Earlier text: General ArticlesThe Herulian Kingdom of Italy.
By J.
The Heruli were a Vandalic tribe of ancient Germany. The first historic mention of them is about the beginning of the third century. In the great movement of the Goths from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the Heruli and the Burgundians are particularly mentioned. (See Decline and Fall, chap. 10, par. 10, note.) They fixed their habitation on “the marshy lands near the Lake Mæotis [Sea of Azov]; were renowned for their strength and agility; and the assistance of their light infantry was eagerly solicited, and highly esteemed, in all the wars of the barbarians.”—Id., chap. 25, par. 31. In the third naval expedition of the Goths, about A. D. 260, when Cyzicus was ruined; when Athens was sacked; when Greece was desolated; and when the temple of Diana at Ephesus was destroyed; the Heruli bore a most prominent part. Indeed it is stated by one historian—Syncellus—that this expedition “was undertaken by the Heruli” [Id., chap. 10, par. 37, note]. And when the barbarian host had spread “the rage of war, both by land and by sea, from the eastern point of Sunium to the western coast of Epirus,” and had “advanced within sight of Italy,” and when the Emperor Gallienus “appeared in arms and checked the ardor of the enemy,” “Naulobatus, a chief of the Heruli, accepted an honorable capitulation; entered with a large body of his countrymen into the service of Rome; was invested with the ornaments of the consular dignity;” and so was the first barbarian that ever held the office of Roman consul.—Id., chap. 10, par. 38. When the great Hermanric—A. D. 331-361—subjected all the nations from the Black Sea to the Baltic, “the active spirit of the Heruli was subdued by the slow and steady perseverance of the Goths; and after a bloody action, in which the king was slain, the remains of that warlike tribe became a useful accession to the camp of Hermanric.”—Id., chap. 25, par. 31. When in A. D. 375-6, the nation of the Huns overran the Alani, subdued the Ostrogoths, and forced the Visigoths over the Danube, the Heruli retired from the coast of the Sea of Azov, into the forests of central Germany where we find them under the dominion of Attila; and when “the nations from the Volga to the Atlantic were assembled on the plain of Châlons,” the Heruli, under the standard of Attila, bore no inferior part in that memorable conflict.—Id., chap. 35, par. 9. After the death of Attila, when the battle of the Netad had restored to their independence the subject nations, a multitude of the youth of those nations enlisted in the service of the empire, and became “the defense and the terror of Italy,” and finally subverted the Western Empire. Gibbon says: “The nations who had asserted their independence after the death of Attila, were established, by the right of possession or conquest, in the boundless countries to the north of the Danube; or in the Roman provinces between the river and the Alps. But the bravest of their youth enlisted in the army of confederates, who formed the defense and the terror of Italy; and in this promiscuous multitude, the names of the Heruli, the Seyri, the Alani, the Turcilingi, and the Rugians, appear to have predominated.”—Chap. 36, par. 28.
In this “promiscuous multitude” the Heruli predominated, even above those tribes which were predominant, and being so conspicuous both in numbers and in valor, their name was given to the whole body of “confederates,” and the power which they soon established in Italy was called the kingdom of the Heruli. These confederates seem to have gone to Italy A. D. 454-456, for we find them already there in 457, when the Emperor Majorian, in preparing an expedition against the Vandals, was compelled to hire, in addition to them, “many thousands” of their former comrades in the service of Attila. “Majorian, like the weakest of his predecessors, was reduced to the disgraceful expedient of substituting barbarian auxiliaries in the place of his unwarlike subjects; and his superior abilities could only be displayed in the vigor and dexterity with which he wielded a dangerous instrument, so apt to recoil on the hand that used it. Besides the confederates, who were already engaged in the service of the empire, the fame of his liberality and valor attracted the nations of the Danube, the Borysthenes, and perhaps of the Tanais. Many thousands of the bravest subjects of Attila, the Gepidæ, the Ostrogoths, the Rugians, the Burgundians, the Suevi, and the Alani, assembled in the plains of Liguria; and their formidable strength was balanced by their mutual animosities.”—Id., chap. 36, par. 12.
