Earlier text: SERMON ON THE MOUNTSPIRITUALISM A SATANIC DELUSION.
ITS CHARACTER AND PROGRESS.
If Spiritualists are startled at the scriptural idea of unconsciousness in death, we call their attention to their own teachings on the subject:— “The man so killed—what was his sensation? It was for a time suspended. To him existence was nothing. . . . So Prof. Webster was eight days and a half unconscious.”—Death and the After-Life, by A. J. Davis, pp. 18, 19. “It is said that some spirits require a thousand years to wake to consciousness. Is this true?” “Yes, this is true.”—Through Mrs. Conant, Banner of Light, June 3, 1865. Now if one could be totally unconscious eight and a half days, and another for one thousand years, there is only a step to reach the scriptural ground of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection. PERSONATING DEMONS ARE FALLEN ANGELS.
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto Judgment.” 2 Pet. 2: 4. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Rev. 12: 9. “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day.”—Jude 6. “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16: 14. These angels were not spirits of the dead; for they were in existence before men. Man was made lower than the angels. Heb. 2: 7. Their nature was not the same as that of man. Heb. 2: 16. These invisible demons get possession of mediums the same as a magnetizer gets control of his subjects, and thus cause them to write or speak, etc. “The operator forms an image, as of a person, a serpent, a fire, or any other object, in his own mind; when the subject, if well under control, instantly sees the same thing as an objective reality. So, positive minds in a circle, or positive spirits who are around, may present the image of any person with whom they are familiar, and it may appear as a reality to the impressible medium.” Andrew Jackson Davis, in the Herald of Progress, Oct. 27, 1860, of which he was editor, says:— “It is known that a wise and strong-minded person, in the spirit world, has power to make visible to the eyes of mortals the exact appearance or semblance, of the body it wore before death. This representation is elaborated sometimes to the minutest particular, even to the reproduction of the appearance of the habiliments, etc., by which the person was characterized and identified while a resident of the earth.” Again he says, in the Herald of Progress for Feb. 1, 1862: “All intelligent spirits are great artists. They can psychologize a medium to see them, and to describe them, in the style to produce the deepest impression on the receiver. . . . They can easily represent themselves as being old or young, as in worldly dress or flowing robes, as is deemed best suited to accomplish the ends of the visitation.” From this it appears that the spirit operating has power to form a mental picture in the mind of the subject; or, in plain Bible language, the devil can transform himself and appear as an angel of light. How easy, then, according to their own confession, to appear in the form of our deceased friends! Farmer, in “Demonology,” p. 51, says:— “St. Chrysostom admits that the demons in the possessed persons pretended that they were the souls of such or such a monk; but himself asserts that it was the devil that personated the ghosts of those who suffered a violent death, and hereby caused men to think they became demons.” Iamblichus, on the “Mysteries,” says:— “Demons exist prior to souls and to the powers which are distributed about bodies.” Again he admits that there is “a certain genus of demons, which is naturally fraudulent, uniform, and various, and which assumes the appearance of gods, and demons (good ones), and the souls of the deceased.” “Familiar spirits . . . wizards that peep and that mutter.” Isa. 8: 19. There are many specimens of the frog-like peeping and muttering of these spirits through modern mediums, and some of them have been put on record by the Spiritualists themselves. As a specimen we refer to their attempt to give a correct history of the creation. The Bible account they say is unintelligible. Under the imposing head of “Disclosures from the Interior,” in the Mountain Cove Journal, 1853, by T. L. Harris, a Spiritualist author and medium, “an exalted spirit” (?) croaks as follows:— “In the beginning God, the Life in God, the Lord in God, the holy procedure inhabited the dome, which, burning in magnificent primeval and revolving in prismatic and undulatory spiral, appeared, and was the pavilion of the Spirit in glory, inexhaustible and inconceivable, in movement spherical, unfolded in harmonious procedure disclosive. “And God said, Let Mechanical Procedure be! and movement, rhythmical, harmonical, melodial, unfolded from the firmament. “And God said, Let there be space! and the firmament was separated from the emanation, and the firmament, unmoved, appeared, and the emanation unfolded within the procedure. And the firmament is manifest Infinitude, and the emanation separated, is encompassed space. “And God made two great lights to rule the zodiac, and to be for creative disclosure, disclosive manifestation, manifest glory, glorious radiation, interpenetrative aggregation; and thence vortices, vortical suns, suns of vortices, solariums, vortical planetariums, planets, floral universes, universal paradises, paradisaical heavens, heavens of spiritual universes, celestial heavens, seraphic habitations, seraphimal universes, cities of heavenly seraphim, and final consociative universal intelligence in unity of innumerable individuality, in trinity of unfolding universes, adoring and ascending in beatification unto eternal life. “This is the Genesis of Nature;—not uncreated or self-originated, but created;—not the progressive, upgrowing, upheaving, upmentalizing, upspiritualizing, upreaching struggle of a germ;—but condescension infinite, creation voluntary, and