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diff --git a/old/13330.txt b/old/13330.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d172a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13330.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6138 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Last Reformation, by F. G. [Frederick George] Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Last Reformation + +Author: F. G. [Frederick George] Smith + +Release Date: August 30, 2004 [EBook #13330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST REFORMATION *** + + + + +Produced by Joel Erickson, Christine Gehring, Leah Moser and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +The Last Reformation + +By F.G. Smith + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES +THE REVELATION EXPLAINED +PROPHETIC LECTURES +ON DANIEL AND +REVELATION + + + +PREFACE + + +God's true people everywhere are looking for light on the church +question. A deep undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the present +order of things exists in the ecclesiastical world. The historic +creeds are stationary and conservative, but religious thought can +not always be bound nor its progress permanently hindered. Honest +Christian men and women will think, and they are now thinking in the +terms of a universal Christianity. If I am able to discern the signs +of the times, the rising tide of Christian love and fellowship is +about to overflow the lines of sect and bring together in one common +hope and in one common brotherhood all those who love our Lord Jesus +Christ in sincerity. + +What will constitute the leading characteristics of the church of +the future? This is the burning question. Spiritual-minded men are +conscious that things can not long continue as they now are, but what +and where is the remedy? + +After this book was completed and in the hands of the printers, +I received a copy of "The Church and its Organization," by Walter +Lowrie, and was surprized to find in it much truth that I had +already received through independent investigation and embodied in my +manuscript. I refer particularly to the charismatic organization and +government of the church. It is gratifying to know that other minds +are being led to the same conclusions regarding a subject of such +vital importance to the future of Christianity. + +In writing the present work I have endeavored to present the +Scriptural solution of this great problem, a solution which takes +into account, and gives due respect to, historic Christianity, the +prophecies respecting the church and its destiny, and the fundamental +characteristics of our holy religion as it emanated from the divine +Founder. + +If this work can be of service in pointing out Christ's plan and +purpose to "gather together in one the children of God which are +scattered abroad," and also be instrumental in helping to accomplish +this grand Christian ideal, I shall feel abundantly repaid. F.G. +SMITH. + + +Anderson, Indiana, May 6, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE +Introduction--"The Time of Reformation" 9 + +Part I--The Church in Apostolic Days + +CHAPTER + I The Church Defined 19 + II The Universal Church 21 + III The Local Church 33 + IV The Organization and Government of the + Church 41 + + +Part II--The Church in History + + V Corruption of Evangelical Faith 73 + VI Rise of Ecclesiasticism 87 + VII The Reformation 101 + VIII Modern Sects 111 + IX The Church of the Future 125 + + +Part III--The Church in Prophecy + + X Interpretation of Prophetic Symbols 141 + XI The Apostolic Period 149 + XII The Medieval Period 169 + XIII Era of Modern Sects 209 + XIV The Last Reformation 223 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +"THE TIME OF REFORMATION" + + +In ecclesiastical history the term Reformation has been applied +specifically to the important religious movement of the sixteenth +century which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant +churches of that period. Since the sixteenth century there have been +other religious reformations, some of considerable importance and +influence. + +[Sidenote: A present reformation] + +There is a present reformation specially distinguished from all those +that have gone before. It is resulting from the particular operation +of the Spirit of God as predicted in the Word of God, and its +influences are being felt in varying degrees throughout all +Christendom. Many Christians are already stirred to action by the +conscious knowledge of Christ's message for these times, while +multiplied thousands of others who love the Lord Jesus are +experiencing within their own hearts the awakening of new aspirations +and impulses, the real meaning of which they do not as yet +understand, but which are, through the leadership of the Holy +Spirit, unconsciously fitting them for their true place in this great +world-wide movement which is destined to exceed in importance and +influence all other religious reformations since the days of primitive +Christianity. + +Since, as we shall show, the present reformation is the work of the +Spirit affecting all true Christians, drawing them together for +the realization of a grand Scriptural ideal, it is evident that no +particular band of people enjoy its exclusive monopoly. May the same +Holy Spirit illuminate our hearts and minds in the contemplation of +the truths of the divine Word. + +The term _reformation_ signifies "the act of reforming or the state of +being reformed; change from worse to better; correction or amendment +of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt." In its +application to the religion of Christ, reformation means the +correction of abuses and corrupt practises that have become associated +with the Christian system; the elimination of all unworthy, foreign +elements. In other words, it implies _restoration_, a return to the +practises and ideals of primitive Christianity. + +[Sidenote: What the final reformation must include] + +If we inquire concerning the limits of true reformatory work, we see +at once that, if there is to be a final reformation, such a movement +must restore in its fundamental aspects _apostolic Christianity_--its +doctrines, its ordinances, its personal regenerating and sanctifying +experiences, its spiritual life, its holiness, its power, its purity, +its gifts of the Spirit, its unity of believers, and its fruits. +This assumes, of course, that during the centuries there has been a +departure from this standard. + +[Sidenote: The church itself the real object of reformation] + +No reformation since apostolic times has covered all this ground. All +the reformations taken together fall far short of this standard. They +have been reformations only in part, each movement simply placing +special emphasis on particular doctrines, or ordinances, or personal +experiences. Hence the need of further reformation. The present +movement embraces all the truth contained in all the previous +reformations of Protestantism. But it does not stop there. It stands +committed to all the truth of the Word of God. It goes straight to +the heart of the reformation subject and reveals the pure, holy, +_universal_ church of the apostolic times as made up of all those who +were regenerated, uniting them all IN CHRIST; in the "church of the +living God," which church was "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 +Tim. 3:15); the church that was graced with the gifts of the Spirit +and filled with holy power. + +The true apostolic church has been largely lost to view since the +early Christian centuries, when a general apostasy dimmed the light +of truth and plunged the world into the darkness of papal night. +In modern times the term "church" as applied to a general body of +religious worshipers is usually employed in a restricted sense, +specifying some particular organization, as the hierarchy of Rome or +the aggregation of local congregations constituting a Protestant sect. +By a natural reaction from the Romish extreme, wherein the church and +church relationship are exalted above the personal relationship of +the individual with his God, many teachers now incline to an +opposite extreme, which makes little of the church as an institution, +substituting therefor a sort of "loyalty to Christ," _individualism_, +subversive of true New Testament standards. + +[Sidenote: The true church Scripturally important] + +The church is not to be exalted above the Christ, nor is it a +substitute for the Christ; but in the light of New Testament teaching +we must regard the true church as _the_ instrument--the divinely +appointed instrument used by the Holy Spirit in carrying forward the +work of Christ on earth. Jesus himself said, "Upon this rock I will +build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" +(Matt. 16:18). At a later time we read, "And the Lord added to the +church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). + +If Paul were living today, he also might despise the "church" idea in +its narrow sectarian sense. But from the apostle's words, it is very +evident that he regarded the church as it existed in his day as an +institution crowned with glory and honor, the concrete expression +of Christ and his truth. "_God hath set some_ IN THE CHURCH, first +apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, +then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues" +(1 Cor. 12:28). "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and +some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting +of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the _edifying of the +body of Christ_; till we all come in the unity of the faith ... that +we ... may _grow up into him in all things_, which is the head, [of +the body, _the church_, Col. 1:18] even Christ" (Eph. 4:11-15). + +[Sidenote: The church as a divine institution] + +Inasmuch as God set in the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, +gifts of miracles, of healings, etc., we must regard the church +as originally instituted as being more than a mere aggregate of +individuals associating themselves together for particular purposes. +We must recognize the divine element. This company was the host of +redeemed ones whom Christ had saved, in whom he dwelt, and through +whom he revealed God and accomplished his work on earth. It was his +body--the organism to which he gave spiritual life and through which +he manifested the fulness of his power and glory. + +[Sidenote: Church relationship vs. individualism] + +Any reformation that has not for its object the full restoration of +the New Testament church, can not be a complete reformation, but +must be succeeded by another. In this respect the church subject +is fundamental and all-inclusive. To emphasize a mere +"personal-union-with-Christ" theory to the disparagement of the divine +_ekklesia_, is to evade the real issue. Jesus declared, "I will build +my church," and that church was an objective reality, which was not +intended to be concealed under high-sounding theological verbiage nor +dissipated in glittering generalities. It is true that Christ himself +must be presented as the ground of our hope and salvation and as the +object of our personal faith, love, and devotion; as "the way, the +truth, and the life"; but we must not forget that there is also +a revelation of the way, the truth, and the life in the church of +Christ. The apostles preached Christ as the divine "way"; but when men +believed on him, he straightway "set the members every one of them +_in the body_"--the church (1 Cor. 12:18). "And the Lord added _to +the church_ daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). They preached +Christ as the personification of "truth." But they also taught that +the gospel was a special "treasure" committed to the church for +dispensing to the nations. Paul said that God hath "committed _unto +us_ the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19). Therefore he could +represent the church of God "as the pillar and ground of the +truth." They preached him as "life," but he was also the life of the +collective body of believers as well as of individuals. He dwelt in +his church. He was its life, and through it he manifested himself +in the only form in which, since the incarnation, he can be fully +exhibited to men. + +[Sidenote: Avoiding extremes] + +The fact that Romanism has stressed the "church" idea, parading before +the world as the church an organic body devoid of true spiritual life, +a mere corpse, is no reason justifying a view which, ignoring the +practical church relationship taught in the New Testament, talks +glibly of an ethereal, intangible, ghostly something which, without a +body, lacks all practical contact with men. The Bible standard is the +proper union of soul and body. It is certain that, as in apostolic +days, such union is necessary to the proper exhibition of the divine +life and absolutely essential to the full accomplishment of the divine +purposes in Christ's great redemptive plan. + +Christ, the life of his spiritual body, and the life-giver, remains +the same in all ages. Hence the church _body_ is the part that has +been disrupted and corrupted by apostasy and sectarianism, and is +therefore the sphere of reformatory effort. And while reformation +pertains to historical Christianity, it implies, as we have already +shown, a return to the primitive standard. Therefore, before +proceeding to describe particularly the present reformation, we must +give attention to the constitution of the apostolic church, the divine +original. + + + + +PART I + +The Church in Apostolic Days + + + + +=The Last Reformation= + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHURCH DEFINED + + +[Sidenote: The term "church"] + +The word "church" as used in the New Testament is, in most cases, +derived from the Greek word _ekklesia_. The component parts of this +word literally mean to summon or call together in public convocation. +It was, therefore, used to designate any popular assembly which met +for the transaction of public business. As an example of the secular +use of the term, see Acts 19: 32, 39. This particular application of +the word, however, does not here concern us. + +Since the word _ekklesia_ conveys the idea of an assembly of "_called +ones_," it expresses beautifully the Christian's call to churchly +association. The divine call of believers is frequently expressed +in the New Testament: they are "called with an holy calling" (2 Tim. +1:9); "called in one body" (Col. 3:15); "called unto his kingdom and +glory" (1 Thess. 2:12); or, as Peter expresses it, "Ye are a chosen +generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; +that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out +of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). While these texts +and many others describe the exalted rights and privileges accorded +the "called ones," there is distinctly implied the idea of their +organic association, and it was this association that constituted them +the Christian church. + +[Sidenote: Its two Christian phases] + +"The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts +20: 28), is Clearly set forth in the New Testament. And the term +"church" in its religious usage is given two significations. In its +largest and primary signification, the church of God is the entire +body of regenerated persons in all times and places, and is in this +respect identical with the spiritual kingdom of God, the divine +family. In a secondary sense, church designates an individual assembly +in which the universal church takes local and temporary form and in +which the idea of the general church is concretely exhibited. Besides +these two significations of the Christian term "church," there are, +properly speaking, no other in the New Testament. It is true that +_ekklesia_ is sometimes used as a collective term to denote the body +of local churches existing in a given region, but there is no evidence +that these churches were bound together in groups by any outward +organization which separated or distinguished them from other +congregations of the general church. Therefore this use of the term +"church" can not be regarded as adding any new sense to those of the +general church and the local church already referred to. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH + + +Matt. 16:18 introduces in the gospel history the subject of the +church. Jesus said, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell +shall not prevail against it." This text implies that the church as +an institution was not yet founded, and it also clearly implies that +Christ himself was to be the founder and builder of his church. + +Jesus had already preached that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and +when he sent forth his twelve apostles he commanded them to preach +and say, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus himself taught +the doctrines of the kingdom, but in the words of our text there is +implied deeper ideas of the kingdom of God yet to be revealed in all +their fulness of meaning. + +[Sidenote: The body of Christ] + +We should divest our minds, temporarily at least, of preconceived +ideas of formal church organization and earnestly seek to understand +the real signification of that church of which Christ was himself +personally the founder. A few texts make this point clear: "And hath +put all things under his [Christ's] feet, and given him to be the head +over all things to the church, _which is his body_, the fulness of him +that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1: 22, 23). The church, then, is the +body of Christ. Of this body Jesus himself is the head. "And he is the +head of the body, the church ... that in all things he might have the +preeminence" (Col. 1:18). "For his body's sake, which is the church" +(verse 24). Christ is head of but one body. "There is _one_ +body" (Eph. 4:4). In these texts the body and the church are used +interchangeably, referring to one and the same thing. The body of +which Christ is the head is the church that he built, "the church of +God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20: 28). + +[Sidenote: The atonement its procuring cause] + +It is therefore to Calvary that we must look for the specific act by +virtue of which Christ personally became the founder of his church. +_There_ it was "purchased with his own blood." _There_ we find the +application of those sublime words of the Savior, "And I, if I be +lifted up from the earth, _will draw all men_ UNTO ME" (John 12: 32). +By virtue of that act, God "put all things under his feet, and gave +him to be the head over all things to the church." Yea, by virtue +of that act, "God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name +which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should +bow,... and that every tongue should confess" (Phil. 2:9-11). + +The church, then, proceeds from Calvary: Pentecost was but its initial +manifestation to men and its dedication for service. Of this we shall +have more to say hereafter. + +[Sidenote: Composed of true Christians] + +Since through his death Christ proposed to draw all men unto him, it +is evident that all the members of Christ are therefore members of his +body, the church. To this agrees the words of the apostle Paul, "For +as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same +office: so we [true Christians], being many, are _one body in Christ_, +and every one members one of another" (Rom. 12: 4, 5). "Now hath God +set the members _every one of them_ in the body, as it hath pleased +him" (1 Cor. 12:18). + +[Sidenote: Mode of admission] + +Becoming a member of the spiritual body of Christ is necessarily +a spiritual operation. Men may admit members to a formal church +relationship, but only the Spirit of God can make us members of +Christ. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized [or inducted] into one +body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and +have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13). This +text does not refer to literal water-baptism, but to the work of the +"Spirit," by whom we are inducted into Christ. "_God hath set the +members_ every one of them in the body" (verse 18). And since this +is the work of the Spirit, it is evident that none but the saved can +possibly find admittance into the spiritual body of Christ. Under a +different figure Jesus conveys the same truth. "I am the door: by me +if _any man_ enter in, _he shall be saved_" (John 10: 9). "And the +Lord added to them day by day those that _were being saved_" (Acts +2:47, R.V.). Salvation, then, is the condition of membership. + +[Sidenote: Family relationship] + +The members of Christ are members of God's family. How do we become +members of the divine family? "Except a man _be born again_, he can +not see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). "As many as received him, to +them gave he power to become the sons of God ... which were _born ... +of God_" (John 1:12, 13). "Beloved, now are we the sons of God" (1 +John 3:2). Since this family, or church, is composed of the saved, +or those who are born again, and excludes all the unsaved, we can +understand Paul's reference to "a glorious church, not having spot, +or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "_holy and without blemish_" (Eph. +5:27). + +We have spoken of the union of all believers with Christ when he draws +them unto himself and becomes their spiritual life. But this unity of +all believers _with Christ_ is a spiritual relationship and experience +not to be confused with external things. The Bible speaks of +Christians as being "in Christ." What does this mean? It certainly +means to be "born again," for without that experience we "can not see +the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). "Therefore if any man be _in Christ_, +HE IS A NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things +are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). "Whosoever abideth _in him_ sinneth +not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him" (1 John +3:6). + +[Sidenote: Unity of believers] + +But our union with Christ, by which we become members of the divine +family, necessarily fixes our relationship with all those who are +members of Christ. If, through salvation, we are brought into a sacred +unity with Christ, we are by the same act brought into essential unity +and fellowship with the members of Christ. This the Word distinctly +affirms: "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and _every one +members one of another_" (Rom. 12: 4, 5). "There should be no schism +in the body; but the members should have the same care one for +another" (1 Cor. 12:25). While this last text relates literally to the +physical body, the apostle applies it in an illustrative way to +the spiritual body. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in +particular" (verse 27). + +[Sidenote: Unity and uniformity] + +Harmony in a normal physical body is not effected by external means, +but is organic. The members may be many and diverse, but they are all +necessary and have their respective places and work. So also with +the body of Christ. Union with Christ is not dependent upon absolute +uniformity except in the one thing--the fundamental experience by +which we are made members of Christ. In the apostolic period the +children of God who loved our Lord and were known of him were not all +of one age or size or nationality. They had not all enjoyed the same +social advantages, nor had they had the same intellectual attainments. +The act of receiving Christ and his salvation did not perfect their +knowledge; therefore they had to be patiently taught in order to bring +them into the "unity of the faith." And for this purpose divinely +chosen instructors were appointed, who must themselves "study" and +give careful attention to "doctrine" (Eph. 4:11-14; 1 Tim. 3:13-16). +But the gospel penetrates beneath the surface; it goes straight to the +heart and reaches fundamental things. "There is neither Jew nor Greek; +there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: _for +ye are all one_ IN CHRIST JESUS" (Gal. 3:28). + +The unity of believers with Christ is, therefore, based on divine +relationship, and _this is the fundamental basis of the true +relationship of believers with each other_. In order to maintain +spiritual relationship with Christ and his people, the Christian must +have an obedient heart and "walk in the light of the Lord"; but we +should always be ready to extend our fellowship to those whom Christ +really receives and approves. + +How prone men have ever been to ignore this simple, divine standard +and set up arbitrary rules of their own by which to measure others! +This wrong tendency combined with the carnal ambitions of men who +love to parade their own unscriptural ideas before the world and gain +adherents has been the real cause of the disunion of Christians. But +the Bible standard is what we are now considering. It teaches that +the saved people were "members one of another" as well as members of +Christ; that they were, in fact, "_all one in Christ Jesus_." + +[Sidenote: Unity a practical reality] + +According to the New Testament standard, unity of believers is more +than an invisible, intangible, spiritual fellowship. They are "members +one of another" as well as members of Christ. That unity was designed +to be visible and to form a convincing sign to the world of the mighty +power of Christ. This stands out prominently in that notable prayer +of our Lord recorded in John 17, which was uttered on the most +solemn night of his earthly life. First he prayed for his immediate +disciples, then for all believers, in these words: "Neither pray I +for these [twelve] alone, but for them also which shall believe on me +through their word; THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE; as thou, Father, art in +me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: THAT THE WORLD MAY +BELIEVE _that thou hast sent me_" (verses 20, 21). + +Such unity is a real standard. It will convince the world. The +practical force of this last scripture can not be lessened by +reference to those other words of Jesus, "By this shall all men know +that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another" (John 13: +35), for Jesus taught the inseparable nature of love and unity. Love, +as an inward affection, produces deeds and results, and is measured +thereby. Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will _keep my words_; and +my Father will love him, and we will _come unto him_, and _make our +abode with him_" (John 14: 23). And just as love to God invariably +produces union with God, so also true love to man will result in +unity. "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in +tongue; but _in deed and in truth_" (1 John 3:18). Carnal divisions +can not exist where true love reigns. + +[Sidenote: Christ died for unity] + +For this visible unity Christ prayed--"That they all may be one,... +_that the world may believe_." More than this, he died that unity +might be effected. John 11:52 clearly shows that one purpose of +Christ's death was that "he should gather together _in one_ the +children of God that were scattered abroad." Therefore unity of +believers is a sacred truth resting on the solid basis of the +atonement. That this unity is more than that general union resulting +from the personal attachment of separate individuals to Christ as a +common center, is proved by the fact that it is designed to gather +together in one the scattered _children of God_. Jesus himself said, +"Other sheep I have [Gentiles], which are not of this [Jewish] fold: +_them also I must bring_, and they shall hear my voice; and THERE +SHALL BE ONE FOLD [flock] AND ONE SHEPHERD" (John 10:16). + +[Sidenote: Jew and Gentile united] + +Broadly speaking, there were at that time but two classified divisions +of men--Jews and Gentiles. Jesus predicted that his sheep from both +sections should be brought together into one flock. In the second +chapter of Ephesians, Paul tells us how this was accomplished. +Although "in times past" the Gentiles were "strangers from the +covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world," in +Christ they were "made nigh by the blood." "For he is our peace, +who hath made both [Jews and Gentiles] ONE, and hath broken down the +middle wall of partition between us ... that he might reconcile +both unto God _in one body_ by the cross" (verses 12-16). Since this +glorious reunion through Christ, the Gentiles "are no more strangers +and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the +household of God." They also "are built upon the foundation of +the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief +corner-stone ... in whom ye also are builded together for an +habitation of God through the Spirit" (verses 19-22). + +On account of the high standard of unity set forth in his epistles, +Paul has been branded an idealist. But what shall we say of Christ who +prayed for such visible unity and died for it? An idealist is one +who forms picturesque fancies, one given to romantic expectations +impossible of accomplishment. The idealist usually has but few +practical results. But Paul accomplished things. He broke away from +his Jewish prejudices, which brought down upon his head the wrath of +his fellows. He went into the synagogs of the Jews and brought out +those who were willing to become disciples of Jesus. To build up the +work of the Lord he labored night and day with tears; he laid broad +and deep the very foundations of the Christian faith in heathen lands. +Within a very few years he established Christian churches in four +provinces of the Roman Empire--churches in which Jew and Gentile met +together in common fellowship, _in one body_. If this is idealism, +Lord, give us many more such idealists. + +[Sidenote: The burden of Paul's ministry] + +But the unity described by Paul in the epistles which he wrote late in +life is not given as a mere ideal standard for the future toward which +men should strive. It is given as the record of a historic fact, the +accomplishment of which lay at the very foundation of Paul's call to +the ministry. + +In the second chapter of Ephesians, already quoted, Paul declares +that both Jews and Gentiles were reconciled to God in one body _by the +cross_. In the next chapter he shows his part in the accomplishment of +that end. First, he was called of God as the apostle of the Gentiles; +then by revelation was made known unto him "the mystery of Christ +which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men ... +that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and OF THE SAME BODY, and +partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3:4-6). The +promise referred to was doubtless the "promise of the Father," the +gift of the Holy Ghost. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on +the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the _promise +of the Spirit through faith_" (Gal. 3:14). "For this cause," says +Paul, "I was made a minister ... that I should preach among the +Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and _to make all men see_ +what is the fellowship of the mystery ... to the intent that now unto +the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known BY THE +CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3: 1-10). + +[Sidenote: Was divinely attested] + +Paul was given a tremendous task--"TO MAKE ALL MEN SEE" that mystery. +This task required from God "the effectual working of his power" +(verse 7). And in another place he also shows that this power was not +lacking: "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which +Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word +and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit +of God" (Rom. 15: 18, 19). + +Paul, then, was divinely commissioned "_to make all men see_" the +mystery of this union of all classes of men "_in one body_ by the +cross" (Eph. 2: 16), all in "the SAME body, and partakers of his +promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3: 6). And when Paul's career +was finished, the same mystery was given over to others that it might +be "known BY THE CHURCH" (verse 10), "the church, which is his body" +(Eph. 1: 22, 23). The ministry, then, should have held the ground +already attained, the actual union of all the saved in one body, and +have labored earnestly "to make all men see" that that body only is +the church. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LOCAL CHURCH + + +The words of Christ, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell +shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16: 18), convey a deeper meaning +than the simple preaching of the kingdom. As we have already shown, +the one specific personal act by virtue of which Christ became the +founder of the church was his atonement on Calvary, where the church +was "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20: 28). The church, then, +as an institution, resulted from the atonement. Paul, describing the +union of Jews and Gentiles in one body, the church, declares that it +was effected "by the cross" (Eph. 2: 16). + +There was power in redemption. It brought into the lives of believers +forces that could not but unite them in social compact. It threw them +together in living sympathy and united their hearts firmly in the +strong bonds of brotherly love. Their outward organic union as a +church was the natural and inevitable result of this inward life and +love. + +[Sidenote: Local church defined] + +By the impartation of spiritual life to believers and by the agency of +the Holy Spirit operating in the apostles as special agents appointed +to do his work, Christ built his church on earth. There was a building +of the church, then, which pertained specifically to its _local_ +and _visible_ development among men. The expression "_I_ will build" +indicates the transcendent element, the divine element, in church +organization. This being true, it follows that the local church was +not merely an aggregate of individuals accidently gathered together, +but was the local, concrete embodiment of the spiritual body of +Christ; the unified company of regenerated persons who, as a body, +were dedicated to Christ, acknowledged of Christ, and used by Christ +through the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of his work. Jerusalem +furnishes the first example, dating from Pentecost (Acts 2). + +[Sidenote: Particular example: Corinth] + +That this is, generally speaking, the Scriptural definition of a local +church of God, is further shown by another particular example. Paul +addressed two of his epistles "to the church of God which is at +Corinth" (1 Cor. 1: 2; 2 Cor. 1: 1). As individuals they are called +"saints" and "brethren," but collectively as a church they are called +"the church of God" and referred to as "God's building" (1 Cor. 3: +9). And the apostle says to them, "Know ye not that ye are a temple of +God, and that the _Spirit of God dwelleth in you_?" (verse 16, R.V.). +They had been inducted by the Spirit into the "_one body_," and they +were filled with the gifts of the Spirit--wisdom, knowledge, faith, +healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, and tongues (chap. 12). In +fact, the apostle said, "Ye come behind in no gift" (chap. 1: 7). And +he said particularly, "_Ye are the body of Christ_" (chap. 12: 27). + +A true local church, then, was the concrete embodiment of the +spiritual body of Christ in a given place. It was the body of Christ +because it was made up of the people of God, manifested the power of +God, was the repository of the truth of God, was filled with the +gifts of the Spirit of God, and was actually used by the Spirit in +performing the works of God. Such characteristics made it "_the church +of God_." + +[Sidenote: Local membership] + +Membership in the general body of Christ was conditioned solely on +the new birth, or salvation. Since the individual church was the local +embodiment of the general church, none but the saved could properly +become members thereof, and all who were truly saved (in the same +locality) belonged to it by divine right. At this point, however, the +human element in the constitution of the local church became manifest. +We have pointed out the divine element in the true church--the element +that particularly distinguished it as the church of God, but the +bringing together of many individuals in one assembly involved also a +social element and required the principle of _recognition_. There +is, however, no evidence that such recognition was given by a formal, +official act of the church in its corporate capacity. And since +salvation is of the heart, it was possible for human recognition to +temporarily miss its true purpose. Thus, in the church at Jerusalem +we find recognized as a constituent part of the assembly two false +members--Ananias and Sapphira. On the other hand, when the converted +Saul "was come to Jerusalem, he essayed to join himself to the +disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he +was a disciple" (Acts 9: 26). The church at Corinth, already referred +to, had some false members at the time the Pauline epistles were +written. The church at Samaria also tolerated for a time one whose +"heart was not right in the sight of God" (Acts 8). + +[Sidenote: A holy church] + +Since the local church was designed to exhibit concretely the +spiritual body of Christ, none but saved persons could _properly_ +hold membership therein; therefore the local church when in its normal +condition was free from sin and sinners. The physical body, which +Paul uses to illustrate the spiritual body, is normal only when every +member possesses the life of the body and functions properly. So also +was the body of Christ. It was not God's will that there should be +(as recognized members) "sinners in the congregation of the righteous" +(Psa. 1: 5). It was his will to purge Jerusalem "by the spirit of +judgment and by the spirit of burning" until "_he that is left_ in +Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called _holy_, +even _every one_ that is written among the living in Jerusalem" (Isa. +4:3,4). + +[Sidenote: Discernment and judgement necessary] + +The local congregation in Jerusalem did not cease to be the church +of God because two unworthy persons obtained recognition in it. This +incident gave occasion for the church to manifest its inherent _life_ +by its ability to discern and then cast off the secret offenders just +as a healthy physical body casts off effete matter. As a result of the +judgment pronounced on Ananias and Sapphira, "great fear came upon all +the church ... and of the rest _durst no man join himself to them_; +but the people magnified them" (Acts 5:11, 13). The fiery judgments +of God put an end to formal church-joining there, as a result of which +"believers were the more _added to the Lord_, multitudes both of men +and women" (verse 14). "And the Lord added to them day by day those +that were being saved" (Acts 2:47, R.V.). + +A clean, pure local church was the divine standard. It is evident that +such could never be obtained and maintained except by the power of the +Holy Spirit, who discerned evil and prompted its elimination. Peter +discerned the condition of the two false members in the church at +Jerusalem and removed that blemish. He also exposed the hypocrisy +of Simon at Samaria, and Paul pointed out the evil affection in the +church at Corinth and directed its removal. Chief responsibility +for the maintenance of the normal condition of the church will be +considered in our discussion of the particular features of church +organization and government. + +[Sidenote: Apostasy possible] + +We have shown the characteristic, spiritual features of a New +Testament congregation in its normal condition; also the possibility +of deviation from that standard. A practical question is, How far +could such a congregation lapse into an abnormal state and still be +a church of God? Or, Can a church as a body backslide? The church at +Ephesus evidently was on the verge of such an apostasy. Therefore in +the special message addressed to it in Revelation the Lord said: "I +have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. +Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the +first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and _will remove +thy candlestick_ out of his place" (Rev. 2: 4, 5). So also the church +at Laodicea. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I +would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art luke warm, and +neither cold nor hot, _I will spew thee out of my mouth_" (Rev. 3: 15, +16). + +[Sidenote: The line of distinction] + +The physical body may experience the mutilation of some of its members +and still survive, but there is a limit beyond which death will ensue. +So also the spiritual body may survive the encumbrance of a few +false members. From the general facts and principles already adduced, +however, we may safely assert that a local church is a church of God +only so long as it is able to function properly _as a body_. As long +as the Spirit of God is in the ascendency, so that the people of God +as a body manifest the power of God, maintain the truth of God, are +filled with the Spirit of God, and are actually used by the Spirit +in performing the works of God, so long they are the church of God. +Whenever another spirit gains the ascendency and the divine, spiritual +characteristics are lost to view, then is brought to pass the saying +that is written, "_I will spew thee out of my mouth_." Beyond that +time they may continue their formal services, singing hymns, saying +prayers, and making speeches; but the real message of God describing +their condition is, as was true of Sardis, "Thou hast a name that thou +livest, _and art dead_" (Rev. 3: 1). Such dead congregations are no +longer a part of the true church and are unworthy of the recognition +of spiritual congregations. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH + + +[Sidenote: The fact of organization] + +We have already shown that the words of Christ "I will build my +church" have a deeper meaning than the simple preaching of the +kingdom. They imply the formation of an organized structure against +which even the gates of hell should not prevail. They can signify +nothing less than the visible establishment of the church among men as +the concrete embodiment of the divine kingdom or family. The church, +then, as made up of local congregations, is an institution of divine +appointment. This is shown by the words of Christ in Matt. 18: 17, +according to which it sometimes becomes necessary in admonishing +and disciplining trespassers to "_tell it unto the church_"; and the +appellation "church of _God_" is frequently applied to individual +congregations (1 Cor. 1: 2, et al.). + +Many teachers hold that Christ did not build a church and that the +"form of church organization is not definitely prescribed in the New +Testament, but is a matter of expediency, every body of believers +being permitted to adopt that method of organization which best suits +its circumstances and condition." Such is the Protestant view +put forth by those who seek an excuse for the modern system of +sect-building. The incorrectness of this theory is easily shown. +First, as we shall see, it underestimates the need of divine direction +in church relationship and ignores well-established facts in the New +Testament history. Secondly, if it proves anything, it proves too +much; for to admit such a principle of "church powers" is to admit +that the papacy and every other human system of church control is +justified--systems which can be historically shown to be subversive of +the church as a spiritual body. + +That the church was actually organized into local assemblies in +apostolic days is abundantly shown by the New Testament record. They +had regular meetings at stated times (Heb. 10:25; Acts 20:7; I Cor. +16:12); officers (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2; Eph. 4:11, 12); recognized +authority (1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 13:17); discipline (1 Cor. 5:13; 2 Thess. +3:6, 10-14); a system of contributions (1 Cor. 16:1, 2); ordinances +(Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11: 23-29); a common work, etc. On one +occasion Paul instructed Titus to "_set in order_ the things that are +wanting, and ordain elders in every city" (Tit. 1:5). + +[Sidenote: By whom effected] + +The words of Jesus "I will build my church" point us to the Christ +as its real founder. Since the life and genius of the church is +the superhuman element, which element must at all times be given +precedence over mere outward forms and human characteristics, and +since this life proceeds from Christ as the Redeemer of men, therefore +in all fundamental aspects he is the personal founder of the church. +But more than this, working by proxy, Jesus gave even external form to +his church, employing for this purpose his chosen apostles, to whom +he gave special instruction and authority. Even during his personal +ministry Jesus performed some of his work by proxy. It is expressly +stated that he baptized many (John 3: 22; 4: 1), and yet explanation +is made that "Jesus himself baptized not, _but his disciples_" (John +4: 2). + +So also in the organization of the church. The germ of that +organization existed during Christ's personal ministry. Doctrine +was given, ministers preached, baptism was administered, and people +believed, but this embryonic organization could not be completely +established as a church before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. +Therefore provision was made for its progressive development under the +tutelage of specially inspired apostles. Doctrine was given gradually, +yet invariably through the oral and written teaching of these inspired +apostles. Therefore we can not but believe that the same invariable +guidance of the Holy Spirit also perfected through them God's own plan +of church organization and work. The gradual development of church +organization under the labors of the apostles, therefore, no more +proves the theory of a constant historic development than does the +fact of a gradual unfolding of the Christian faith and doctrine by +the apostles prove a constant and unending revelation of the gospel +through all succeeding ages. One writer has well said, "The same +promise of the Spirit which renders the New Testament an unerring and +sufficient rule of faith renders it also an unerring and sufficient +_rule of practise_ for the church in all places and times." We +must therefore regard the organization of the church, as we do the +unfolding of the gospel message, as complete in all its fundamental +and essential aspects before the close of the sacred canon. + +[Sidenote: Apostolic agency] + +There is no doubt that the apostles occupied a special place in the +divine establishment of the church and its message. Regarded as a +temple, the church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and +prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone" (Eph. 2: +20). The Old Testament Scripture "came not in old time by the will of +man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" +(2 Pet. 1: 21). But now we read, "God, who at sundry times and in +divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, +hath in these last days _spoken unto us_ BY HIS SON" (Heb. 1: 1, 2). +Moses, representative of the law, and Elias, representative of the +prophets, appeared in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration; but +when Peter suggested that they be accorded equal honors with Jesus, +immediately a cloud overshadowed the company and a voice out of the +cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR +YE HIM." "And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, +save _Jesus only_" (Matt. 17:1-8). + +[Sidenote: Model for all ages] + +The revelation of divine truth, therefore, as the foundation of our +faith, reached its highest level in the Son. We need not look for +another gospel--_hear him_. He has also said, "I will build my +church"; hence we need not look for another church--HEAR HIM! Paul +declares that the gospel with its revelation of the "mystery" of the +union of the saved in one body, the church, was in his day "_made +manifest_," and, "according to the commandment of the everlasting God, +made known to all nations _for the obedience of faith_" (Rom. 16:25, +26). See Eph. 2; 3:1-10. While therefore Christ was the author of +the truth in its highest form of revelation, also the founder of his +church, both reached their fulness of perfection under the inspired +apostles and was by them "made known to all nations _for the obedience +of faith_." The unity of all believers for which Christ solemnly +prayed was to be accomplished through the direct agency of the +apostles, the result of believing on Christ "_through_ THEIR _Word_" +(John 17:20). + +In describing how both Jews and Gentiles were reconciled in one body +by the cross, Paul says that God "hath raised us up together, and made +us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: _that in the ages +to come_ he might show the exceeding riches of his grace" (Eph. 2: 6, +7). The unified church of the apostolic day is therefore the divine +model for all succeeding ages. + +[Sidenote: Paul's relation thereto] + +Since the first apostles were employed as special agents in +establishing the perfected New Testament church, Paul's connection +therewith is of particular importance. Paul was not one of the +original twelve, yet he exerted a tremendous influence in that period +and was undoubtedly one of the chief agents used in establishing the +church and fixing its external form and character. + +Many believe that Paul belonged among the twelve as the real successor +of Judas. According to this view, the election of Matthias to the +apostleship was without divine sanction, being proposed by the +impetuous Peter, who, before the descent of the Holy Ghost, often +proposed inadvised things. Strength is given this view by the +oft-repeated assertion of Paul that he was an apostle, "not of men, +neither by men, but by Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1: 1). We are not forced to +that conclusion concerning Matthias, however. In writing the Acts of +the Apostles, Luke the companion of Paul, records the appointment of +Matthias without intimating that it was a mistake. In Scripture usage +a certain parallelism is maintained between the twelve apostles of the +Lamb and the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. When we recall +that there were literally thirteen tribes in Israel, Ephriam and +Manasseh standing for Joseph, we need not be surprized that there +should be literally thirteen foundational apostles in the Christian +church, Matthias and Paul standing, as it were, in the place of Judas. + +There can be no doubt that Paul really ranked with the Twelve. He +was a "chosen vessel," the "apostle of the Gentiles." Although as one +"born out of due time," he himself saw Jesus and from him received the +entire gospel by direct revelation. Consequently the other apostles +possessed no advantage over him. He himself says, "The gospel which +was preached of me was not after man. For I neither received it of +man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" +(Gal. 1:11, 12). He "was not a whit behind the very chiefest +apostles" (2 Cor. 11:5). And it was through Paul particularly that +the revelation of the "mystery" was made complete--"that both Jews and +Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of _the_ SAME _body_," and he was +commissioned "_to make all men see_" it. + +The general church was, therefore, made up of various local +congregations, which were "set in order" by apostolic authority. The +essential nature of this organization is determined by the object for +which these congregations were formed, the conditions of membership +therein, and the kind of laws by which they were governed. + +[Sidenote: Nature of its organization] + +The primary object for which the local church was formed was the +establishment and extension of the kingdom of God among men. A +secondary object was the encouragement and mutual edification of the +believers themselves, which was best obtained by united worship in +prayer, exhortation, praise, thanksgiving, and religious instruction. + +We have already noted the conditions of membership in the local +church. None but those who were already members of the body of Christ +could properly be recognized as members in a congregation which was +designed by Christ to exhibit in local and temporary form the +true idea of the church universal. According to this standard of +membership, every individual owed allegiance directly to Christ +himself as the great head of the church. Christ was the only lawgiver. +The relation of the individual to the local church, then, did not +in any sense supersede his personal relations to Christ, but simply +strengthened and further expressed this higher relationship. + +In this standard of church-membership is found the secret of the union +in one body of all apostolic Christians. The standard was _personal +relationship to Christ_, and this relationship could be obtained +only by an experience of salvation and humble obedience to the law +of Christ. Therefore all the truly saved were members of Christ and +members of each other. This standard being the same for all, it led +to absolute equality among members. Hence Paul could say, "There +is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is +neither male nor female: for ye are all one _in Christ Jesus_" (Gal. +3:28). + +The law of the church, as already stated, was simply "the law of +Christ"; first as delivered orally by specially inspired apostles, and +afterwards expressed by them in the Christian Scriptures. + +[Sidenote: Organization and government] + +The closest relationship necessarily existed between the organization +of the church and its method of government. It is impossible for us +to get a clear conception of either independently of the other; and +in order to understand the subject at all, we must bear in mind the +fundamental nature of the church itself, what it was and what it was +designed to accomplish. The church was not, as we have seen, a mere +aggregate of individuals that happened to gather or that assembled for +ordinary purposes. A social club or a business organization would have +possessed all those features. The church was the body of Christ, the +body to which he gave spiritual life and through which he designed +to manifest his power and glory. Hence its visible organization was +secondary, merely incidental as the means for the accomplishment +of those higher ends involved in the transcendental element of the +church. The relation of the divine and the human characteristics was, +therefore, the relation of _soul and body_--Christ, the soul; redeemed +humanity, the body. The establishment of this relationship was +the manifestation to the world of the "body of Christ." It was +organization of the church. + +From the foregoing considerations, we are certain that in the +apostolic church the real emphasis was placed on _life_ and that the +governmental power and authority of the church was derived from its +divine life in Christ and not from its organization. Apostolic church +government was, therefore, more than the adoption of some particular +form of external organization and administration. + +[Sidenote: Divine administration] + +The origin of the church was divine. Jesus said, "I will build my +church." And though, as we have seen, he employed human agents in its +completion, these agents were so specially inspired and directed by +Christ through the Holy Spirit that it was in reality _his_ work. +Jesus was not only the initial founder of the church, but he was its +permanent head and governor. Isaiah, predicting the coming of Christ, +declares that "the government _shall be upon_ HIS _shoulder_" (Isa. +9:6). And again, we read that "HE _is the head of the body, the church +... that in all things he might have the preeminence_" (Col. 1:18). He +it was who called and commissioned Paul and then personally directed +his ministerial labors (Acts 26:13-19; 16:6-9). He it was who +walked in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, encouraging or +reproving the congregations of Asia (Rev. 1:17, et seq.). He is +"alive forever more" (Rev. 1:18); "the same yesterday, and today, and +forever" (Heb. 13: 8); "upholding all things by the word of his power" +(Heb. 1:3). "To him be glory _in the church_ ... throughout all ages, +world without end. Amen" (Eph. 3:21). + +[Sidenote: Christ the living head] + +Thus, the general nature of church government was an absolute +monarchy, or, to use a better term, a theocracy. Christ was king and +lawgiver, governor and administrator. Whoever the instruments employed +in carrying out his purposes, whatever the scope of their particular +activities, all were governed directly by Christ through the Holy +Spirit. It was _his_ church. He was its living head. No other church +was known in those days. It was only when the living, vital union of +Christ with his church was lost to view that men began endeavoring +to strengthen the bonds of external union by unscriptural human +organization, just as when life is departed from the physical body we +seek by an embalming process to prevent its speedy dissolution. + +[Sidenote: Delegated authority] + +In order to understand church government, therefore, we must begin +at the central source of authority and proceed to its varied +manifestations. We have seen that Christ employed human agents in +accomplishing his work; hence, in thus performing the work of Christ +as commanded by Christ, and as personally directed by the Spirit of +Christ, these men possessed the _authority of Christ_. Any church +governmental authority that does not proceed directly from Christ +through his Holy Spirit is but human authority, an usurped authority, +and has no place in the real church of Christ. + +[Sidenote: Ministerial oversight] + +The apostles were the first to whom Christ delegated authority. They +became his special representatives. They established the church and +became responsible for its general direction and oversight, "the Lord +working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (Mark +16:20). But these twelve did not stand alone in the government of +the church. Soon a host of ministers were raised up, and these also +possessed divine authority for their representative lines of work. +To the elders of