Earlier text: PARABLE OF THE SOWERSPIRITUALISM A SATANIC DELUSION.
The spirits at the Banner of Light circle described how they get possession of the body:— “I ask that spirit, ‘Will you yield me up the control of your mortal form for a short time?’ The answer is generally, ‘I will.’ . . . . The spirit is subjected to the entire control of the predominating spirit. It is, in a word, magnetized by the spirit; held in perfect subjection.” “We may further add, in this connection, that the trance mediums for the spirit intercourse are equally irresponsible. Many of them are totally unable to resist the powers which come to them from the invisible and unknown realms.”—Telegraph’s Answer to Mahan, p. 10. Swedenborg says of the object of the spirits:— “We mean to revolutionize the whole race of man. We will write what we will, and this medium has not the power to resist what we will to be done. Such we intend shall be the condition of all men. Human destiny is now measurably in our hands.”—Book of Human Nature, p. 308.139 Again the same author says:— “Nearly the whole world of spirits is fanatical, and seeks nothing else but to teach and to lead, striving even to possess the bodies of men, and loosen all the bonds of conscience, especially in respect of marriage.”—Ib., p. 299. SEDUCING, DECEPTIVE SPIRITS.
Their flattering style is like that of the seducer. The communications from the spirits abound in such as the following:— “Come in confidence to us.” “Let our teachings deeply impress you.” “You must not doubt what we say.” “Learn of us.” “Have confidence in us.” “Obey our directions and you will be benefited.” “Seek to obtain knowledge of us.” “Have faith in us.” “Fear not to obey.” “Obey us and you will be greatly blessed.” Judge Edmonds, in his Broadway Tabernacle lecture, Feb. 16, 1855, said:— “I assure you from my own experience and observation, that the fascination of this intercourse is so great that its tendency is to lead men away from their proper judgment, and instill a spirit of fanaticism most revolting to the calm and natural mind.” The Spiritual Telegraph, of July 11, 1857, says:— “In giving the results of our own experience and observation upon this subject, we would premise that spirits unquestionably can, and often do, personate other spirits, and that, too, often with such perfection as, for the time being, to defy every effort to detect the deception. Not only can they represent the leading personal characteristics of the spirits whom they purport to be, but they can relate such facts in the history of said spirits as may be known to the inquirer, or to some one else with whom the communicating spirit is or has been en rapport.” “The point to which I wish to call your attention is the almost universal fact that mediums devoted to external manifestations, while under the influence of this presiding spirit, are under an influence to deceive, to cheat, which is almost irresistible. It does not matter particularly how good manifestations they get. I have seen this deceptive disposition manifested in mediums who could get very remarkable manifestations, such as the movement in the open light of a table with several men standing upon it.”—Lect., pp. 122, 123. Dr. Child, in Banner of Light, Oct. 26, 1864, says:— “Nor can we doubt, I think, that there are a diverse host of badly misdirected spirits. The lower spirits seek to undo the good work of the higher, and to harass, and to annoy, and subject to suffering, medium and sitter. They will deceive us for their amusement. Where is the medium but what has either seen or felt this? I have both. But wise spirits, who are to us the revelators and executors of the divine will, designedly deceive us for our good.” The following is part of a list of predictions made at Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Sept. 20, 1860, by the spirits, and published by A. J. Davis. The reader will see that it must have come from the father of lies:— “1. Next winter Congress will get into a fight. Blood will flow.
“2. This nation will be dead as a nation before the 4th of March next.
“3. We will have no more presidents. The present one (Buchanan) will not serve his time out.
“4. The Republican candidate will get the popular vote, but will not be elected.
