brethren and sisters and by the college and sanitarium. The representatives from Washington felt particularly indebted for the kindly care given them during their stay by the Nebraska Sanitarium, and for the many courtesies which they received from the managers and nurses. The college did the same for others, and the homes of our brethren and sisters in the village were opened wide to afford a hearty welcome to the visiting delegates. This spirit we believe needs to be cherished on the part of our people. There is danger that we shall get away from the spirit of simplicity which once pervaded our work. We need to come together as brethren and sisters, realizing that we belong to the great family of the Lord, that our purposes are one, and that in a measure our interests in this world are likewise mutual.
We are indebted to Elder Underwood for a hearty and earnest appeal in behalf of the REVIEW before the delegates and visitors at the institute. He emphasized the importance and the necessity of having our church paper in every Seventh-day Adventist home, and urged those present to see that the Seventh-day Adventist homes they visited were supplied. The brethren pledged their hearty support in the accomplishment of this purpose.
At the last Sabbath meeting of the ministers, Elder A. G. Daniells stated that as far as his purpose was concerned, the institute, instead of being nearly to a close, was just beginning; that he purposed to make the coming year a year of institute work and earnest study. He recommended that as a basis for all study for the year to come, our workers give special attention to the Scriptures of truth, advising that they read the Bible through by course, as well as study those subjects which might be necessary in the carrying forward of their work. He also urged that in addition to other books, “Desire of Ages” receive a careful reading, and also some work on the improvement of the ministry, suggesting as an excellent book “Personal Evangelism,” by Dr. Goodell. This recommendation is worthy of the consideration of all, and we pass it on in the hope that it may lead to more earnest, systematic study on the part of all our readers.
F. M. W.
Tradition, Philosophy, and the Word
By C. M. S.
TRADITION within the church and philosophy without have been working for ages, and are still working, to destroy faith in the Word of God, or to nullify its teachings in their application to human lives.
Tradition has put a hazy nimbus around the Word and its teachings, that has made the actual truth seem unreal; and it has done more. It has exalted itself above the very truth of God—above his literal commandments. Thus has been going on a disintegrating work from within, fostered by the enemy of truth, as all such works are fostered, undermining faith, and building up superstition in those within the fold.
Philosophy has sought to accomplish the same end by turning men’s minds into the channels of speculation, so they would lose all desire for the pure food of divine truth. It has accomplished its object in the millions who have allowed themselves to be taken in its snare.
But now a change has come. Philosophy has boldly stalked into the great fashionable church body; and though tradition may have lost some of its prestige before the onrush of liberalism, the cause in which tradition and philosophy joined forces has lost none of its dangerous power. It is merely a change in method, not in result; and that result is bound to be more manifest from now on because of the fact that both these agencies of opposition to the divine Word are now within the church. The apostle’s admonition to “take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit,” is strikingly applicable at the present time, when, from so many of the pulpits of the land, philosophy, politics, and atheism are expounded, while the great Book of truth is permitted to lie silent within clasped covers. The world to-day is as mad after philosophy as was the ancient world after its “great Diana,” and it seems as difficult for the Word to find attentive audience now as Paul found it among Diana’s worshipers. In this pulpit usurpation by philosophy lies9the great cause for the spreading infidelity in the church world of to-day as well as in the world outside the church. By occupying its position there, it reaps its results in both places, and in both cases the ruin of souls is the price that must be paid.
In this time of storm and stress the only safety is in clinging to the Word, making that the “man of our counsel,” our guide, and our refuge. To those who do this, it will prove a shield from the fiery darts of the wicked one. In it is God’s saving truth. Outside of it and him there is nothing that can save,—nothing but confusion, darkness, and disappointed hopes.
C. M. S.
The Seventh Year of Artaxerxes
By W. W. P.