In the negotiations between Attila and Theodosius the younger, A. D. 446-448, Attila sent five or six successive embassies to the court of Constantinople, and the last two ambassadors were the fathers of the two men who were, respectively, the last Roman emperor of the West, and the first barbarian king of Italy. “The two last ambassadors of the Huns, Orestes, a noble subject of the Pannonian province, and Edecon, a valiant chieftain of the tribe of the Seyri, returned at the same time [A. D. 448] from Constantinople to the royal camp. Their obscure names were afterwards illustrated by the extraordinary fortune and the contrast of their sons; the two servants of Attila became the fathers of the last Roman emperor of the West, [Augustulus] and of the first barbarian king of Italy [Odoacer].”—Id., chap. 34, par. 12.
Following the example of the “confederates” Orestes also went to Italy, but not till A. D. 475. “The example of these warriors was imitated by Orestes, the son of Tatallius, and the father of the last Roman emperor of the West. Orestes, who has been already mentioned in this history, had never deserted his country. His birth and fortunes rendered him one of the most illustrious subjects of Pannonia. When that province was ceded to the Huns, he entered into the service of Attila, his lawful sovereign, obtained the office of his secretary, and was repeatedly sent ambassador to Constantinople, to represent the person, and signify the commands, of the imperious monarch. The death of that conqueror restored him to his freedom; and Orestes might honorably refuse either to follow the sons of Attila into the Scythian desert, or to obey the Ostrogoths, who had usurped the dominion of Pannonia. He preferred the service of the Italian princes, the successors of Valentinian; and as he possessed the qualifications of courage, industry, and experience, he advanced with rapid steps in the military profession, till he was elevated, by the favor of [the Emperor] Nepos himself, to the dignities of patrician, and master-general of the troops. These troops had been long accustomed to reverence the character and authority of Orestes, who affected their manners, conversed with them in their own language, and was intimately connected with their national chieftains, by long habits of familiarity and friendship. At his solicitation they rose in arms against the obscure Greek, who presumed to claim their obedience; and when Orestes, from some secret motive, declined the purple, they consented, with the same facility, to acknowledge his son Augustulus, as the emperor of the West. By the abdication of Nepos, Orestes had now attained the summit of his ambitious hopes; but he soon discovered before the end of the first year, that the lessons of perjury and ingratitude, which a rebel must inculcate, will be retorted against himself; and that the precarious sovereign of Italy was only permitted to choose, whether he would be the slave, or the victim, of his barbarian mercenaries.”
“The dangerous alliance of these strangers had oppressed and insulted the last remains of Roman freedom and dignity. At each revolution, their pay and privileges were augmented; but their insolence increased in a still more extravagant degree; they envied the fortune of their brethren in Gaul, Spain, and Africa, whose victorious arms had acquired an independent and perpetual inheritance; and they insisted on their peremptory demand, that a third part of the lands of Italy should be immediately divided among them. Orestes, with a spirit, which, in another situation, might be entitled to our esteem, chose rather to encounter the rage of an armed multitude, than to subscribe the ruin of an innocent people. He rejected the audacious demand; and his refusal was favorable to the ambition of Odoacer, a bold barbarian, who assured his fellow-soldiers, that, if they dared to associate under his command, they might soon extort the justice which had been denied to their dutiful petitions. From all the camps and garrisons of Italy, the confederates, actuated by the same resentment and the same hopes, impatiently flocked to the standard of this popular leader; and the unfortunate patrician, overwhelmed by the torrent, hastily retreated to the strong city of Pavia, the episcopal seat of the holy Epiphanites. Pavia was immediately besieged, the fortifications were stormed, the town was pillaged; and although the bishop might labor, with much zeal and some success, to save the property of the church, and the chastity of female captives, the tumult could only be appeased by the execution of Orestes. His brother Paul was slain in an action near Ravenna; and the helpless Augustulus, who could no longer command the respect, was reduced to implore the clemency of Odoacer.”—Id., chap. 36, par. 23.
