The Jesuits are the nerve of the Holy See of Rome, and they hold a commission authorizing them to destroy every power that makes any pretensions to self-government. They have been driven from Germany, Italy, Austria, and Spain, and they come to England and America. In England they have created a disturbance by introducing, stealthily, confessionals in the high or established church of England. In America, their great plea is against, and they are trying to break down, the public schools and other signs of progress.
The Guardian, the Catholic organ of San Francisco, says: “It is certain that Catholics generally are but little concerned as to how our public schools are managed, for it is notorious that the best and most thorough educational institutions in the country are those managed by Catholics. No—it is not so much the management of the Godless schools, with which Catholics find fault, as in being compelled to contribute to the support of a system of education, which, when not infidel, is avowedly Protestant.”
One thing is a little singular. If they do not care how the schools are managed, why have they worked in such a manner as to introduce a large majority of Catholic teachers into the public schools of San Francisco?
The Tablet, another Catholic paper, in its issue of Nov. 13, 1869, said, “The State must either not tax us at all, or give us our proportion of the money raised to be expended in schools under the control of the church.”
The same paper in its issue of December 25, of the same year, says: “We demand of the State, as our right, either such schools as the church will accept, or exemption from the school tax. If it will support schools by a general tax, we demand that it provide or give us our proportion of the public funds, and leave us to provide schools in which we can educate our children in our own religion, under the supervision of our own church.”
The Freeman’s Journal of Nov. 13, 1869, another Catholic paper, says, “Education is not the work of the State at all. It belongs to families, and should be left to families and to voluntary associations. The school tax is in itself an unjust imposition.”
The same journal for December 11, of the same year, says, “Let the public school system go to where it came from—the devil.”
Talk of the above kind induced the New York Legislature to accede to their claims, and a committee was selected to appropriate the school funds. The committee being largely Catholic, the case came out worse than that of the famous robber, who was dividing the money with two of his ignorant fellow-thieves, “There’s two for you two, and here’s two for me too.” In this case it was, “There’s $1.00 for your Protestant schools, and here’s $15.00 for our Catholic schools.” Shortly after this triumph on the part of the Catholics, a meeting of Roman Catholics was held in New York. In the meeting, one of the speakers, exulting over what had been gained by them through special appropriations from the New York Legislature, said, “This is the little finger, and we must preserve it until we get the whole hand.”
Papists discard Protestant schools, and claim that their plan of educating is the best. Cardinal Wiseman, in a lecture delivered at Leeds, England, says: “Sciences, letters and arts, never flourished more than under the papacy; the church of Rome is really the mother of all wisdom.” Again he says: “Italy is the first country in Europe for great genius; but Italy is the center of the papacy; therefore the dominance of the pope is the producer of great genius in sciences, letters, and arts.” On this, Gavazzi says: “She produces great geniuses, not by the rule of the pope, but by her sun and soil; not by the Romish domination, but in spite of it, yes, in spite of it! Rome, without popes, was unequaled for her monuments—the popes destroyed them. Rome of the popes can show nothing to compare with Rome of the pagans.”
“She did not need a pope to produce Cicero, Horace, Livy, Pliny, Tacitus, Virgil, Tibullus, Seneca, and the long list of her illustrious pagan names. Her genius springs, not from the Vatican, but from herself.”
“Cardinal Wiseman says the popes encourage genius, and ventures to cite Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and even Galileo!”
Dante was persecuted; his works were forbidden till about two centuries ago; to this day the Jesuits expel them from their schools. Our best historians, from Guicciardini to Charles Botta, were all forbidden. The best authors on the improvement of laws and political economy, as Filangieri, Beccari, Giannone, Gioja, Romagnosi, were all forbidden. Galileo, in spite of all the assertions of Wiseman, was imprisoned, persecuted, and morally poisoned by the inquisition. From the days of Gregory the seventh to the present, Italy has produced great geniuses; all have been persecuted. The conclusion is clear; they have been neither created nor fostered by the papacy; but have been the sons of Italy, her natural productions, who have grown to a greatness that will endure forever in spite of popes and popery.