bestowment merciful, of the Divine Creator; to whom be given adoration immeasurable and eternal! world without end!” Another spirit peeped out the following, which was published in the same paper:— “God the life, in God the Lord, in God the holy procedure organized the first Orb-Creation in form of appearing as one globular ovarium, which was the germ of the terrestrial universe of universes; and within the embryo of the external of universal impersonal creation, as one curvilinear ovarium; and within the curvilinear the germ of the external, of the universal, personal, or intellectual creation in form of one vortical ovarium. . . . The universal concavity the universal convexity were co-enfolded and encompassed in the universal zodiac, and within the concavity was the visible disclosure unto the germ of the terrestrial.” Prof. Stuart, of Andover University, in the “Biblical Repository,” 1832, gave the following on the difference between true and false prophets and spirits:— “I agree to the fact, that the heathen seers were rightly named manteis, from mainomai, to rave; as Cicero has declared in his first book, De Divinatione. But what an immeasurable distance, now, between a raving man or woman, uttering incoherent sentences; or (which was more common) a dissimulating hypocrite, uttering cunningly and artfully and equivocally constructed sentences and poetic riddles; and a Hebrew prophet, animated by the strongest and deepest feelings of reverence for Jehovah, and a holy ardor in the cause of true piety! Is there ambiguity, flattery, self-seeking, enigmas, in the message of the latter? None. Are not all these stamped on more or less of the heathen oracles? They are. And such being the case, we would separate the Hebrew prophet from the heathen seer, not by discrepancies of a mere physiological or psychological nature, which lie beyond our ken in case they exist at all; or rather, which involve contradictions and impossibilities; but by a rational, enlightened, holy, excited, zealous state of mind, which raised the true seer unspeakably above all false ones, and did this by making him in a high degree like to the Author of his inspiration. Here is something palpable. The oracles speak for themselves.” THE SABBATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
By James White
Under this caption last week we denied in the most unqualified manner that any of the precepts of the moral code were given over a second time on a new account in the New Testament. They were not abrogated at the death of Christ, hence no reason why they should be repeated verbatim in the New Testament. We proved that the statement so often repeated from the sacred desk, and in religious prints, that nine of the ten commandments were reaffirmed in the New Testament, is not true. We showed that but three of the ten precepts of the divine law are repeated word for word in the New Testament. And it is worthy of notice that these three are those very short ones: Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; and that no one of the long commandments are quoted verbatim. On this subject we briefly remark:— 1. The apostles, who wrote a quarter of a century or more after the death of Christ, state moral duties, and appeal to the precepts of the moral code as the highest living authority of their time. 2. The long precepts are never repeated in the New Testament word for word. The second and fourth cannot be found there in any form whatever. Of the thirty-three words of the tenth precept of the moral code only four words are quoted in any one place in the New Testament. 3. If it had been left to the writers of the epistles and acts of the apostles to re-affirm nine of the precepts of the moral code, they would have faithfully attended to this matter, and we should find them there word for word. But as they had no such work on their hands, and as they simply referred to the divine precepts as their highest authority, all is plain. The short ones are given word for word because of their brevity; and the sensible writers of the New Testament did not burden their writings in point of length by repeating the long precepts verbatim, when a simple reference to them by repeating a portion would fully answer their purpose. 4. Driven from the position that all the precepts of the divine law, excepting the fourth, are reaffirmed in the New Testament, this class of opponents are compelled to admit that in the case of the second commandment reference is made only to the principle or facts upon which the precept is based. This is all they can possibly maintain. When fairly and squarely on this ground, then we are prepared to say to them that the term “Sabbath,” in the singular number, which expresses the very institution sustained by the fourth precept of the moral code, is mentioned fifty-nine times in the New Testament. So that when it comes to this—and by the grace of God, and the authority of his word, we shall drive our opponents to the point—that in some of the nine precepts reference is made by the apostles to only the principle or fact which gave rise to the precept, then it will be seen that Sabbatarians are ahead, having fifty-nine references to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment in the New Testament. Can as many references be shown from the New Testament to any other one of the ten precepts of the decalogue? Search and see. 5. Why labor to dodge the point? The Sabbath is either abrogated, or it is not. It is either the duty of the people of God to observe the Sabbath, or it is not their duty. It is either binding, or it is not. The observance of the Sabbath is not partly right and partly wrong. If the Sabbath was abolished at the death of Christ, it was a living institution in full force up to the cross, and there has been no weekly Sabbath since. The Sabbath has either been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, or it has not been changed. We should observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath, or we should not. We should observe the seventh day, or we should not. Where is the plain proof from the New Testament that the Sabbath is abrogated? What prophet of God has declared that the moral code of the Infinite One should be abolished, or changed? And what apostle has stated in plain terms that anything of this kind has taken place? Christ, in his memorable sermon on the mount, seems to anticipate the discussion of the law question in the Christian church, and as a rebuke of wrong thinking upon the subject, and to guide to correct thoughts, he says: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 5:17, 18. J. W. The Revival Which We Need
