THE peace which Constantine forced upon the Gothic nation in A. D. 331, continued for a period of thirty years. For the proper understanding of the further progress of our subject, it now becomes necessary to clearly define the distinction that existed between the two great divisions of the Gothic nation—the Ostro [Eastern] Goths, and the Visi [Western] Goths. As a matter of fact this distinction existed from the earliest times of which we have any knowledge of the nation.
"The Ostro and Visi, the Eastern and Western Goths, obtained these denominations from their original seats in Scandinavia. In all their future marches and settlements they preserved, with their names, the same relative situation."—Dec. and Fall, chap. 10, par. 8, note.
Although this distinction was ever observed amongst them as a people, yet in all their wanderings and in all their expeditions, from the time they left the Baltic till the period of which we now treat,—A. D. 361,—they were united and acted as one people. Now, however, we shall find them separated, and with the exception of a short interval, never more united.
During the thirty years' peace with the Empire (A. D. 331-361), and under Hermanric, the last king of the united nation, the Gothic power was spread from the River Danube and the Black Sea to the Baltic. Of this we read:—
"During a peaceful interval of thirty years, the Romans secured their frontiers, and the Goths extended their dominions. The victories of the great Hermanric, king of the Ostrogoths, and the most noble of the race of the Amali, have been compared, by the enthusiasm of his countrymen, to the exploits of Alexander; with this singular and almost incredible difference, that the martial spirit of the Gothic hero, instead of being supported by the vigor of youth, was displayed with glory and success in the extreme period of human life, between the age of fourscore and one hundred and ten years. The independent tribes were persuaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the king of the Ostrogoths as the sovereign of the Gothic nation: the chiefs of the Visigoths, or Thervingi, renounced the royal title, and assumed the more humble appellation of judges; and among those judges, Athanaric, Fritigern, and Alavivus were the most illustrious, by their personal merit, as well as by their vicinity to the Roman provinces.
"These domestic conquests, which increased the military power of Hermanric, enlarged his ambitious designs. He invaded the adjacent countries of the north; and twelve considerable nations, whose names and limits cannot be accurately defined, successively yielded to the superiority of the Gothic arms. . . . His dominions, which extended from the Danube to the Baltic, included the native seats, and the recent acquisitions, of the Goths; and he reigned over the greatest part of Germany and Scythia with the authority of a conqueror, and sometimes with the cruelty of a tyrant. But he reigned over a part of the globe incapable of perpetuating and adorning the glory of its heroes. The name of Hermanric is almost buried in oblivion; his exploits are imperfectly known; and the Romans themselves appeared unconscious of the progress of an aspiring power, which threatened the liberty of the North and the peace of the Empire.
"The Goths had contracted an hereditary attachment for the imperial house of Constantine, of whose power and liberality they had received so many signal proofs. They respected the public peace; and if a hostile band sometimes presumed to pass the Roman limit, their irregular conduct was candidly ascribed to the ungovernable spirit of the barbarian youth. Their contempt for two new and obscure princes [Valens and Valentinian], who had [A. D. 366] been raised to the throne by a popular election, inspired the Goths with bolder hopes."
"The splendor and magnitude of this Gothic war [A. D. 367, 368, 369] are celebrated by a contemporary historian; but the events scarcely deserve the attention of posterity, except as the preliminary steps of the approaching decline and fall of the Empire. Instead of leading the nations of Germany and Scythia to the banks of the Danube, or even to the gates of Constantinople, the aged monarch of the Goths resigned to the brave Athanaric the danger and glory of a defensive war against an enemy who wielded with a feeble hand the powers of a mighty State. A bridge of boats was established upon the Danube; the presence of Valens animated his troops; and his ignorance of the art of war was compensated by personal bravery, and a wise deference to the advice of Victor and Arintheus, his masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. The operations of the campaign were conducted by their skill and experience; but they found it impossible to drive the Visigoths from their strong posts in the mountains; and the devastation of the plains obliged the Romans themselves to repass the Danube on the approach of winter.