Two very important periods of prophecy are the 70 weeks (490 years) of Dan. 9:24, and the 2300 days (years) of Dan. 8:14. A careful study of the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel, in connection with the history covered by these prophecies, makes it clear that both of these prophetic periods begin at the same time, and it is plainly stated that the 70 weeks are to be reckoned “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” Dan. 9:25. The decree which was issued “in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king” (Ezra 7:7), and recorded at length in the book of Ezra (Ezra 7:11-26), granted full authority to do the work prescribed in the prophecy, and is the commandment from which to reckon the commencement of the 70 weeks. It is therefore of great importance to establish clearly the time when Artaxerxes Longimanus began his reign, so that the time of the seventh year may be satisfactorily determined. In order to furnish reliable information for the settlement of this question, we submit herewith some extracts in which various authorities are quoted, and the subject is quite fully discussed. These extracts are worthy of careful study by those who desire to deal with this matter understandably. Due credit is given for each of these extracts. They run as follows:—
According to Ptolemy’s Canon (the best and most impartial authority to which we can refer), the reign of Artaxerxes commenced in the year 284 of the Nabonassarean era, which began on Dec. 17, 465 B. C., reckoning in Julian years. And the principle on which Ptolemy’s Canon is constructed is to reckon each king’s reign as beginning on the first day of the month (thoth) of the year in which that king succeeded to the throne; the number of years of each king’s reign being limited to the number of complete years to which his reign extended, reckoning from that time. So that while, according to the principle of the canon, the reign of Artaxerxes is reckoned as beginning with the first day of the year 284 of the Nabonassarean era, we only know from it that the actual commencement of the reign was sometime in the course of that year.
Now the time of the year when he began to reign seems determinable from Ezra and Nehemiah. It appears from Neh. 1:1 and 2:1, that in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and consequently in the other years of his reign, the first Hebrew month, Nisan (March-April), came after the ninth, Chisleu (November-December). Consequently the date of his accession must have been sometime between Nisan and Chisleu. And from Ezra 7:7-10 it follows that in the seventh and therefore in other years of his reign, the fifth month, Ab (July-August), came after the first, or Nisan. Therefore the accession of Artaxerxes was somewhere between the latter end of July and the former part of November, i. e., somewhere about the summer of 464 B. C.
Therefore the seventh year of Artaxerxes was from the summer of 458 to the summer of 457.—Rev. W. Goode, D. D., F. S. A., in “Fulfilled Prophecy,” pages 211-213.
I have adhered to the authoritative chronology of the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes. Diodorus (xi, 69) says that Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus, after reigning more than twenty years, when Lysitheus was archon at Athens. Ol. 78, 4, B. C. 465. “According to the canon, he died N. E. 283, i. e., after Dec. 17, B. C. 466, and before Dec. 17, B. C. 465, which coincides with the year Lysitheus.”—Clinton. (Fast. Hell., B. C. 465.) Eusebius agrees with this. Manetho also assigns the same length to the reign of Xerxes, twenty-one years (quoted by Africanus ap. Syncell., page 75, D. Clinton, F. H., c. 18, ii, 380, note). This length of reign corresponds with the dates assigned to his father Darius, and to Artaxerxes, to whom forty-one years are given by Manetho (Ib.), forty by Diodorus (Ib. and xi, 69), which agrees with Thucydides (iv, 50), who mentions his death in the archonship of Stratoches, B. C. 425-424 (Clinton, page 380). The accession of Artaxerxes after the seven months of the assassin Artabanus would fall in the middle of 464 B. C.—Rev. E. B. Pusey, D. D., in “Lectures on Daniel the Prophet,” page 169, note.
5. Xerxes. The twenty-one years of Xerxes include the seven months of Artabanus, whom the canon omits. It has been shown already that the accession of Xerxes is determined to the beginning of B. C. 485. His twentieth year was completed in the beginning of B. C. 465; he would survive his twentieth year about five months, and his death would happen in the beginning of the archonship of Lysitheus. The seven months of Artabanus, completing the twenty-one years, would bring down the accession of Artaxerxes (after the removal of Artabanus) to the beginning of B. C. 464, in the year of Nabonassar 284, where it is placed by the canon [of Ptolemy].
7. Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned forty years, according to Diodorus. . . . Diodorus is confirmed by Thucydides, who records the death of Artaxerxes in the winter of the archon Stratoches. . . . If the death of Artaxerxes was known at Ephesus in the winter of the archon Stratoches, as may be collected from this narrative, he would barely survive the thoth of N. E. 324 [N. E. = Nabonassar Era, commencing B. C. 747], or Dec. 7, B. C. 425, although his reign is extended by the canon to December of the following year. But that is explained by the practise of the canon, which computed to his forty-first year the months of Xerxes II and Sogdianus. The actual reign of Artaxerxes would be something less than forty years.—“Fasti Hellenici,” by Clinton, Vol. II, page 380.