“5. Canada will enter the new Republic in America.” The spirit, professedly, of Swedenborg says:— “When spirits begin to speak with man, he must beware that he believe nothing that they say; for nearly everything they say is fabricated by them, and they LIE; for if they are permitted to narrate anything, as what Heaven is and how things in the Heavens are to be understood, they will TELL SO MANY LIES that a man would be astonished.”—Banner of Light, March 20, 1869. The Crucible of April 23, 1871, says:— “The best that can be done, a spirit cannot always make a medium speak the truth. During the last half score of years, we have had varied and extended experience as a psychological operator, which has enabled us to look with more charity on the false in phenomenal Spiritualism than in former days. We have learned that, do the best we can, it is impossible to find a medium that can always be made to speak the truth. We can often make them talk eloquently, and sometimes logically, but no one can be made to always talk truthfully.” That the early Christians understood the deceptive character of the spirits and mediums of that time, is evident from the following quotation of an elder’s reproof of one of them, as given by Irenæus:— “Marcus, thou former of idols, inspector of portents, skilled in consulting the stars, and deep in the black arts of magic, ever by tricks such as these confirming the doctrines of error. Furnishing signs unto those involved by thee in deception, wonders of power that is utterly severed from God, and apostate, which Satan, thy true father, enables thee still to accomplish, by means of Azazel, that fallen, yet mighty, angel.”—Against Heresies, book i., chap. 15, p. 68. The poet Saxe aptly says:—
“If in your new estate you cannot rest,
But must return, oh! grant us this request:
Come with a noble and celestial air,
And prove your titles by the names you bear,
Give some clear tokens of your heavenly birth;
Write as good English as you wrote on earth;
And, what were once superfluous to advise,
Don’t tell, I beg you, such egregious lies.” THEY DENY GOD AND BLASPHEME.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Ps. 53:1. W. F. Jamieson in debate with Burgess said, “I do not believe in a personal God, no great First Cause, no Creator. Space, and the worlds, or the matter composing them, never were created, never needed a First Cause.”—Banner of Light, April 12, 1871. In the Banner of Light of Aug. 8, 1868, we have the following:— “It is just as sensible to pray to the ocean, or the sun, as to the Jewish, ‘unknown Jehovah,’ or the Christian’s God. Nature justifies faith in no such ABORTION! People of shallow brains are so apt to get mad when they hear a free-thinker speak irreverently of the GREAT OVERGROWN BOSS of the universe!” Mr. Jamieson, in the Crucible, Moses Hull’s paper, of April 22, 1871, says:— “A personal God would be a monstrosity.” “All prayer addressed to a supposed Supreme Intelligence is idolatry. There is not and cannot be a Supreme Spirit even.” Speaking of the God of the Jews, he describes him as “an unmitigated tyrant, a despisable murderer, worse and meaner than a common cutthroat. If a Yankee should ever have the ill luck to get into his kingdom, he would kick his ‘alabaster throne’ to pieces!” etc. What purports to be the spirit of Edward B. Richards, published in the Banner of Light of Oct. 26, 1861, says:— “I’ve lost my faith in God, and I’d just as soon think of believing in a God of fire as believing in any kind of a God, for aught I see of him or his work. There is none—there’s nothing at all you can call God. I am satisfied that all who do the best they know how to, get along the best, and the less you try to know of God, the better off you will be.” A speaker at the Spiritualist camp-meeting at Havre de Grace, Md., in Aug. 1871, uttered the following:— “The time has come for Spiritualism to take the offensive; our belief has been advancing for a thousand years, and the time is come for us to smite the intolerant enemy like the bullock before the butcher. A nice religion the pretenders would like to fasten upon the worldlings; taken from the records and practices of such old liars and murderers as Moses and his villainous tribe. The Bible is a polluted collection of blood and lies, and unfit for a sane man to read. The only true man that ever wrote in either of the Testaments was Judas, who gave Christ credit for being a divine spirit, and who, in putting the matter to the test in the so-called betrayal, lost his own life, while such lying hypocrites as Peter, Luke, and the rest of the gang, grew rich on the blood of their Master. . . . It is an insult to our psychological development to admit such an absurdity as a creature like this God. We look beyond such mummery; ours is a vast hierarchy of spirits endowed with all the power these fools allot to their so-called omnipotent God. Ruler of what is he? Not of this world, for he don’t rule me. I do as I please, so do you. Why, even Satan can overmatch him, according to Christian doctrine.” Joel Tiffany, a Spiritualist lecturer and publisher, in his monthly of June, 1858, said:— “My experience has been, go among Spiritualists where you will, and, as a general thing, they have no faith in a living, conscious, intelligent Deity, possessed of love, volition, affection, etc., as an object of religious aspiration and worship.” THE DEVIL IS THEIR GOD AND FATHER.