"The incessant rains, which swelled the waters of the river, produced a tacit suspension of arms, and confined the Emperor Valens, during the whole course of the ensuing summer, to his camp of Marcianopolis. The third year of the war was more favorable to the Romans, and more pernicious to the Goths. . . . Athanaric was provoked, or compelled, to risk a battle, which he lost, in the plains; and the pursuit was rendered more bloody by the cruel precaution of the victorious generals, who had promised a large reward for the head of every Goth that was brought into the imperial camp. The submission of the barbarians appeased the resentment of Valens and his council; . . . and the same generals, Victor and Arintheus, who had successfully directed the conduct of the war, were empowered to regulate the conditions of peace. . . .
"Athanaric, who, on this occasion, appears to have consulted his private interest without expecting the orders of his sovereign, supported his own dignity, and that of his tribe, in the personal interview which was proposed by the ministers of Valens. He persisted in his declaration, that it was impossible for him, without incurring the guilt of perjury, ever to set his foot on the territory of the Empire; and it is more than probable that his regard for the sanctity of an oath was confirmed by the recent and fatal examples of Roman treachery. The Danube, which separated the dominions of the two independent nations, was chosen for the scene of the conference. The Emperor of the East and the judge of the Visigoths, accompanied by an equal number of armed followers, advanced in their respective barges to the middle of the stream. After the ratification of the treaty and the delivery of hostages, Valens returned in triumph to Constantinople; and the Goths remained in a state of tranquillity about six years; till they were violently impelled against the Roman Empire by an innumerable host of Scythians, who appeared to issue from the frozen regions of the North."—Dec. and Fall, Chap. 25, par. 31-33.
"The invasion of the Huns [A. D. 376] precipitated on the provinces of the West the Gothic nation, which advanced, in less than forty years, from the Danube to the Atlantic, and opened a way, by the success of their arms, to the inroads of so many hostile tribes, more savage than themselves.
"The Huns, who under the reign of Valens threatened the empire of Rome, had been formidable, in a much earlier period, to the empire of China. Their ancient, perhaps their original seat, was an extensive, though dry and barren, tract of country, immediately on the north side of the great wall. Their place is at present occupied by the forty-nine hordes or banners of the Mongous, a pastoral nation, which consists of about 200,000 families. But the valor of the Huns had extended the narrow limits of their dominions; and their rustic chiefs, who assumed the appellation of Tanjou, gradually became the conquerors and the sovereigns of a formidable empire. Towards the East, their victorious arms were stopped only by the ocean; and the tribes which are thinly scattered between the Amoor and the extreme peninsula of Corea, adhered, with reluctance, to the standard of the Huns. On the West, near the head of the Irtish and in the valleys of Imaus, they found a more ample space and more numerous enemies. One of the lieutenants of the Tanjou subdued, in a single expedition, twenty-six nations; the Igours, distinguished above the Tartar race by the use of letters, were in the number of his vassals; and, by the strange connexion of human events, the flight of one of those vagrant tribes recalled the victorious Parthians from the invasion of Syria. On the side of the North, the ocean was assigned as the limit of the power of the Huns. Without enemies to resist their progress, or witnesses to contradict their vanity, they might securely achieve a real, or imaginary, conquest of the frozen regions of Siberia.
"The Northern Sea was fixed as the remote boundary of their empire. But the name of that sea, on whose shores the patriot Sovou embraced the life of a shepherd and an exile, may be transferred, with much more probability, to the Baikal, a capacious basin, above 300 miles in length, which disdains the modest appellation of a lake, and which actually communicates with the seas of the North by the long course of the Angara, the Tonguska, and the Jenissea. The submission of so many distant nations might flatter the pride of the Tanjou; but the valor of the Huns could be rewarded only by the enjoyment of the wealth and luxury of the empire of the South. In the third century before the Christian era, a wall 1500 miles in length was constructed to defend the frontiers of China against the inroads of the Huns; but this stupendous work, which holds a conspicuous place in the map of the world, has never contributed to the safety of an unwarlike people. The cavalry of the Tanjou frequently consisted of 200,000 or 300,000 men, formidable by the matchless dexterity with which they managed their bows and their horses; by their hardy patience in supporting the inclemency of the weather; and by the incredible speed of their march, which was seldom checked by torrents or precipices, by the deepest rivers or by the most lofty mountains. They spread themselves at once over the face of the country; and their rapid impetuosity surprised, astonished, and disconcerted [B. C. 201] the grave and elaborate tactics of a Chinese army."—Id., chap. 26, par. 8.
(To be continued.)