True Learning Makes Things Plain
TRUE learning does not cause a man to talk mysteriously about unknown things, but to make that which to common minds is mysterious or obscure, plain and easy of comprehension. Mystery or obscurity is no evidence that a thing is incomprehensible, but simply that it is not comprehended, and affords evidence of ignorance. The ambition of learned men, if they would be recognized by sensible people as men of knowledge, should be to present plainly that which is actually known, rather than exhibit their ignorance in floundering among mysteries which they do not comprehend. Much that passes for learning is nothing but a display of pretentious ignorance.—Sel. God is no respecter of persons, neither should those be who go forth in his name to offer salvation to the people. The Master was poor, and one of the evidences of his divine mission was that the “poor had the gospel preached unto them.” Who needs the gospel, and the sympathy and counsel of ministers of the gospel, more than the poor? But if the man of Nazareth were on the earth now, he would receive but little attention and few pastoral visits from many of his professed ministers. Too many of them prefer the drawing-rooms of the rich to the humble homes of the poor.—Methodist Recorder. Preach Christ's Word
By Sel.
HAVE you ever thought of the positive character of Christ's teachings? He does not argue, nor speculate, nor notice the arguments of opponents, but he speaks with authority. His words are truths—primary, faultless, eternal truths. Would it not be well to preach his word as he did, and let the people see and know the truth? Is it really necessary that we should answer all the lies that are invented?—Sel. A Fulfilling Prophecy.
By A. O. Tait
THERE is nothing surer than the predictions of God's word. What God has spoken will come to pass without fail. This fact has been verified over and over again, yet how loath men are to believe it! They rush ahead contrary to the evidence God has given us, even though they must know, if they stop to consider, that they are going headlong into sure destruction. We as a people have long held the position that the two-horned beast of Rev. 13:11–17 was a symbol of these United States. From this prophecy we have taught that our Government would become an instrument in the hands of religious zealots with which to wage religious persecutions. Furthermore, we have maintained that these persecutions will be caused mainly by trying to enforce by civil law the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, upon those who conscientiously believe the Bible teaching, that the “seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” The idea that such persecutions would ever be brought about has been ridiculed and mocked at on every hand by many who have heard us express our faith. But ridicule does not answer argument. There are none of the doctrines of the Bible but that have been severely ridiculed. So regardless of all ridicule, we inquire, What are the indications that this prophecy will be fulfilled? When we first began to teach that our country would finally persecute some of its citizens on account of their conscientiously observing the seventh-day Sabbath there was but little evidence, aside from the prophecy, that it would ever take place. But it is vastly different to-day. In 1863, in Xenia, Ohio, an association was formed with the avowed object in view of so amending the Constitution of the United States as to acknowledge the “Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler of nations, and the revealed will of God of supreme authority in civil affairs.” If we were under theocratic rule as were the Israelites in the early part of their history, and the Lord would speak directly to us and tell us just how his law should be interpreted, there would be no danger in having it stand as the “fundamental law of the land.” Although the prime instigators of this movement may not have contemplated a union of Church and State, yet should they succeed in getting such an amendment into the Constitution, it would be just the track upon which the car of Church and State could run with but little trouble. And those who know from history the horrible results of such a union may well dread to see it come. The movement did not stop when they had formed an association for the purpose above described. The ones who first entered upon this work of “National Reform,” as they choose to call it, pushed the matter assiduously in every direction, gathering into their ranks hundreds of the most influential men, of both civil and ecclesiastical fame, in the