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Review and Herald, Vol. 37, No. 13.

Study of Prophecy
Earlier text: Study of Prophecy

Miss West’s Missionary Work

MISS WEST, a missionary whose field of labor is Turkey, has, in ten years, trained two hundred girls, who are now scattered from sea to sea along the Euphrates and Tigris, engaged in teaching the truths of the Christian religion.

Seeking Christian Perfection

It is not required that a man shall always be perfect in order to be a true Christian. But it is required that he should be a sincere seeker after perfection. It is required that he should be moving forward, and advancing up the strait and narrow way of life.

Wait Patiently on God

WAIT patiently on God. It is becoming of a dutiful child, when he hath not presently what he writes for to his father, to say: “My father is wiser than I; his own wisdom will tell him what and when to send me.” O Christian! thy Heavenly Father has gracious and wise reasons, which hold his hand for the present, or else thou hadst heard from him before now.

The Approach to Jerusalem.

THE approach to Jerusalem from the east is not very impressive, for the mountains shut out the view of the city until almost at its very gates; and the emotions befitting the first view of the holy city are somewhat deadened by sensations of fatigue, and a desire to find a resting-place within its walls. The Russian monastery is the most prominent object in the view from the eastern side of the city. There are five gates leading into Jerusalem, of which the most important are, the Damascus gate on the north, and that of Jaffa on the east. Entering by either of these, you find the streets very narrow and stony, crowded with camels and mules, and quite terrifying to the uninitiated. Here are congregated all the different nationalities of the world; and crowds of pilgrims, Russians, Austrians, Turks, Poles, Armenians, &c., constantly coming and going, make this city of eighteen thousand inhabitants seem much larger. Jerusalem is built on four hills, the most famous ones being Mt. Moriah and Mt. Zion, on which the greater part of the city stands. These two hills are separated from each other by a valley called the Tyropœan, formerly quite deep, but now filled up with debris.
The ancient Jerusalem is supposed to be buried thirty or forty feet beneath the present city. Interesting excavations have been begun; but the pasha does not favor them, and often stops the work. A walk around the walls of the city gives a very good idea of its position. The walls only date back to the sixteenth century, and are quite perfect, but very irregularly built, and of different heights. The valley of Jehoshaphat lies between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem, on the east. This is the Jewish burying-ground, in which it is the ardent desire of every Jew to be interred. Among the most striking tombs are those of Absalom, St. James, and Zacharias. In this valley also is the garden of Gethsemane. One is somewhat shocked to find that the Greeks and Latins quarrel over this sacred spot, and have each a different location for it. The Latin garden is very small, and enclosed by a green and white paling, very offensive, to say the least, to one's ideas of good taste. Inside are shown several venerable olive trees; and against one of these Christ is said to have leaned in his agony, while his disciples slept. The walks are bordered with flower-beds to supply strangers and pilgrims with mementoes. The view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives is acknowledged to be one of the finest; and it is only in looking down upon the city from this point, that its size and extent are fully realized.—Old and New.

The Hidden Life

You have seen the invigorating influence of a human passion. You have observed how love will make a timid woman courageous; how it gives rush and flow to a desultory, purposeless man, to have within himself the consciousness of a virtuous affection, for the sake of which it is worth while to be brave, and necessary to be pure. You have said sometimes of one and another among your friends, “I can scarcely recognize in him the same man,” and you have found the explanation afterwards in some secret kindling on the altar of his soul, of a fire of human devotion. So is it in that one higher region still—that hidden life, that death to the world, of which St. Paul tells.

“LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.”

By E. H. Gates

TUNE: “Blessed words of Jesus.”
When angry storms are beating, When, weak and tempest-tossed, You cry with bitter weeping, “Lord, help, or I am lost.” Still on some word of Jesus Your soul may all be stayed, Let not your heart be troubled, Nor let it be afraid.
CHORUS.—Oh! blessed words of Jesus! Why should we be afraid, Since he will never leave us, Nor let us be dismayed?
Should direst hopes be floating, Like drift-wood on the sea, Each treasure with the keeping, Shall yet come back to thee; Thy God is watching o’er thee, Go forward undismayed; Let not your heart be troubled, Nor let it be afraid.
CHORUS.—Oh! blessed words of Jesus! &c.
When care and grief oppress you, When sore temptations try, And when no star of promise Breaks through the clouded sky, Remembering how the Saviour For all his children prayed, Let not your heart be troubled, Nor let it be afraid.
CHORUS.—Oh! blessed words of Jesus! &c.
When from the great hereafter, A voice doth call, and call, And from your failing fingers The pilgrim staff shall fall, Still leaning on some promise Your risen Lord has made, Let not your heart be troubled, Nor let it be afraid.
CHORUS.—Oh! blessed words of Jesus! Why should we be afraid, Since he will never leave us, Nor let us be dismayed?
E. H. GATES.