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” John 8:44. Man is so constituted that he will worship some being or power which he regards as superior to himself. And as Spiritualists refuse allegiance to the God of the Bible, it will not be surprising if they choose Satan as their god and father. History shows that such has always been the case with men in past ages. Concerning demon worship in early times, Gibbon says:— “It was the universal sentiment, both of the church and of heretics, that the demons were the authors, the patrons, and the objects, of idolatry. Those rebellious spirits who had been degraded from the rank of angels and cast down into the infernal pit, were still permitted to roam upon the earth, to torment the bodies, and to seduce the minds of sinful men. The demons soon discovered and abused the natural propensities of the human heart toward devotion, and, artfully withdrawing the adoration of mankind from their Creator, they usurped the place and honors of the Supreme Deity. By the success of their malicious contrivances, they at once gratified their own vanity and revenge, and obtained the only comfort of which they were yet susceptible—the hope of involving the human species in the participation of their guilt and misery.”—Vol. i., p. 523. In the Banner of Light, Nov. 4, 1865, is the following question and answer; the answer by the “controlling spirit,” through Mrs. Conant:— “Q. Do you know of any such spirit as a person we call the devil?”
“A. We certainly do. And yet THIS SAME DEVIL IS OUR GOD, OUR FATHER.” Dr. A. B. Child says, “What is called the devil is the Spirit of God in nature.”—Christ and the People, p. 167. The same author in another work says:— “It is the mission of the devil, yet unthought of by men, to carry them through the hell of earth, and prepare them for the heaven of the spiritual world.”—Better Views of Living, p. 41. In the “National Convention” of Philadelphia, Judge Carter “was warmly applauded by the audience,” while uttering his views on the subject of diabolism, as follows:— “Spiritualists are not, and should not be, frightened by the hue and cry, and the terrors, of diabolism. They care not for having the devil to aid and abet them. Indeed, they think, and think justly, that if Spiritualism and its manifestations and phenomena are of and from the devil, they are prepared to stand by, and fight for the devil. . . . In goodness and wisdom he has turned to be a God, and, although he did rebel against the Almighty, and was cast down deep into hell for his rebellion, we will forthwith send a monster petition to the throne for his unconditional pardon, for surely he has done the State some notable service. If the devil does all of these things, we are not only prepared to admire and honor, but we must fall on our knees and worship and adore him; nay, we must ‘fall at his feet as dead,’ and are quite willing and disposed to
“Wear the livery of Heaven,
To serve the devil in.” Dr. Hare says: “The Old Testament does not impart a knowledge of immortality, without which religion were worthless. The notions derived from the gospel are vague, disgusting, inaccurate, and difficult to believe.”—Spir. Sci. Dem., p. 209. In the testimony of a spirit, given in the Banner of Light, Nov. 23, 1861, it is said:— “Many times before we have said that we cannot place implicit confidence in that which we find between the lids of the Bible.” A spirit, claiming to be Rev. John Moore, says:—
“My friend asks, ‘Do you believe the Bible?’ I answer, No; I do not, I cannot believe one word of it as the word of God.” Speaking of the transgression of mother Eve, S. C. Huddleston says: “She has been of more benefit to humanity than any other person that ever existed, God not excepted; for it appears to be his intention to keep man in shameful ignorance, and who would not prefer wisdom to ignorance? Just imagine for a moment what a pitiable set of blind, naked, idiotic babies we would have been if mother Eve had obeyed God’s command.”—Crucible, April 22, 1871. The following paragraph is from a discourse, reported in the Banner of Light, from J. S. Loveland, once a Methodist minister:— “With God there is no crime; with man there is. Crime does not displease God, but it does man. God is in the darkest crime as in the highest possible holiness. He is equally pleased in either case. Both harmonize equally with his attributes—they are only different sides of the same Deity.” Who can doubt that such doctrines come from demons? The spirits ask us to follow their teaching as a guide. But it points the wrong way. It can therefore only be a guide in this respect, that if you do exactly opposite what they say, you are sure to do right. No wonder Mr. Jamieson exclaims, concerning Spiritualism:— “If it be a delusion, it is the most gigantic and terrible that ever has been known.”—Banner of Light, Feb. 7, 1863. The Kingdom of God.
By James White
ESTABLISHED BY A SUCCESSION OF EVENTS.