Xerxes’s assassin, Artabanus, was ambitious to bring his own family upon the throne; and he therefore endeavored to put his victim’s sons out of the way. In this he was successful only in the case of the oldest, Darius, whom he caused to be executed on a false charge of having committed the crime. An attempt to murder Artaxerxes failed; it is said that the prince in defending himself, killed Artabanus with his own hand. The eunuch Mithridates, or Aspamithres, the actual assassin of Xerxes, met his end after cruel tortures. A second brother, Hystaspes, was absent at the time, and being older than Artaxerxes, laid claim to the throne. He seems to have taken advantage of an insurrection of the satrap of Bactria to substantiate his claim; but he was defeated after two battles, and together with the satrap was put out of the way. The sons of Artabanus endeavored to carry out their father’s ambitious schemes; and they also had to be conquered before Artaxerxes Longimanus (in Persian, Dargadasta, “long hand”) was firmly established upon the throne, which he occupied from 464 till 425 B. C.—“History of All Nations,” by H. Flathe and others, Vol. II, pages 209, 210. Lea Brothers and Company, Philadelphia and New York.
Xerxes left behind him three sons—Darius, Hystaspes, and Artaxerxes—and two daughters, Amytis and Rhodogune. Hystaspes was satrap of Bactria, and at the time of their father’s death, only Darius and Artaxerxes were at the court. Fearing the eldest son most, Artabanus persuaded Artaxerxes that the assassination of Xerxes was the act of his brother, whereupon Artaxerxes caused him to be put to death, and himself ascended the throne (B. C. 465).
Troubles, as usual, accompanied this10irregular accession. Artabanus, not content with exercising an influence under Artaxerxes such as has caused some authors to speak of him as king, aimed at removing the young prince and making himself actual monarch. But his designs being betrayed to Artaxerxes by Megabyzus, and at the same time his former crimes coming to light, he was killed, together with his tool Aspamithres, seven months after the murder of Xerxes. The sons of Artabanus sought to avenge his death, but were defeated by Megabyzus in an engagement, wherein they lost their lives.—George Rawlinson, M. A., in “The Five Great Monarchies,” Vol. III, pages 471, 472.
From the last extract it will be noted that Rawlinson, who is considered good authority, gives B. C. 465 as the date of the accession of Artaxerxes, which would make the seventh year of Artaxerxes B. C. 458. The Encyclopedia Britannica and other encyclopedias based upon it follow Rawlinson. This difference between Rawlinson and those who follow him, and the other authorities quoted, is that Rawlinson does not recognize Artabanus the usurper as one of the Persian kings, although he mentions him as “exercising an influence under Artaxerxes such as has caused some authorities to speak of him as king.” Among these authorities, not mentioned in the foregoing extracts, is Manetho, the Egyptian historian, fragments of whose writings have been preserved until the present time. In his list of the Persian kings constituting the twenty-seventh dynasty, he mentions Artabanus, and assigns the period of seven months to his reign.
The English writers on prophecy, T. R. Birks and H. Grattan Guinness, take the same position on this question as has been maintained uniformly by the teachers of this denomination; namely, that the preponderance of evidence is in favor of B. C. 464 as the time of the accession of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and consequently that “the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king” when the commandment went forth “to restore and to build Jerusalem” would be B. C. 457. On this basis the 70 weeks (490 years) would end in A. D. 34, and the 2300 days (years) would come to a close in A. D. 1844, at which time, according to the prophecy (Dan. 8:14), the cleansing of the sanctuary began.
W. W. P.
Notes on Important Eras of Prophecy
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History — No. 1
Notes on Important Eras of Prophecy
The Divine Hand in Human History
THE story of human history is a fascinating theme for study. An old English essayist, in a fine paragraph, strikes a note that touches a chord in the heart of every lover of good books. In an essay, “From an Old Book-Shelf,” he says:—
I go into my library, and all history unrolls before me. I see the pyramids building; I hear the shouting of the armies of Alexander; I feel the ground shake beneath the march of Cambyses. I sit as in a theater—the stage is time, the play is the play of the world. What a spectacle it is! What kingly pomp! what processions file past! what cities burn to heaven! what crowds of captives are dragged at the chariot wheels of conquerors! . . . The silence of the unpeopled plains, the outcomings and ingoings of the patriarchs, Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac in the fields at eventide, Rebekah at the well, Jacob’s guile, Esau’s face reddened by desert sun-heat, Joseph’s splendid funeral procession,—all these things I find within the boards of my Old Testament. What a silence in those old books as of a half-peopled world! What bleating of flocks! what green pastoral rest! what indubitable human existence! Across brawling centuries of blood and war I hear the bleating of Abraham’s flocks, the tinkling of the bells of Rebekah’s camels.—“Essays,” Alexander Smith.