The Meek Spirit.

By Charles Haddon Spurgeon

FIRST, Christ says he is meek, and then “lowly in heart.” Take the word “meek.” As I think, that refers to the yoke-bearer. If I am actively laboring for Christ, I can only find rest in that labor by having a meek spirit. If I go and labor for Christ without a meek spirit, I shall find there is no rest.
Somebody will be objecting that I do not do my work as I ought to do, according to his canon of taste; and if I am not meek, I shall find my proud spirit rising at once. I shall be defending myself, or I shall find a spirit which says: “I will do no more, because I am not appreciated.” But a meek spirit is not apt to be angry, and does not soon take offense; therefore, if men offend, the meek spirit goes on and will not be offended, and will not notice a sharp word or severe criticism. If the meek spirit be injured or offended, and suffers for a moment, it is always ready to forgive and blot out the past, going on again.
The meek spirit, in working, only seeks to do good to others. It denies itself; it never expects to be well treated; it did not intend to be honored; it only sought to do good to others.
The meek spirit laid itself very low, and took the yoke; and the yoke must be higher than the shoulder. It did not expect to be exalted; it only took the yoke to serve Christ and do good to poor sinners.
Don’t you notice in Jesus Christ what a glorious meekness there is? How calm he is when men treat him badly! When the Samaritans would not receive him, John said: “Call fire from heaven.” Poor John! Jesus Christ has a meek spirit, and will do nothing of the kind. If one village will not receive him, he will go to another, and they will. He will still labor on.
And, oh! your labor will become easy if your spirit is very meek. It is the proud soul that gets tired of doing good if it finds its efforts are not appreciated.
It is the bravely meek spirit that endures, like the anvil that bears the hammer’s blows, and destroys the hammer by patient endurance. Oh! you want to be like Jesus. Consider him who endured the persecution of sinners. Lest ye be weary and faint in your minds, learn his meekness; then the yoke will not gall your shoulder; you will find it easy to your shoulder as soon as you love it.
But I must pass on, and notice that it is very evident that the rest which Christ speaks of in the second part of the text we shall find is a rest growing out of our spirit’s being conformed to the spirit of Christ. “Learn of me, and ye shall find rest.” It is a spiritual rest. It is a vain idea to suppose that if our own circumstances were altered, we should be more at rest. If you cannot rest in poverty, you cannot in riches. It is the spirit that gives the rest.
Persons on the rack have said they were among the roses, and have learned to sing God’s praises with joy of heart. It is the spirit that doeth it; as for the outward concerns, they are of small account. Let but your mind be like the mind of Christ, and you will “find rest unto your souls”—a deep rest; a growing rest; a rest you will find out more and more; an abiding rest, not only which you have found, but which you shall find, which you go on and find; justification—giving you rest from the burden of sin—sanctification. It will give you rest from all sorts of cares; and in proportion as it becomes perfect, and you are like your Saviour, your rest will become more like that of Heaven.—Spurgeon.

Sound the Alarm.