Father Damen, the Jesuit, in his lecture in London, Canada, Feb. 21, 1870, made a statement that “the church of Rome is not opposed to education or to free institutions.” Brock, in his reply, says, “A few years ago, the present pope issued an allocution in reference to the affairs of the republic of New Granada in this continent, in which he says, ‘Nor must we pass over in silence that, by the new constitution of that republic, enacted in these recent times, among other things, the right of free education is defended, and liberty of all kinds is given to all, so that each person may even print and publish his thoughts, and all kinds of monstrous portents of opinions, and profess privately and publicly whatever worship he pleases.’” On this the pope observes to the College of Cardinals whom he addressed, “You assuredly see, venerable brothers, how horrible and sacrilegious a war is proclaimed against the Catholic church, by the rulers of the Republic of New Granada.”
Damen further states: “The Jesuit lecturer then went on to dwell in glowing language on the patronage extended to the fine arts, by the church of Rome. Printing and sculpture, music and architecture, where would they be but for the fostering care of Rome? I acknowledge that the church of Rome encouraged these arts, but it was only to serve her own ends. Pressed into her service, they ministered to her idolatry, and surrounded it with that which fascinated the eye and pleased the ear. The idolatrous sacrifice of the mass, celebrated in a gorgeous cathedral, amid the trophies of painting and sculpture, and accompanied by ravishing strains of music, would invest the Roman service with charms which to some minds would be irresistible. Rome’s patronage of the fine arts, then, has not been disinterested.”
They have materially aided her in leading captive the minds of men. Yet think not that to Rome alone belong those who have excelled in art. Many noble painters, and sculptors, and architects, and some of the most illustrious composers, such as Handel, and Mendelssohn, never owned the sway or sought the patronage of Rome.”
Of Rome’s treatment of Galileo, Damen says, “Four months after his arrival in Rome, on June 22, 1633, Galileo was conducted in a penitential dress to the convent of Minerva, where, by the sentence of the inquisitors, the venerable old man was solemnly called on to renounce and abjure, as impious and heretical, the opinions which his whole life had been consecrated to form and strengthen. There, on bended knees, Rome compelled that aged man to pronounce ‘the proposition that the sun is the center of the world to be absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture’—and further to pronounce ‘the proposition that the earth is not in the center of the world, nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, to be also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith.’” The old man pronounced the required abjuration, rose from his knees, and then whispered to a friend, “It does move though.” His works and those of Copernicus, and another eminent astronomer, Foscarini, were all put in the index of Prohibited Books, and remained there up to the year 1828, since which time they have been silently omitted.
Said Victor Hugo to the priests, “Ah, we know you. We know the clerical party. It is an old party. This it is which forbids to science and genius the going beyond the Missal, and which wishes to cloister thought in dogmas. Every step which the intelligence of Europe has taken has been in spite of it. Its history is written in the history of human progress, but it is written on the back of the leaf. It is opposed to it all. This it is which caused Prinelli to be scourged for having said that the stars would not fall. This it is which put Campanella seven times to the torture for having affirmed that the number of worlds was infinite, and for having caught a glimpse of creation. This it is which persecuted Harvey for having proved the circulation of the blood. In the name of Jesus, it shut up Galileo. In the name of St. Paul, it imprisoned Christopher Columbus. To discover a law of the heavens was an impiety; to find a world was a heresy.”
“You wish us to give you the people to instruct. Very well. Let us see your pupils! Let us see those you have produced. What have you done for Italy? What have you done for Spain? For centuries you have kept in your hands, at your discretion, at your school, those two great nations, illustrious among the illustrious. What have you done for them? I am going to tell you. Thanks to you, Italy, whose name no man who thinks can any longer pronounce without an inexpressible filial emotion; Italy, mother of genius and of nations, which has spread over the universe all the most brilliant marvels of poetry and the arts; Italy, which has taught mankind to read, now knows not how to read. Yes, Italy is, of all the States of Europe, that where the smallest number of natives know how to read.”
“Spain, magnificently endowed; Spain, which received from the Romans her first civilization, from the Arabs her second civilization, from Providence, and in spite of you, a world—America: Spain, thanks to you, to your yoke of stupor—which is a yoke of degradation and decay—Spain has lost this secret power, which it had from the Romans; this genius of art, which it had from the Arabs, this world, which it had from God; and in exchange for all you have made it lose, it has received from you—the inquisition.”