The phrase in Dan. 2:44, “It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,” gives the idea that the kingdom of God, for a time, is cotemporary with perishable kingdoms. And in view of this fact, many adopt the popular view of the spiritual reign of Christ, the conversion of the world, commonly called the temporal millennium. Some others, who reject the spiritual reign, suppose they have a strong-hold in this phrase for the mixed millennium, the literal reign of Christ on the earth with the immortal righteous of all ages, among the mortal nations. But we reject both these views, as being opposed to the plainest declarations of the Sacred Scriptures, and invite attention to one which we regard as scriptural and harmonious. The establishment of the eternal kingdom is by a succession of events, the first of which occurs prior to the destruction of earthly governments. 1. The Son of God, at the close of his ministration for sinners, and before his second appearing, will receive the kingdom from the Father. In the seventh chapter of this prophetic book we read these words: “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.” Dan. 7:13, 14. This language describes a grand transaction in Heaven between the Father and the Son. The Son, at his second advent to this world, does not approach the Father. So far from this that the apostle represents the Father as remaining in Heaven, and sending his Son. “And he [the Father] shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” Acts 3:20. The words of the psalmist are to the point: “Ask of me [says the Father to the Son], and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Ps. 2:8, 9. Before the Son makes his second advent to this world, he receives from the Father “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” The heathen are his, and the uttermost parts of the earth are his possession. Thus the God of Heaven sets up the kingdom by investing his Son with royal authority before sending him to manifest it in the earth among his enemies. 2. After the coronation of the King of kings, the opening heavens will reveal him coming in grandeur and in glory, leading on the armies of Heaven to the last great conflict with the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth. See Rev. 19. “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.” “And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” His mission then will be to “judge and make war.” On one side will be the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies; and on the other side will be the King of kings, followed by all the holy angels. The armies of Heaven achieve a glorious victory. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:8. In Rev. 19, we see the complete destruction of all wicked men, or the dashing of the nations in pieces as a potter’s vessel, or the image broken by the stone, and utterly destroyed and removed, like the chaff before the wind. “The destruction of the enemies of the Lord, represented by the several names of “man of sin,” “mystery of iniquity,” and “that wicked,” is thus described by the apostle—“whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:8. 3. At the second advent of Christ, the righteous dead will be raised, the living righteous will be changed, and thus the subjects of the eternal kingdom will be made immortal. 1 Thess. 4:14–18; 1 Cor. 15:51, 55. This is the first resurrection at the commencement of the millennium. 5. At the close of the millennium, the wicked will be raised from the dead. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5. They will then be destroyed. “And fire came down from God out of Heaven, and devoured them.” Rev. 20:9. Satan, and all the fallen angels, and all wicked men, will then be consumed by the fire of Jehovah’s wrath. Rev. 20:10; Matt. 25:41; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6. In the general conflagration of that time, the old earth and atmospheric heaven will pass away from the face of Him that sitteth on the great white throne. Rev. 20:11. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Pet. 3:10. 6. From the old earth, melted and cleansed from sin and sinners, will come forth, molded by the hand of the great Restorer, the new earth, free from all the marks of the curse. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Rev. 21:1. It is at the close of the one thousand years of Revelation 20, after the final destruction of all of God’s enemies, that the saints take the kingdom, to possess it forever, even forever and ever. Then will the kingdom in all its parts—the king, the subjects, the territory, the holy city being the metropolis—be complete. Then the stone will have become a great mountain, so as to fill the whole earth. We have seen that the establishment of the immortal kingdom will be by a succession of events. The kingdom in its first stage, when set up in Heaven, by the God of Heaven, is represented by a stone cut out of the mountain. When complete and fully established in the earth, it is represented by a mountain filling the whole earth. The kingdom, in its stone condition, is cotemporary for awhile with the perishable kingdoms of this world. Hence it is said, “it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.” Dan. 2:44. This accomplished, and the earth restored to its Eden glory, the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, will be the eternal inheritance of the redeemed. Contrast with this harmonious series of events in the establishment of the kingdom, that view which has the kingdom established on the earth when Christ comes, and the one thousand years’ reign of Christ with his people on the new earth. That view necessarily has Satan let loose on the new earth, after the saints, with Christ in their midst, have enjoyed its glories for a thousand years! Then Satan’s vast army, “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea,” is raised from the dead out of the new earth! and, with Satan at their head, come tramping up over the fields of living green on the breadth of the new earth! to surround the city of the saints. And to crown the absurdity of this position, fire comes down from Heaven and consumes the vast multitude of the wicked of all ages upon the new earth! In our opinion, the inconsistencies of this view have led many to adopt the mixed millennium, and follow on in the almost endless fancies of the future age. If it be objected that our view of the subject has the city of the redeemed resting upon the old earth before it shall be regenerated by fire, we reply: This may be in the plan of God, that all sinners may see what they have lost, and the redeemed may witness the terrors of that death from which they are saved; and that the assembled intelligences of the universe that have not sinned, may also be impressed with the holiness and dignity of the divine law, the penalty of which is death. Tremendous execution! Satan and all the angels that revolted with him, and all men who have died in their sins, from the murderer, Cain, down to the last sinner that shall refuse salvation, perish in the lake of fire poured upon them as they gather around the city of the redeemed to take it. How fitting a place will the old world be—the marks of the curse now doubly visible—for this terrible execution. “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley.” Zech. 14:4. At the close of the millennium, the Lord will stand upon the mount of his ascension; and after his voice shall call forth the wicked dead, the mount will cleave asunder, leaving a plain sufficiently extensive to receive the New Jerusalem. Around this city Satan and his vast forces will gather to take it. And at the very moment of attack, fire from Heaven will come down upon them to that extent that the vast scene, necessarily covering a large portion of the old earth’s surface, is represented as a lake of fire and brimstone. Then “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also.” But whether that portion of the earth where the city shall rest, having been prepared by a miracle of divine power for the reception of the beloved city, will remain unaffected by the fires of that day; or whether the melting earth and heaven, fleeing from the face of Him that shall be seated on the great white throne, Rev. 20:11, shall be removed from the city during their regeneration by fire, may not be important to the present discussion of the subject. Either of these can be done by the power of Him who will do greater things in the grand work of restitution. J. W. The Eastern Question.