THE SAN FRANCISCO Bulletin of Jan. 23 says: “Missing—a dashing young man, recently resident here. He occupied a high social position for one of his years, and apparently enjoyed the confidence of a large circle of acquaintances. He was not in any sense a waif. His home, abounding in gentle, womanly influence, intelligence, and refinement, could hardly be otherwise than pleasant. Of relatives and friends he had a sufficiency.
The young man held the position of salesman in a wholesale stationery house, and received reasonable compensation for his service. His expenses were not, necessarily, greater than those of his companions. He had no person other than himself to support. His earnings, under ordinary circumstances, should have sufficed to pay his expenses; even more, a moderate bank account might have been opened.
The salesman had long been in the stationery firm, and was esteemed and respected by the partners. His character for honesty and industry was above suspicion. But the serpent of San Francisco, fashion, won him over to her side. He entered the ranks and became one of fashion’s legion. The particular station to which he was assigned, has not transpired. Whether he disposed of money at the gaming table, in the haunts of fallen women, or at the stock market, we are not prepared to state. If he did dispose funds in either of the modes described, he simply followed the example set by men of wealth and influence in the community.
If he spent his earnings upon fast teams, and dashed along the Cliff Road House Sabbath after Sabbath, his case is not without precedent. We do not know that the young man indulged in any of the “stylish pastimes” enumerated above, though damaging rumors are afloat; and allowing that reports are true, precedents are not admissible excuse for criminal action. But it is true that the young man has disappeared. The haunts that knew him once, know him no more. He has betrayed the confidence of friends and employers to the tune of several thousand dollars. There are no mitigating circumstances in the case. He has deceived parties for whom he claimed to have the greatest friendship. The peculations at his place of business constitute a mere moiety of the whole amount supposed to have been invested in fashionable amusements. His friends find themselves out of pocket in sums ranging from $50 to $500. No criminal action will be brought against the unfortunate fellow. The victimized parties have hopes that he will yet come back, and in some manner explain his conduct.
“It is high time the alarm was sounded in this community. The city is drifting toward a vortex of crime; and parties who should aid in shaping her course properly are away from their stations. Curtail the fashionable vices, and confidence transactions, of the nature alluded to in this article, will decrease.”

Do What Is before You.

DO WHATEVER there is to be done without questioning and without calculation. Make progress in things moral. If need be, utter stammering words. Would you console the troubled if you only had a ready tongue? Take the tongue that you have. Ring the bell that hangs in your steeple, if you can do no better. Do as well as you can; that is all that God requires of you. Would you pray with the needy and tempted if you had eminent gifts of prayer? Use the gifts that you have. Do not measure yourself according to the pattern of somebody else. Do not say to yourself, “If I had his skill,” or, “If I had his experience.” Take your own skill and your own experience, and make the most of them. Do you stand over against trouble and suffering, and marvel that men whom God hath blessed with such means do so little? Do you say to yourself: “If I had money I know what I would do with it”? No; you do not. God does; and so he does not trust you with it. “If I had something different from what I have, I would work,” says many a man. No; if you would work in other circumstances, you would work just where you are. A man that will not work just where he is, with just what he has, and for the love of God, and for the love of man, will not work anywhere in such a way as to make his work valuable.—Beecher.

Religion in the Constitution.

The Examiner and Chronicle, the most influential, as well as the most widely circulated, of the Baptist journals of this country, under the title, “Short Method of Conversion,” thus alludes to the movement for a religious amendment of the Constitution:—
“We have wondered at the magical effects ascribed to the Sacraments according to High Church theology. But turning a nation from atheists to Christians by a few strokes of the pen, by a vote in Congress, and ratifying votes in three-fourths of the State Legislatures, is equally miraculous and incomprehensible.
“This agitation for a national religion, officially professed, has for its logical outcome persecution—that, and nothing more nor less. It is a movement backward to the era of Constantine, as far below the spirituality of the New Testament as it is below the freedom of Republican America.”

To the Point.

The conclusion of the whole matter is, that the times demand unfaltering fidelity to every distinctive Christian doctrine. And in order to this, Christians, and especially Christian ministers, must master the situation by making themselves thoroughly intelligent upon all these and kindred subjects. Superficiality will not do. Nothing but solid masonry will serve as a mighty breakwater to roll back the sweeping tendencies of the times to a baptized and clericalized infidelity. Our picture is not overdrawn. We understand something of what we write—and much that we do not write. The true men and women of God must “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.” — Wesleyan.

Words.