After quoting the above, Hemphill says: “If the priests are the educators they claim to be, let us see what they have done for our neighbors, the Mexicans. Mexico was colonized a whole century before New England. Its first settlers were the noblest spirits of Spain in her Augustan age—the epoch of Cervantes, Cortez, Pizarro, Columbus, Gonzalo de Cordova, Ximenes, and Isabella. Mexico has been educated by the priests since the fifteenth century; and her career has been glorious! (?) Look at the respective conditions of Mexico and the United States. Mexico is a Catholic country—priests are the educators.”
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Everlasting Punishment.
A. CLEAR discrimination is to be made between everlasting punishment and everlasting torment. We endorse the former, because it is scriptural; we discard the latter, because it is thoroughly unscriptural. A thing may be conceived of as either endless in its process, or endless in its effects. If the doctrine of eternal misery were true, the process of the sinner's suffering would be unending. If the doctrine of the second death should prove true, the effects of the sinner's punishment would be unending. In the former case, justice would be forever satisfying, but would never be satisfied. In the latter case, God's law could be perfectly and eternally satisfied. President Edwards acknowledged that the utter extermination of the wicked, if it should please God to inflict that penalty, would constitute an everlasting punishment. His conclusion was very sensible, for such an infliction would involve the loss of eternal life, and sink the sinner into such fathomless depths of darkness and death as to preclude all possibility of future deliverance. If the possession of unending existence in God's kingdom would be an endless gain, then a failure to obtain that existence would constitute an endless loss. On the one side there is eternal life—on the other side, eternal death. If the one is everlasting reward, the other is everlasting punishment.
This simple and sensible view will help to harmonize various scriptural statements of the sinner's doom, which appear to antagonize each other. It is proper to remark that more than one hundred passages, taking the terms employed in a plain and natural sense, teach the utter destruction of the wicked as conscious personalities. There are about half a dozen passages—including parables and symbolic scripture—that are frequently quoted to prove the dogma of endless woe. Concerning this seeming conflict of testimony we wish to remark:—
1. If the two classes of scripture statement just referred to could not well be reconciled, it would certainly be safer and more sensible to make the few passages bend to the many, than to make the many bend to the few. A candid inquirer after truth would not be so likely to mistake the meaning of a hundred texts bearing on a given subject, as he would that of five or six that seem to bear against the general tide.
2. If the Bible is God's own revelation— which we believe—there can be no real conflict of testimony. The inspired Word of God could not possibly teach both the destruction of the wicked, and the eternal preservation of the wicked. If there is any such apparent collision, there must be some just method of interpretation that shall produce harmony.
3. The Bible certainly teaches both the everlasting punishment and the everlasting destruction of the wicked. There is no necessity for interpreting the endless punishment of sinners to mean their endless torment. The moment you do this you make the Bible contradict itself, because the threatened death of the wicked can never be reconciled with their eternal life in pain. On the other hand, we have shown that there is no antagonism between punishment and destruction. The one involves the other.
Now let us examine a passage which has been relied upon more than any other one to prove the doctrine of endless torment: “These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25:46. It has been urged with great gravity that the original term (aionion) used in one member of the sentence to describe the duration of the saint's reward, is also used in the other member to describe the duration of the sinner's punishment. Most freely granted. Nor are we disposed to attach any special sense or limited meaning to the term. Take it in its absolute and unlimited sense. Make it mean unmeasured duration, reaching into the eternal ages, and running parallel with God's own existence. What then? We have a simple and solemn declaration of Christ, that the rewards of virtue and vice are both eternal.
Does the passage throw any light on the nature of human destiny? Let us see. It is plainly revealed that the reward of righteousness is “eternal life.” What would be the natural antithesis of this? Eternal death. Does the text itself favor this thought? It certainly does. The word rendered “punishment” (kolasis) is derived directly from the verb koladzo, one of the primary meanings of which is “to cut off.” It would therefore be entirely proper to render the passage: “These shall go away into an eternal excision.” The present rendering may be more elegant, but the original strongly favors the idea of the sinner's extermination.
Let us compare scripture with scripture. It is safe to suppose that Paul would be in harmony with Jesus. Both lay great stress upon the second coming of Christ to judge the world and mete out appropriate rewards. If Jesus says the wicked “shall go away into everlasting punishment,” Paul says they “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” 2 Thess. 1:9. The nature of the sinner's “punishment” is here very clearly brought to view. But the difficulty is insurmountable the moment Christ's declaration is interpreted to mean eternal torment, for it would be an abuse of language to attach such a meaning as this to Paul's statement of “everlasting destruction.”—Bible Banner.