A. T. J.
Always Something Beyond.
The book of revelation is like the book of nature: it has its mysteries for the mighty intellect as well as for the simple mind. Dr. R. J. Breckenridge once said to a friend:
"I suppose there is no book written, on any subject or in any language, that I could not master in one year if I should set myself about it. But I have made the Bible a special study for thirty-four years, and I never open it that I do not discover something new. It reminds me of the great firmament. Penetrate as far as you may with the aid of the most powerful glass that the ingenuity of man has ever produced, and still there is something beyond."
Opportunities for Doing Good
WE are in danger of looking too far for opportunities of doing good and communicating. In reaching for rhododendrons, we trample down the daisies.
Progress of the Third Angel's Message.
By George I. Butler
PERHAPS there never was a movement foretold in prophecy which started so feebly as this. After the great disappointment in 1844, the Adventist name became a term of reproach. The believers were thought to be fanatics, and were generally hated by the religious bodies. They had a heavy burden of obloquy to carry, and, worst of all, they did not know what to make of their disappointment themselves.
The great mass of Adventists soon left the old landmarks based upon the prophetic word of God, gave up their old positions on the prophetic periods, and entered upon new time-setting movements. But a very few here and there felt in their hearts that they could not do this. They studied the word of God, prayed most earnestly for light and that God would open up the future before them, and soon light began to dawn upon the sanctuary question, the messages, and the other great themes of present truth. Then their past mistakes were explained, and also their future work; and they entered upon it with the greatest faith and earnestness. As we look back and see how this little handful of pioneers commenced to proclaim this world-wide message, it seems to us that we cannot conceive of a sublimer faith. Here commenced a movement predicted in prophecy, which was to enlighten the earth with its glory, and serve as a warning to the vast multitudes upon the face of the earth, who as yet knew nothing of it. And what were the means and agencies with which to commence such a work? They were as poor as poverty itself. They had no influence. They were looked down upon, not only by the world, but by the great mass of their former Adventist brethren. Some of them were feeble in health. They had no publishing houses, books, or papers, nor any of the agencies which we now have in such abundance. They could only reach here and there an Adventist believer who had some love for the past movement and was still looking for light and truth. They preached here and there, to one in a kitchen or to a few gathered in some barn, and thus commenced the proclamation of this message which was to go "to kings and nations and tongues and peoples."
But best of all, God was with them, and gradually the work began to expand. Publications were written, and the printing work began to spread out and attract attention. After the lapse of years, believers began to embrace the truth, and congregations could be found who would listen to the message of warning. There never has been a year since that time but that there has been an increase of numbers. And now what do we see? Instead of this feeble beginning, we see some twenty-eight organized Conferences, covering the principal part of the United States and reaching to large portions of the Old World, and we have missionary operations going on in the most remote parts of the globe. There are more than one thousand Sabbath-keepers in Europe. We have publications issued in the most important civilized countries of the globe, having publishing houses in England, Central Europe, the Scandinavian countries, and Australia, besides those of our own country.
We have Sabbath-keepers in Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Roumania, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Sandwich Islands, Australia, Asia, Africa, and South America. Publications are being sent to all parts of the globe. We have ship missionaries in New York City, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland (Oregon), Portland (Me.), Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Liverpool, and other parts of the Old World, placing our publications on ships that go to every part of the earth. Tons upon tons of our publications are being sent out every month, and the demand for them is constantly increasing.
It is impossible to tell what our numbers really are. Years ago, single copies of the Review and Herald were sent to some thirteen hundred different post-offices, to say nothing of other places where large numbers are sent.
The circulation of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, which is our pioneer weekly, has run up as high as twenty-seven thousand the past year, going to almost every part of the globe where the English language is spoken. Other books and periodicals that we publish have reached a very large circulation. We have a large number of books, pamphlets, tracts, etc., on a great variety of subjects pertaining to present truth, which are being largely read.
Intelligent persons of all denominations are inquiring into these subjects. We have received notices of our work in many of the leading papers of the country, though of course not always in the most flattering terms.
But these things show that the public mind is being stirred, and that the truth is working like leaven here and there in all parts of the world. What a contrast between this time and the commencement of this work!