land. Quite recently they have inaugurated a method of increasing their forces that bids fair to give the movement a big boom. This is by forming alliances with various other organizations and working together for the cherished notion of “God in the Constitution, and the law of God of supreme authority in civil affairs.” The most prominent point, too, that they make, in trying to get all this brought about, is to have a stringent law for Sunday. This is just what the prophet saw would be done, and now we see it being accomplished right before our eyes. This association has formed an alliance with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The Young Men's Christian Association has wheeled into line and is becoming a channel through which the stream of “National Reform” literature is flowing to a considerable extent. The Prohibitionists are declaring in their conventions to support the Sunday cause. The Christian Statesman of June 3 speaks in a confident manner of a recent effort to get the Knights of Labor to join the ranks of the “National Reformers.” In the Statesman of June 17, an account is given of the action of the Reformed Presbyterians in a recent synod in New York, who sent a statement to Congress, signed by all the adult members of the church, declaring that they will have nothing to do with the Government till it will grant an acknowledgment of God in the Constitution of the United States and his law to be the rule of the land. In a convention at Mattoon, Ill., May 26, for the purpose of adopting plans to bring about the strict observance of Sunday, all the denominations were requested to participate, and the necessity of using the civil power to compel men to keep Sunday was strongly advocated. One minister said he believed in putting men in office that would give them the kind of laws they wanted upon this question. He said he could control 700 votes, and that two other ministers in the stand with him could control 300 each, making 1,300 in all that these three men could cast in favor of a strict Sunday law. Such are the forces that are organizing to bring about a matter that was so long ago predicted by the prophet. God has said he “will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness.” And when we come to consider that this prophecy in regard to the United States is the last link in the chain, and then see how the forces are organizing to fulfill it, we are led to believe that the great day is near. Should the combined power of the National Reform Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Young Men's Christian Association, the growing organization of Knights of Labor, and all the churches arise in solid phalanx to push the Sunday movement and the so-called crowning of “Christ as king of nations,” it would bring in the fulfillment of Rev. 13:11–17 in an incredibly short time. That religious persecutions will follow the success of this movement, there is no longer any room for doubt. We have only to refer to the recent arrests in Arkansas and Tennessee to show what is just before us. Of course many who are now assisting this work do not realize what they are doing; and our prayer to God is that the eyes of all may be opened to see where they are standing, and that those who really desire to do a good work for the Master will not bring his wrath upon them by thus engaging in that which his word forbids. The World's Religious Condition
By Chautauquan
MORE important than the physical and political status of the world is the social condition of its inhabitants,—their religion and education, and the ideas which rule them. The human race is estimated to number about 1,440,000,000 souls, divided into five families: Caucasian 624,000,000; Mongolian 560,000,000; African 176,000,000; Malay 72,000,000; American 8,000,000. These are classed by religions as Christians 436,000,000 (including 202,000,000 Roman Catholics, 150,000,000 Protestants, and 80,000,000 Eastern or Greek Church); Mohammedans 170,000,000; Jews 7,000,000; Buddhists (Asia) 400,000,000; Brahmins (India) 145,000,000; Confucians (China) 80,000,000; and Shintoists (Japan) 45,000,000.—Chautauquan. The Consequences of Sin
By Wm. M. Taylor
You cannot stay the shell in its flight. After it has left the mortar it goes on to its mark and there explodes, dealing destruction all around. Just as little can you stay the consequences of a sin after it has been committed. You may repent of it, you may even be forgiven for it, but still it goes on its deadly and desolating way. It has passed entirely beyond your reach; once done it cannot be undone.—Wm. M. Taylor. Some Cavils Considered.