WORDS! What are they? Little things; and yet how much joy or sorrow may be wrought, even in the utterance of a few little words. Let us classify them. First, there are good words, which are made up of kind words, loving words, tender words, gentle words, endearing words, pleasant words, cheering words, hopeful words, encouraging words, words of sympathy, faithful words, prayerful words, trustful words, blessed words, cherishing words.
The second, we will denominate bad words, which consist in angry words, spiteful words, bitter words, words of hate, sorrowful words, mocking words, jeering words, vexing words, fault-finding words, murmuring words, fretful words, impatient words, complaining words, envious words, words of malice, jealous words, rankling words, vain words, idle words.
What a contrast, yet how few, comparatively, realize the influence exerted from the use of these two classes of words. The first ever bringing joy and gladness to the human heart; the second filling it with sadness and grief. Dear reader, are you ever indulging in those baneful words, which cloud even the moral atmosphere that surrounds you? If so, let me entreat you, indulge them no longer; but on the contrary, speak those kind, loving words, that will not only illuminate your own pathway with the sunshine of happiness, but will also shed a halo of peace and joy over all with whom you may associate. Jesus says, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Hence the necessity of using those good words that shall finally result in our justification in that great reckoning day, which is soon to dawn upon a world prone to use bad words.—Advent Christian Times.

Faith and Works

FAITH and works were well illustrated by a venturesome little six-year-old boy, who ran into the forest after a team, and rode home upon the load. When asked by his mother if he was not frightened when the team came down a very steep hill, he said: “Yes, a little; but I asked the Lord to help me, and hung on like a beaver.”

Every Event for the Believer

If we could see the end as God does, we should see that every event is for the believer. When we get to the haven, we shall see that every wind was wafting us to glory.

Shall Women Speak in the Church?

Among some Christian sects it is considered disorderly for women to speak or pray in a public assembly. Of course they quote 1 Cor. 14: 34, 35, as deciding the case. Paul there says, “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak.”
If this passage is to be taken as a general law, it is forbidden to a woman to speak, pray, or sing, in public, for silence is commanded. It is as much a violation of this scripture to exhort in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, as to exhort in prose and to pray. But no one thinks it wrong for women to sing in public; why should they forbid the other forms of speech, and allow this?
The fact is, Paul is here correcting abuses, disorders which caused confusion in the churches at Corinth, and he commanded those who possessed the gift of tongues to be silent, unless an interpreter was present, and that only one should speak at a time.
All of this concerned those who possessed, or pretended to possess, supernatural gifts, and were exercising them so as to cause confusion. Women were not to wrangle and to yield to pretended impulses, and become excited and immodest in such assemblies.
But nothing is proved by this in regard to what is proper in orderly, sober assemblies. Because it is very improper for women to take part in such meetings as they had at Corinth, it does not follow that they may not take part in orderly religious meetings.
In 1 Tim. 2: 11, 12, women are commanded to learn in silence, and forbidden to teach, or usurp authority over the men. This cannot mean absolute silence, but the opposite of loquacity, impertinence, arrogance. In some of the churches they had fallen into the habit of disputing, and becoming much excited, and the result was great disorder. Where women indulged in this, the matter was made worse, on account of their being generally more excitable than men, and immodesty on their part caused offense and scandal. It was very necessary that this should be forbidden.
Women who usurp authority over men, and become dictatorial in public assemblies, are very much out of place; but that does not prove it improper to speak in a proper manner.
That these passages do not forbid a modest, orderly utterance of their views, hopes and joys, in religious meetings, is evident from the fact that the Scriptures indorse and commend such acts. In 1 Cor. 11: 5, directions are given that women who pray and prophesy in public should follow the custom of society, and have their heads covered. If it was wrong for them to speak or pray in public, why give these directions? The only difference made between men and women, is that men are to uncover their heads, and women are to cover theirs, when they speak or pray.
Joel prophesied that under the gospel dispensation the “sons and daughters” should both prophesy, or exhort, as the word means; and Peter, Acts 2: 17, so applies it. It is not likely that Paul’s words conflict with this.
Philip, the evangelist, Acts 21: 9, had four daughters that were exhorters, and so noted and useful were their services, that the inspired writer was moved to mention them, that all other sisters having the same gifts might be encouraged to exercise them in the same way. When women are forbidden to speak for Christ, the spirit of the gospel is violated.—Morning Star.