And in these latter days a new thing has come to pass, touching this matter of the study of history. We have not only long-treasured volumes on the “old book-shelf,” with their heart-gripping story of the past; but we have a “new book-shelf”—historical sources that students of a half century ago never dreamed of. The pick and spade of the explorer have uncovered buried records that give a new setting to the history of early empires.
In these ancient tablets, brought forth to light within this last generation, the stones cry out in corroboration of the Scripture record. We hear the voices of the Pharaohs. The bricks without straw in the walls of the storehouses of Pithom “almost reecho the rigor of Pharaoh’s words.” Sennacherib, of Assyria, speaks to us out of the ground, and here are the sayings of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Darius.
This development is in keeping with the prophecy of the “time of the end,” in which knowledge was to be increased, and light shed forth from the unsealed book of the prophetic scriptures. Dan. 12:4. Prof. Ira M. Price, of Chicago University, speaking of the study of history, says:—
This is the century of Romance,—romance in exploration, in discovery, in invention, in thought, and in life. The achievements of man have far exceeded the most sanguine dreams of the forefathers. We have not only made but discovered vast periods of history. . . . It has been dug out of mounds, tombs, and pyramids. It has been found written on granite, alabaster, wood, clay, and papyrus. It has been translated from tablets, rolls, cylinders, statues, and temples. Through a series of marvelous discoveries and romantic events we have been let into the secrets of wonderful centuries of hitherto unknown peoples and events. . . . Now through the cooperation of explorer, archeologist, and linguist, we are the heirs of what was formerly regarded as prehistoric times. . . . These marvelous revelations from the archives of the nations of the past have painted for us a new background, in fact our first background, of the Old Testament.—“The Monuments and the Old Testament.”
Regarded from any serious point of view, the study of history is of deepest interest. But from the view-point of divine prophecy, the study becomes one of eternal interest. The course of human history is one continuous testimony to fulfilled prophecy. And prophecy explains and illuminates the record of history. In the light of the “sure word of prophecy” this age-long drama of mankind assumes a meaning and reveals a guiding motive quite beyond the apprehension of unaided human vision.
By aid of divine revelation we see not only mankind moving across the stage of time, but we see the hand of God in history. Angels from heaven mingle with the actors in earthly scenes. Evil angels are there, too. And above all, we catch glimpses of the living God ruling and overruling, seeking to rescue and save, restraining and guiding, and shaping all things for the eventual carrying out of his own divine purpose in the creation of the earth and of man.
As we watch the moving scenes, and see how accurately the predictions of the prophetic word have been fulfilled in great crises in human history, we know of a surety that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,” and are led anew to join in King Nebuchadnezzar’s ascription of praise to—
“Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Dan. 4:34, 35.
In the migrations of the sons of Noah, and the spreading abroad of the races of mankind, in the rise and fall of empires, and in the history of the believing children of God, fulfilment of prophecy is seen. The world has not escaped from the hand of its Creator. Still—
“Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround,
Upheld by thee, by thee inspired with breath.”
Writing for the Roman pagans, in the first century of our era, Josephus, the Jewish historian, cited the fulfilment of the prophecies of Daniel as evidence of God’s hand in history. After reviewing the prophecies concerning Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, even to the predicted taking of Jerusalem by the Romans, he drew this lesson for the Epicurean teachers of the ancient philosophy of a mechanical evolution:—
All these things did this man [Daniel] leave in writing, as God had showed11them to him, insomuch that such as read his prophecies, and see how they have been fulfilled, would wonder at the honor wherewith God honored Daniel; and may thence discover how the Epicureans are in error, who cast Providence out of human life, and do not believe that God takes care of the affairs of the world, nor that the universe is governed and continued in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but say that the world is carried along of its own accord, without a ruler and a curator; which, were it destitute of a guide to conduct, as they imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, which we see drowned by the winds, or like chariots without drivers, which are overturned; so would the world be dashed to pieces by its being carried without a Providence, and so perish and come to naught. So that, by the forementioned predictions of Daniel, those men seem to me very much to err from the truth, who determine that God exercises no providence over human affairs; for if that were the case, that the world went on by mechanical necessity, we should not see that all things would come to pass according to his prophecy.—Antiquities, book 10, chap. 11.