The revival which we need is a revival of the religion which keeps God's commandments; which tells the truth and sticks to its promises; which cares more for a good character than for a fine coat; which lives in the same direction that it prays; which denies ungodly lusts, and which can be trusted in every stress of temptation. A revival which will sweeten our homes and chasten our press and commerce from roguery and rottenness, would be a boon from Heaven. A revival which will bring not only a Bible knowledge, but a Bible-conscience to all, is what the land is dying for.—Cuyler. Last Sabbath at Oakland.
By James White
SABBATH, April 21, there was a full attendance of the church at our commodious house of worship. The weather was fine, the air pure and bracing, and the smiles of the Lord of the Sabbath seemed to be upon us. The labors and blessings of the Biblical Institute have left a cheering influence. Elder Smith spoke from the words of Paul in Heb. 12:1: “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” The speaker made the following points:— 1. That the text, commencing with “wherefore,” was a conclusion from previous statements. 2. That the apostle had reference to the examples of faith of chapter 11, in Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses and others, as the cloud of witnesses named in the text. 3. That the manner in which chapter 11 commences in taking up the line of worthies as examples of faith, shows that the subject reaches back into chapter 10. Here Elder Smith quoted Heb. 10:35–39, as showing the saving faith introduced and illustrated. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” 4. The subject is the coming of Christ in a “little while.” In his coming believers had great confidence. They had experienced delay of their bright and ardent hopes, which called for patience during the “tarry.” Such language cannot have general application to the church during the entire Christian age. These words most certainly apply to those who look for the second coming of Christ in the last generation. 5. The prophetic periods terminated with the great disappointment of 1844. That disappointment occurred from mistaking the event which marks the end of the 2300 days of Daniel chapter eight. “Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” says the angel to the prophet, which is not the coming of Christ, and a world on fire, but the closing work of Christ’s ministry in Heaven before he comes. At the close of the 2300 days, Paul’s “little while” commenced. And the waiting, watching church of Christ, looking for the coming of the Son of man, have no more definite term expressive of time than the words “yet a little while.” 6. This position gives point to the words, “Now the just shall live by faith.” No definite time to give fervor to those who walk by sight, or not at all. Disappointed, yet holding fast, believers joyfully accept the explanation of the disappointment, which the great sanctuary question and the three messages of Rev. 14 gives. To draw back from this advanced position is perdition. To hold it fast, live by faith, is to believe to the saving of the soul. Startling position indeed! Life and death are plainly set before believers in these words of Paul. In the struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, will the little while hasten us on to the joys of complete salvation, or to the anguish of perdition. “Now the just shall live by faith.” Let every true believer adopt these hopeful words: “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them which believe to the saving of the soul.” Saving faith for Adventists is to believe (and works show all the faith we have) that Christ will come in a little while. Immediately following these words which close chapter 10, are the examples of faith in chapter 11. The speaker dwelt particularly on the faith and works of Noah in warning the world of the coming flood, and in manifesting his faith in the investment of a fortune in the ark. “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” The masses doubted then, and were lost because they did not believe and act. One man believed, and showed his faith by his works to a scoffing world. The masses now will doubt, and be unready when the Lord shall come. A few will believe, and act to the saving of the soul. The speaker showed:— 7. That the weights (plural) to be laid aside were the various hindrances in running the heavenly race, which we suffer to cling to us, such as love of this world, with its pleasure, pride, wealth and unsanctified desires. But “the sin [singular] which doth so easily beset us,” is the sin of unbelief. “Now the just shall live by faith.” Unbelief must be laid aside. When this is done from the heart, and faith comes in as bread for the soul on which the just must live, the fact will be demonstrated by works. The sermon was well timed and excellent from beginning to end. It was given in the speaker’s usually clear and calm manner, but the subject was shown to embrace such connections of startling truth, applicable to our time, that it made a deep impression upon all reflecting minds. The Kingdom Complete.