By Uriah Smith
The traveler who finds a prominent and well-worded guide-board, though it be but one, pointing out in plain terms the way to his desired destination, has no misgivings but that he is upon the right road and will in due time reach the end of his journey. The student of prophecy finds himself to-day amid a whole forest of guide-boards all pointing in the same direction, and showing the child of God that the last stage of his earthly pilgrimage is reached, and that the eternal kingdom of God is not far in the distance. The voice of fulfilling prophecy to-day is many-tongued. Beacon lights are flaming up all over the earth. To be in doubt is to be guilty of inexcusable carelessness and slumber. The third angel's message, the last message to go forth before the Son of man appears upon the great white cloud, Rev. 14: 9-14, is already far advanced in its process of fulfillment. If this is not so, let any one account for this S. D. Adventist movement, a movement which has reached no small degree of magnitude, and which professes to be a fulfillment, and certainly bears every feature, of that message. If this is the message, and this the fulfillment, it shows us where we are beyond all mistaking. Again, the old infallible that sits in St. Peter's chair at Rome, at the head of the crazy papal system, is near his end. His temporal dominion is gone. The great words which he was to speak, have been heard. He has secured a decree from the whole Catholic world that he is infallible. That decree, which, if it could be carried out, would put every political throne beneath the pope's feet, knocked out his last earthly prop. In close connection with this the prophet saw that beast (the papacy) destroyed and its body given to the burning flame. Dan. 7: 11. The papacy is to be destroyed by the coming of Christ. 2 Thess. 2: 8. If the papacy is the subject of prophecy in the little horn of Dan. 7, the first part of 2 Thess. 2, and the first part of Rev. 13, of which there can be no doubt, then where are we? What look we for next, in its history? Consummation in the fires of the last day, and that speedily. So also our own nation is a great way-mark on the prophetic highway. It is to be followed by no other earthly government, but after accomplishing certain acts, is to meet, as a living power, the destruction of the great day of the Lord. It has about done its work. What remains it is now preparing to do. We might also mention the manifold signs now appearing in the political and domestic economy of the nations, the increase of wealth, the decline of religion, the growing laxity of morals, the alarming outburst of crime, the achievements of science, the unaccountable phenomena of nature, etc. And now a cloud is overshadowing Europe, beneath which the roar of cannon and the shock of armies are to respond, in the ears of all the world, to the words of prophecy, testifying that its final utterances are fast fulfilling. In the fate of Turkey, the overthrow of which, as is now generally conceded, is inevitably drawing near, we have one of the most striking indications of our nearness to the end. Let us note a few points in the prophecy. In Dan. 11: 33-35, the 1260 years of papal persecution are undoubtedly brought to view, bringing us to the termination of that period in 1798, a year thus marked as the time of the end. In verses 36-39 another power is introduced to appear about that time in an atheistical character. France took this character, at that very time, in the terrible French revolution. No other nation, as a nation, has ever openly professed itself atheistical. All the specifications of these verses find an easy application to France during that period. “He shall divide the land for gain.” Verse 39. In the revolution the large landed estates of the nobility were seized, divided into small portions, and sold out to the citizens. The result was an addition of over 700,000,000 pounds sterling to the national treasury. In verse 40 two other powers are introduced, the king of the south, and the king of the north. These terms are explained by a reference to the first part of the chapter. When the old Macedonian kingdom of Alexander the Great was broken up at his death, four kingdoms arose out of it, which from the prophet's stand-point in Palestine, were called the kings of the south, west, north and east. The king of the south was Egypt, and the king of the north, Thrace, including Asia Minor, and adjacent territory. Egypt is still Egypt, and the power that now occupies Asia Minor, is Turkey. Therefore at the time introduced in verse 40, Egypt was the king of the south, and Turkey the king of the north. By the pronoun “him” of that verse, is meant the atheistical French power just described. Here is a testing point in the prophecy. According to the application thus far made, the following