By W. H. Saxby
THE opposition which the truth has to meet, is illustrated by the following examples which not long since came under my notice:— A family who had become much interested in some Bible-readings, were expressing themselves as having received great light from them, when a minister said: “Yes; but others could come along and prove something else from the same scriptures.” Another minister made the statement in public, that “You can prove anything from the Bible by taking a text here, and another there.” These statements have suggested two questions: 1. Are men honest who raise such captious objections? 2. Have we divine warrant for our method of Bible study? The latter question can, I think, be safely answered in the affirmative. In our Bible-readings we seek to group together all, or at least a goodly number, of the texts bearing upon the subject to be considered, and it seems to me that this is just what the Saviour did when, after his resurrection, he “drew near and went with” the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27. The distance from Jerusalem to Emmaus was about seven and one-half miles, and the whole time spent on the road must have been about two hours and a half, some part of which had however elapsed before the Saviour joined these disciples. This being true, it cannot be that he referred in many instances to the contexts of the scriptures that he used; and he must have quoted just the words which applied directly to the subject under consideration. He must have “skipped around” a good deal, and taken only “a verse here, and another there,” or he could not in so short a time have “expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Another example of the Saviour’s use of the Scriptures is found in Luke 4:16–21:— “And . . . he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And . . . he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” By reference to Isa. 61:1, 2, it will be seen that Jesus stopped not only in the middle of a verse, but even left the sentence unfinished. And why? Simply because “the day of vengeance of our God” had not yet come, neither was that the burden of the Saviour’s preaching. The latter part of the verse was not then applicable, and so the Great Teacher did not read it; and it is proper that they who teach the word should, like their divine Master, rightly divide “the word of truth.” If they are teaching in regard to the Sabbath, they should be guided by what the Bible says, and not by what some man or set of men have said about it. I thank God that we have truths that we can maintain from the Scriptures without resorting to doubtful expedients or questionable methods; and I appreciate more and more these truths as I see honest, intelligent persons feed upon them with ever-increasing pleasure, and thus grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. The expression, “under the law,” occurs twelve times in King James’s version of the New Testament, in the following verses: Rom. 3:19; 6:14, 15; 1 Cor. 9:20 (three times), 21; Gal. 3:23 (the equivalent expression “under a schoolmaster,” is found also in verse 24); 4:4, 5, 21; 5:18. In previous articles we have considered all these instances of the use of the term, except Rom. 3:19, and 1 Cor. 9:20, 21. In every case thus far we have found that it indicates a state of sin, and consequently of condemnation by the law. The one who has violated the law is under sentence of death, and so the law is represented as being upon him, holding him down to death.
Now in Rom. 3:19, a different thought is presented to one who reads the text carefully. We will read it: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” On reading this some one will say, “Your idea that ‘under the law’ means condemned by the law certainly cannot hold here, for that would make the text of no force; it would be the same as saying, ‘What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are condemned by the law, in order that every one may be condemned,’ and that would be nonsense.” The point is well taken, and we should have to conclude that the term “under the law” does not always indicate a state of sin and condemnation, if it were not for the fact that the expression does not really occur in Rom. 3:19 at all. In all the texts which we have heretofore considered, the Greek words which are rendered “under the law” are, hupo nomon, which should be rendered, as they invariably are, by the phrase “under the law.” But in Rom. 3:19 the Greek words which in King James’s version are rendered “under the law” are, en to nomo, which cannot properly be translated in any other way than “in the law.” The same expression is found in the Greek of Rom. 2:12, where the translators have correctly rendered it “in the law.” The text under consideration should therefore read thus: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are in the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before [margin, subject to the judgment of] God.” That is, the law speaks to those who are within its jurisdiction, or, as Professor Boise renders it, “within its sphere,” and as a consequence it declares that all the world are subject to the judgment of God, because it shows that all are sinners. The expression, “that every mouth may be stopped,” is very forcible. When a man is brought into court, and charged with any crime, he begins, through his counsel, to plead his own cause, and to try to establish his innocence. But sometimes the evidence of a man’s guilt is so overwhelmingly clear that he has