Obstructed
OBSTRUCTED.—Seeds of life in the heart are unfruitful through delayed action. Latent convictions are common. Very few act up to the full measure of their faith. Latent faith needs obedience to give it development. Its power is multiplied the moment it is used. Plants beneath a rock scarcely live, but the moment free action is allowed, they seize the sunlight, drink in the dew and air, and grow to vigor and beauty. Just so faith gains life when followed by action. There are thousands of unconverted persons who would find peace in God at once if they would only do what they believe is duty. They will believe more the moment they begin to act on the faith they have. Their faith is now like plants beneath a rock. Obedience lifts the rock and develops life. “With the heart man believes unto righteousness,” but confession with mouth brings salvation. Baptism is an act of faith, and brings more faith. Every act of obedience increases faith. If Christians used, i. e., obeyed their faith more promptly, they would believe more firmly, possess more life, and have more power. Action is the need of the hour.—Baptist Union.
Wear Your Colors
HEAVEN help the man who imagines he can dodge enemies by trying to please everybody! If such an individual ever succeeded, we should be glad to know it. Wear your colors, in spite of wind or weather, storm or sunshine.
Principle and Heart
ALL is hollow where the heart bears not a part, and all is peril where principle is not a guide.
The Sabbath in the Arctic Regions.
By C. A.
I AM not about to give account of any in the frigid zone who are keeping the Sabbath; for I do not know of any there who do keep it, or who have any desire to keep it. The object of these lines is only to show that the people of that region might keep it if they should choose to do so. It is necessary to show this because there are some here in the temperate zone who decline keeping the Sabbath unless it can be shown that it can be kept in the Arctic regions!
What reason they have for this—whether they intend ever moving to that delectable portion of the globe, or whether they choose to make the Esquimaux and Laplanders their standard of obedience, refusing to keep any command of God which these tribes might find it difficult to obey, it is perhaps not the province of this article to endeavor to determine. Their objection, however, is this: If the termination and commencement of the day is determined by the setting of the sun, and the seventh day thus designated is the Sabbath, how can the Sabbath be kept in those northern regions where for weeks together the sun is above or below the horizon—where in summer there are several weeks of continuous day, and in winter a like period of continual night?
This objection is used for two purposes: By some it is used as an objection to the observance of the Sabbath at all. With such we care not to contend. Their controversy is between themselves and God, who has given a command which is unmistakably binding upon all habitable parts of his globe in all time. With the life-long and futile task upon their hands of endeavoring to harmonize their theory with his justice and wisdom, we leave them in their unenviable position.
By others it is used as an objection to commencing the day at sunset, and in favor of commencing it at 6 o'clock. But how a 6 o'clock arrangement would help the Sabbath-keeping Laplander, does not seem to us quite so evident.
In this case the day must be determined by accurate time-pieces; but in the absence of direct testimony on the subject, it would be safe to conclude that among the rude tribes inhabiting those desolate regions, those appendages of civilization known as clocks, would be about as scarce as their daylight in winter; and hence practically they must determine the day in some other way, or not at all.
But suppose, which of course might be possible, that they had clocks in Lapland and Greenland. There is still a difficulty. Clocks are dependent for their regulation upon the sun. No time-piece could be regulated were it not for the sun. Now if nothing can be determined by the sun in the Arctic regions, in relation to time and the succession of days, people there would have nothing by which to regulate their clocks, and hence their clocks would be useless; and thus the poor Laplander would be left in spite of both nature and art in the most hopeless bewilderment.
But hold! We are borrowing trouble for these poor people of which they themselves never dreamed. It would be well if people would wait and let statements of difficulties come from those who are actually involved therein. On any other subject but the Sabbath men would perhaps be content to pursue this course; but here, such is their anxiety to avoid its claims, they will imagine that somebody else, three thousand miles away, would get into difficulty in trying to observe it, therefore they will not keep it.
Away with these quibbles. The truth is, the Sabbath can be kept without difficulty in the most northern latitudes. The commencement and close of each day can be determined with sufficient accuracy for all practical and religious purposes. Fortunately we have the experience and observation of one who has passed a portion of both a summer and a winter in that region, and who has borne testimony on this very point.