Ephesus, Paul said, "Take heed therefore unto +yourselves, and to all the flock, over which _the Holy Ghost hath made +you overseers_, to feed the church of God" (Acts 20:28). Peter also +writes: "The elders which are among you I exhort ... feed the flock of +God which is among you, _taking the oversight thereof_" (1 Pet. 5:1, +2). "The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work +whereunto _I have called them_ ... so they, _being sent forth by the +Holy Ghost_, departed" (Acts 13: 2-4). "AND HE GAVE some, apostles; +and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and +teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the +ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11, 12). In +accordance with this standard, we read, "Obey them that have the rule +over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, _as +they that must give account_" to him who is "that great shepherd +of the sheep" (Heb. 13:17, 20). The ministers were under-shepherds +appointed to feed the flock of God, for which service they had to give +account to the great Shepherd. + +The foregoing scriptures and many others show conclusively that, while +in the apostolic church spiritual oversight was, in general, vested in +the ministry, it did not originate with them; that it did not proceed +from the general body of believers by a majority vote or by conference +appointment; but that it came by the Holy Spirit direct from the great +head of the church, who alone determined the general bounds of that +authority and responsibility. This ministry, or presbytery, consisted +of two classes--local ministers and general ministers. Before +proceeding from this general classification to a discussion of the +more specific duties and responsibilities of the individual ministers +comprising this presbytery, I shall call attention briefly to the +geographical distribution of their work as a body. + +[Sidenote: Local and general phase] + +We have already shown that the church in its visible phase was made up +of various local congregations "set in order" by apostolic authority. +So far as their own local affairs were concerned, these congregations +were autonomous. When a matter was purely local, such as the financial +oversight and ministration in the church at Jerusalem, the local +congregation itself determined the course of action and (excepting +that class of officials who were divinely chosen) who should be +appointed to oversee it. In the Jerusalem example cited, the apostles +suggested, "_Look ye out among you_ seven men," etc., "and the saying +pleased the whole multitude: _and they chose_" the proper persons for +that work (Acts 6:1-5). + +But while these congregations possessed such autonomy and were +distributed over a wide territory, they were not in all respects +independent, isolated units. As members of Christ sharing in a common +life and engaged in a common cause, they were bound together in one +brotherhood by ties of fellowship and love. In addition to the union +of separate individuals in one locality under the care of the local +presbytery, the local congregations themselves were brought into +close, sympathetic relationship with one another through the labors +and influence of those general ministers who were not attached to +particular churches, but whose gifts, callings, and qualifications +fitted them for general service throughout the various congregations. +The responsibility and authority of these general ministers varied in +accordance with their own gifts and qualifications and the degree of +development attained by the churches among which they labored. In +the case of infant churches, it is evident that oversight was of +the apostolic kind--direct and immediate. But whenever they became +thoroughly established, the principle of local autonomy was recognized +and the relation of the general ministers to such congregations +was evangelistic rather than apostolic--helpers and advisors, not +administrative directors. + +[Sidenote: Geographical distribution] + +That the foregoing analysis is correct is abundantly proved by the +history of events in the Acts respecting the geographical distribution +of the churches and their relation to one another. Jerusalem was the +original seat of Christianity. Isaiah prophesied, "Out of Zion shall +go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3). +Jesus told the apostles "that repentance and remission of sins should +be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" +(Luke 24:47). And again, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in +Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost +part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Philip went from Jerusalem to Samaria +and there preached Christ with great success. "Now when the apostles +which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of +God, _they sent unto them Peter and John_" (Acts 8:14). Later we +read that when churches had been established throughout all Judea and +Galilee and Samaria, "it came to pass, _as Peter passed throughout all +quarters_, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda" (Acts +9: 31, 32). It was while he was on this general tour visiting the +churches that he came to Joppa and there received the vision which led +him to the household of Cornelius, after which he came to Jerusalem +and was there called to account for his action in visiting the +uncircumcised Gentiles. + +There is no doubt that there was exerted from Jerusalem a general +care over the surrounding churches. Some of the disciples who were +scattered from Jerusalem at the time of persecution, went as far as +Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word, and many believed and turned +to the Lord. "Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the +church which was in Jerusalem: _and they sent forth Barnabas_ that +he should go as far as Antioch" (Acts 11: 19-22). Barnabas went to +Antioch and there found such a splendid work that he departed at once +for Tarsus seeking Saul, and together they returned to Antioch and +preached for a whole year. + +[Sidenote: Operative centers] + +While this principle of general superintendence of infant churches +originated with the apostles themselves, it was extended to others who +were not of the first apostles. Barnabas and Saul were successful at +Antioch and there established the first Christian community outside +the confines of Judaism, as the result of which Antioch became the +seat of Gentile Christianity. Shortly afterwards "certain prophets and +teachers" in the church at Antioch, men who were not of the original +apostles, were directed by the Holy Ghost to send forth Barnabas +and Saul on their first missionary journey, and they went forth +establishing local churches and afterwards setting them in order by +ordaining elders, after which these ministers returned to Antioch, +gathered the church together, and gave them a report of their work. +Antioch was, therefore, an operative center. + +At a later time Paul established the truth in Ephesus, the chief city +of Proconsular Asia. As might naturally be expected from the strategic +position and political importance of that city, Ephesus also became +an operative center for Christianity, "so that all they which dwelt +in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts +19:10). Thessalonica in Macedonia and Corinth in Achaia are other +examples of the kind. + +[Sidenote: Regional units] + +The work of the church naturally fell into these geographical units; +therefore the word "church" is sometimes used as a collective term +designating a body of regional congregations. The church "throughout +all Judea and Galilee and Samaria" (Acts 9:31), "the seven churches +which are in Asia" (Rev. 1:11), "the churches of Macedonia" (2 Cor. +8:1), "the churches of Galatia" (1 Cor. 16:1). + +We must bear in mind, however, that this regional concept of the +church was not an integral part of fundamental apostolic church +government, but was merely incidental, the result of geographical +location. In fundamental analysis distinctions are always drawn +between things that are _different_, not between things of the same +kind. These regional churches were not different kinds of churches; +they were not bound together in separate groups by an external +organization which placed a wall between them and other congregations +of the saints. There was no authority here for the national-church +theory nor for the sectarian church idea. Geographical separation +there was, but not denominationalism. + +[Sidenote: Common bond of unity] + +We have already shown from Paul's writings that under his ministry +both Jews and Gentiles were united in one body, "the _same_ body." +That these regional units to which we have referred were no denial of +this clear truth, but that collectively they constituted one body, is +further shown by the indications we have of their _operative unity_. +Notwithstanding the poor facilities for communication and travel +in those days, which made general cooperation very difficult, and +notwithstanding the fact that the record of historic Christianity in +the Acts is exceedingly brief, we have, nevertheless, clear proof that +there was cooperation throughout the apostolic church. Two instances, +one of a business nature, the other ecclesiastical, establish +this point. The churches of at least three provinces of the Roman +Empire--Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia--united under Paul's direction +in establishing a weekly financial system, the immediate object of +which was to assist in accomplishing a particular object in which they +were all interested (2 Cor. 8:9; 1 Cor. 16:1-3). The ecclesiastical +example is the council of the apostles and elders held in Jerusalem +and recorded in Acts 15. A question of doctrine and practise arose in +Antioch; the church there was not able to settle it; therefore it +was "determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other with them, +should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this +question" (verse 2). + +This was not a general council of the church. No other sections or +provinces were represented. Nor did it meet as a legislative body, +even though there were present specially inspired apostles, to whom +had been given the commission to unfold the gospel as an authoritative +revelation. It is clear that the ministers of this council even sought +to avoid the legislative function. "For it seemed good to the Holy +Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these +necessary things" (verse 28). While this incident does not prove +an administrative human headship of the whole church centralized at +Jerusalem, it does prove that the individual congregations were not +isolated units, but that they had respect for, and sought the advice +and counsel of, older established congregations, and particularly of +those general ministers whose gifts, qualifications, and reputation +fitted them for general care of all the churches. + +When we consider the divine nature of the church's organization, +with the ever-living Christ working mightily in all his ministers and +through them in particular administering its government, we can see +that the entire church was necessarily one body joined together in a +common fellowship and actually laboring together in the performance of +common tasks. + +[Sidenote: Bishop and elder] + +The presbytery, to whom was given particular oversight and government +of the church, was set apart by the Holy Ghost for this special work. +Different terms, such as "elder" and "bishop," were used to designate +this office. The term "bishop," which literally means _overseer_, +implies the duties of the office, while "elder" denotes its rank. That +these terms were used interchangeably and applied to the same order +of persons is proved by Acts 20:28 (cf. 17); Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1, 8; +Tit. 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1, 2. This was admitted by many early writers, +as Jerome, Augustine, Urban II, Petrus Lombardus, Chrysostom, +Theodoret, and others. + +From the general classification already given, let us proceed to the +specific. This body was made up of elders or bishops. The fact that +the terms "elder" and "bishop" were applied to all the presbyters +shows equality of rank; that the office was one. We find, however, +that these elders as individuals were diversified in their gifts and +callings in accordance with the specific work which the Holy Ghost +designed them to perform. Under one classification there were, broadly +speaking, two kinds of elders--local and general; that is, those whose +sphere of operation was particularly local and those whose influence, +work, and responsibility extended beyond any congregational +limitation. This distinction was not made arbitrarily, however; for +it was essential to the performance of the twofold class of work to be +done and was the inevitable result of that operation of the Spirit +in individual ministers which fitted them particularly for these +distinctive lines of activity. + +[Sidenote: Divine gifts] + +To be still more specific, we must go a step farther and consider the +reason why and the process by which ministers became differentiated +from other saints. In this we shall find the inner secret, both of +particular spiritual organization and of divine church government. The +apostle says, "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" and +"God hath set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath +pleased him" (1 Cor. 12:13, 18). These texts suggest more than a mere +attachment to the body: they imply _functional activity in the body_. +The functions of the body as described by Paul means the exercise of +spiritual gifts. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same +Spirit ... there are diversities of operations, but it is the same +God _which worketh all in all_. But the manifestation of the Spirit is +given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit +the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same +Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of +healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to +another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers +kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all +these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man +severally as he will" (1 Cor. 12: 4-11). + +[Sidenote: Basis of ministerial authority] + +The foregoing scripture is a mere enumeration of the gifts that God +implanted in the church as a body. The more particular application of +these gifts and their relation to church organization and government +are given further on in the same chapter. "Now ye are the body of +Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the +church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after +that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities +of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are +all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak +with tongues? do all interpret? _But covet earnestly the best gifts_" +(verses 27-31). + +Comparison of verses 4 to 11 with verses 27 to 31 of the chapter just +quoted shows conclusively that one is the counterpart of the other, +the latter merely amplifying and explaining the former. From this +clear teaching it is evident that the work of apostleship, of +teaching, of governing, etc., were all based upon and grew out of +divine gifts implanted in the heart by the Holy Spirit. + +The same truth is taught by Paul in another place. Speaking of Christ, +the apostle says, "When he ascended up on high, he ... _gave gifts +unto men_ ... and he gave some, _apostles_; and some, _prophets_; +and some, _evangelists_; and some, _pastors_ and _teachers_; for +the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the +edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4: 8-12). + +According to these scriptures, the very governmental positions of the +church with their authority and responsibility were the product of +those gifts and qualifications bestowed upon certain individuals in +particular. Such gifts could be legitimately coveted with a view to +spiritual edification of the body (1 Cor. 12:31; 14:12). "If a man +desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work" (1 Tim. 3:1). +"Helps" doubtless included that class of assistants commonly called +deacons (1 Tim. 3:8-11). + +Since in the primitive church organization and government were +determined by the divine gifts and callings possessed by individuals, +it is evident that we have in this something totally different +from that later conception of church government as a mere human +arrangement. At a subsequent time, as we shall show, church government +was patterned after the forms of political government in that it was +vested inherently in men. Four such forms have been developed--the +imperial, or papal; the episcopal; the presbyterial; and the +congregational. While these four differ in external form, they are all +alike in fundamental character, in that they assume that the governing +power rests inherently in _men_. + +None of these forms of government represent the New Testament church. +The organization and government of that church was based upon the +_charisma_, or divine gifts and callings, of individuals composing the +church. The power and authority of an apostle or of an evangelist, for +example, did not rest upon any selection or appointment made by +men. The church did not act in a corporate capacity and confer +ecclesiastical power and authority upon any one. All such power and +authority came direct from God through the Holy Spirit, and it was +in God's name and by his authority alone that they acted. The +organization of the church was therefore charismatic. If, for example, +the gifts of an apostle were conferred by the Holy Spirit upon an +individual, he possessed apostolic responsibility and authority. The +brethren recognized such gifts when these were evident, and submitted +themselves voluntarily to such spiritual leadership and oversight; for +at this period there had not been developed that ecclesiastical system +by which human election and appointment gave positions and authority +to men. In fact, we shall clearly show later that the true church can +not be _legally_ organized. Every attempt of men to assume the reins +of authority and give governmental form and administrative direction +to the church has been denominational and sectarian. + +[Sidenote: Ordination] + +The true church was the whole family of God directed by his +Holy Spirit. Ministerial appointment, with its authority and +responsibility, was therefore divine. We have seen that through the +spiritual operation called the new birth, one became a member of +Christ, and hence by divine right belonged to whichever congregation +of the church he might be able to associate with; but that in +practical experience, such local membership involved recognition on +the part of the other members. So it was with the divine appointment +to the ministry. The only other essential to its practical operation +was simply recognition of that call. Such recognition, in the last +analysis, belonged to the whole church (1 Tim. 3: 2-7; Tit. 1: +6-9), but was given formally by the laying on of the hands of the +presbytery. + +[Sidenote: Plurality of local elders] + +The development of ministers in an apostolic church was a divine, +natural process, the inevitable result of the emphasis placed on the +gifts and callings of the Spirit. This free exercise of the Spirit's +gifts working in the members doubtless accounts for the plurality of +ruling elders found in those local churches. See Acts 14:23; 20:17; +Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 5:16, 17; Tit. 1:5. It could not be otherwise as +long as the churches were Spirit-filled, working congregations and +the Spirit of God had his way. The system that limited local church +government to a one-man rule originated in the apostasy, after the +gifts of the Spirit had died out. It is simply one part of that great +system of human organization that developed the full-grown papacy. Of +this we shall learn more hereafter. + +The same principles that developed local ministers produced also +ministers of the general class. While some naturally became "pastors," +"teachers," and "helpers" in the local church, particular gifts and +qualifications fitted others for "apostles" and "evangelists," whose +particular sphere was general oversight and work in the churches. The +prophet was not limited to either class. + +[Sidenote: Apostolic oversight] + +As it is not germane to my present purpose, I shall not here attempt +to define the various phases of ministerial work designated by various +terms but all included under the one generic term "elder." The work +described by the term "apostle," however, requires brief notice, on +account of its bearing on the subject of church government. The fact +that Paul had particular "care of all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:28) +and that he gave special instructions to Timothy and Titus, other +ministers (1 Tim. 5: 21; Tit. 1:5), forms the basis for the episcopacy +argument--church rule by a superior order of clergy called bishops. + +"Apostle" literally signifies "a planter." The term belongs +specifically to the first founders of the Christian faith, but is +loosely applied in a more general sense to any minister who plants +Christianity in a new territory. It is clear that the first apostles +were especially inspired for a particular work in laying the +foundations of the Christian church and in writing the New Testament +Scriptures. Hence the apostolic office in this special sense passed +away with them. But there was, nevertheless, an apostolic work such +as planting and overseeing the infant work in a new field, and in this +sense Barnabas also was an apostle (Acts 13:46 with 14:4). + +That the word "apostle" really signified a planter and was therefore +descriptive of the kind of work done is shown by the words of Paul +himself: "For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship +of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles" +(Gal. 2:8). And again, he says to the Corinthians, "If I be not an +apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am _to you_; for _the seal of +mine apostleship are ye in the Lord_" (1 Cor. 9:2). In another place +he says to the same church, "Though ye have ten thousand instructors +in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have +begotten you through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15). + +The special, personal relation that the apostle, or planter, sustained +to the work which he had founded and over which he exercised general +jurisdiction, was but temporary, a sort of fatherly care. He was +obliged to oversee the work as a whole, including young ministers, +until it became thoroughly established. After others were able for the +work and the apostle's special oversight was withdrawn, there might be +ten thousand other instructors, but _no more fathers_. This disproves +entirely the episcopal idea as an essential feature of church +government. The apostle Peter even classes himself simply as an elder +in common with other elders (1 Pet. 5:1). But with the exception of +the original apostles, who were specially commissioned to reveal the +doctrine and message of the gospel and to establish the Christian +faith, the difference existing between elders in the primitive +church was not a difference in kind, but in degree only, varying in +accordance with their ability to put forth some portion of that moral +and spiritual power by which alone Christ governs his church. + + + + +PART II + +The Church in History + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CORRUPTION OF EVANGELICAL FAITH + + +It is not my purpose to write an ecclesiastical history, but in order +to make clear the work of final reformation, it will be necessary to +present at least a brief sketch of historic Christianity, outlining +particularly those leading features which show a radical departure +from the true church as originally constituted by our Lord and his +apostles. + +[Sidenote: "The faith"] + +In the days of primitive Christianity there was something called "the +gospel," "the truth," "the form of sound words," "_the faith."_ To +understand its fundamental nature is not difficult, for it has been +preserved and handed down to us in the writings of the New Testament. +According to this record, the gospel message, or "the faith," centered +in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again that +he might be a "Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, +and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31). "And that repentance and +remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, +beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). Around this central fact of +salvation from sin through faith in Christ clustered those other +truths and facts which either necessarily resulted from the new +relationship of redeemed humanity with God or were essential to its +visible manifestation and propagation. Prominent among these features +were the entire sanctification of believers, holy life and conduct, +the baptism, gifts, and leadership of the Holy Spirit, and the visible +unity and relationship of believers in one body, the church. + +[Sidenote: An apostasy foretold] + +I need not take time or space to describe the wonderful successes of +Christianity as long as the primitive purity and power of the +gospel message was sustained and its results realized in a living, +Spirit-filled church. But facts compel me to record a change from that +happy condition. This transition was foreseen by those who "spake as +they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Paul declared: "Some shall depart +from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of +devils" (1 Tim. 4:1); "Also of your own selves shall men arise, +speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts +20:30). Peter predicted, "There shall be false teachers among you, who +privily shall bring in damnable heresies" (2 Pet. 2:1). Jesus himself +declared, "Many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. +And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" +(Matt. 24:11, 12). + +Paul gives a more particular description of the coming apostasy in +the second chapter of Second Thessalonians. Asserting that the second +coming of Christ was not at that time imminent, he says: "Let no man +deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there +come a _falling away_ first, and that man of sin be revealed, the +son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that +is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the +temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (verses 3, 4). + +The development of the "man of sin," which was occasioned by the +"falling away," was to be gradual, but should finally assume great +proportions, "so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing +himself that _he_ is God." The apostle further states: "For the +mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will +let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be +revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, +and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (verses 7, 8). We +should not seek for the fulfilment of this prediction in those minor +sects and heresies which at an early date arose and soon passed away: +the description refers to some great power occupying the greatest +prominence, making the most pretentious claims, a power that is to +endure until the second advent of Christ. We must, therefore, look +for its fulfilment in what we may term the main line of historic +Christianity. + +[Sidenote: First evidences of decline] + +The "falling away" from the simple truths and standards of the gospel +began at a very early date. The mystery of iniquity was already +working in the apostles' day. Before the close of the first century +we find in the churches of Asia Minor a sad deflection from their +primitive condition. The church at Ephesus had left its first love +(Rev. 2:4); the church at Pergamos was tolerating false teachers and +being ruined by false doctrines (2:14, 15); Thyatira had lost the +spirit of holy judgment against wrong-doing and was therefore affected +by a shocking degree of immorality (2: 20-23); the message to Sardis +was, "Thou hast a name that thou livest, _and art dead_ (3:1); +Laodicea had become so lukewarm that the Lord said, "I will spew thee +out of my mouth" (3:15, 16). + +[Sidenote: The apostolic fathers] + +The transition from the apostles to the age of the early church +fathers is involved in considerable darkness. Not until the middle of +the second century, when Justin Martyr appears on the scene, does the +church emerge from its obscurity into the clear light of history. The +apostolic fathers--Clement of Rome, Ignatius, the Pastor of Hermas, +Papias, and the unknown author of the Epistle to Diognetus--all these +lived and wrote during that transitional period, and they could have +told us much, but they have told us little. We can not but admire the +beautiful spirit in which they wrote, and their style is earnest and +vital. Nevertheless, we discern in these works two leading