no defense to make; his mouth is stopped, and he is forced to acknowledge the justness of the charge against him. So the law of God speaks to those over whom it has jurisdiction, and charges them with sin; and the evidence is so clear that no one can speak a word in self-defense, but all the world stand condemned before God. By this rendering of Rom. 3:19, and it is the correct one, we are taught an important truth concerning the extent of the law’s jurisdiction. Note these points: The law speaks only to those who are within its sphere; if any such have violated it, it condemns them, and it can condemn no others. The law has no power to condemn any who do not owe allegiance to it, or who are outside its pale. Now Paul has shown (Rom. 3:9-18) that there is not a person on earth who has not sinned, and he therefore emphatically declares that the law, speaking only to those within its jurisdiction, stops every mouth, and condemns the whole world. There could be no more forcible way of saying that every individual in the world is amenable to the law of God. Jews and Gentiles are all in the same condemnation, because they are all within the pale of the law, and have all violated it. Perhaps some may think that this makes a contradiction between Rom. 3:19 and Rom. 2:12, but there is none. It is true that Rom. 2:12 speaks of those “without law” as distinct from those “in the law;” but those who are spoken of as without law, are also spoken of as having sinned, and we have already learned (1) That “sin is the transgression of the law,” and that “where no law is there is no transgression,” and (2) that Paul, in verses 14, 15, shows that these same ones who are in one sense without law, “show the work of the law written in their hearts,” and that they therefore do have the law. Some sin in the face of the full light of the law, while others sin against only that knowledge of the law which they have by nature; but all are counted as sinners in God’s sight, and they could not be so reckoned if they were not amenable to the law; hence he declares that all are in reality “in the law.” Let us now read 1 Cor. 9:20, 21: “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.” In this text the term, “under the law,” occurs four times. In the first three instances, reference to the same thing is made in each case. In the fourth instance, however, in verse 21, the Greek is en to nomo, as in Rom. 3:19, and should be rendered “in the law.” Then the verse would read, “To them that are without law, [I became] as without law, (being not without law to God, but in the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.” In order to get the full force of this text, we must note the verse immediately preceding, and the two following: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.” “To the weak become I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.” These verses, taken in connection with the 20th and 21st, show Paul’s meaning to be that in his ministerial work he sought to adapt himself, as far as possible, to the condition of those for whom he labored. He did not approach all men in the same manner, but adapted his teaching to the different classes of people whom he taught. He took every one upon his own ground. To the Jews, he became as a Jew. This he could easily do, for he was himself a Jew, and knew all their habits and customs. The book of Hebrews is an instance of how he became as a Jew to the Jews. From their own history, their Scriptures, and their religion, he demonstrated the Messiahship of our Saviour, and also his whole work in connection with the plan of salvation. To them that were under the law, he became as under the law, that he might gain them that were under the law. That is, he drew on his own experience as a sinner, that he might successfully labor for those who felt the condemnation of God’s law upon them in consequence of their sins. The seventh chapter of Romans is an instance of this. If Paul had not felt the terrible anguish which comes from the knowledge of an offended God, and the sense of impending doom, and the wondrous peace which comes from believing in Jesus, he could never have written a chapter so full of encouragement to the convicted sinner. To them that were without law, that is, to the Gentiles who had not the written law, and the full knowledge of God, he became as without law, that he might gain them that were without the law. An instance of this is given in his dealing with the Athenians, Acts 17:22-31. He took them on their own ground, and from their own heathen worship, and their own heathen literature; he demonstrated to them the existence of a great Creator, and the certainty of a future general Judgment. But while he became to them as without law, he says that he was in reality “not without law to God, but in the law to Christ.” That is, he all the time recognized his obligation to keep the whole law of God, and that Christ was to him the end of that law for righteousness,—he did all things only by the aid of Christ. This closes up the consideration of the expression “under the law.” Taking out 1 Cor. 9:21 and Rom. 3:19, in which texts, as we have seen, the term does not really occur, we can arrive at this positive conclusion, that in every instance of its occurrence, “under the law” indicates a state of sin and condemnation. And since it is everywhere stated that only those who are in Christ are free from the condemnation of the law, and that all who are not in Christ and have not his Spirit, are under the law, the fact that the