Bayard Taylor, the distinguished American tourist, describes the close of one, and the commencement of a new, day, in mid summer. Writing from the steamer Gyller, Arctic Ocean, July 27, 1857, he says:—
“It was now 11 o’clock, and Sværholt glowed in fiery bronze lustre as we rounded it, the eddies of returning birds that had been frightened from their roosts by the firing of the steamer’s gun, gleaming golden in the nocturnal sun, like drifts of beech leaves in the October air. Far to the north the sun lay in a bed of saffron light over the clear horizon of the Arctic ocean. A few bars of dazzling orange cloud floated above him, and still higher in the sky, where the saffron melted through delicate rose color into blue hung light leaves of vapor, touched with pearly, opaline flushes of pink and golden gray. The sea was like a web of pale slate color shot through and through with threads of orange and saffron, from the dance of a myriad shifting and twinkling ripples. The air was filled and permeated with the soft, mysterious glow, and even the very azure of the southern sky seemed to shine through a net of golden gauze. The headlands of this deeply indented coast—the capes of Laxe and Porsanger Fiords, and of Mageröe—lay around us in different degrees of distance, but all with foreheads touched with supernatural glory. Far to the north-east was Nordkys, the most northern point of the mainland of Europe, gleaming rosily and faint in the full beams of the sun, and just as our watches denoted midnight, the North Cape appeared in the westward—a long line of purple bluff, presenting a verticle front of 960 feet in height to the Polar Sea. Midway between those two magnificent headlands stood the midnight sun shining on us with subdued fires, and with the gorgeous coloring of an hour for which we have no name, since it is neither sunset nor sunrise, but the blended loveliness of both—but shining at the same moment in the heat and splendor of noonday, on the Pacific Isles.”
“This was the midnight sun as I had dreamed it—as I had hoped to see it.”
“Within fifteen minutes after midnight, there was a perceptible increase of altitude, and in less than half an hour the whole line of sky had changed, the yellow brightening into orange, and the saffron melting into the pale vermilion of dawn. Yet it was neither the colors, nor the same character of light as we had had, half an hour before midnight. The difference was so slight as scarcely to be described, but it was the difference between evening and morning. The faintest transfusion of one prevailing tint into another, had changed the whole expression of heaven and earth, and so imperceptibly and miraculously that a new day was already present to our consciousness.”
Such is the testimony of a stranger in those latitudes. No doubt with those who dwell in those regions, and who have consequently made these distinguishing features their study, the “new day” would be more immediately “present to their consciousness,” than it could be to that of any stranger.
It appears that in that season of the year when the sun is above the horizon for weeks together, it describes one continuous circle in the heavens. At midday, its altitude is the highest; at midnight, so to speak, it is lowest. Consequently each time it reaches the point nearest the horizon, it marks a revolution of the earth and the expiration of a day; and this point is no less observable to the dwellers there than sunset is to us here.
C. A.
Mrs. Ellen G. White.
By Ellen G. White
HER LIFE, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND LABORS.
It was difficult to accomplish much good in New Hampshire. We found little spirituality there. Many pronounced their experience in ’44 a delusion; it was hard to reach this class, for we could not accept the position they ventured to take. A number who were active preachers and exhorters in ’44, now seemed to have lost their moorings, and did not know where we were in prophetic time; they were fast uniting with the spirit of the world.
Upon one occasion, when I was delivering the message that the Lord had given me for the encouragement of his people, I was interrupted several times by a certain minister. He had been very active in preaching definite time; but when the appointed period passed, his faith utterly failed, and he wandered in darkness, doubting and questioning everything. He was ever ready to array himself against any one who claimed more light than he possessed. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, as I related what had been shown to me of God. This minister interrupted me several consecutive times; but I continued speaking, when he became very angry and excited, violently opposing what I said. He raised his voice to a high key, and abused me till he was forced to stop from sheer exhaustion. In a few moments he left the house, being seized with hemorrhage of the lungs. He rapidly failed from that time, and died not long after.