tendencies +which stand, so to speak, as prophecies of what was to predominate in +the ecclesiastical thought of succeeding centuries. + +In the mind of the author of the Epistle to Diognetus, the grand +central thought is the incarnation and the spiritual presence of +Christ in redeemed humanity, by which they are led to the "free +imitation of God," as a result of which they become to the world +what the soul is to the body--its life and the means of holding it +together. This teaching is an epitome of the Greek theology developed +later by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius. But in Papias, +who attaches much importance to oral traditions that "came from the +living and abiding voice"; in Ignatius, who exalts the bishop +above other presbyters; and in Clement, who, writing as a Roman, +is concerned with matters of administration and subordination to +authority--in these we discern the beginnings of the Latin theology +developed later by Tertullian, Irenaeus, Cyprian, and Augustine, +which produced the papacy, and which, as we shall show, has in a great +measure dominated the ecclesiastical thought of the world until the +present day. + +[Sidenote: The Ante-Nicene age] + +After emerging into the clear field of historic Christianity in the +time of Justin Martyr, we find everywhere evidences of a rapidly +developing apostasy. In one respect we approach an examination of the +Ante-Nicene church with feelings of admiration. This was a heroic age, +an age of Christian martyrs. The struggles of Christianity against the +powers of heathenism enthroned in the Roman Empire and throughout +the world form a bright chapter in the annals of historic deeds and +supreme loyalty to lofty ideals. When we view the subject from +this angle, it would almost seem to be an act of irreverence or of +sacrilege to call in question the doctrines and practises of that +period when the church was baptized by fire and waded through rivers +of blood. Reverence for the martyrs and for their noble efforts to +extend the cause of Christ is praiseworthy, but in justice to truth, +we must remember that even the martyrs were not inspired teachers +commissioned to build a model for all succeeding ages. That they +were heroic does not prove them infallible. We should never hesitate, +therefore, to compare their teaching with the pure doctrines of the +Word of God, and wherein there is any lack of harmony, we should be +guided by the truth as it is in Jesus. + +However much we may admire the early church fathers, we can not help +noticing the sharp contrast between them and the first apostles; +between their writings and the sublime, inspired teaching of the +divine Word. If, after reading Paul, Peter, or John, we turn to +Tertullian, Irenaeus, or Cyprian, we instinctively realize that +we have, so to speak, been transferred from sunny Italy to frigid +Siberia. We are conscious of a change to another era, and to another +country. Notwithstanding the fact that we find numerous familiar +objects, we know that we are moving in another atmosphere amid foreign +surroundings. + +[Sidenote: Growth of ritualism] + +The church of the Middle Ages was the natural fruitage of the seeds +planted during the second and third centuries. There we began to +notice particularly foreign elements which stand out in bold +contrast to the simple forms of primitive Christianity. One of these +innovations was the development of the ritualistic spirit, according +to which undue importance was attached to particular forms of worship, +such as time, place, positions of the body, and ceremonial observances +in general. Take baptism for an example. Apart from erroneous notions +concerning the efficacy of baptism, which will be referred to under +another head, the writings of the church fathers abound with the +most minute and puerile details concerning how the act is to be +performed--details of catechism, of consecration of waters, of +dressing and undressing, exorcism, anointing from head to foot with +oil, the laying on of hands, etc., all of which were to be carried out +in the most exacting and solemn manner. + +[Sidenote: Example from Tertullian] + +As an example of the ritualistic character of Christian worship at the +beginning of the third century, I will cite a passage from Tertullian. +In the third chapter of his work De Corona, this celebrated Latin +father undertakes to defend customs and practises that he confesses +were received "on the ground of tradition alone." He says: "I shall +begin with baptism. When we are going to enter the water, but a little +before, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the +president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, +and his angels. Whereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat +ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the gospel.[A] Then +when we are taken up (as new-born children) we taste, first of all, a +mixture of milk and honey, and from that day we abstain from the daily +bath for a whole week. We take also, in congregations before daybreak, +and from the hand of none but the president, the sacrament of the +Eucharist, which the Lord both commanded to be done at mealtimes and +enjoined to be taken by all alike. As often as the anniversary comes +round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honors. We count +shouting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. We +rejoice in the same privilege also from Easter to Whitsunday. We feel +pained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon the +ground. At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, +when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at +table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary +actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign of the +cross." + +In words immediately following, at the beginning of Chapter 4, +Tertullian says: "If for these and other such rules you insist upon +having positive Scriptural injunction, you will find none. Tradition +will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their +strengthener, and faith as their observer." + +According to this confession, all the ceremonial observances here +set forth are without Scriptural authority. When we read in the +New Testament concerning the simple act of baptizing believers, and +compare it with the customs and practises that had grown up in the +Ante-Nicene church, we do not wonder that evangelical faith was soon +afterwards almost entirely lost in ritualistic forms; that, like the +Pharisees of old, men made the faith of God of none effect by their +traditions. + +[Sidenote: False doctrines and heresies] + +Another evidence of the decline of evangelical faith is found in +the presence of many false doctrines among the leaders of so-called +orthodox Christianity in that period of which I now write. Paul not +only taught that at a later time some should "depart from the faith, +giving heed to seducing spirits and devils" (1 Tim. 4:1), but he +referred to some who had already "erred concerning the faith" (1 Tim. +6:21), and named two persons, 'who, concerning the truth, had erred, +saying that the resurrection was past already, and overthrew the faith +of some' (2 Tim. 2:18). After the death of the apostles, error made +deeper inroads, and its baneful influence cast a shadow over the +church, which rapidly deepened into the darkness of spiritual night. + +[Sidenote: Baptismal regeneration] + +One of the earliest corruptions of apostolic truth concerned the +design and purpose of baptism. It was not long until unscriptural +significance was attached to the literal rite itself, so that what was +originally a mere sign, was substituted for the thing signified, and +thus baptism took the place of spiritual regeneration. In several +places in the writings of Justin Martyr, who lived about the middle of +the second century, his language seems to attach undue importance to +the literal rite; but other passages from the same author indicate +that he had not as yet entirely lost sight of the apostolic standard. +In his Dialog with Trypho, chapter 14, he says: "We have believed and +testify that that very baptism which he [Isaiah] announced is alone +able to purify those who have repented ... and what is the use of that +baptism which cleanses the flesh and body alone? Baptize the soul from +wrath and covetousness, from envy and from hatred, and lo, the body is +pure." + +In his First Apology, chapter 61, the same writer draws a clear +Biblical distinction between spiritual regeneration secured through +repentance and faith, and ritual regeneration in baptism as a mere +outward sign of the inward work. He says: "I will also relate the +manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made +new through Christ ... as many as are persuaded and believe that +what we teach and say is truth, and undertake to be able to live +accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting +for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting +with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water and are +regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. +For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the Universe, and of +our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the +washing with water." + +Other writers of the period under consideration, however, praise the +saving efficacy of baptism in the most exalted terms. According to +their minds, it is the actual means of the redemption of sins, not +a mere literal rite expressing ceremonially the work of God's Spirit +within the heart; it is an illumination; it extinguishes the fire +of sin; it removes the unclean spirits from men and seals them for +heaven. Tertullian wrote extensively on this subject. In his work +On Baptism, chapters 3 to 8, he maintains the doctrine of baptismal +regeneration "by which we are washed from the sins of our former +blindness and set free for eternal life." He declares that by this act +men are prepared to receive the Holy Ghost; that in the literal act, +"the spirit is corporeally washed in the waters, and the flesh is, in +the same, spiritually cleansed." Cyprian, bishop of Carthage (third +century), in his treatise concerning the Baptism of Heretics, teaches +the same doctrine in no uncertain terms. + +[Sidenote: Other erroneous doctrines and practises] + +The limits of this work preclude the historic treatment of the rise +and development of the host of false doctrines and practises that +finally bound the people in the thralldom of superstition and plunged +the world into the darkness of spiritual night. One who is free from +such influences can scarcely read without feelings of disgust the +elaborate treatises of these church fathers wherein they extol the +virtues of virginity as forming a new order of life, as an evidence of +divinity, as making virgins while in this world "equal to the angels +of God," and as a certain surety of special rewards in heaven. From +this false standard proceeded at length the celibacy of the clergy and +monkery with all their attendant evils. And the time would fail me to +tell of the introduction of images and image-worship in the Western +Church and of that superstitious regard for miserable relics of every +description and kind. True evangelical faith was at length lost to +view, buried beneath the rubbish of men's traditions. The treatment +of such matters, however, belongs to the church historian, and as the +general facts are well-known, it is unnecessary here to make more than +a brief reference to them so as to prepare the mind for that treatment +of the reformation which is a special object of the present work. + + +[Footnote A: Tertullian is the earliest writer that clearly and +unmistakably teaches trine immersion, or records its practise. But +here he honestly confesses that it is a "somewhat ampler pledge than +the Lord has appointed in the gospel."] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +RISE OF ECCLESIASTICISM + + +[Sidenote: Two phases of apostacy] + +In order to understand the place which the work of reformation has in +the plan and purpose of God respecting his church, we must carefully +observe the twofold character of the apostasy. Both these phases +are clearly outlined in that remarkable prediction of Paul to which +reference has already been made, recorded in the second chapter +of Second Thessalonians. The first phase, described as "_a falling +away_," was that decline from true Christianity which we have +considered in the preceding chapter as the Corruption of Evangelical +Faith. The second phase was the rise and development of a foreign +element which was from its beginning "the mystery of iniquity" and +which in certain respects usurped the true place of Jehovah himself +in spiritual worship in the temple of God. This phase now demands our +special attention. + +Since the sixteenth century reformation a large part of the Christian +world has renounced the right of the pope to sit as the supreme +earthly head of the church, but we shall show later that these same +modern Christians who have sought the restoration of the evangelical +_faith_ have not discarded the essential elements of the papal +hierarchical system, but have perpetuated them in their own +ecclesiastical constitutions, and that this relic of medievalism is +the chief barrier to a reunited Christendom and the restoration of +pure apostolic Christianity. It is highly essential, therefore, that +this phase of the apostasy be carefully considered. It is not enough +to reject the pope and his college of cardinals. If that tree, as +judged by its fruits, is an "evil" tree, we should seek to know where, +when, and by whom the evil seed from which it grew was first planted, +and then _reject it from the roots up_. Then, and not until then, can +the work of reformation be made complete. We have, therefore, to trace +the rise and development of what may be forcibly expressed by the +apparently pleonastic phrase _human ecclesiasticism_. + +[Sidenote: Divine authority vs. positional authority] + +We have already seen that in the church, as originally constituted, +organization, authority, and government proceeded from the divine and +not from the human. The agents whom Christ used in performing his +work and in overseeing his church were called and endowed by the +Holy Spirit, and this divine endowment was the real basis of their +authority and responsibility. Paul's authority and responsibility as +an apostle, for example, was not positional authority, or authority +proceeding from a certain position to which he had been appointed or +elected. His authority was divine, and out of that divine authority +grew his positional responsibility as the "apostle of the Gentiles." +Over and over he affirmed that he was an apostle, "not of men, neither +by man, but by Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:1). On the same principle the +position, work, and responsibility of all the members of the body of +Christ grew out of the gifts and qualifications possessed by them, and +thus the church was divinely organized and divinely governed. + +[Sidenote: Original bond of union] + +The bonds which united primitive Christians in one body were +essentially moral and spiritual. Christ was their ever-living and +ever-acting head. Their life proceeded from him, and they were all +one in him. While those living in widely separated districts +consulted together concerning matters of general concern, or united +in cooperative efforts to accomplish common tasks, there is not the +slightest evidence that there was an external human organization +of the primitive church--either sectionally, nationally, or +universally--centralized under a human headship of the administrative, +legislative, and judicial kind. Christ was the head of the general +church, the head of all the local churches, the head of all the +individual members of the church. In him, the source of their common +life, the primitive Christians were essentially one, and by his Spirit +he operated in all hearts, in all the individual churches, and in all +the ministers whose particular gifts and qualifications fitted them +for divinely appointed oversight, both local and general. By this +means the primitive church was able to perform the work of Christ +harmoniously and present to the world the grand spectacle of one body. + +[Sidenote: First steps to ecclesiasticism] + +Jesus taught the humble equality of the New Testament ministry. "All +ye are brethren" (Matt. 23:8). According to the New Testament they +were all of one general order or rank, although greatly diversified +in gifts and qualifications and the kind of work accomplished by each. +The first example we have in Scripture of _positional authority_ in +the ministry as distinguished from the authority of the Holy Spirit, +is the case of Diotrephes, of whom the apostle John wrote in his +third epistle. We are also informed as to the nature of the authority +exercised by him and the direction in which it led. It was _human +authority_, something additional and foreign to the authority and +government through the Holy Spirit, and the first example of church +government by a single man. It proceeded from the evil root of pride +and ambition, the love of "preeminence" among the brethren; and +this usurped power and authority led to a judicial process by which +innocent brethren were 'cast out of the church.' + +What a contrast this presents to that New Testament picture of the +divine ecclesia, exhibiting the highest form of human society known +to history, a body in which every member had his gift and use for it. +Among these many activities, oversight and preaching had their place, +but did not constitute the whole sum of Christian service. Paul +describes Christ as the living head "from whom the whole body fitly +joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, +according to the _effectual working in the measure of every part_, +maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love" (Eph. +4:16). The object of the ministerial function was "the perfecting of +the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the +body of Christ" (verse 12, R.V.). + +In his early epistle to the Philippians, Paul makes reference to +the officers that guided that church. He sends greetings "to all the +saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and +deacons" (Phil. 1:1). Polycarp, writing to the same church in the +next century, addresses the "presbyters and deacons," showing that the +apostolic order was still preserved there. + +[Sidenote: Bishops vs. Presbyters] + +In the Ignatian epistles, however, written early in the second +century, there appears positional authority of a new order. In place +of the New Testament standard of a plurality of elders, or bishops, +jointly teaching and guiding the local church, we find recognition of +an office which was superior to that of the presbyters and to whose +incumbents alone the term "bishop" was applied. A few extracts from +his writings will make clear this recognition of a threefold order of +the ministry--bishops, elders, and deacons. "Wherefore, it is fitting +that ye should run together in accordance with the will of your +bishop, which thing also ye do. For your justly renowned presbytery, +worthy of God, is fitted exactly to the bishop as the strings are to +the harp" (To the Ephesians, chap. 4). "He is subject to the bishop +as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as to the will of Jesus +Christ" (To the Magnesians, chap. 2). And again, in the same epistle +he says, "I exhort you to study to do all things with a divine +harmony, while your bishop presides in the place of God, and your +presbytery in the place of the assembly of the apostles" (chap. 6). +"In like manner, let all reverence the deacons as the appointment of +Jesus Christ, and the bishop as Jesus Christ, who is the Son of the +Father, and the presbyters as the Sanhedrin of God, and assembly of +the apostles. Apart from these there is no church" (To the Trallians, +chap. 3). To the Smyrnaeans he writes: "See that ye all follow +the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father.... Let no man do +anything connected with the church without the bishop" (chap. 8). "It +is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a +love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing +to God" (chap. 8). "It is well to reverence both God and the bishop. +He who honors the bishop has been honored of God; but he who does +anything without the knowledge of the bishop, does [in reality] serve +the devil" (chap. 9). + +That this early recognition of a superior order of ministers was a +distinct innovation is also shown from the literature of that period. +In the Shepherd of Hermas, dating from the first part of the second +century, elders and presbyters are distinctly named but no bishop +in contrast therewith. In the so-called "Teaching of the Twelve +Apostles," also dating from the first part of the second century, +bishops and deacons only are named as teachers and leaders of the +church, showing that the original signification of the term "bishop" +is here retained. Clement of Rome, in his first epistle to the +Corinthians, speaks of the ministry as an institution of the apostles, +but he mentions, nevertheless, only a twofold order--elders and +deacons, presbyters and deacons, or bishops and deacons. The same +classification is made in the second epistle of Clement to the +Corinthians, a work which is generally ascribed to another author; so +also in the epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians. + +[Sidenote: Innovation becomes general] + +The superior office of _the_ bishop as distinguished from the local +presbytery was, therefore, an innovation, but in process of time its +recognition became general. It is probable that in the local +presbytery of the primitive church some one minister excelled in +special gifts and qualifications and consequently became a natural +leader of his brethren. _Such_ leadership was of God, comes general +because it was based on the authority proceeding from the Spirit of +God. Such was the leadership which Paul held in a sphere of activity +wider than a local congregation. But such was not positional authority +or authority proceeding from a humanly created superior office and +appointment thereto. It was of divine order. But this fact of +distinguished leadership at first, doubtless furnished an excuse for +the creation of a distinct office with carefully defined functions and +limits of authority. The power of the bishop thus constituted advanced +steadily. The churches of the cities where they were located extended +their influences over smaller towns in the surrounding territory, and +thus the city bishop came to rule over the elders of the lesser +churches of a district. + +[Sidenote: Development of hierarchy] + +When the first step toward ecclesiasticism was definitely taken, +by the recognition of official position authority, and government +proceeding from human appointment alone, the way was prepared for +rapid progress toward a highly organized system of man-rule. When the +bishops met in provincial councils, special deference was given those +bishops from cities of great political importance, and they were +exalted to the presidency of these councils, and this in time led to +the recognition of a new order of church officials--_metropolitans_. +Later the metropolitans seemed too numerous for general utility in +governmental functions; therefore general leadership gradually became +centralized more and more in the bishops or metropolitans of +certain of the most important cities, until they were finally given +recognition as an order superior to that of metropolitans and were +styled _patriarchs_. The first Council of Nice recognized this +superior authority possessed by the patriarchates of Alexandria, Rome, +and Antioch. The General Council of Constantinople placed the bishop +of Constantinople in the same rank with the other three patriarchs, +and the General Council of Chalcedon exalted the see of Jerusalem to +a similar dignity. The race for leadership between the patriarchates +then began. On account of the Moslem invasion in the seventh century, +Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch fell away from their former +positions of greatness; therefore the rivalry for leadership was +henceforth between the see of Rome and the bishop of Constantinople. +Rome possessed many natural advantages, and consequently the bishop +of Rome gained the greater prestige. The full-fledged papacy was the +result. + +[Sidenote: Fundamental causes] + +What produced that transition from the humble apostolic church of the +brethren to the medieval church of the impious Hildebrand, who caused +monarchs to tremble on their thrones? The change resulted from two +particular causes, and it is highly essential to our purpose that +we understand them. One was a misconception both of the Fundamental +constitution of the true church itself as designed by its Founder +and of Christ's perpetual relationship to it; and the second was +the imperialistic tendencies of that age to which the first error +naturally exposed the church. + +It is unnecessary here to recite at length that conception of the +primitive church which we have described in preceding chapters as +the concrete expression of the kingdom of God. Such was the only true +_catholic_, or universal, church. Its catholicity, however, was a +moral and spiritual dominion exercised over men by the truth and +Spirit of God, and was rendered visible only in the society of +redeemed believers who held the truth and bore its appropriate fruits +of righteousness. Being composed of the redeemed, it lovingly embraced +within its membership the entire brotherhood of Christ. + +[Sidenote: Two theories of catholicity] + +It is not too much to say that in the age in which Christianity first +appeared it was difficult for men to appreciate the conception of a +purely moral and spiritual authority which was to be universal and +perpetual. Another idea of catholicity soon began to take possession +of men's minds--the idea of a temporal and earthly organization of the +kingdom of heaven. In this conception of the church the bond of union +was not moral and spiritual--not the inevitable result of divine life +and love in the individual members--but its pretended catholicity was +to be secured by official, administrative, legislative, and judicial +functions under a human headship and a self-perpetuating human +magistracy. Such was the "mystery of iniquity," and in its developed +form historically it was "the man of sin." The student of the New +Testament can easily see that the great Founder never intended that +the boundary of his church should be determined by the administrative +functions of a self-perpetuating clerical corporation. But, on +the other hand, the real church embraces the entire _spiritual +brotherhood,_ and out of this spiritual membership was developed by +the Spirit of God the capacity and authority to teach, guide, and +instruct. What a contrast these two conceptions present! + +[Sidenote: The power of the keys] + +Out of that worldly conception of the kingdom of God grew the Romish +figment of the "power of the keys." According to this idea, Christ +constituted his ministers a sort of clerical, close corporation +invested with direct authority over souls so that without their +priestly mediation the kingdom of heaven is forever shut against men. +The words "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 16:19) are evidently +nothing more than a figurative expression indicating the moral +influence in the kingdom which Peter in particular should wield with +peculiar energy and efficiency. According to Matt. 18:18 all the +apostles and others were to exercise the same functions. In time, this +expression denoting moral influence and usefulness in the service of +Christ was tortured into an engine of despotism and made the means of +spiritual tyranny over the consciences of millions of men and women. +The corporation entrusted with such power durst not be resisted, and +the church was identical with the hierarchy. + +But all of Rome's boasted catholicity, centralized in an official, +administrative corporation, is a chimera; for it is a fact that +multitudes are accepted of God as members of the divine family who are +not identified with the hierarchy. The real catholic church, embracing +the whole spiritual brotherhood, is therefore something else. + +[Sidenote: Main source of ecclesiasticism] + +But we have not yet reached in this discussion the tap-root of the +evil tree of human ecclesiasticism. The fundamental error underlying +all other errors on this subject, was the idea of an absent Christ. +Notwithstanding the definite assertions of our Lord, "I am with you +alway, even unto the end of the world" and "Where two or three +are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of +them"--notwithstanding these reassuring promises and the definite +statements of the apostles which represent Christ as the ever-living +and ever-acting head of the church, soon after the apostolic period +men lost the consciousness of the divine presence and began to think +and to act as if Christ were indeed absent and would not return again +for thousands of years. The presence of gigantic evils in the world +with no apparent available means of redressing them, the dead weight +of heathenism, and the disturbing influences of speculative Oriental +philosophies impressed upon the conscience of the world a despairing +pessimism. In the midst of this trial there was a revival of the +Platonic philosophy. The treatise of Plato that made the most profound +impression upon the religious thought of the second century was the +"Timaeus," wherein the Deity is pictured as withdrawn from the world +into a distant heaven separated from all creation because of the evil +with which matter is essentially connected. With God withdrawn from +the world and Christ absent on a long journey, what was man to do? +What was the hope of the world? + +Here ecclesiasticism found its real opportunity. Here human authority +and government could be and was substituted for that spiritual +dominion of Christ which gave life, form, and character to his church +in primitive days. Here grew up that conception of the church as +identical with the hierarchy whose power and authority was handed +down by direct descent from the apostles and without whose priestly +mediation there was no hope of salvation. Here was introduced the +idea of world-wide centralization of administrative, legislative, +and judicial functions in a self-perpetuating human headship. What a +contrast! With Christ absent, the church an ark for the saving of the +world, the truth a mere deposit made to the church for safe keeping to +be handed down like a heirloom from generation to generation, and with +a self-perpetuating priestly corporation as master of the destinies of +the universe, we are prepared to understand the tyrannical rule of the +church of Hildebrand and Innocent III. Traced to its source, this evil +system is found to have sprung from that worldly conception of the +kingdom of Christ which was substituted for the inconceivably grander +conception of its Founder--a kingdom whose dominion is moral and +spiritual under the personal supervision of Christ himself in all +ages, and which embraces in its membership the entire spiritual +brotherhood. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE REFORMATION + + +The age of popery's greatest glory was the world's midnight. I have +not attempted to give an adequate description of that long reign of +superstition and error preceding the reformation of the sixteenth +century. Such is the particular province of ecclesiastical historians. +I have simply confined the discussion to certain features essential to +our present purpose. + +One point of importance I have endeavored to impress, namely, that +the papal hierarchy, with all its attendant evils, corruption, +superstition, and spiritual despotism, was the logical successor of +the Ante-Nicene church; that the ripened fruits of papalism were the +direct results of the seeds of error planted in the second and third +centuries. In view of this fact, one is led to inquire why true +Christianity was not permanently buried in oblivion beyond the +possibility of resurrection, how any reformation could be possible. + +If Christianity were nothing more than a human religion, its +reformation at such a period of decline and corruption would appear +impossible. But Christianity was of divine origin. No matter how +deeply it was buried under the rubbish of human tradition and +superstition, no matter how grossly it was perverted and misunderstood +by men, it still retained within itself the vital spark of divine +life, the living principle of reformation. + +[Sidenote: First cause of reformation] + +The secret of this reformatory power was Jesus Christ himself, the +great ever-living head of the church. Notwithstanding the decline +of faith and morals among those professing Christ, the wonderful +character of Jesus still stood out with remarkable clearness and +power in the records of the New Testament and could not but exert a +tremendous influence in spite of prevailing standards; could not +but shed rays of light and warmth in the midst of the surrounding +darkness. Although men's ideas of the church became perverted, they +could not entirely lose sight of the great Founder of the church, and +they could not escape the conviction that the record of the founding +of that church was given in the writings of the New Testament and that +these writings were worthy of peculiar veneration. Perhaps this is +the main reason why the learning of antiquity was chiefly preserved in +monasteries and churches. There were ecclesiastics in all these +ages who were acquainted with the Scriptures in Latin, and this +acquaintance tended to preserve the knowledge of Jesus the Christ as +portrayed in the original gospel records. The history of that epoch +proves that there were men who loved the Lord more than priestly forms +and ceremonial observances. John Wyclif, Jerome of Prague, John Huss, +and others experienced that deeper longing for personal relationship +with Christ, and they proclaimed the gospel of Christ in a manner that +could not be understood by the hierarchy of their times. + +[Sidenote: Classical learning] + +Jesus was indeed the Christ of God. The light which shone forth from +his presence could not be totally obscured, and the moral power and +influence of his life and teaching could not be destroyed. The revival +of classical learning restored the Greek Testament to western Europe +and attracted the attention of students and learned men in all the +monasteries and universities. While the hierarchy insisted on the +exclusive right to interpret the Scriptures, the simple reading of +these wonderful records could not but create new conceptions of truth +which no clerical prohibition could banish. Life was springing up in +the midst of death. + +[Sidenote: Love for truth] + +The Reformation was the sincere effort of honest men to restore the +truth of primitive Christianity, that the world might again experience +the triumph of evangelical faith. To the everlasting credit of the +Continental reformers be it said that their motives were not selfish. +They sought not for themselves freedom of thought and speech nor +church power. Their immediate object was the restoration of the +gospel; all other results were but secondary. Nothing is more +certain than that at the first Luther had no idea of assailing the +organization of the papal church. Most of the reformers at the first +still believed most earnestly in the imperial government of the +universal church; and they relinquished this long-cherished ideal only +when driven by force of circumstances which were at first unseen and +unsuspected. Luther did not at first question the doctrine of the +supremacy of the pope; but when he found that the reigning pope could +not be reconciled with the principles of truth which he taught, Luther +proposed to appeal the matters in question to a general council, +notwithstanding the melancholy example, a century earlier, of the +Council of Constance and the fate of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. + +[Sidenote: Indulgences] + +The real occasion for the outbreak of the Reformation was the papal +traffic in indulgences. Leo X had great need of money for the building +of St. Peter's, and other undertakings, and in order to fill the +coffers of the church he had recourse to the sale of indulgences. +The power of dispensing these indulgences in Saxony in Germany was +committed to a Dominican friar named Tetzel, a fanatical enthusiast +who entertained the most extravagant notions concerning their efficacy +in forgiving not only the sins already committed but even those which +were contemplated. Luther's soul burned with righteous indignation. Of +what use was the doctrine that forgiveness of sin came by the death of +Christ on the cross if any sinner could obtain it from an emissary of +the pope for a pecuniary consideration. Luther felt that this infamous +traffic was making the Word of God of none effect. He therefore drew +up ninety-five theses against the doctrine of indulgences and nailed +them on the church-door at Wittenberg. The printing-press scattered +copies of these theses everywhere, and soon the continent of Europe +was in a blaze of controversy. Such, in short, was the beginning of +the Reformation and some of the causes leading thereto. + +[Sidenote: Gospel standard sought] + +The key-note of the reformers was, therefore, the gospel. The views +of the reformers with respect to truth were not altogether harmonious, +and it is evident that some of them had much clearer conception of the +gospel than had others. Nevertheless, their primary purpose was the +same. They were gradually forced to the conviction that Rome had +made the faith of God of none effect by her traditions, errors, and +superstitions, so much so as to make it practically unknown. It was +the purpose of these heroic preachers to bring out these long-obscured +truths and thus make them effectual in the saving of men. The main +doctrine around which the Reformation centered was justification by +faith independent of human mediation. + +So far as the Reformation restored to the world right doctrine, it +tended to correct the evils of that phase of the apostasy which we +have characterized as the corruption of evangelical faith. But it did +not remove that other evil characteristic of the apostasy, the parent +of nearly all other evils--_human ecclesiasticism_. Viewed from one +angle, that power appears to have been modified; but from another +point of view, we can see that what was formerly an imperial system +of centralized ecclesiastical control simply ended now in nationally +centralized systems perpetuating the same principles. Thus, from the +centralized dominion of the papal hierarchy there sprang the national, +or state, churches in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, Sweden, +and Scotland. + +[Sidenote: Lingering influence of Rome] + +We have already shown that development of ecclesiasticism which +culminated in the papacy. From the primitive autonomy of the local +churches, there came the centralization and consolidation of churches +sectionally under a human headship with administrative functions, then +provincial or national centralization, then finally the primacy of +Rome over them all. The reason for this is evident. When the moral and +spiritual dominion of Christ's kingdom was lost to view or could not +be appreciated, the wrong conception of the church as a world-empire +naturally took possession of men's minds; for in that age vast, +centralized, imperial power was the ideal government. When, however, +the political empire fell, and men witnessed the ruin of their +political ideal, they sought to realize the same universal conception +in a world-church possessing imperial powers under the pope of Rome. + +[Sidenote: National churches] + +At the period of the Reformation the Christian world had been in the +grip of this world-church idea for more than a thousand years. As +already stated, the reformers, whose minds were directed chiefly +toward the restoration of evangelical doctrine, had at first no idea +of breaking away from this standard. Evidently they had no conception +of that moral and spiritual dominion of Christ by which alone he +governs his church--a 'kingdom that is not of this world.' They +therefore abandoned the world-church idea reluctantly, and not until +the opposition of the hierarchy drove them to separation. When the +issue was clearly drawn, they of course decided to obey God rather +than man. Having no idea of the real spiritual character of the divine +ecclesia, they had to content themselves with that _national_ church +unity which was still in their power. + +The clergy, who had long been accustomed to the imperial tie, believed +that a national headship was now necessary. The governments of Europe +at that time were for the most part absolute monarchies, about the +only limits to the sovereign power of these kings being the control +which the pope exercised over the ecclesiastical affairs of the +nations. From this control the Reformation liberated them. Therefore +they eagerly took upon themselves the oversight of the national +churches, and thus came into existence the church-and-state system of +Protestant Europe. To a great extent the power that the imperial head +of the church lost was acquired by the national heads. + +All this seemed perfectly consistent to the reformers. They felt the +necessity of lodging somewhere that power of human control which had +been formerly exercised by the pope. As one writer has said, "They +could not understand that Christianity could prosper without a +strongly organized and governed church or without the presence of a +strong and vigorous hand ready at all times to repress dissent +and enforce uniformity of faith and worship." The time of absolute +religious freedom was not yet. + +[Sidenote: Ecclesiasticism perpetuated] + +As might be expected, numerous modifications of the principles and +usages of the papal church occurred in the change from imperial +control to the state-church system. This diversity took place in the +different countries in accordance either with prevailing conditions +and sentiments or with the whims and caprices of the reigning +sovereigns. While some retained the episcopate, others greatly +modified it or rejected it altogether. In forms of worship, ritual, +and other things numerous changes were also made. But notwithstanding +the diversity in forms of worship and in church polity, in two +respects there was perfect agreement among all the Reformed +churches--two things brought over from the papacy--namely, first, +the idea of a self-perpetuating clerical caste possessing in their +corporate capacity legislative and judicial authority over the +church; and second, the centralization under a human headship of +administrative functions, instead of that local autonomy which +prevailed in the congregations of apostolic times. The doctrine of the +"power of the keys," a power wielded by a clerical corporation with +authority to prescribe the very manner and form of worshiping God and +to require men to comply therewith or else exclude them from gospel +privileges. That doctrine was accepted without question. It was the +same power in principle as that which was wielded so terribly by +Gregory VII in the papal church of the eleventh century. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MODERN SECTS + + +[Sidenote: A mental picture] + +Picture a keen observer living in the middle of the first century +of our era. He travels about from place to place studying the +development, nature, and fruits of the recently established religious +phenomenon--Christianity. He observes the purity of its doctrines and +the high moral standard exemplified in the lives of its adherents, and +he inquires particularly concerning the secret of that mysterious bond +which unites in one body and in one fellowship, sympathy, and love the +entire society of believers in Jesus. He departs. After the lapse of +long ages he returns near the beginning of the twentieth century, +and lo, what is it that meets his astonished vision? The mournful +spectacle of a divided Christendom; of rival sects compassing land and +sea to make proselytes; of the spiritual alienation of those who, in +reality, belong to the one divine family; of waste and inefficiency +in methods of evangelical effort; not to mention the error, pride, and +worldliness inherent in the gigantic ecclesiastical systems known as +denominational churches. What a change! + +It is useless to minimize the evils inherent in the sect system. +Intelligent men the world over need not the services of an +eye-specialist to see clearly that there is something wrong with +modern Christendom; that the sect system does not represent the +standard of primitive Christianity, but that in reality the sect +principle misrepresents the apostolic ideal as portrayed in the New +Testament. We may as well face the facts honestly and seek for +a remedy for this disease that has so long marred the beauty and +corrupted the nature of the true Christian system. + +[Sidenote: Inherent evils] + +I cheerfully admit that God has worked among his people in all ages +in accordance with the degree of light and truth which they possessed. +But I can not forget that the greatest revivals of evangelical +religion have either taken place in spite of the sect system or +among those who had just made their escape from the bondage of +ecclesiastical despotism and had not as yet become very deeply +affected by the sectarian principle. To what source, then, are we to +trace sects? What is their cause? + +[Sidenote: Alleged causes of sect-making] + +A large proportion of the Christian world would reply without +hesitation that the existence of the modern sects is due to these +two things: the principle of religious liberty and the limitations +of human knowledge. Such an answer reveals a superficial view of +the whole subject. Religious liberty among Christians existed in the +primitive church before the rise of ecclesiastical tyranny over the +conscience, and the masses of men in those days were at least as +limited in knowledge as are we. Still, the church was one; it was not +divided into rival and hostile sects. There was no need in those days +of constructing churches to conform to the limited capacity of men's +minds; for there was already in existence a church sufficiently +_catholic_ in its nature and spirit to accommodate all classes of +minds, because there was in operation the power of the Spirit of +God which revealed truth to men and thus enlightened their minds and +brought them into harmony with the divine standard. Concerning the +principle of religious liberty, I shall have more to say hereafter. + +[Sidenote: Human limitations] + +The natural limitations of human knowledge may account for difference +of opinion, but more than this is required to account for the entire +system of organized sects such as we see it today. Millions of +evangelical Christians possessing spiritual affinity and holding +opinions no more divergent than often exist between members of the +same sect, are, nevertheless, divided into independent, rival parties. +Something else originated and now perpetuates that barrier between +them. + +When differences are fundamental and therefore unavoidable, they will +become more pronounced under test than at any other time. If, during +an epidemic, a physician believes that the method of treatment +employed by another doctor is actually killing the patients, his +opposition to such a method will then he stronger than at any other +time. As long as that method is simply a theory, it is harmless. Only +when put into practise does it become dangerous. + +It is a matter of common knowledge that evangelical Christians are +not driven further apart but are really driven together whenever +Christianity itself is placed under any special trial, as, for +example, in foreign missionary work in heathen lands. And even in our +own country, whenever a great local interest is taken in the work +of soul-saving there is a corresponding tendency for Christians +of different sects to ignore their differences of opinion and get +together as if they believed in a common Lord over all and were all +members of the same family. Thus, whenever the high tide of evangelism +comes in, the landmarks of sects are scarcely visible; but whenever +the tide goes out, behold, _the ancient boundaries of sects appear as +before_. This fact proves that there are no fundamental reasons why +sects should exist. It proves that in reality sects are a barrier +to the true work of Christ; hence are, in their essential nature, +antichristian. What, then, is the real cause of sects'? + +Traced to the original source, modern sects, we find, originated where +the papacy originated--in the corruption of Christianity in the early +centuries. All came from the same roots of error. + +[Sidenote: True causes of sects] + +However modified and diversified in external form and in doctrinal +teaching they may now be, they exhibit in their ecclesiastical +constitutions a foreign character derived from the foreign stock from +which they sprang. Into this system there have been engrafted many +noble scions of truth from the "good olive-tree," and these have +produced commendable fruits of righteousness. But we are here +concerned with pointing out those fundamental characteristics of the +system that are foreign to the true church of Jesus Christ. + +[Sidenote: Erroneous ideas of the church] + +The first cause to which I call attention is an erroneous conception +of the church itself. At the cost of some repetition I must point +out that in the beginning the church was the universal company of the +redeemed, the whole _spiritual brotherhood_, whether isolated members +of Christ or those worshiping in local assemblies distributed over the +earth. The tie which united these members of Christ in one body +was their common faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and the life of the +Spirit. But as in those times vast centralized imperial power was +a divinity that every one worshiped, it was impossible properly to +appreciate _the moral and spiritual dominion_ of Christ by which +alone he designed to rule his church; therefore men soon proceeded to +pattern the church of Christ after the political government, first +by grouping together under one administrative human headship the +congregations of a province or section of the empire, and then finally +uniting these different provinces under one administrative headship +at Rome. From that day until the present time the church-idea that has +generally prevailed in Christendom has been an organization fashioned +according to the kingdoms of this world; a human organization in which +the administrative functions of government are centralized under some +form of human headship; a unity that is not moral and spiritual, but +official and administrative, as well as legislative and judicial. + +[Sidenote: Wrong standard of church-membership] + +Coincident with the creation of foreign ideals concerning church +societies was the formation of of a foreign idea of church-membership +and church-relationship. In the beginning, as we have shown, the +church was simply the divine family. Therefore salvation through +Christ was its sole condition of membership. "And the Lord added to +them day by day those that were being saved" (Acts 2:47, R.V.). And as +the local congregation was but the concrete expression of the ideals +of the general body or church, that membership in Christ which made +men members of the general body, made them, by a moral and spiritual +law, members of all the other members of Christ, and therefore fixed +their local relationship: they belonged by divine right with whichever +company of believers they happened to be associated. Nothing more than +simple recognition of what God had done for them and the according +to them of the local rights and privileges that naturally belonged +to them was necessary on the part of a local congregation to make the +actual union complete. + +The wrong conception of the constitution of the church necessarily +required another standard of church-membership. When _church_ came +to signify merely a group of congregations consolidated under a +centralized human headship possessing administrative, legislative, and +judicial functions (so organized as to distinguish it from all other +organized groups or congregations), simple membership in Christ was +insufficient to mark the convert with the stamp of denominational +individuality. Salvation itself made no one a member of a church +fashioned according to the kingdoms of this world. Consequently +another standard of membership was necessary, a standard which +required acceptance of and conformity to the self-made rules and +regulations of that foreign society called a church. And when these +earth-born institutions became identified in the public mind with +the real church of Christ and membership in them became confused with +membership in the true church of God, the natural result was that +millions complied, in a formal manner at least, with the conditions of +the counterfeit church membership who never knew what it meant to be +vitally joined to Christ. In this we see the "evil" fruit which grew +on that tree of error. The multitudes that have been by this means +deceived with the thought that they were Christians, only to be lost +at last, will not be known until that awful day of final reckoning. + +[Sidenote: Divisive nature of the creeds] + +The formation of creeds tends to create division and to perpetuate +division. Caesar's maxim illustrates their history: "Soldiers will +raise money, and money will make soldiers." So creeds will make sects, +and sects will make creeds. "A creed or confession of faith is an +ecclesiastical document--the mind and will of some synod or council +possessing authority--as a term of communion by which persons and +opinions are to be tested, approbated or reprobated." The sect +churches are built on their creeds, although, of course, they affirm +that their creeds are built on the Bible. In this case, however, it is +usually apparent to the careful observer that the Bible is that part +of the foundation which is buried out of sight below the ground. The +creed is the real test applied to persons, the measure by which their +opinions are judged. It is the creed upon which the sect is built that +gives the denominational character and distinctiveness. + +It is a fact of history that the primary purpose of the historical +creeds was not to unite men but to separate them. The Nicene Creed was +made to exclude the Arians. The Decrees of the Council of Trent were +framed to exclude Protestants; the Westminster Confession, to exclude +Arminians; and the Episcopal Articles, to exclude Catholics and +Independents. To rally around a creed framed by human authority and +make it the basis of union is but to teach a system--a sect system; +but to rally around the person of Jesus Christ and make him the +supreme object of our faith, hope, and love is to contend for what +the Bible terms the faith, the truth, the gospel. This is infinitely +better than any document proceeding from Nicea, Trent, Dort, Augsburg, +or Westminster. + +[Sidenote: Power of the keys] + +Another cause, both for the origin of the sect system and its +perpetuation, is the assumed "power of the keys" which has been +carried over from the Church of Rome. The idea that the administrative +rule and government of the church of Christ has been, by divine +decree, centralized in a self-perpetuating clerical caste with +authority to legislate for the church and then to enforce its +decisions by judicial procedure, is foreign to the primitive church as +recorded in the New Testament. It is a product of Papalism, and yet +it has been, in its essential characteristics, transferred directly to +the sects of Protestantism. The New Testament recognizes no such human +positional authority. It recognizes only that divine authority which +operates through God's chosen ministers and helpers by virtue of +the Spirit-bestowed gifts and qualifications. The only governmental +authority exercised by the New Testament ministers was in cooperation +with Christ, the visible head, by putting forth, in accordance with +the Spirit's gifts and qualifications, some portion of that moral +power by which alone Christ governs. + +The idea that to a clerical order has been committed the exclusive +guardianship of the church, with full power to admit to or exclude +from the worship and service of God all except those who come by +way of their priestly mediation, is the basest assumption. It is a +violation of the rights of individual conscience. Yet just such +power has been and still is being exerted as a means of enforcing +acquiescence in matters of opinion and submission to customs and +practises which every unprejudiced man knows, or can soon see, is no +part of the New Testament teaching and requirements. What a weapon +has this ecclesiastical assumption been! One always ready for use. It +makes no difference whether it is wielded by a Methodist conference, +an Episcopal judicatory, a Presbyterian synod, or a Catholic pope, it +is all the same in principle--"the power of the keys." + +[Sidenote: Lack of religious freedom] + +This assumed corporate power of the clergy has been one of the +fundamental causes of sect-making. When a general clerical body +assumes the right in its corporate capacity to prescribe rules of +either faith or practise, written or unwritten, and then to enforce +them by judicial action, it is a direct violation of the New Testament +standard, and of the rights of individual consciences. It was because +of this lordly, unscriptural rule that many sincere men of God have +been forced to sever their connection with the older sects in order +to find a place where a greater degree of light and truth could be +experienced and proclaimed. In such cases it was not religious liberty +that caused the formation of new movements and new sects, but _the +lack of religious liberty_. + +That "power of the keys," making and then enforcing the standards of +creeds, has done violence to the conscience of both the clergy and +the laity. Conscienceless persons subscribe to the creed without any +particular hesitation, but the truly conscientious suffer the greatest +embarrassment They must either refuse altogether