By James White
In a kingdom there are, necessarily, a king, subjects, territory, and government. The Sacred Scriptures speak of these component parts of the eternal kingdom of glory in plainest terms. Christ will be King, the immortal just will be the subjects, the whole earth restored from the curse will be the territory, and the holy city, Rev. 21:10–25, will be the metropolis and seat of government. When Pilate inquired of Jesus, “Art thou a king?” he answered, “To this end was I born.” John 18:37. The import of this reply of the Son of God is more clearly seen by the light of these prophetic words: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” Isa. 9:6, 7. The prophet takes in at a glance, as briefly expressed, the birth of Christ, his wonderful teachings, the might of his miracles, and his future reign as the “Prince of Peace,” which will have “no end.” The Jews applied the entire prophecy to their limited ideas of the coming of the Messiah. And most Christians of our time extend it but little beyond the work of grace in the present age. But the burden of the prophecy is certainly the future kingdom. It evidently touches the stream of time at the birth and life of Christ, and passes along down to the establishment of the immortal kingdom, and out to the eternal sea of Christ’s glorious reign. The cheering declaration of the angel to anxious Mary is nearly a repetition of the words of the prophet, in announcing Christ as the King in the endless reign of future glory. After stating that his name should be called Jesus, he adds: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:32, 33. Christ now reigns in the kingdom of divine grace in behalf of sinful men. But at the close of human probation he will deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to the Father, when the reign of grace and mercy for a lost world will end. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” 1 Cor. 15:24, 25. He will then receive from the Father the eternal kingdom of glory. Says Daniel: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Chap. 7:13, 14. And the prophet speaks of the immortal and eternal subjects of this kingdom in these words: “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Verse 18. But it is not until all the wicked of the earth shall be destroyed from off it that the immortal kingdom of glory will fill the whole renewed earth, which will be the eternal inheritance of the saints. Then will be fulfilled the words of David: “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Ps. 37:10, 11. And it is to this same glory and reward that Christ points in his sermon on the mount, when he says: “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5. The prophet Daniel is assured by the angel that “the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.” Chap. 7:27. And the great God, in response to the earnest prayer of Moses who was leading the children of Israel to the land of Canaan, the type of the kingdom of glory, says: “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Num. 14:21. Isaiah takes up the promise of the future reward and glory in these words: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Chap. 11:9. And another prophet repeats the promise in still stronger language: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14. FITNESS FOR THE FUTURE KINGDOM.