law is still in active operation is everywhere demonstrated. W. “How do you explain the many passages in the New Testament that speak as if the end was close at hand? If the translators got the hang of those passages, those who first read them must have understood that the day of the Lord was at hand. Can it be that they spoke only of the persecutions shortly to come? or did they think the interval between the persecutions and the advent shorter than it proved to be? 1. As to the passages that speak of the coming of the Lord and the end of the world, we don’t explain them; we simply take them just as they read, and believe them. And we do not doubt but that the translators got the “hang” of those passages; in fact, we are glad to know that they got the correct idea of them, because we love the Lord and rejoice in the assurance that he is coming. We should be in a deplorable condition, indeed, if there were no passages in the Bible assuring us that the Lord is coming. 2. We cannot allow that the New Testament writers were deceived as to the coming of the Lord. If we could think that they were to the slightest degree mistaken on this point, we could not be sure that they were not mistaken on every point. We believe that the whole Bible was written by inspiration of God, that it is all equally inspired, and all equally true. If a text seems to us doubtful, or difficult to be understood, we lay it to our own ignorance, and not to the ignorance of the holy men of God who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 3. It is a fact that some of those to whom Paul567 wrote got the idea that the coming of the Lord was going to take place in their day. But they did not get it from Paul’s sermons or letters. There were some who were attempting to deceive the brethren by a pretended epistle from Paul (See 2 Thess. 2: 1–3), and this led Paul to repeat what he had told them while he was with them,—that Christ would not come until after the Papacy had arisen, and had run its course of persecution and blasphemy. Certainly, then, we have no chance to be deceived, and to suppose that the immediate coming of the Lord was preached in the first century; for although there are some passages which, taken alone, might seem to indicate that such was the case, we have the whole Bible, and are not obliged to take any one passage by itself. The Bible is one harmonious book. It was written by many men, but they all had the same Spirit, and so in every part it bears uniform testimony. 4. 1 Cor. 7: 29 does not say that the Lord’s coming is at hand, and therefore we do not need to go to any commentary to find out that Paul was writing of the then “present distress.” So that passage, with other similar ones, doubtless refers to impending persecutions, and all were so understood by those to whom they were addressed. The instruction, however, which they contain is directly applicable to those who live when the coming of the Lord is close at hand. 5. When the New Testament writers speak directly of the coming of the Lord, as in 1 Thess. 1: 9, 10; Rev. 1: 1, 3, we have no right to suppose that they had reference to persecutions, or to anything but the coming of the Lord. The two texts to which we have just referred may be taken as a sample of all. The first one reads thus: “For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from Heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” This brings to view the coming of the Lord as the Christian’s hope. Death is nowhere set forth as the object of the Christian’s solicitude. The coming of the Lord is the blessed hope, the consummation of all things, and nothing else could be set before Christians of all ages to stimulate their energies. As to such texts as Rev. 1: 1, 3: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; . . . blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand;” or Rev. 22: 20: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly;” they were literally true when written. The things which John wrote did begin shortly to come to pass. More than that, it could truly be said that the Lord’s coming was at hand. We must acknowledge this when we remember that the day of pentecost was in “the last days” (See Acts 2: 16–21), and that Paul wrote in the last days. Heb. 1: 1, 2. It was true then that the coming of the Lord was “at hand,” although not immediately at hand; it is a thousand fold more true now. 6. Everything in the New Testament was spoken or written to individuals then living, and was applicable to them; but it is also applicable to us. Comprehensiveness is a characteristic of the words of inspiration. Yet many things have a more direct application to us than to them. Suppose that the Bible had been only partly written centuries ago, and that all reference to the near coming of the Lord had been left to be written at the present time; what evidence would we have that it was a divine revelation? If reference were made to certain signs already fulfilled, everybody would say that it was conjecture. But the Saviour gave us ground for the firmest assurance of faith, when centuries ago he foretold his coming, and the signs which would indicate its nearness. The fact that those signs were then foretold, made it impossible that any one who accepted the words of inspiration just as they are recorded, should be deceived. Let us, then, not spend time in “doubtful disputations,” but let us believe that “yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry;” and “let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised.”