Anger

ANGER, if allowed at all, must be characterized by clearness of intellectual perception attended with the spirit of prayer, of love, and forgiveness. This is holy anger. Give no harsh reply under any circumstances.
God exercises over every event a degree of control and direction; and everything which takes place exists either by his aid or by his permission.
With patient mind thy course of duty run; God nothing does nor suffers to be done But thou would'st do thyself, could'st thou but see The end of all events as well as he.
TRUE faith is always answered by God far above and beyond our expectations.
If thou look to thyself thou shalt accomplish nothing; but if thou trust in the Lord, fortitude shall be given thee from Heaven, and the flesh shall be made subject to thy command.—Baxter.

Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.

CHAPTER XI (CONTINUED.)

VERSE 36. And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done.
The king here introduced cannot denote the same power which was last noticed, namely, the papal power; for the specifications will not hold good, if applied to that power. Take a declaration in the next verse: “Nor regard any god.” This has never been true of the papacy. God and Christ, though often placed in a false position, have never been set aside and rejected from that system of religion. The only difficulty in applying it to a new power lies in the definite article “the”; for, it is urged, the expression “the king” would identify this as the one last spoken of. If it could be properly translated a king, there would be no difficulty; and it is said that some of the best Biblical critics give it this rendering, Mede, Wintle, Boothroyd, and others, translating the passage, “A certain king shall do according to his will,” thus clearly introducing a new power upon the stage of action.
Three particulars must be shown in the power which fulfills this prophecy: 1. It must assume the character here delineated near the commencement of the time of the end, to which we were brought down in the preceding verse. 2. It must be a willful power. 3. It must be an atheistical power. Or perhaps the two latter might be united by saying that its willfulness would be manifested in the direction of atheism. A revolution exactly answering to this description did take place in France at the time indicated in the prophecy. Voltaire had sowed the seeds which bore their legitimate and baleful fruit. That godless infidel in his impious but impotent self-conceit had said, “I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it.” Associating with himself such men as Rousseau, De Alembert, Diderot, and others, he undertook the work. They sowed to the wind and reaped the whirlwind. Their efforts culminated in the revolution of 1793, when the Bible was discarded, and the existence of the deity denied as the voice of the nation.
The historian thus describes this great religious change: “It was not enough, they said, for a regenerate nation to have dethroned earthly kings, unless she stretched out the arm of defiance toward those powers which superstition had represented as reigning over boundless space.”—Scott’s Napoleon, Vol. i., p. 172.
Again he says:—
“The constitutional bishop of Paris was brought forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and scandalous farce ever enacted in the face of a national representation. He was brought forward in full procession to declare to the convention, that the religion which he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece of PRIESTCRAFT, which had no foundation either in history or sacred truth. He disowned, in solemn and explicit terms, the EXISTENCE OF THE DEITY to whose worship he had been consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of Liberty, Equality, Virtue and Morality. He then laid on the table his Episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal embrace from the president of the convention. Several apostate priests followed the example of this prelate. . . . The world for the FIRST time, heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to DENY the most solemn truth which man’s soul receives, and RENOUNCE UNANIMOUSLY THE BELIEF AND WORSHIP OF DEITY.”—Ibid., Vol. i., p. 173.
A late writer in Blackwood’s Magazine says:—
“France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the world’s history as the single State which, by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that there was no GOD, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.”
But there are other more striking specifications still, fulfilled in this power.
Verse 37. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.
The word for woman and wife are in the original the same; and Bp. Newton observes that this passage would be more properly rendered “the desire of wives.” This would seem to indicate that this government, at the same time it declared that God did not exist, would trample under foot the law which that God had given to regulate the marriage institution. And we find that the historian has, unconsciously perhaps, and if so, all the more significantly, coupled together the atheism and licentiousness of this government in the same order in which they are presented in the prophecy. He says:—
“Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage—the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society—to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in, and cast loose at pleasure when their taste was changed or their appetite gratified. If fiends had set themselves to work to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent, in domestic life, and obtaining at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it was their object to create should be perpetuated from one generation to another, they could not have invented a more effectual plan than the degradation of marriage into a state of mere occasional cohabitation or licensed concubinage. Sophie Arnould, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as the sacrament of adultery. These anti-religious and anti-social regulations did not answer the purpose of the frantic and inconsiderate zealots, by whom they had been urged forward.”—Scott’s Napoleon, Vol. i., p. 173.
“Nor regard any god.” In addition to the testimony already presented, to show the utter atheism of the nation at this time, the following fearful language of madness and presumption is to be recorded:—
“The fear of God is so far from being the beginning of wisdom, that it is the beginning of folly. Modesty is only an invention of refined voluptuousness. The supreme King, the God of the Jews and the Christians, is but a phantom. Jesus Christ is an impostor.”