These results have not been accomplished because our message was a pleasant one, and contained popular truths for the mass of the people. On the contrary, the truths of this message have been very unpopular, and nothing but the force of argument and the blessing of the Spirit of God have given it these far-reaching results. Men do not embrace this truth because it will add to their worldly prosperity, or make them more highly thought of, but because it contains truths which their consciences cannot ignore. GEO. I. BUTLER.
Men without Religion.
WE do not know how much religion James Russel Lowell has, but we do know that there is an abundance of sound reason and common sense in the following, which he writes in the Springfield Republican, under the above heading:—
"I fear that when we indulge ourselves in the amusement of going without a religion, we are not, perhaps, aware how much we are sustained at present by an enormous mass all about us of religious feeling and religious convictions, so that whatever it may be safe for us to think,—for us who have had great advantages, and have been brought up in such a way that a certain moral direction has been given to our character,—I do not know what would become of the less favored classes of mankind if they undertook to play the game.
"Whatever defect and imperfections may attach to a few points in the doctrinal system of Calvin—the bulk of which was simply what all Christians believe—it will be found that Calvinism, or any other ism which claims an open Bible and proclaims a crucified and risen Christ, is infinitely preferable to any form of polite and polished skepticism, which gathers as its votaries the degenerate sons of heroic ancestors, who, having been trained in a society and educated in schools the foundations of which were laid by men of faith and piety, now turn and kick down the ladder by which they have climbed up, and persuade men to live without God, and leave them to die without hope.
"The worst kind of religion is no religion at all; and these men, living in ease and luxury, indulging in the 'amusement of going without religion,' may be thankful that they live in lands where the gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness and ferocity of the men, who, but for Christianity, might long ago have eaten their carcasses like the South Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their hides like the monsters of the French Revolution. When the microscopic search of skepticism, which had hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to human society, and has found a place on this planet ten miles square where a decent man may live in decency, comfort, and security, supporting and educating his children, unspoiled and unpolluted; a place where age is reverenced, infancy respected, manhood respected, womanhood honored, and human life held in due regard—when skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the way and laid the foundation and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for the skeptical literati to move thither and there ventilate their views. But so long as these very men are dependent upon the religion which they discard for every privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope and humanity of its faith in that Saviour who alone has given to man that hope of life eternal which makes life tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its terrors and the grave of its gloom."
"I Will Give Nothing."
"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." Prov. 11:24.
A MINISTER soliciting aid toward his house of worship, waited upon an individual distinguished for wealth and benevolence. Approving the case, he presented to his minister a handsome donation, and turning to his three sons, who had witnessed the transaction, he advised them to imitate the example. "My dear boys," said he, "you have heard the case; now what will you give?"
One said, "I will give all my pocket will furnish."
Another observed, "I will give half of what I have in my purse."
The third sternly remarked, "I will give nothing."
Some years after, the minister had occasion to visit the same place, and, recollecting the family he had called upon, he inquired into the actual position of the parties. He was informed that the generous father was dead; the youth who had so cheerfully given all his store was living in affluence; the son who had divided his pocket-money was in comfortable circumstances; but the third, who had indignantly refused to assist and haughtily declared he would give "nothing," was so reduced as to be supported by his two brothers.
The incident furnishes a most suggestive comment upon the text which stands at the head of this article. And there are plenty of parallel texts and facts.
Eternal Life.
By Christian Intelligencer
How WE prize the life that now is—this mortal life; this life of uncertainty; this life that is fast fleeting away; this life with all its environments, with all its limitations, with all its aches and pains and disappointments! How, withal, we love this life; how we long to retain it; how we would like to invest it with immortality, and dwell here forever; how loth we are to part with it! With what reluctance, with what unavailing protests, we yield to the inevitable!
Yet this life to which we thus cling is not worthy of mention in comparison with the life possible to us and promised to us; the life we have even now, and shall have forevermore, if we have Christ—a life unlimited; a life that has all eternity for its fuller expansion; a life that knows no aches, no pains, no disappointments, no death. Is it not strange that so many may be found who have no appreciation of it, no deep yearning for it, who so little prize it that they refuse it when it is freely offered them without money and without price?—Christian Intelligencer.
Living Behind Our Words
Talking that does not have for its background a consistent living, does not count for much.