Our testimony was welcomed by some; but many received us suspiciously. Fanaticism and spiritual magnetism seemed to have destroyed the spirit of true godliness. Many appeared unable to discern or appreciate the motives that led me in my feebleness, to travel and bear my testimony to the people. Those who had little interest for the salvation of souls, and whose hearts had turned from the work of preparation, could not comprehend the love of God in my soul that quickened my desire to help those in darkness to the same light that cheered my path. Could they also have seen what had been revealed to me of God’s matchless love for men, manifested in giving his only Son to die for them, they would not have doubted my sincerity.
I believed all that had been shown me in vision. Truth was to me a living reality, and my labor was for eternity. However others might view my work, the weight of its importance was heavy on my soul. In feeble health I was toiling to do good to others unto eternal life. Moments seemed precious to me, delays dangerous.
In New Hampshire we had to contend with a species of spiritual magnetism, of a similar character with mesmerism. It was our first experience of this kind, and happened thus: Arriving at Claremont, we were told there were two parties of Adventists; one holding fast their former faith, the other denying it. At other places we had visited and labored with this latter class, and found that they were so buried in worldliness, and had so far adopted the popular view in regard to our disappointment that we could not reach nor help them.
But we were now pleased to learn that there was a little company here who believed that in their past experience they had been led by the providence of God. We were directed to Elders B——t and B——s as persons holding similar views with ourselves. We discovered that there was much prejudice against these men, but concluded that they were persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We called on them and were kindly received and courteously treated. We soon learned that they professed sanctification, claiming they were above the possibility of sin, being entirely consecrated to God. Their clothing was excellent, and they had an air of ease and comfort.
Presently a little boy about eight years old entered, literally clad in dirty rags. We were surprised to find that this little specimen of neglect was the son of Elder B——t. The mother looked exceedingly ashamed and annoyed; but the father, utterly unconcerned, continued talking of his high spiritual attainments without the slightest recognition of his little son. But his sanctification had suddenly lost its charm in my eyes. Wrapped in prayer and meditation, throwing off all the toil and responsibilities of life, this man seemed too spiritually-minded to notice the actual wants of his family, or give his children the least fatherly attention. He seemed to forget that the greater is our love to God, the stronger should be our love and care for those whom he has given us; that the Saviour never taught idleness and abstract devotion, to the neglect of the duties laying directly in our path.
This husband and father declared that the heavenly attainment of true holiness carried the mind above all earthly thoughts. Still he sat at the table and ate temporal food; he was not fed by a miracle, and some one must provide that food, although he troubled himself little about that matter, his time was so devoted to spiritual things. Not so his wife, upon whom rested the burden of the family. She toiled unremittingly in every department of household labor to keep up the home. The husband declared that she was not sanctified, but allowed worldly things to draw her mind from religious subjects.
I thought of our Saviour as a constant worker for the good of others. He said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” The sanctification that he taught was shown in deeds of kindness and mercy, and the love that counteth others better than ourselves.
While at this house a sister of B——s requested a private interview with me. She had much to say concerning entire consecration to God, and endeavored to draw out my views in regard to that subject. I felt that I must be guarded in my expressions. While talking, she held my hand in hers, and with the other softly stroked my hair. I felt that angels of God would protect me from the unholy influence this attractive young lady was seeking to exercise over me, with her fair speeches, and gentle caresses. She had much to say in regard to the spiritual attainments of B——t, and his great faith. Her mind seemed very much occupied with him and his experience. I was glad to be relieved at length from this trying interview.
These persons, who made such lofty professions, were calculated to deceive the unwary. They had much to say of love and charity covering a multitude of sins. I could not unite with their views and feelings; but felt that they were wielding a terrible power for evil. I wished to escape from their presence as soon as possible.
Eld. B——t, in speaking of faith, said, “All we have to do is to believe, and whatever we ask of God will be given us.”
Bro. White suggested that there were conditions specified. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Said he, “Your theory of faith must have a foundation; it is as empty as a four-barrel with both heads out. True charity never covers up unrepented and unconfessed sins. She only drops her mantle over the faults that are confessed and renounced. True Charity is a very delicate personage, never setting her pure foot outside of Bible truth.”
As soon as the views of these people were crossed, they manifested a stubborn, self-righteous spirit that rejected all instruction. Though professing great humiliation they were boastful in their sophistry of sanctification, and resisted all appeals to reason. That same afternoon, we visited the house of Brother Collier, where we purposed to hold a meeting in the evening. We supposed this family were in union with those we had left. We asked some questions in reference to those men; but Brother Collier gave us no information. Said he, “If the Lord sent you here, you will ascertain what spirit governs them, and will solve the mystery for us.”