Another writer says: “In August 26, 1792, an open profession of atheism was made by the National Convention; and corresponding societies and atheistical clubs were everywhere fearlessly held in the French nation. Massacres and the reign of terror became the most horrid.”—Smith’s Key to Revelation, p. 323.
“Herbert, Chaumette, and their associates appeared at the bar and declared that God did not exist.”—Alison, Vol. i., p. 150.
At this juncture all religious worship was prohibited, except that of liberty and the country. The gold and silver plate of the churches was seized upon and desecrated. The churches were closed. The bells were broken and cast into cannon. The Bible was publicly burned. The sacramental vessels were paraded through the streets on an ass, in token of contempt. The Sabbath was abolished, and death was declared, in conspicuous letters posted over their burial places, to be an eternal sleep. But the crowning blasphemy, if these orgies of hell admit of degrees, remained to be performed by the comedian Monvel, who as a priest of Illuminism said:—
“God, if you exist, avenge your injured name. I bid you defiance! You remain silent. You dare not launch your thunders! Who, after this, will believe in your existence? The whole ecclesiastical establishment was destroyed.”—Scott’s Napoleon, Vol. i., p. 173.
Behold what man is when left to himself, and what infidelity is when the restraints of law are thrown off, and it has the power in its own hands! Can it be doubted that these scenes are what the omniscient eye foresaw and noted on the sacred page when it pointed out a kingdom to arise which should exalt itself above every god and disregard them all?
Verse 38. But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
We meet a seeming contradiction in this verse. How can a nation disregard every god, and yet honor the god of forces? It could not at one and the same time hold both these positions. But it might for a time disregard all gods, and then subsequently introduce another worship and regard the god of forces. Did such a change occur in France at this time? It did. The attempt to make France a godless nation produced such anarchy that the rulers feared the power would pass entirely out of their hands, and therefore perceived that, as a political necessity, some kind of worship must be introduced; and they did not intend to introduce any movement which would increase devotion or develop any true spiritual character among the people, but only such as would keep themselves in power, and give them control of the national forces. A few extracts from history will show this. Liberty and country were at first the objects of adoration. “Liberty, equality, virtue, and morality,” the very opposite of anything they possessed in fact or exhibited in practice, were words which they set forth as describing the deity of the nation. In 1794 the worship of the Goddess of Reason was introduced, and is thus described by the historian:—
“One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands unrivaled for absurdity combined with impiety. The doors of the Convention were thrown open to a band of musicians, preceded by whom the members of the municipal body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting as the object of their future worship, a veiled female whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great form, and placed on the right hand of the President, when she was generally recognized as a dancing girl of the opera, with whose charms most of the persons present were acquainted from her appearance on the stage, while the experience of individuals was further extended. To this person, as the fittest representative of that reason whom they worshiped, the National Convention of France rendered public homage. This impious and ridiculous mummery had a certain fashion; and the installation of the Goddess of Reason was renewed and imitated throughout the nation, in such places where the inhabitants desired to show themselves equal to all the rights of the revolution.”—Scott’s Life of Napoleon.
In introducing the worship of Reason, Chaumette said:—
“Legislative fanaticism has lost its hold; it has given place to reason. We have left its temples; they are regenerated. To-day an immense multitude are assembled under its Gothic roofs, which, for the first time will re-echo the voice of truth. There the French will celebrate their true worship—that of Liberty and Reason. There we will form new vows for the prosperity of the armies of the Republic; there we will abandon the worship of inanimate idols for that of reason—this animated image, the masterpiece of creation.
“A veiled female, arrayed in blue drapery, was brought into the convention; and Chaumette, taking her by the hand—
“‘Mortals,’ said he, ‘cease to tremble before the powerless thunders of a God, whom your fears have created. Henceforth acknowledge NO DIVINITY but REASON. I offer you its noblest and purest image; if you must have idols, sacrifice only to such as this. . . . Fall before the august Senate of Freedom—Veil of Reason.’”
“At the same time the goddess appeared personified by a celebrated beauty, Madame Millard, of the opera, known in more than one character to most of the convention. The goddess after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted amidst an immense crowd to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the place of the Deity. Then she was elevated on the high altar, and received the adoration of all present.
“On the 11th of November the popular society of the museum entered the hall of the municipality, exclaiming, ‘Vive la Reason!’ and carrying on the top of a pole the half-burnt remains of several books, among others the breviaries and the Old and New Testaments, which ‘existed in a great fire,’ said the president, ‘all the fooleries which they have made the human race commit.’”
“The most sacred relations of life were at the same period placed on a new footing suited to the extravagant ideas of the times. Marriage was declared a civil contract, binding only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. Mademoiselle Arnould, a celebrated comedian, expressed the public feeling when she called ‘marriage the sacrament of adultery.’”—Ibid.
Truly this was a strange god whom the fathers of that generation knew not. No such deity had ever before been set up as an object of adoration. And well might it be called the god of forces; for the object of the movement was to cause the people to renew their covenant and repeat their vows for the prosperity of the armies of France. Read again a few lines from the extract already given:—
“We have left its temples; they are regenerated. To-day an immense multitude are assembled under its Gothic roofs, which, for the first time, will re-echo the voice of truth. There the French will celebrate their true worship—that of Liberty and Reason. There we will form new vows for the prosperity of the armies of the Republic.”