Of a truth, a divine Pilot has been at the helm of human history through all this world’s stormy passage. And he is still the living God, at the helm.
W. A. S.
Vavasor Powell’s Testimony to Delivering Providences
By W. A. S.
VAVASOR POWELL was truly an apostle of Wales in the seventeenth century. The Lord wondrously blessed his labors among the Welsh people. He became a Baptist, and as a dissenter suffered for his faith in those days when a state church was wielding the lash of persecution. His was a life of most active service. “There were but few (if any) of the churches, chapels, and town halls in Wales,” says the old record, “wherein he did not preach Christ; yea, very often upon mountains, and very frequently in fairs and markets.”
A little volume in the British Museum, “Life and Death of Vavasor Powell,” published anonymously in 1671, preserves some accounts of special deliverances experienced by this servant of God. Of one occasion, Mr. Powell wrote:—
About the year 1647 the Island of Anglesey in North Wales, being then unreduced, the Parliament forces went to reduce it, and their chief officers sent for me to preach unto that brigade of soldiers, and as I marched with them into the place, either the night immediately before or the night before that, it was revealed unto me in my sleep, that I should be wounded, and two of my fingers cut (and the very fingers were pointed out), which accordingly came to pass; yet when I was in extreme danger between several enemies who fell upon me, receiving that and some other wounds, there being no likelihood to escape, I heard a voice as I apprehended speaking audibly to me, “I have chosen thee to preach the gospel,” to which I answered, “O Lord, then bring me off;” and immediately God guided my horse (though he was very wild and not well commanded) to go backward out of the barricado that I had entered at, and so I was indeed miraculously preserved.
Thousands of miles Mr. Powell journeyed over mountains and through valleys, preaching by day and night. He says:—
One time coming from preaching I lost my way, and being out till it was far in the night in a wood or forest, among lakes, briars, and thorns, I went up and down while I was quite weary. But by looking up to the Lord, I was presently directed into my way. The like experience I had another time, when another preacher and myself had lost our way in a very dark night, and had tired ourselves in searching to and fro to no purpose; at last calling to mind how God had formerly heard in that case where I sought unto him, we called upon the Lord, who immediately pointed out our way, and it seemed as clear to us as if it had been daylight.
The following incident was reported by some of Powell’s intimate friends, after his death:—
One time as he was going to preach, his horse fell lame, and he could not well reach the place appointed on foot. He, being in a great strait, besought himself of the way that one David ap Hugh took in like case, and addressed himself to it; viz., he alighted off his horse and went to prayer, and begged strength of God both for himself and horse to perform his journey, which accordingly was made good to him; for mounting his horse he found his lameness was departed.
After testifying to the Lord’s power in converting a man at a certain service, who had attended the meeting under oath to kill the preacher as soon as he could find him alone, Mr. Powell adds:—
Several other times also I have been delivered from perils by water, by thieves, by enemies purposely lying in wait for me, who yet had no power to hurt me. The Lord converted some, and graciously prevented and terrified others from their purpose.
“These few things of many,” the narrator says, are told, not to boast, “but to keep a memorial of the Lord’s benefits, and to stir up others into whose hands these few notes may come, to have confidence in the power and goodness of God who is the Saviour of all men, but especially of them that believe.”
Again, as we listen to this testimony, we thank God that he is still as in Bible times, the living God in heaven, who “delivereth and rescueth” on earth.
Vavasor Powell was imprisoned for the last time in the Fleet Prison, in London, early in 1669, and died in prison, Sept. 27, 1670. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, London, the old non-conformist burial-ground, where Bunyan, Isaac Watts, and many other valiant witnesses for truth in the days of old are sleeping. On his tombstone was carved the epitaph: “A successful teacher of the past, a sincere witness of the present, and a useful example to the future age; who, in face of the defection of many, found mercy to be faithful, for which, being called to many prisons, he was there tried, and would not accept deliverance, expecting a better resurrection.”