B——s and B——t both attended the meeting. While I was earnestly praying for light and the presence of God, they began to groan and cry “Amen!” apparently throwing their sympathy with my prayer. Immediately my heart was oppressed with a great weight, the words died upon my lips, darkness overshadowed the whole meeting.173
Bro. White arose and said, “I am distressed. The Spirit of the Lord is grieved. I resist this influence in the name of the Lord! O God, rebuke this foul spirit!”
I was immediately relieved, and rose above the shadows. But again, while speaking words of encouragement and faith to those present, their groanings and amens chilled me. Once more Bro. White rebuked the spirit of darkness, and again the power of the Lord rested upon me, while I spoke to the people. These agents of the evil one were then so bound as to be unable to exert their baneful influence any more that night.
After the meeting, Bro. White said to Bro. Collier, “Now I can tell you concerning those two men. They are acting under a Satanic influence, yet attributing all to the Spirit of the Lord.”
“I believe God sent you to encourage us,” said Bro. Collier. “We call their influence mesmerism. They affect the minds of others in a remarkable way, and have controlled some to their great damage. We seldom hold meetings here, for they intrude their presence, and we can have no union with them. They manifest deep feeling, as you observed to-night, but they crush the very life from our prayers, and leave an influence blacker than Egyptian darkness. I have never seen them tied up before to-night.”
During family prayer that night the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I was shown many things in vision. Elders B——t and B——s were presented to me as doing great injury to the cause of God. While professing sanctification they were transgressing the sacred law. They were corrupt at heart and all those in union with them were under a Satanic delusion and obeying their own carnal instincts instead of the Word of God. These two men exerted a marked and peculiar power over the people, holding their attention and winning their confidence through a baneful mesmeric influence that many who were innocent and unsuspecting attributed to the Spirit of the Lord. Those who followed their teachings were terribly deceived and led into the grossest errors.
I was shown that the daily lives of these men were in direct contrast with their profession. Under the garb of sanctification they were practicing the worst sins and deceiving God’s people. Their iniquity was all laid open before me, and I saw the fearful account that stood against them in the great book of records, and their terrible guilt in professing utter holiness, while their daily acts were hateful in the sight of God. Some time after this, the characters of these persons were developed before the people and the vision given in reference to them was fully vindicated.
The Nature of an Unquenchable Fire.
By John Nevins Andrews
The action of fire is not to preserve but to destroy. It lives upon that which is cast into it, or upon which it preys. It dissolves substances into their original elements, and changes them mainly into gaseous matter. The great and terrible conflagration of the last day will differ from every other in this grand fact, that in consequence of such chemical changes as the Creator will make, even the water shall burn as pitch and the dust as brimstone. That fire shall devour every element and then cease to burn for lack of fuel. It is not the property of fire to annihilate matter, but to dissolve it and change its form of existence. The fire of the great day shall do this to the whole substance of our globe.
But if it be an unquenchable fire, must it not burn to all eternity? One thing is very certain in that case, viz., that if the fire never ceases to burn, there must be an eternal creation going on; for the fire is continually devouring, and however vast the pile of fuel, unless it be absolutely unlimited and infinite, it must at last be all devoured. Indeed, this is precisely the work of an unquenchable fire. It is to burn until it has utterly consumed all the fuel. Take the following as an illustration. God told the people of Jerusalem, when that city was threatened by Nebuchadnezzar, that if they would keep the Sabbath, their city should stand forever; but if they would not, in this, hearken to his voice, he testifies thus: “Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” Jer. 17 : 27.
The people of Jerusalem would not heed this gracious warning. They put the Lord to the test to see whether he was in earnest. The last chapter of Jeremiah gives us the fulfillment of this warning. For we are told that Nebuzar-adan, the servant of Nebuchadnezzar, came to Jerusalem, “And burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire.” Jer. 52 : 13.
Thus we see that this unquenchable fire did utterly devour everything that could burn. But that fire is not in process of action. It did its work. It could not be arrested. But when that work was done, the fire ceased. Such is the nature and the work of an unquenchable fire. J. N. A.