The Assurance of Faith.

IN the decree given to Ezra by Artaxerxes Longimanus as recorded in Ezra 7, a decree which marks the commencement of the seventy weeks, and of the longer period of twenty-three hundred days, we find these remarkable words: “Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?” Verse 23.
What does the king mean by saying, “Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?” It is a declaration on his part that he felt assured that unless he did grant this decree for the restoration of Jerusalem, he would expose himself and his kingdom after him to the judgment and wrath of the God of Heaven. But from what source had he received this impression? It must have been from the representation made to him by Ezra, who had requested of the king the favors which this decree bestowed. Thus incidentally (for we have no direct record in the case) is the curtain lifted, permitting us to behold the course taken by Ezra, and the boldness with which he acted in this matter.
Again in chap. 8:22, we find another passage giving us a little further insight into the internal history of this movement. Ezra started on his perilous journey to Jerusalem, perilous, because he bore immense sums of treasure, and because a great portion of his company consisted of women and children who would be an easy prey to bandits and marauders, without an escort or a guard; and in verse 22, he tells us why he did so: “For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.”
It is here revealed that the Spirit of God had led Ezra to plead before the king the privileges which God vouchsafes to his people, how his hand would guide and uphold all those who would seek him, but be against all who should forsake him; and having committed himself to this declaration, he must act consistent therewith, and having assured the king that God would stand by and strengthen him, he could not deny his own words by asking the protection of the king’s horsemen and soldiers, as though he could not make the journey without their aid.
To appreciate the bold position of Ezra before the king, consider a moment his situation. He was a captive in a strange land, and the request he had to make was one which the king would most naturally consider against his own interest and the interest of his kingdom, namely, to let a great body of captives who had doubtless become a profitable portion of his subjects, depart out of the kingdom, and to suffer the rebuilding of a city which had been considered the stronghold of a fractious and rebellious people. It was a bold step for Ezra to simply make this request; how much bolder to urge it under threatenings of wrath from God against the king! How must the king have felt when listening to the bold request of one of his captive subjects, and his threatenings of wrath unless it was granted! And how must Ezra have felt while thus threatening wrath upon the king, the person who held in his hand not only the life of Ezra, but the lives of all his people! And with what astonishment must all have looked upon what to them must have seemed like an act of presumption! But Ezra pressed his case, gathered his company, and took his departure for Jerusalem. Such was his confidence in God; and it was not disappointed. God, he tells us, was entreated of them, and his good hand was upon them. And that move has given the student of prophecy a starting point for the most important prophetic periods on the inspired page, and from it have resulted all the fulfillments of God’s word which afterward took place in Jewish history. What a lesson for the people of God in all subsequent ages!
We want more of that faith which Ezra had, which will boldly commit itself to God’s word, and take its stand to carry out his purpose, though kings and kingdoms should stand in the way. But first we want Ezra’s communion with God, and his knowledge of the divine will.
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