But in order to enter the future kingdom of glory we must first be in the kingdom of grace, sharing all its blessings and privileges. The faithful John bears testimony which has direct bearing on this subject. He looked forward to the new heaven, and the new earth, and the holy city in the glorious restitution where there will be neither pain, sickness, sorrow, nor death, as the eternal kingdom of the redeemed. And yet he declared himself, while in the present state of tribulation, as being in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. “I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle, that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 1:9. The beloved John was in the kingdom of grace. And Paul, in delineating true Christian experience in his epistle to the Colossians, speaks of deliverance from the power of darkness, a redemption through Christ’s blood, and a translation into his kingdom which can apply only to the present probationary state. He sets forth the emancipation from the bondage of spiritual darkness into the light and liberty of the sons of God, and the attainments which believers may reach in fullness of spiritual understanding and of strength in order to a moral fitness to be partaker of the eternal inheritance, in words that should stir the soul and burn their way to every Christian heart. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:9–14. The words delivered, translated and redemption, may usually express transition to the immortal state; but in the foregoing quotation they express the power and work of grace in connection with the forgiveness of sins. The moral fitness for the next life must be attained in this life. The last change to immortality is not a moral change. It is simply an exchange of the corruptible body for one that will be incorruptible. This is expressed by the apostle thus: “For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” The exchange of the sinner’s vile nature for the glorious character of the Son of God must take place during the period of probation, while Christ pleads his blood before the Father on the sinner’s account. If this change does not take place while Christ is our mediator, the change of the vile body will not take place at his second advent. Now the sinner may, in obedience to the law of the Father, and by faith in the blood of the Son, attain to the moral fitness for the inheritance of the saints in light. Our robes of character must be made pure before Christ lays off his garments of mediation, and puts on his kingly robes. Now we may wash and be clean; but when Christ’s mediation for sinners shall cease, it will then be said, “The time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:10–12. And Peter exhorts: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” 2 Pet. 3:14. This washing of the soul from the stains of sin demands diligence. Paul says that “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Eph. 5:25–27. And John sees the washed and glorified multitude, who had pressed their way to Christ and Heaven through the moral darkness of this world, and had come out of great tribulation into the kingdom of glory. “After this, I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9, 10. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Verses 13, 14. Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
Verses 13, 14. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. The scene here described is not the second advent of Christ to this earth, unless the Ancient of Days is on this earth; for it is a coming to the Ancient of Days. There in the presence of the Ancient of Days, a kingdom, dominion, and glory, are given him. The Son of man receives his kingdom before his return to this earth. See Luke 19:10–12, and onward. This is a scene, therefore, which transpires in the heavenly temple, and is closely connected with that brought to view in verses 9 and 10. He receives the kingdom at the close of his priestly work in the sanctuary. The people, nations, and languages, that shall serve him are the nations of the saved, Rev. 21:24, not the wicked nations of the earth; for these are dashed in pieces at the second advent. Some out of all the nations, tribes, and kindred of the earth will find themselves at last in the kingdom of God, to serve him there with joy and gladness for ever and ever. Verses 15–18. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even for ever and ever. We have followed the prophet down to the complete destruction of the fourth and last beast, the final subversion of all earthly governments. What next? Verse 18 tells us: “The saints shall take the kingdom.” The saints! those of all others held in low esteem in this world, despised, reproached, persecuted, cast out; those who were considered the least likely of all men ever to realize their hopes; these shall take the kingdom and possess it forever.133 The usurpation and misrule of the wicked shall come to an end. The forfeited inheritance shall be redeemed. Peace shall be restored to its distracted borders, and righteousness shall reign o’er all the fair expanse of the renovated earth. Verses 19, 20. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. Of the first three beasts of this series, Daniel had so clear an understanding, that he had no trouble in reference to them. But he was astonished at this fourth beast, so unnatural and dreadful; for the farther we come down the stream of time, the farther is it necessary to depart from nature in forming symbols to accurately represent the degenerating governments of earth. The lion is a production of nature; but it must have the unnatural addition of two wings to represent the kingdom of Babylon. The bear we also find in nature; but as a symbol of Medo-Persia, an unnatural ferocity must be denoted by the insertion of three ribs into its mouth. So the leopard is a beast of nature; but to fitly represent Grecia there is a departure from nature in respect to wings, and the number of heads. But nature furnishes no symbol which can fitly illustrate the fourth kingdom. A beast, the likeness of which was never seen, is taken; a beast dreadful and terrible, with nails of brass, and teeth of iron, so cruel, rapacious and fierce, that from mere love of oppression, it devoured, and brake in pieces, and trampled its victims beneath its feet. Wonderful was all this to the prophet, but something more wonderful still appears. A little horn comes up, and, true to the nature of the beast from which it springs, thrusts aside three of its fellows; and lo! the horn has eyes, not the uncultivated eyes of the brute, but the keen, shrewd, intelligent eyes of a man; and stranger yet, it has a mouth, and with that mouth it utters proud sayings, and puts forth preposterous and arrogant claims. No wonder the prophet made special inquiry respecting this monster, so unearthly in its instincts, and so fiendish in its works and ways. In the following verses some specifications are given respecting the little horn, which enable the student of prophecy to make an application of this symbol, without danger of mistake:— Verses 21, 22. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. The wonderful wrath of this little horn against the saints particularly attracted the attention of Daniel. The rise of the ten horns, or the division of Rome into ten kingdoms, between the years A. D. 356 and 483, has already been noticed. See remarks on chap. 2:41. As these horns denote kingdoms, the little horn must denote a kingdom also, but not of the same nature, because it was diverse from the others. They were political kingdoms. And now we inquire, What kingdom has arisen among the ten kingdoms of the Roman Empire, since A. D. 483, and yet diverse from them all? The answer is, The spiritual kingdom of the Papacy. This answers to the symbol in every particular; nothing else will do it. Can there then be any mistake here? Daniel beheld this horn making war upon the saints. Has this been true of the Papacy? Fifty millions of martyrs, with a voice like the sound of many waters, answer, Yes. Witness the cruel persecutions of the Popes of Rome against the Waldenses, the Albigenses, and Protestants in general. It is stated on good authority, that the persecutions, massacres, and religious wars, excited by the church and bishop of Rome, have occasioned the shedding of far more blood of the saints of the Most High, than all the enmity, hostility, and persecutions of professed heathens from the foundation of the world. In verse 22, three consecutive events seem to be brought to view. Daniel, looking onward from the time when the little horn was in the height of its power to the full end of the long contest between the saints and Satan with all his agents, notes three prominent events that stand as mile-posts along the way: 1. The coming of the Ancient of Days; that is, his providential judgments upon the little horn, the same as the sitting of the judgment and the taking away of his dominion, verse 26. This is the first blow upon the Papacy. 2. The judgment that is given to the saints. This is the time when the saints sit with Christ in judgment a thousand years, apportioning the punishment due to the wicked. Then the martyrs will sit in judgment upon the great antichristian, persecuting power, which, in the days of their trial, hunted them like the beasts of the desert, and poured out their blood like water. 3. The time that the saints possess the kingdom; that is, the time of their entrance upon the possession of the new earth. Then the last vestige of the curse, of sin, and of sinners, root and branch, will have been removed, and the territory so long misruled by the wicked powers of earth, the enemies of God’s people, will be finally taken by the righteous, to be held by them forever and ever. U. S. (Condensed from Review and Herald.) CLEAR CREEK.—Eld. Canright and Bro. Reynolds commenced meetings in this place April 6. It was here that Bro. R. held a tent-meeting last season and several took their stand for the truth, more than a dozen of whom they found still firm. These had kept up regular Sabbath meetings from the first. Sabbath, the brethren and sisters came in from the immediate vicinity until there were some forty-five present. Nearly half of these were young persons from twelve to twenty-five years of age, ten of whom made a start in the Christian life during the meeting. A church of twenty-one members was organized, and two were baptized. Sister Bentley was elected clerk, and Bro. S. Thurston was elected and ordained elder. The outside attendance during the entire meeting was large, and the Lord helped to reach the hearts of the people. One man who had just finished reading the History of the Sabbath, fully decided to keep the Sabbath. ROME.—The first quarterly meeting of the church in this place, April 7 and 8, was an interesting occasion. Eld. B. L. Whitney, who attended the meeting, reports that there was a full attendance of the church, and that all engaged promptly and cheerfully in celebrating the ordinances of the Lord’s house, which gave good evidence of the spirit of union and harmony that prevails among those who have so lately received the truth here. PARMA.—Eld. S. B. Whitney, who is holding meetings here, reports good interest and full houses. A Free Methodist minister is helping the cause wonderfully by presenting the so-called claims which Sunday has for observance as the Sabbath. The interest is extending for miles around. CLYDE.—Eld. G. W. Colcord reports very encouraging meetings with this church, especially when attending to the ordinances of the Lord’s house, and transacting business for the Master. He says, “A young brother who formerly worshiped with the Disciples, attending our celebration of Jesus’ humiliation and passion, said, ‘An equal to this meeting I never saw.’ He and his companion now observe the Sabbath. We are expecting several to be immersed and labor with us in the future.”