What the Gospel Teaches.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
"AND he said unto him, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:15, 16. These words were spoken by our Saviour, after his resurrection, and shortly before his ascension. They are perfectly in harmony with his words recorded in Matt. 24:14, that "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations." There is no mistaking the extent of territory in which the gospel must be preached—nothing less than the whole world. And how long must it be preached? Read the whole of Matt. 24:14: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Then the gospel is to be preached until the end. The end here referred to is the same that is mentioned in verse 3, "The end of the world." That this "end of the world" is in connection with the coming of the Lord, is shown by the words of the disciples in the verse last mentioned, and by the words of Christ in Matt. 13:40–43; 24:30, 31.
The fact that, by divine command, the gospel is to be preached in all the world until the coming of the Lord and the end of the world, proves conclusively that until the Lord comes, a necessity for its being preached will exist in all the world. This needs no further argument, for it is nowhere disputed. We will therefore turn our attention to a consideration of what the gospel is, and what creates the necessity for its being so long and so extensively preached.
The word "gospel" means, literally, "a good message;" Webster's first definition is "glad tidings." According to its derivation, it might be applied to any good news; but in the Bible it is used with exclusive reference to one thing; what that thing is, we may easily learn from the Bible itself.
In Luke 2:10 we find these words, addressed by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds in the field: "Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings [a gospel] of great joy, which shall be to all people." The next verse tells what this gospel is: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Then the gospel which is to be preached to all people, is the announcement of a Saviour. It is from this that Webster derives his specific definition of the gospel, as, "especially, the good news concerning Christ and his salvation."
But the simple heralding of Christ, without stating the nature and object of his work, would not be the preaching of the gospel. The "good news" consists in the fact that Christ the Lord is a Saviour. That Christ comes as a Saviour, necessarily implies that there are people to be saved, and something from which they must be saved. Turning to Matt. 1:21, we read the angel's declaration before the birth of Christ: "And thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." Paul says (1 Tim. 1:15): "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." So it is manifest that the preaching of the gospel consists in the announcement that Christ will save people from sin.
But while the gospel is the good news that Christ brings salvation from sin, it is evident that that simple announcement would not suffice to produce the desired results, viz., that men should believe and be baptized. For there are millions of people who virtually say that they are "rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," not knowing that they are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." No matter how destitute a man may be, it would be of no use to offer him money if he were ignorant of his necessities, and perfectly satisfied with his condition. So no man can feel any interest in the gospel as a means of salvation from sin, unless he (1) knows what sin is, and (2) is convinced that he is a sinner, and (3) understands the nature and results of sin, so as to realize that it is something to be shunned. Therefore the gospel, with its announcement of salvation from sin, must also make known what sin is. This it does, as we shall see.
John the evangelist, so called because it is he who more than any one else dwells on the love of God and Christ in the salvation of man, defines sin. He says: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. In harmony with this, Paul says that "where no law is, there is no transgression." Rom. 4:15. And "sin is not imputed when there is no law." Rom. 5:13. Volumes could not define sin more clearly than do these three texts. We have found out, then, (1) that "gospel" means good news; (2) that the gospel of the Bible is the good news of a Saviour—Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10, 11); (3) that Jesus saves from sin (Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 1:15); and (4) that "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
So that, in short, the gospel announces the way by which man may be saved from the transgression of the law, and from the consequences of such transgression. Sin is the disease; the gospel is the remedy. And since the gospel is to be preached in all the world, until the coming of the Lord, it follows that "all the world," yea, "every creature," has sinned. This we read in Rom. 3:23: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
It must also be true that sin will be in the world till the Lord comes. And this we verify by a comparison of Gen. 6:5 and 13:13, with Luke 17:26–30. But since sin is the transgression of the law, it also necessarily follows that "the law" will be in full force in all the world until the coming of the Lord. In other words: Sin is the disease, and it cannot exist where there is no law. Rom. 4:15. The disease, sin, does exist in "every creature" in "all the world;" for the remedy, the gospel, is to be thus extensively made known, and the Great Physician would not send the remedy where it is not needed. "They that be whole need not a physician; but they that are sick" (Matt. 9:12); and therefore the law, by which alone "is the knowledge of sin"—the disease—is binding upon "every creature" "in all the world." Now since "the wages of sin"—the transgression of the law—"is death" (Rom. 6:23), it is important that all men know just what that law is, the transgression of which brings death, and just what its nature and requirements. These points will therefore next claim our attention.