movements are called for: 1. That at the time of the end, in 1798, the king of the south, Egypt, should engage in hostilities with France; and, 2. That the king of the north, Turkey, should come against the same power, in the same year, in great fury. If all this did transpire, it must be either a fulfillment of this prediction, or one of the most unaccountable coincidences ever met with in the world's history. But it did all take place to the letter. See American Encyclopedia. And the application of the prophecy is thus most strikingly confirmed. From this point the prophecy takes up that power which came off victorious in that conflict; and that was Turkey. The French gave way and Turkey recovered all the temporary conquests of the French in Egypt. Verses 41, 42 and 43 find as easy an application to Turkey, as the previous parts of the prophecy to the papacy and to France. Verse 44 was strikingly fulfilled in the Crimean war. The threatening aspect of Persia on the east, and Russia on the north, was the occasion of Turkey's declaration of war against Russia at that time. Verse 45 describes movements which have not yet taken place; but the way is fast preparing for them. Russia, ever since the days of Peter the Great, has been actuated by a strong desire to drive the Turk out of Europe and gain possession of Constantinople. The treaty that concluded the Crimean war, restrained Russia from the use of the Black Sea, and so postponed the carrying out of her project. But when France was humbled by Prussia in 1870, and England was thereby financially crippled, and Austria had not recovered from her punishment by Prussia a few years before, and there was no European power that could or would come to the aid of Turkey in case of conflict, Russia announced to the world that she did not propose to be longer bound by the stipulations of the treaty of 1856. Since that time she has been acting accordingly and preparing to carry out her designs upon Turkey. The result is now seen in the war declared last Tuesday, April 24, by Russia against Turkey. How will it issue? No one supposes that Turkey, unaided, can long stand before that colossal power. All political writers announce it as Turkey's inevitable doom to be driven from Europe. Where will it go? Back upon its Asiatic dominions. The prophecy says he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace, or seat of government, between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, which Bishop Newton says must141 denote Mt. Zion, the site of Jerusalem. This will probably be the point where the government will be located when the Turks are forced from Constantinople. Then adds the prophecy, “He shall come to his end and none shall help him.” In 1798, 1840 and 1853-6, Turkey received the help of other powers. But now they must stand aloof. England and France have proclaimed themselves strictly neutral in this contest. The Sultan appeals to the provisions of the treaties of 1840 and 1846, guaranteeing the integrity and independence of the Turkish government by the other powers. But he is told that he has forfeited all claims upon them. The Turkish treasury is exhausted. Russia is armed to the teeth prepared for one year's uninterrupted fighting, and has thrown into the field already a force more than double the number of men that Turkey is able to muster. When the Turks leave Europe, the end of that power is not far distant. And when its end comes, then, says Dan. 12: 1, Michael, the great Prince of God's people, that is Christ, stands up or begins his reign; the scenes of this world's history close in a time of trouble unparalleled, the dead are raised, and probation ends. The politician looks upon this movement with a curiosity to see how the map of Europe will be reconstructed when it is over. But the child of God looks upon it with greater interest, because it is to him one of the great way-marks to show that the kingdom of God is at our doors. Were we asked to reconstruct the map of Europe and the East, we would begin by striking out Turkey in Europe. Then we would strike out Turkey in Asia; but when we do that, we might as well strike out all maps; for then the kingdoms of this world are broken with a rod of iron and dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel by the setting up of the kingdom of God. So few are the events intervening between us and the scenes of the great decisive day, and so apparently are the last movements of the nations beginning. What may intervene to restrain the winds, if anything, and postpone for awhile the issue, we know not. We do not know that anything will. Events move rapidly in these days, and the nations are circling swifter and swifter round the great vortex that is soon to engulf them all. It is time to prepare. Let us not be guilty of the folly of unbelief or the crime of delay. U. S.