and withdraw from +all connection, or else subscribe with a mental reservation amounting +practically to hypocrisy. + +[Sidenote: Inflexible character] + +This inflexible character of the sect institution has been a most +fruitful cause for the production of new sects. No matter how +spiritual the movement at its beginning, when its leaders were not +longing for church power but were earnestly preaching the Word of +the Lord as it came unto them, as soon as the sect machinery was +thoroughly organized and was set in motion the inevitable tendency has +been to throw around the movement a wall of creedal and ecclesiastical +exclusiveness which shut out other true people of God; and then +began a process of crystalization which ever afterwards precluded the +unfolding of new truth. It is a well-known fact that the high tide of +truth-discovery in every religious movement in Protestantism has +been at the time of its beginning. A fixed law of immobility has ever +afterwards prevailed. The reason is clear: whenever men grasp the +reins of government and assume those prerogatives which belong to God +alone, the rule of the Spirit ends. The unfolding of new truths by +the operation of the Spirit is impossible within the limits of the +old order where human ecclesiasticism reigns. But truth can not be +permanently suppressed. If it can not find room for development +within the existing order of things, God will raise up men who +will, independently, proclaim the Word of the Lord. This he has done +repeatedly, only to have the new movements end in the same manner--in +a rule of human ecclesiasticism. + +Human ecclesiasticism has always been the greatest barrier to the free +spiritual development of the work of Christ. According to that relic +of the papal church, authority and rule is vested in the clerical +corporation and is by them conferred upon other individuals by the +act of ordination. How different the standard of the Word! In the Old +Testament times the office of prophet did not come in the priestly +line, but on whomsoever the spirit of prophecy descended--whether upon +Amos, the herdsman, or David, the king--he spake as he was moved by +the Holy Ghost. There has never been a time under the divine economy +when any man to whom the Word of the Lord came was not divinely +authorized to proclaim his message wherever he could get a hearing, +whether in synagog or temple, or out under the broad canopy of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE + + +What about the church of the future? Is the modern sect system the +ultimate goal of Christian attainment in this world? While the sects +contain much truth and many of the people of God, their ecclesiastical +constitutions are foreign to the true church of Jesus Christ, and it +is inconceivable that the great Founder would make no provision either +in his Word or in his plan for the correction of the evils which have +grown up around the Christian system during the dark ages of the world +and which have in a great measure perverted the gospel itself and +lessened its wholesome efficiency as the universal remedy for human +ills. + +Since no sect can make good a claim to being exclusively the church of +God, a general feeling of toleration at least (if not in all cases +of sincere respect) has come to prevail respecting the different +denominational churches. Men have come to look upon the sects as +a mere matter of fact, not to be seriously questioned, and we are +supposed to cover the whole scene with the mantle of patience and +charity and make the best of a bad situation. + +[Sidenote: The Protestant truce] + +Dr. J.M. Sturtevant has expressed this general attitude so well that I +shall quote his own words: "It has long been true in this country that +no Protestant can freely expose the errors and superstitions of the +papal church, especially from the pulpit, without incurring the charge +of intolerance, bigotry, and uncharitableness. Religious controversy +itself has been placed under the ban, as in its own nature +uncharitable. When once any religious opinion has organized itself +into a sect, it is thought to have acquired a sacredness which, in the +name of Christian charity and in the interest of the tranquility of +the community, defends it from any open assault. We have come into the +condition in which Rome was when she had extended her conquests from +the British Isles to the Euphrates and had transferred to Rome the +divinities of all the countries conquered. People of every nationality +might worship their own divinities, but must respectfully tolerate the +worship of every other. In this way only could religious conflict be +avoided. The chief reason why Christianity was persecuted was that +from its very nature it could accept no such truce. It is either +a universal religion or no religion at all. It is, like all other +systems which claim to be the true, in its own nature exclusive." + +It is because of its universal character that truth can accept no such +truce as has been declared by the modern sects. Truth is exclusive, +and hence can make no compromises. The church of God is universal or +it is no church at all. The whole truth concerning the church question +must and will come out. The times demand it; the people of God +demand it; the Spirit of God demands it; and, as we shall show, the +Scriptures declare it. + +[Sidenote: A new awakening] + +It is very evident that the people of God are not satisfied with +the present sectarian situation. Everywhere there is manifested a +restlessness and uneasiness respecting the arbitrary lines of +sect which separate between those who have a recognized spiritual +affinity--recognized except formally by the ecclesiastical powers that +be. _The Christian consciousness is becoming awakened._ Men are coming +to see that Christianity is to be measured, not by sect lines, but by +that broader, Scriptural rule of the divine family embracing all +true disciples of Jesus--those who possess his life and bear the +appropriate fruits of righteousness. This awakening, with its logical +consequences, is what I have termed THE LAST REFORMATION. It will give +form and character to the Church of the Future. + +[Sidenote: Apologies for sects] + +Sectarianism still has its defenders, however. In the midst of the +rising tide of spiritual fellowship and love, there are those who +bring forward a few sickly apologies for sects, apologies which +generally impress the earnest student of the Scriptures with the +thought that the apologist has a hard case to make out. The excuse +most commonly advanced is that the sect system is a useful arrangement +for accommodating the variety of tastes and feelings found +among Christian people. It is assumed that some are natural-born +Episcopalians, with an innate fondness for formal liturgies and +ecclesiastical vestments, and that others are so constituted by nature +as to require certain other particular forms of worship. + +[Sidenote: Diversity of taste and culture] + +If there is any such fundamental demand in human nature for a variety +of sects, as different climates are required to suit different +orders of life on our planet, it is strange indeed that the apostles +overlooked such an important point and failed to provide for it. Why +was not the primitive church constructed so as to bring into existence +at once a variety of human sects to accommodate the different classes +of people then existing? From the modern point of view they had an +excellent excuse for starting with at least two churches--one for +the Jews and another for the Gentiles; and if these had not been +sufficient, before the end of their personal ministry they could have +brought into existence a whole brood of sects. + +Now, the student of the Scriptures knows that the apostles proceeded +exactly in the opposite direction. They labored earnestly to bring all +classes into love and fellowship _in one body_. This course was not in +accordance with the wisdom of the world, but the twentieth century is +beginning to see that it was "the wisdom of God." + +The reason why men have a liking for formal liturgies, stately +ceremonies, and ecclesiastical vestments is because of environment. +They have been trained that way. Here again we see the natural +tendency of sects to make sectarians and thus reproduce their kind. +When particular forms and ceremonies, which are not required +by Scripture, are enforced upon men by a self-constituted, +self-perpetuating ecclesiastical authority, the inevitable result +is to stamp the same principles upon succeeding generations and thus +perpetuate the sect system exercising such authority. + +[Sidenote: The sect spirit] + +In a final effort to lessen the odium attaching to what is now widely +recognized as an evil, some assert that the cause of mischief is the +sect spirit. This statement contains truth, but it does not tell the +whole truth. One of the worst evils of human slavery was the extreme +tyranny which some slave-masters exercised. But the real fact was that +the system itself tended to convert good men and women into tyrants. +The special manifestation of evil was both effect and cause. It +was the natural tendency of the system to make tyrants, and tyrants +perpetuated the system. So also with sectarianism. Though all can +realize a theoretical difference between the sect spirit and simple +denominationalism, yet the very tendency of the system itself is +to create party interests and to introduce party rivalries, which +naturally foster the sect spirit. Without that devotion to party and +party interests--a devotion almost equal to their devotion to the +gospel itself--sects would perish. _If sect-members should become so +universal in their love and sympathy as to devote themselves to the +work of Christ alone--forgetting party interests--sects would die. The +sect spirit is, therefore, essential to the maintenance of the life +and individuality of the sect body._ + +[Sidenote: What is the remedy?] + +The remedy for sectarianism is not a return to imperialism. The +world-church idea as exemplified in the papal church is not the goal +of Christianity. Such might hold dominion over men in the barbaric +ages of the world, but its universal sway has ceased. The Inquisition +will never be reestablished. The unity of the church is not to be +found in an imperial hierarchy. + +Nor is Christian unity to be obtained by adherence to the historic +creeds. These documents may express many noble sentiments respecting +Christ and his truth, and they may express the fullest knowledge of +the truth known in the days when they were written. But knowledge +of the truth is progressive, while creeds are stationary. No human +document, therefore, can serve as a permanent basis upon which to +build our faith. And then, too, we have seen that creeds are in their +very nature divisive. Hence they can not be made the basis for the +realization of unity. + +Nor is the unity of the church to be found in some particular form +of exclusive church polity, as Episcopalianism, Presbyterianism, or +Congregationalism. We have conclusively proved that that conception of +the church patterned after the forms of political government, in which +government and authority are vested inherently and exclusively in +human hands, is foreign to the original conception of the church as it +existed in the minds of its Founder and his apostles. The government +of the New Testament church is a theocracy. Christ is head. He rules +through his Holy Spirit by moral suasion and spiritual influence, and +the ministers and helpers whom he calls and qualifies share in that +oversight and responsibility to the same extent that they are able +to wield the same moral and spiritual power. _This is the only church +authority and government recognized in the New Testament_. + +[Sidenote: The perpetual theocracy] + +Here I shall digress long enough to point out by way of contrast +the true form of divine government. Every one is familiar with the +theocratic government of Israel under the Old Testament dispensation. +God ruled. He who carefully reads the New Testament can not fail to +discern the same type of government in the church before the rise of +human ecclesiasticism. The first preachers of the gospel spoke with +an authority not derived from a human source. When Peter and John were +threatened before the Council and commanded not to speak or teach in +the name of Jesus Christ, they gave the sublime answer: "Whether it +be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, +judge ye. For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and +heard" (Acts 4: 19, 20). The same principle stands out in bold relief +in the experience of Paul. Although that great apostle was forward +to cooperate with other apostles and ministers of Christ, one can +not fail to see that his whole career exemplified the principle of +theocracy. He "was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." + +[Sidenote: An important parallelism] + +Permit me to call attention particularly to an important parallelism +between the government of Israel under the theocracy and the +government of the New Testament church before the rise of +ecclesiasticism. God led his people out of Egypt by Moses and Joshua. +These men are a type of Christ, who leads his people. After the +Israelites were settled in Canaan, they had no central government, +but each locality or city was autonomous, having its local judges or +elders. In a time of crisis God raised up a judge to lead the people +in the necessary cooperative efforts to preserve or regain their +liberties. Their miseries Were always the result of their own sins, +not a failure of the divine form of government. Their appointing a +king and thus setting up a centralized human government was called +_rejecting God as ruler_. And this is exactly parallel with what +ecclesiasticism has done and is doing with the same results. God's +government of the church is set aside and rejected. + +[Sidenote: Not church federation] + +Nor will an organic union of all the sects solve the problem of +unity. In the first place, the tendency of such a union is toward +imperialism, the creation on the federation plan of another +world-church. In the second place, such a federation would strengthen +rather than lessen the authority of human rule, while the compromises +necessary to make such a project possible would lessen in the same +degree that freedom of the Spirit by which alone the full gospel can +be given to the world. And in the third place, such a federation would +not be the church of God, for the very framework on which it would +rest, human ecclesiasticism, is foreign to the original conception of +the church. It would be only a human arrangement patterned after the +model of a world-empire. And for another reason such would not be the +church. The divine _ekklesia_ includes in its membership the whole +family of God. Thousands of men and women who are united to Christ +and in fellowship with all the saved are not members of the formally +organized sects. Therefore the union of all such churches in one +federation would not include the whole family. + +[Sidenote: Back to the Bible standard] + +Thus, the remedy for sects is not church federation, nor a return to +the historic creeds, nor the adoption of one of the exclusive forms +of church polity; neither is it an attempt to hide the sin of the +obnoxious sect system by covering it with a mantle of charity and +patience--as a sort of necessary evil. What, then, is the real remedy +for sects? It is the absolute rejection of every foreign element that +has crept into the Christian system and the return to that primitive +conception of the church as made up of the entire brotherhood of +Christ, organized and controlled by the Holy Spirit. For true unity +we must turn from hierarchies and apostolical successions and priestly +corporations and church synods and human creeds to THE CHRIST who +alone is the head of the church. + +[Sidenote: True membership] + +Such a movement requires a moral revolution with respect to the +attitude of God's people toward membership in sects. It requires the +obliteration of sect lines and the recognition of no other bond of +union than that of a common brotherhood through union with Christ. +Divine life secured through repentance and faith is the sole condition +of membership in the church of Christ, and this relationship is +maintained by obedience to the commands of Christ and consistent +Christian conduct. "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, +we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his +Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). + +[Sidenote: Elimination of ecclesiasticism] + +Such a movement and such a standard of church relationship require the +elimination of all ideas of priestly ecclesiasticism. The Christ +of the New Testament church is not an absent Christ. He has +never resigned his position as head of the church and vested the +governmental authority in a self-perpetuating clerical caste. His +government is theocratic. He administers it himself through his Holy +Spirit. Hence no men or set of men can confer any power or authority +whatsoever upon any individual to act for Christ. Christ calls his +own assistants, and any man unto whom the Word of the Lord comes is +divinely authorized to proclaim His message. The only sphere of human +operation respecting this administration of divine government is +simple recognition of what God has done, and this recognition in the +last analysis belongs to the whole body of God's people. The basis +of every man's authority and responsibility is, therefore, not human +appointment or official position, but the divine call, gifts, and +qualifications, that he possesses. If, for example, he is called to +apostolic work and endowed with gifts and qualifications fitting him +for such service, he has apostolic authority and responsibility, +and there is nothing for other ministers or Christians to do but to +_recognize what God has done_. "Now hath God set the members every one +of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (1 Cor. 12:18). Such, in +short, is the divine organization and government. + +[Sidenote: What of the future?] + +The realization of this grand ideal of the restoration of the New +Testament standard of church membership, government, and authority, +is impossible within the sect system. For the sects to turn all the +people of God loose from subjection to every foreign yoke and make +them free to associate without restriction with all the saved of God, +would be an act of suicide. _Only by division and by holding the grasp +of ecclesiastical rule can sects survive._ But he is blind to the +signs of the times who can not see that the grip of ecclesiasticism is +slipping and the bonds of true catholicity becoming strengthened. +The true people of God are becoming more and more dissatisfied with +present conditions and are beginning to think in terms of a universal +Christianity. The rising tide of evangelism among such is already +beginning to overflow the lines of sect. What may we expect in the +future? + +Things can not continue as they have been in the ecclesiastical +world. A sweeping reformation is imperative and imminent. In fact, +the vanguard of this great movement is already visible. What will the +future bring forth? Will the sects themselves fade away and gradually +become dissolved? or will the powers that rule in the ecclesiastical +world finally set themselves against the spirit of catholicity and +thus practically force the true people of God to ignore absolutely +all sectarian lines and step out on the broad platform of truth and +universality, united in Christ alone, knowing no head but Christ and +no creed but His truth? Who can tell? + +[Sidenote: A fundamental difference] + +In the present work I have given a brief historical sketch of the +leading ecclesiastical events, showing the apostasy as it existed +under two phases, the corruption of evangelical faith and the reign +of ecclesiasticism. I have also shown that the reformations of +Protestantism have tended to the correction of that first phase +pertaining to doctrine, but that a complete reformation requires the +elimination of ecclesiasticism. Hence what I have termed the Last +Reformation, if it is to be the _last_, not only must include the +restoration of pure doctrinal truth but must also restore the real +church of the New Testament. So far as true doctrine is concerned, +such a reformation will differ from other evangelical movements in +degree only--it must ultimately comprehend the whole truth. But the +fundamental difference between the reformation herein considered and +all other preceding reformations is that it strikes the death-blow +to the very root of error that produced the sect system--_human +ecclesiasticism_--and substitutes therefor the administrative +authority of the Holy Spirit working in varying degrees in all the +members of Christ throughout the world. The last reformation therefore +must differ from all others, not in degree only, but _also in kind_. + +[Sidenote: The witness of prophecy] + +God alone understands the future. During the ages past he has not left +his own work without the witness of prophecy. We may rest assured, +therefore, that in the prophecy of the divine Word he has given us +an outline of the history of his church. So I shall ask the reader to +patiently follow me through a brief sketch of ecclesiastical events +as described in the prophecies of the Revelation. Such an examination +will throw a large amount of additional light on the subjects I have +already treated historically, and will also give us a divinely drawn +picture of the church of the future. Such will enable us to understand +better the real character and extent of THE LAST REFORMATION. + + + + +PART III + +The Church in Prophecy + + + + +CHAPTER X + +INTERPRETATION OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS + + +[Sidenote: Value of prophecy] + +The value of prophecy in establishing the religion of the Bible as the +religion, of God has been generally recognized. Its value, however, +is not limited to the proof of the divinity of Biblical truth which it +furnishes: it serves a definite and most important purpose in the life +and work of God's believing children in all ages. By it we are better +able to understand God's own plan and purposes in human history, and +by it we are made conscious of our own whereabouts along the pathway +of time. The movements of God in the history of the past that were +predicted by earlier prophets have received their chief inspiration +from the conscious knowledge the leaders had of the prophetic +character of their work. It was Daniel's study of prophecy that +stirred his soul for the restoration of Israel to the favor of God +and to their own land (Dan. 9:2), and at the same time opened his own +heart for the wonderful revelation concerning future events. It was +the consciousness of prophetic fulfilment that gave John the Baptist +his inspiration for work (John 1:23); and in establishing the truths +of the gospel of Christ, the apostles placed leading emphasis on the +fact that these things were written in the law and in the prophets. + +The love and care that Christ had for his people did not cease in the +beginning of the gospel dispensation; for he gave the promise, "I +am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." It is altogether +reasonable, then, that we should receive "the revelation of Jesus +Christ, which God gave unto him, to _show unto his servants_ things +which must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1:1). Through the varying +conditions of time, Christ leads his people on to certain victory. + +Since the mission of the church was to be world-wide and perpetual, it +is fitting that the church should be described prophetically in order +that we might have definite information concerning the operations +of the divine hand in working out the great problem of the church's +destiny after the close of the sacred canon. + +[Sidenote: Prophetic symbols] + +Before proceeding with our discussion of those prophecies which +concern the church, let us pause and consider briefly the character +of symbols. The prophecy of the Scriptures is presented to us in two +distinct forms--direct statements in the ordinary language of life and +in symbolic representations, but far the greater part is expressed +in symbols, as in the book of Daniel and in the Revelation of John. +Without an understanding of the nature of symbols we can not get a +proper understanding of such prophecies. + +Spoken or written language is a very complicated affair, but it is +in reality an arbitrary arrangement. The name that we attach to a +particular object could as well be given to a totally different object +instead if we only agreed to make the change. For this reason spoken +language is variable. Changes are constantly taking place. The +language of Bible symbols, on the other hand, is not subject to +the law of change, as we shall see; it is not based on arbitrary +arrangement or mere convenience, but its foundational principles exist +in the very nature of things. + +Webster defines _symbol_ as follows: "The sign or representation of +any moral thing by the images or properties of natural things. Thus, +a lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or +patience." Horne, in his Introduction to the Study of the Bible, says: +"By symbols we mean certain representative marks, rather than express +pictures; or, if pictures, such as were at the time _characters_, and +besides presenting to the eye the resemblance of a particular object, +suggested a general idea to the mind, as when a _horn_ was made +to denote _strength_, an _eye_ and _scepter_, _majesty_, and in +numberless such instances, where the picture was not drawn to +express merely the thing itself, but something else, which was or was +conceived to be, analogous to it." + +According to these definitions, the main idea of a symbol is the +representation of an object or quality, not by exhibition of itself, +but by another object or character analogous to it. Nor are we limited +in the use of symbols to the exhibition of moral subjects alone. +Any object may be symbolized, provided a corresponding object can be +found. + +[Sidenote: Analogy the basic law] + +Analogy, then, is the fundamental law of symbols. This being true, +it is clear that symbols must be definitely applied. They are not +arbitrary. There is no reason why we could not call a book a table, +and a table it would be, provided we agreed universally to adopt that +designation; but we violate nature if we attempt to represent the +quiet, peaceful, gentle disposition of a child by a lion or a tiger, +or a cruel, vindictive, tyrannical disposition by a lamb. A polluted +harlot may represent an apostate church, but not the true church. A +proper correspondence of character and quality must be observed. We +must follow nature strictly. And this is the law of symbols. + +Symbols are drawn from different departments--from angelic life, human +life, animal life, and inanimate creation. But in every case there +is in the selection and use of the symbol a proper correspondence of +character and quality. + +[Sidenote: Twofold object of symbols] + +The deciding factor in the original selection of a symbolic object +is the nature of the thing to be symbolized. In the field of Bible +prophecy the general design is in the main twofold--the representation +(1) of the affairs of the church and (2) of the political history of +those nations and kingdoms which were to exert an important influence +on the life and development of the church. It is evident that in the +divine estimation the church and its welfare is of infinitely greater +importance than the affairs of nations and kingdoms. Therefore we may +reasonably expect that, according to the nature of symbolic language, +symbols designed to represent the church will be found to be of the +most exalted type, whereas those representing political things will be +found to be selected from an inferior department. In accordance with +this fundamental classification we shall find that symbols drawn from +angelic life and human life invariably refer to the department +of ecclesiastical affairs, while those drawn from animal life or +inanimate nature represent political things. The only apparent +exception to this rule is that certain inanimate objects formerly +consecrated to the service of God and thus associated with the +department of the church are sometimes used to represent spiritual +things, because the analogy is obvious. Bearing in mind this +fundamental distinction between the representation of things political +and things ecclesiastical, we are prepared to understand other shades +of distinction. + +Nations may be peaceful or tyrannical and oppressive, and churches +may be good or apostate; but the exact character can be analogously +represented by the symbolic object. A vicious wild beast stamping and +devouring would naturally represent a cruel, tyrannical government; +and a good woman represents the true church, while a vile harlot +represents the church apostate. But whatever the nature of the symbol, +whether beast, locust, lion, horse, temple, angel, or man, we may +know at once from the nature of the symbol where to look for its +fulfilment. This important guide in the study of prophetic truth--a +guide overlooked by most of the commentators--relieves us of much of +the uncertainty hitherto connected with the subject. + +Since, as we have seen, symbolic language is based on analogy, it +is evident that there are some objects whose nature forbids their +symbolization, there being no corresponding object in existence. +God can not be symbolized. "To whom then will ye liken God? or what +likeness will ye compare unto him" (Isa. 40:18). There may be certain +symbols connected with his person setting forth the dignity, majesty, +and eternal splendor of his name, but he himself appears unrepresented +by another. The same is true also of the person of Jesus, our +Redeemer, although in this case we must distinguish between the +Christ incarnate and Jesus in his essential divinity. Considered as +incarnate--both God and man--the human aspect of his character as +manifested in his sacrificial death may be analogously represented as +a Lamb slain. But considered in his essential divinity, he can not +be symbolically represented. Therefore, whenever the glorified Christ +appears on the symbolic stage, he always appears in his own person +proclaiming his own name. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, +behold, I am alive for evermore" (Rev. 1:18). "He hath on his vesture +and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." + +In Rev. 6:9 the souls of the martyrs are represented as crying unto +God for the avenging of their blood on them that dwell on the earth. +There is no object analogous to a disembodied spirit. It is easy to +give them an arbitrary name. Therefore they simply appear under their +own appropriate titles as "the _souls_ of them that were slain." + +Whenever we attach a literal significance to a symbolic object, we +immediately destroy its character as a symbol. This should not be +done. With the exception of those instances where the nature of +an object forbids its symbolization and where the description must +therefore of necessity be literal, we should always look for the true +fulfilment, not in that department from which the symbol is drawn, but +in another department--that to which the symbol by analogy refers us. + +[Sidenote: Field of present inquiry] + +The limits and object of the present work preclude an exhaustive +treatment of prophecy in general. Our immediate purpose is to set +forth particularly those prophecies of the divine Word which clearly +portray and outline the character of a world-wide religious movement +in the last days. To do this effectually, however, we must briefly +consider those prophecies which describe the principal ecclesiastical +events in history which form the basis of, or lead up to, the Last +Reformation. The subject as outlined in the prophecies and as based on +the facts of history, naturally divides into four parts, or epochs, as +follows: + + I The Apostolic Period + II The Medieval Period + III Era of Modern Sects + IV The Last Reformation + +For the sake of brevity, we shall, as far as possible, exclude from +our present inquiry those prophecies pertaining to civil and political +affairs, retaining only such as have an important bearing on the +church subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE APOSTOLIC PERIOD + + +[Sidenote: The star-crowned woman] + +The twelfth chapter of Revelation introduces an important line of +prophetic truth respecting the church, beginning with these words: +"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the +sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve +stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained +to be delivered." "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule +all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, +and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where +she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a +thousand two hundred and threescore days" (verses 1, 2, 5, 6). + +As we have already stated and as will be made very clear hereafter, +symbols drawn from human life are used to represent ecclesiastical +affairs. Therefore in the symbol now before us we have a +representation of the church, and from the general description given +we infer that it must be the pure church of God, for the brightest +luminaries of heaven are gathered around her and no evil thing is said +concerning her. That this woman is the special object of God's care +and concern is further shown by the fact that when she fled into the +wilderness, she had "a place prepared of God, that they should feed +her there." That this interpretation of the woman is correct is also +shown by other texts in Revelation. + +In chapter 21:9 an angel talking with John said, "Come hither, I will +shew thee the _bride_, the Lamb's wife." And again, in chapter 19:7, +where the church is undoubtedly referred to, a great multitude is +represented as saying, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to +him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his _wife_ hath made +herself ready." In the seventeenth chapter the church apostate is +without doubt described by the symbol of a vile, polluted harlot. + +The pure woman of chapter 12, then, represents the apostolic church in +all its beauty and glory. She is represented as clothed with the sun, +a striking emblem of the light of the glorious gospel of Christ +which shone forth from the early church. The moon under her feet is +generally understood to designate the typical worship of the Jewish +age, which was a shadow of things to come but which now stands +eclipsed in the superior light and glory of the new and better +dispensation. The moon is the lesser light and derives its +illumination from the sun; so also the Mosaic period was the moonlight +age of the church and reflected a part of the gospel which, at a later +time, was to be revealed in all its glory with the rise of the "Sun of +righteousness." + +The crown of twelve stars adorning the diadem of the church is a fit +representation of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, they being in one +important sense permanent fixtures in the church. According to chapter +1:20, stars are sometimes used to represent Christian ministers, the +analogy as light-givers being obvious. "They that be wise shall +shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to +righteousness as the stars forever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). + +The prominent position occupied by this woman and the light which +shone forth from the sun with which she was clothed stand out in +marked contrast with the later description given of her flight into +and seclusion in the wilderness. The latter stage of her experience +I shall describe further on, but a brief allusion to it will make +her first appearance more impressive. The wilderness describes the +apostasy which was to envelop the woman and thus obscure her light. +Therefore her first appearance as in the planetary heavens presents a +sublime description of her dignity and excellence in the morning time +of the gospel era. Her light shone upon all and her glory could be +seen by all. She presents that fundamentally distinct characteristic +of the true church of God--universality; not a mere isolated star +shedding its feeble rays in competition with the other orbs of night; +but a cluster of bright, shining stars and _the very sun itself_. The +light of the apostolic church was, therefore, all-inclusive in the +sense of reflecting all the truth. It is essential to our proper +understanding of the symbols that follow that we comprehend the true +character of the church of God--the bride of Christ. + +[Sidenote: The man child] + +The next object to claim our attention in the vision under +consideration is that of the man child to whom the woman is said to +give birth. A variety of interpretations of this man child have been +given. Some say that it refers to Jesus Christ, but this application +is objectionable for different reasons. First, Jesus is everywhere +represented as the founder of the church, not as its child. Second, +true analogy is lacking: there is nothing about a mere child to +proclaim divinity. Others have identified the child with the Emperor +Constantine; but here again the consistent use of symbolic language is +overlooked; for if the woman, the mother, represents the church, then +the child horn of her can not represent a single, definite individual, +but rather a collection of individuals or another phase of the +church itself. In other words, if the one single symbol represents a +particular individual, the other must also represent an individual. +Thus, if the man child is identified with Christ, the mother should +signify the Virgin Mary; or if Constantine is intended, then Helena, +mother of Constantine, should be represented by the woman. + +It is clear, however, that the woman signifies, not a single +individual, but the church. Therefore the child born of her must +simply signify another phase of the church but the same family. By +means of this twofold symbol--involving the closest relationship +known--is set forth the fruitfulness and perpetuity of the church. +There is also another reason why a double symbol should be selected +to set forth the true church--to represent two distinct phases of the +church's life and history, which, in the nature of the case, could +not be represented under a single symbol. According to the description +given, the man child was caught up to God and to his throne, while the +woman remained on earth and fled into the wilderness, where she had a +place prepared of God for 1,260 days. The man child, then, represents +that phase of the church which was caught up from the earth but +ascended to heaven and there lived and reigned with Christ; while the +woman represents that phase of the church which continued on earth and +fled into the wilderness during the period of the great apostasy. + +There is also direct Scriptural testimony justifying this +interpretation of the man child. In Isaiah 66 we have a sublime +description of Zion, God's church and people, represented as a +woman, a mother. The context shows that this scripture is a prophetic +allusion to the church of the New Testament age. "Before she +travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered +of a _man child_. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such +things? Shall the earth he made to bring forth in one day? or shall +a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought +forth her children" (verses 7, 8). Here Zion is represented as a +mother bringing forth a man child, but this is interpreted to be _a +nation born at once_. According to Heb. 12:22, 23, this Zion, or Sion, +represents the New Testament church. There is no doubt, then, that the +man child of Revelation 12 refers to the great host of new converts +with which the early church was blessed. The scripture in Isaiah +just cited met its fulfilment on the day of Pentecost and shortly +afterwards, when thousands were brought into the church in a day. The +apostle Paul also refers to the great company of Jews and Gentiles who +were reconciled to God as constituting _"one new man" in Christ_ (Eph. +2:15). + +[Sidenote: The great red dragon] + +The next object in the vision to which our attention is directed +is introduced in these words: "And there appeared another wonder in +heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten +horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third +part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the +dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to +devour her child as soon as it was born" (Rev. 12:3, 4). + +The dragon is the name given by the ancients to a fabulous monster +represented as a large winged lizard or serpent. It was regarded as +the enemy of mankind, and its overthrow is made to figure among the +greatest exploits of the gods and heroes of heathen mythology. The +symbol, being drawn from the natural world, directs us by analogy to +persecuting, tyrannical government. We must not suppose that this is +a literal description of Beelzebub; for there is no proof that the +personal devil has any such appearance as this monster with seven +heads and ten horns, and a tail dragging after him a third part of the +stars of heaven. + +In the second verse of the next chapter John describes the rise of a +beast that also had seven heads and ten horns; "and the dragon gave +him his power, and his seat, and great authority." The fact that the +dragon was succeeded by the beast, who reigned in his stead, is proof +that the dragon does not signify the personal devil; for, as far as +we know, the archfiend has never resigned his position, but is still +doing his infernal business at the same stand. + +In many respects the beast is similar to the dragon. In the +seventeenth chapter the beast appears again, and the explanation given +by the angel will enable us to understand the signification both of +the dragon and of the beast. "The beast that thou sawest was, and is +not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition +... and here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven +mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five +are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he +cometh, he must continue a short space.... And the ten horns which +thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but +receive power as kings one hour with the beast" (verses 8-12). + +With these facts before us and with our understanding of the nature of +symbols, it is easy to identify the dragon and the beast as the Roman +Empire, first under the pagan form and later under the papal form. +Although the beast was to succeed the dragon, yet in identifying the +heads of the beast, the angel informed John that in his day five had +already fallen, while one then existed and the other was future. This +proves, then, that the same heads served both for the dragon and for +the beast, thus establishing their essential identity. And it is a +fact well known that there is no essential difference between Rome +pagan and Rome papal. The seven heads of Rome, therefore, signify the +distinct forms of government that ruled successively in the empire, +for they are represented, not as simultaneous powers, but as +consecutive powers. The five that had already fallen when John +received the vision were the regal power, the consular, the +decemvirate, the military tribunes, and the triumvirate. "One is"--the +imperial. The seventh, or future one, was the patriciate. + +It is natural that the pagan Roman Empire should be represented as a +dragon. In the prophecy of Daniel the Grecian kingdom is represented +by a he goat for no other apparent reason than the fact that the goat +was the national military standard of the Grecian monarchy. So also +the dragon was the principal military standard of the Romans next to +the eagle. Arian, an early writer, mentions the fact that dragons were +used as military standards by the Romans. The dragon of Revelation +12 is also described as a _red_ dragon. The dragon standards of the +Romans were painted red. Ammianus Marcellinus mentions "the purple +standard of the dragon." By this fabulous beast described as a great +red dragon, then, is symbolically represented the heathen Roman +Empire. + +The ten horns, or kingdoms, which had not yet risen when the +revelation was given, were the ten minor kingdoms that grew out of +the Roman Empire during its decline and fall. These are as follows: +1. Anglo-Saxons; 2. Burgundians; 3. Franks; 4. Huns; 5. Heruli; 6. +Lombards; 7. Ostrogoths; 8. Suevi; 9. Vandals; 10. Visigoths. + +The dragon is described with the horns, although they were not yet in +existence and did not arise until about the time the dragon became +the beast. He is also represented with seven heads, although he really +possessed only one head at a time and five had already fallen and one +was yet to come. He is described with all the heads and horns he had +ever had or was to have. The reason why the same general power is +described under two forms--first as the dragon and later as the +beast--will appear more clearly hereafter. + +The fact that the dragon was called the devil and Satan has led some +to think that the personal devil himself is meant. The foregoing +explanation concerning the heads and the horns shows conclusively, +however, that by the dragon is meant the pagan Roman Empire, and not +Beelzebub. The Hebrews applied the term "Satan" to an adversary, or +opposer, as can be seen by examining in the original the following +and many other texts: Num. 22:22; 1 Sam. 29:4; 2 Sam. 19:22; 1 Kings +11:25. The term is also thus used in the New Testament, signifying +merely an opposer. "But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee +behind me, _Satan_" (Matt. 16:23). "The things which the Gentiles +sacrifice, they sacrifice to _devils_" (1 Cor. 10:20). Paganism was +the great opposer of Christianity; hence was a Satan to it, while the +apostle Paul denominated its religious rites as devil-worship. We must +remember that the text does not say that the dragon was the devil and +Satan, but that he was _called_ the devil and Satan. He partook of the +nature and character of the personal devil, was the chief instrument +through which the devil worked, and was therefore called by his name. + +The tail of this dragon "drew the third part of the stars of heaven, +and did cast them to the earth." This is not a literal description, +for the fixed or planetary stars never fall to the earth. If they did, +they would destroy it. The stars are doubtless employed as symbols +set in the ecclesiastical firmament, giving light amid the surrounding +darkness. Light is so often used as the representative of gospel +truth that the application of the stars to prominent characters in +the church is obvious. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness, and his +ministers are bright, shining stars--light-givers. The ministers +of the seven churches of Asia Minor are represented as stars (chap. +1:20). "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the +firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars +forever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). The casting down of the third part of +the stars, therefore, signifies the warfare which the dragon power +waged against the early church, in which conflict the ministers of +Christ became the marked objects of heathen wrath. + +[Sidenote: The war in heaven] + +"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against +the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; +neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon +was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which +deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his +angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in +heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our +God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is +cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And +they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their +testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. +12:7-11). + +The symbolic scene suddenly changes, and instead of the woman and the +man child, Michael and his angels appear in conflict with the dragon +and his angels. This change of symbols indicates the introduction of +a different phase of thought. From the nature of the symbols we can +quickly ascertain the reason for this change. The woman represents the +true church and is a proper symbol of its unity, beauty, purity, +and glory. But there is another phase of the church which can not be +represented symbolically by a woman--the militant phase. The church is +also an aggressive, fighting power, ready to wage warfare against the +powers of evil. We would not expect to see the church left helpless +like a woman before a great dragon. We would naturally expect to +see divine aid extended, and this is done by the change of symbolic +imagery, Michael (Christ) and his angels appearing to wage war against +the dragon. + +The battle between Michael and the dragon signifies the great conflict +which took place between primitive Christianity and the powers of +paganism enthroned in the Roman Empire. It will be observed that this +scripture has no reference to the origin of Satan himself, as some +people have supposed; for the conflict was fought in the Christian +dispensation, as is proved by the weapons which the followers of +Michael employed--"And they _overcame him by the blood of the Lamb_, +and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives +unto the death." Under this figure, the followers of Michael are +represented as victors, the dragon being cast down to the earth, +or overthrown. It is a fact of history that primitive Christianity +succeeded in its fight against paganism. + +In the nineteenth chapter of Acts we have an account of the effect +Christianity had on heathenism. Paul went to Ephesus, which at that +time was the chief capital of proconsular Asia, a leading mart of +heathen idolatry, and in which was situated one of the seven wonders +of the ancient world--the temple of Diana. The preaching of the gospel +produced such a mighty effect that the followers of Diana, fearing +lest their magnificent system of worship should be destroyed, stirred +up the people in a tumult until the city was in an uproar, a great mob +shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." + +Before the end of the first century, according to the testimony of +the younger Pliny, the temples of the gods of Asia Minor were almost +forsaken. Well has Butler said, "The final victory of Christianity +over heathenism and Judaism, and the mightiest empire of the ancient +world, a victory gained without physical force, by the moral power +of faith and perseverance, of faith and love, is one of the strongest +evidences of the divinity and indestructible life of our holy +religion." + +It is a fact worthy of mention that the early Christians regarded +the Roman Empire as a great enemy to the truth, and described it as a +dragon, the victory of Christianity over heathenism being represented +by the overthrow of the dragon. Constantine and others of his time +describe these events thus. Says Bishop Newton, "Moreover, a picture +of Constantine was set up over the palace gate, with a cross over his +head, and under his feet the great enemy of mankind (who persecuted +the church by means of impious tyrants), in the form of a dragon, +transfixed with a dart through the midst of its body, and falling +headlong into the depth of the sea." + +Verse 11 seems to indicate that many of the followers of Christ lost +their lives in this conflict, and this doubtless is parallel with the +statement that the man child was caught up to God and to his throne. +It may also imply that in the conflict the dragon employed the arm of +civil power in his opposition to the truth. But Christianity increased +notwithstanding the violent opposition. During the reign of the +Emperor Septimus Severus, about the close of the second century, when +a violent persecution of the Christians occurred, Tertullian, the +first of the great Latin Fathers, wrote a notable apology for the +Christian faith, addressed to the Emperor. In this important document +this noble defender of Christianity sets forth so clearly the nature +of the conflict between truth and error that I shall make rather a +lengthy quotation from his writing. + +"Rulers of the Roman Empire," he begins, "you surely can not forbid +the truth to reach you by the secret pathway of a noiseless book. +She knows that she is but a sojourner on the earth, and as a stranger +finds enemies; and more, her origin, her dwelling-place, her hope, her +rewards, her honors, are above. One thing, meanwhile, she anxiously +desires of earthly rulers--not to be condemned unknown. What harm can +it do to give her a hearing?... The outcry is that the state is filled +with Christians; that they are in the fields, in the citadels, in the +islands. The lament is, as for some calamity, that both sexes, every +age and condition, even high rank, are passing over to the Christian +faith. + +"The outcry is a confession and an argument for our cause; for we are +a people of yesterday, and yet we have filled every place belonging to +you--cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camp, your +tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum. We leave to you your temples +alone. We can count your armies: our numbers in a single province +will be greater. We have it in our power, without arms and without +rebellion, to fight against you with the weapon of a simple divorce. +We can leave you to wage your wars alone. If such a multitude should +withdraw into some remote corner of the world, you would doubtless +tremble at your own solitude, and ask, 'Of whom are we the governors?' + +"It is a human right that every man should worship according to his +own convictions ... a forced religion is no religion at all.... Men +say that the Christians are the cause of every public disaster. If the +Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not rise over +the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there be an earthquake, if +a famine or pestilence, straightway they cry, Away with the Christians +to the lions.... But go zealously on, ye good governors, you will +stand higher with the people if you kill us, torture us, condemn +us, grind us to the dust; your injustice is the proof that we +are innocent. God permits us to suffer. Your cruelty avails you +nothing.... The oftener you mow us down, the more in number we grow; +the blood of Christians is seed. What you call our obstinacy is an +instructor. For who that sees it does not inquire for what we suffer! +Who that inquires does not embrace our doctrines? Who that embraces +them is not ready to give his blood for the fulness of God's grace?" + +[Sidenote: The woman's flight] + +Under the figure of Michael and his angels, the early church is +represented as victorious in casting down the powers of heathenism; +but under the symbol of the woman, the church is apparently +represented as defeated; for after the casting down of the dragon it +is said, "To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she +might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished +for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent" +(verse 14). This agrees with verse 6, where it is said that "the woman +fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, +that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score +days." + +The flight of the woman into an obscure place in the wilderness +presents a striking contrast with her first appearance in the +planetary heavens, where she was "clothed with the sun, and the moon +under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." By this +sudden change in the symbolic representation of the woman's position +is set forth the ecclesiastical change that took place in the early +part of the church's history. First she appears as the glorious bride +of Christ adorned in beauty and splendor and radiating the light of +his glorious gospel. She was then "the light of the world." Later we +find a great change taking place. Instead of the church representing +all the truth to the world, we find the beginning of a great apostasy, +which in time was to eclipse and well nigh extinguish the light and +glory of primitive Christianity by substituting in its place the +darkness of the apostasy born in ages of ignorance and superstition. + +That such a change in the history of the true church should occur +was predicted by Christ and the apostles. Jesus said, "And because +iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24:12). +Peter said, "There shall be false teachers among you, who privily +shall bring in damnable heresies" (2 Pet. 2:1). Paul said, "Also of +your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw +away disciples after them" (Acts 20:30). To the Thessalonians who had +been troubled with the report that the second coming of Christ was +then near at hand, Paul said, "Let no man deceive you by any means: +for that day shall not come, except there come _a falling away first_, +and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth +and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is +worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, and showing +himself that he is God.... For the mystery of iniquity doth already +work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of +the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall +consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the +brightness of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:3-8). + +The reader can scarcely consider these texts without perceiving +clearly that change which came over the primitive church resulting +in a transition from her glorious state of innocent beauty to the +full-grown papacy--the "mystery of iniquity." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD + + +The fact of history pertaining to the true church which Paul described +as a "falling away" is represented by the Revelator by the symbol of +the woman fleeing into the wilderness. The other fact mentioned by +Paul pertaining to the rise and development of the man of sin is +represented in the visions of the Revelation as follows: + +[Sidenote: The ten-horned leopard-beast] + +"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out +of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten +crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which +I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a +bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him +his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his +heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: +and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the +dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, +saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with +him? and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and +blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two +months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme +his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it +was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: +and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. +And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are +not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation +of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth +into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword +must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of +the saints" (Rev. 13: 1-10). + +From the nature of the symbol employed, we should naturally infer that +a persecuting, tyrannical kingdom or empire is meant. That such +an application of the term "beast," when used in connection with +prophetic symbols, is correct, is shown by a reference to the +interpretation given concerning the fourth beast of Daniel's vision. +"The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth" (Dan. +7:23). We have already shown conclusively that by the dragon was meant +the pagan Roman Empire, and the same heads and horns are apparently +ascribed to this leopard-beast, the only difference being that the +crowns--a symbol of sovereignty--have been transferred from the heads +to the horns. This substantial agreement with the facts of history +makes certain the identification of this beast with the revised +western Roman Empire under the papal form, the sovereignty being +vested in the ten minor kingdoms until they chose to "give their power +and strength unto the beast" (Rev. 17:13). + +The symbol of a beast considered merely _as a beast_, could not, in +the nature of the case, signify anything more than a temporal kingdom +or political empire. It will be noticed, however, that this particular +prophetic symbol is _more than a beast_; for, combined with his +beastly nature, there are certain characteristics which unmistakably +belong to the department of human life--a mouth _speaking_ great +things; power to magnify himself against the God of heaven, to set +himself up as an object of worship, to single out the saints of +God and kill them, etc. This combination of symbols from the two +departments--animal life and human life--points us with absolute +certainty to the political-religious system of Rome. + +Every historian knows that _pagan_ Rome was succeeded by _papal_ Rome. +The transfer is expressed thus: "And the dragon gave him his power, +and his seat, and great authority" (verse 2). The rising papacy +succeeded to the power and authority formerly exercised by pagan Rome; +and when the political capital was removed to Constantinople, the pope +was left in possession of the ancient seat of empire and government. +"The beast" therefore refers to Rome either as a political power or as +an ecclesiastical power, the context determining whether the political +or the ecclesiastical phase is meant in a given instance. It will be +observed, however, that the leading actions ascribed to this beast +are derived from its human characteristics, pointing unerringly to the +papacy for its fulfilment. + +This beast the world admired. "And they worshiped the dragon which +gave power unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, +Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" The +expression "_worshiped_ the dragon" shows that reference is made to +the dragon, not as a political power, but as a religious power. This +worship of the dragon by those who worshiped the beast which succeeded +the dragon was fulfilled by the perpetuation under the papacy of +the rites and ceremonies of paganism. Roman Catholicism is a strange +amalgamation of Judaism, Christianity, and heathenism. The part +derived from paganism occupies such a prominent place in Roman +Catholic practise and worship that we can not fail to observe its +close resemblance to, if not absolute identity with, heathenism. Just +to mention a few points: + +1. The high priest of the pagan religion was called Pontifex Maximus, +and he claimed spiritual and temporal authority over men. The pope of +Rome borrowed the title and made the same claims, even being clad in +the same attire. + +2. The heathen wore scapulars, medals, and images for personal +protection. Romanists wear the same things for the same purpose. + +3. Pagans, by an official process called _deification_, raised men, +after their death, to a dignified position and accorded them +special honors and worship. Papists, by a similar process called +_canonization_, exalt men after their death to the dignity of saints +and then offer up prayers to them. + +4. Papists' adoration of idols and images was also borrowed direct +from the heathen; for all such practises were absolutely forbidden by +the Mosaic law and had no place in primitive Christianity. + +5. Their religious orders of monks and nuns were also in imitation of +the vestal virgins of antiquity. + +The beast is described as a blasphemous power. Adam Clarke has stated +that "blasphemy, in Scripture, signifies _impious speaking_, when +applied to God; and _injurious speaking_, when directed against our +_neighbor_." A name of blasphemy would therefore properly signify the +prostitution of a sacred name to an unholy purpose. An example of this +kind is given in Rev. 2:9, where we read, "I know the blasphemy of +them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagog of +Satan." In this case certain wicked men blasphemed the name by calling +themselves Jews, since according to Scripture 'he _only_ is a Jew who +is one inwardly.' But to prostitute a sacred name to an unworthy use +would be no more impious or blasphemous than would the assumption by +man of those rights and prerogatives which belong to God alone. This +the pope has done for ages. Among the blasphemous titles which he has +assumed are these: "Lord God the Pope," "King of the World," "Holy +Father," "King of kings and Lord of lords," "Vicegerent of the Son of +God." For ages he has claimed infallibility, and this claim became +a dogma of the church when adopted by the General Council of 1870. +Further, he claims power to dispense with God's laws, to forgive sins, +to release from purgatory, to damn and to save. To call the Roman +Catholic Church the _holy_ church of the Bible is to prostitute a +sacred name to an unworthy institution. And to elevate a man to the +place where "he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself +that _he_ is God," by claiming those prerogatives which belong to God +only, is most flagrant blasphemy. + +[Sidenote: A persecuting power] + +"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to +overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, +and nations" (chap. 13: 7). Here we have a direct prediction of that +reign of tyranny in the Dark Ages in which millions of people suffered +martyrdom at the hands of papal Rome. + +I am aware that many Catholics affirm that their church never +persecuted, that it was the civil power that did this dread work of +slaughter. We must remember, however, that the beast of Revelation +13 signifies the imperial and the ecclesiastical power in the closest +union possible; for the beast appears _as one_, the two phases being +represented by the combination of symbols from the two distinct +departments of life--human and animal. In the seventeenth chapter +we have the same distinct characteristics again set forth, but in a +different combination, the beast appearing simply as a beast, thus +representing the political power of Rome; while the ecclesiastical +power is represented by a corrupt woman sitting on the beast and +directing its course. In that description it is stated, "And I saw +_the woman_ drunken _with the blood of the saints, and with the blood +of the martyrs of Jesus_" (verse 6). The Romish church itself is, +therefore, represented as participating in the work of martyrdom. + +Does this divine prediction agree with the facts of history? It is +altogether impossible to compute correctly the number of those who +were in different ways put to death for opposing the corruption of the +Church of Rome. A million Waldenses perished in France. Nine +hundred thousand Christians were slain within thirty years after the +institution of the Jesuits. The Duke of Alva boasted that he had +put to death 36,000 in the Netherlands by the hands of the common +executioner. The Inquisition destroyed 150,000 within thirty years. If +it be asserted that this was accomplished by the secular arm, I reply +that sentence of death was pronounced upon so-called heretics by the +church and that the secular power was simply a tool for carrying the +barbarous sentence into execution. We can not forget that the pope +applauded Charles IX of France and his infamous mother, Catherine de +Medici, for their part in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and ordered +a medal struck in honor of the event; that following the revocation +of the Edict of Nantes, when 300,000 were cruelly butchered during +the reign of Louis XIV, Pope Innocent XI extolled the king by special +letter, as follows: "The Catholic Church shall most assuredly +record in her sacred annals _a work of such devotion toward her_ +and CELEBRATE YOUR NAME WITH NEVER-DYING PRAISES ... _for this most +excellent undertaking_." + +Popery has for ages claimed the right to exterminate by death those +who were heretics. Numerous provincial and national councils have +issued cruel and bloody laws for the extermination of the Waldenses +and other so-called heretics. Besides these, at least six of their +_General_ Councils, the highest judicial assemblies of the Roman +Church, with the popes themselves sometimes present in person, have +by their decrees pronounced the punishment of death for heresy: 1. The +Second General Council of Lateran (1139) in its twenty-third canon. 2. +The Third General Council of Lateran (1179), under Pope Alexander III. +3. The Fourth General Council of Lateran (1215), under Pope Innocent +III. 4. The Sixteenth General Council, held at Constance in 1414. This +council, with Pope Martin present in person, condemned the reformers +Huss and Jerome to be burned at the stake, and then prevailed on the +Emperor Sigismund to violate the safe conduct which he had given Huss +and signed by his own hand and in which he had guaranteed the reformer +a safe return to Bohemia; and this inhuman sentence against Huss +was then carried out. 5. The Council of Sienna (1423), which was +afterwards continued at Basil. 6. The Fifth General Council of Lateran +(1514). + +That such teachings and practises were an integral part of Romanism is +easily shown. St. Aquinas, the "angelic doctor," argued that heretics +might justly be killed. Cardinal Bellarmine, in a Latin work, _De +Laicis_, still extant, entered into a regular argument to prove that +the church has the right of punishing heretics with death and should +exercise that right. Bellarmine was a nephew of one pope and a close +friend and associate of others, a champion of Romanism, and a defender +of its doctrines. In the work above referred to be declares that +"_heretics were often_ _burned_ BY THE CHURCH." "The Donatists, +Manicheans, and Albigenses were routed and annihilated by arms." + +Many timid-hearted Christians in the present age of religious +toleration think that it is almost unchristianlike for us to bring +up and lay to the charge of Rome such a sweeping indictment for those +massacres of Christians in a barbarous age. Such it would be had Rome +ever disavowed these acts or shown any signs of true repentance. The +fact is that it is the boast of Catholics that "Rome never changes." +Well has Charles Butler said, "It is most true that the Roman +Catholics believe the doctrines of their church to be unchangeable; +and that it is a tenet of their creed, that what their faith ever has +been, such it was from the beginning, _such it is now, and such it +ever will be_." + +In a copy of the eleventh edition of "The Faith of Our Fathers," by +Cardinal Gibbons, page 95, I read: "It is a marvelous fact, worthy of +record, that in the whole history of the church, from the nineteenth +century to the first, no solitary example can be adduced to show that +any pope or general council ever revoked a decree of faith or morals +enacted by any preceding pontiff or council. Her record in the past +ought to be a sufficient warrant that she will _tolerate no doctrinal +variations in the future_." So the doctrine of her inherent right to +persecute and slay every one who disagrees with her, which has been +enacted by popes and general councils and carried out in the past, is +still in vogue. + +"And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the +blood of the martyrs of Jesus." + +In our study of Revelation 12 and 13 we have observed that Rome in its +twofold form--pagan and papal--is represented by the dragon and the +beast respectively. This has been established so clearly as to +remove well nigh all doubt concerning the identification. It will be +profitable, however, to give brief consideration to certain parallel +prophecies in Daniel; for in addition to covering the same ground and +describing under other symbols the same general facts of history, they +furnish us an infallible starting-stake, thus establishing definitely +the truth of the interpretation concerning the Roman power, and giving +us a solid basis from which we can proceed with logical certainty to +the interpretation of other symbols in the Revelation. + +[Sidenote: The image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream] + +In the second chapter of Daniel we have the narrative of a dream which +Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had during the time of the Jewish +captivity in that city. After the king awoke, he was so confused that +notwithstanding the deep impression made by his nocturnal experience, +he could not recall to mind the dream itself. He therefore had +recourse to the Chaldeans and wise men of his realm. They failed to +make known his dream, whereupon he became furious and decreed their +death. At this juncture Daniel came forward and announced that if +given time he would fulfil the king's desire, and shortly afterward he +appeared before the king and addressed him as follows: + +"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, +whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee: and the form +thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast +and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of +iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a +stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet +that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the +iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces +together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; +and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and +the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the +whole earth" (Dan. 2:31-35). + +The interpretation of this dream, as given by the prophet, +particularly concerns and interests us. Said Daniel: "This is the +dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king." +"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given +thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the +children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the +heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over +them all. Thou art this head of gold" (verses 36-38). + +At the time of this vision the Chaldean monarchy was in the height of +her power and glory. Babylon, the capital city, was the chief "pride +of the Chaldees' excellency," containing those magnificent hanging +gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Nebuchadnezzar +was pointed out particularly as the head of gold in the image, but we +should bear in mind that in the general language of prophecy, +"kings" signify not merely individual monarchs but monarchies under a +succession of princes of the same nation. That the real significance +of the head of gold is the Babylonian Kingdom or Monarchy is shown by +the fact that in the description of the other three divisions of the +same image they are referred to directly as _kingdoms_. The Babylonian +Kingdom came to an end with the death of Belshazzar, and the overthrow +of his father Nabonadius in 538 B.C. + +"And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee" +(verse 39). This is the explanation given of that part of the image +represented by the breast and arms of silver. This refers to the +Medo-Persian empire, which, under Cyrus the Great, captured Babylon +538 B.C. and terminated the Chaldean empire. The Persian kingdom +was in certain respects inferior to the Chaldean, just as silver is +inferior to gold. It was neither as wealthy nor as prosperous, and +was particularly inferior in the character of its kings, for from the +death of Cyrus they are said to have been "as vile a set of men as +ever disgraced human nature." + +"And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all +the earth." This refers to the Macedonian, or Greek, empire founded +by Alexander the Great. After subduing Greece and reducing Egypt, +Alexander penetrated into Asia, took Tyre, met and overthrew Darius +the Persian at Arbela, in 331 B.C., thus terminating the Persian +Empire. The Grecian Kingdom had less external magnificence than those +which preceded it and was founded and maintained by force of arms; +but it was more extensive than the others, including many dominions +in Europe, Africa, and regions farther to the east in Asia than had +before been penetrated. It was foretold that this kingdom should "bear +rule over all the earth"; it was the main boast of Alexander that he +had subdued the whole world. + +"And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron +breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh +all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise" (verse 40). This +corresponds to the "legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of +clay," in the dream itself. The reference is to the Roman Empire, +which succeeded the Grecian. Whether or not the two legs had any +special significance is not stated, but commentators frequently refer +us to the two divisions into which the empire of Rome was afterwards +divided--East and West. So also the ten toes of the image are often +explained as signifying the ten minor kingdoms which grew out of the +empire. But we should bear in mind that this is not stated either +in the vision itself or in its inspired interpretation. Only four +kingdoms are referred to as such. The fourth division, representing +Rome (in both its strong and its weak condition), is described simply +as "the kingdom," "the fourth kingdom." The Roman Kingdom was at first +"as strong as iron." No other people have ever made such extensive +conquests through a long period of time as did the Romans. + +If Nebuchadnezzar's dream brought a man into prominence as a symbolic +object, we should think that, in accordance with the nature of +symbols, a religious power or powers only were intended; but the +symbol is not a man, but only the _image_ of a man, and that image is +composed of inanimate materials, which, drawn from the department +of nature, refer to something political. We therefore have political +kingdoms set forth. The very fact that they are represented as +appearing in the form of a man, however, may at least allude to +their being political powers combined with religious systems. But the +combination is not such a one as would naturally lead us to conclude +that reference is made to God's church. + +The description of Nebuchadnezzar's dream represented "a stone cut out +without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron +and clay, and brake them to pieces" (verse 34). The interpretation of +this event is given as follows: "And in the days of these kings shall +the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: +and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break +in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" +(verse 44). + +The kingdom of God appears as the fifth universal kingdom, destined +to survive and surpass all others. It is of divine origin, cut out +"without hands." The other kingdoms are similar in their nature and +closely connected, in the single image of a man; but the kingdom of +God is altogether different and antagonistic. The prophecy refers +to the establishment of the kingdom of God in the early days of +Christianity; for, _be it observed_, this stone struck the image _when +all its four divisions were yet standing_. Not, only was the iron and +the clay broken by the impact, but "the iron, the clay, _the brass, +the silver, and the gold_" were "_broken to pieces_ TOGETHER, and +became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors" (verse 35). + +Here is a most important fact wholly unnoticed by those millennialists +who look to the future of our day for the establishment of the kingdom +of Christ. If the stone has not yet struck the image, then the chief +part of the prophetic description _never can be fulfilled_; for there +is no sense in which the advent of the divine kingdom in this late age +of the world can break in pieces the entire image of Nebuchadnezzar's +dream, there being no way in which it can truthfully be said that its +four divisions are yet standing. All these facts were true in the days +of Rome, however, when Christ appeared. The Roman Kingdom possessed +all the distinguishing marks and characteristics of the preceding +empires. This is true not only of their territorial possession but of +their distinctive characteristics. The opulence of the Babylonians, +the splendor of the Persians, the strength and discipline of the +Greeks, were all merged into the Roman Empire. And more than +this, these kingdoms were all idolatrous, and the religion of +the Babylonians was merely absorbed in the Persian Kingdom (not +destroyed); that of the Persian was perpetuated under the Greek +reign; and all these found recognition in the divers forms of paganism +existing under Rome. _In this sense_ the image, as opposed to the +divine kingdom of Christ, was all standing at the time of the +first advent of the Messiah, and the overthrow of paganism by early +Christianity corresponds with the stroke given by the little stone of +Daniel 2. + +Notice how this fulfilment is parallel with the prophecies of the +Revelation. In chapter 12 the Roman Empire under its pagan form is +represented by the dragon. Christianity waged warfare with this huge +system of false religion and overthrew it. "And I heard a loud voice +saying in heaven, _Now_ is come salvation, and strength, _and the +kingdom of our God_, and the power of his Christ" (chap. 12:10). + +The kingdom represented in Nebuchadnezzar's dream came in the day +of incarnation and soon smote the kingdoms of heathen darkness as +existing in the embrace of Rome, and broke them in pieces. It was +then in the stage represented by a _stone_. At a later time we shall +observe the kingdom in its _mountain_ epoch, when it becomes a great +mountain and fills the whole earth. + +[Sidenote: Vision of four beasts] + +The four constituent parts of Nebuchadnezzar's visionary image were +interpreted to signify four successive monarchies, the Babylonian +being the first. In the seventh chapter Daniel records his own vision +of four great beasts that arose out of the violently agitated sea, and +these represent the same four kingdoms described in Nebuchadnezzar's +dream. "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which +shall arise out of the earth" (verse 17). To the worldly, carnal mind +of Nebuchadnezzar, empires possessed a show of grandeur and glory, and +they were therefore represented accordingly in his vision; but to the +spiritual-minded Daniel they would appear odious and terrible, and +they were therefore represented to him under the symbol of devouring +_beasts_. + +The kingdoms symbolized by the first three beasts of this vision +have no particular bearing on our subject, aside from assisting us in +fixing the chronology of certain events. The first beast signifies +the Babylonian Empire, corresponding to the head of the image in +Nebuchadnezzar's vision; the second, the Medo-Persian, corresponding +to the breast and arms of silver; the third, the Grecian, +corresponding to the belly and thighs of brass. The description +of these beasts shows that in one sense they are successive and in +another sense simultaneous. + +I have already shown that the entire image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream +was standing in the days of Roman ascendency, when the kingdom of +God came. The same fact is brought out in the chapter now under +consideration. After mentioning particularly the fourth beast, Daniel +says, "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion +taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time" +(verse 12). When these kingdoms lost their independent sovereignty, +they still continued as provinces, ruled by another similar power. + +[Sidenote: The fourth beast] + +The description of the fourth beast directly concerns our subject: +"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, +dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron +teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with +the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were +before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, +there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were +three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in +this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great +things" (verses 7, 8). + +The interpretation of this beast given by the angel possesses unusual +interest. "Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom +upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour +the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. +And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise" +(verses 23, 24). Since the interpretation given by Daniel identifies +the first kingdom with the Babylonian Empire, we have an infallible +starting-stake. Therefore the "fourth" kingdom represented by the +terrible nondescript beast of chapter 7 is none other than the Roman. +The ten horns of this beast are interpreted to signify ten kings, +or kingdoms, thus representing the ten minor kingdoms into which the +Roman Empire was finally subdivided. + +The description given of the tyrannical reign of this fourth beast +aptly portrays the history of Rome. By wars and conquests the Roman +power broke down all opposition and reduced almost every kingdom in +the then-known world to a state of dependence. She drew the spoils of +their capitals to enlarge her own proud metropolis and thus tyrannized +over all who did not quietly yield to her unquestioned obedience. + +The beast considered as a beast, could signify nothing more than a +political power, and the ten horns temporal kingdoms. But in this +connection I wish to call attention to a singular fact; namely, +that, associated with the animal propensities, there are certain +characteristics drawn from human life. "I considered the horns, and, +behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom +there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, +behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth +speaking great things" (verse 8). + +[Sidenote: The marvelous horn] + +A horn with the eyes and mouth of a man is a most unusual thing, and +yet it is just such a combination as we might expect when we possess +a correct understanding of the nature of symbols. These closely united +symbols drawn from two departments--human and animal life--point +us with absolute certainty to a temporal power combined with an +ecclesiastical power. The chronology of the event is fixed by the +fact that this eleventh horn came up among the ten horns, three of the +original ten being removed in order to give it room. The ten kingdoms +all arose within two centuries after 356 A.D.; therefore the facts +brought out in the symbol direct us to the period of the downfall of +Western Rome for the rise into prominence of the little horn. + +In giving Daniel the interpretation of the fourth beast, the angel +also described more particularly this little horn and the nature of +its work. First Daniel said: "I would know the truth of the fourth +beast ... and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other +which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had +eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more +stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with +the saints, and prevailed against them" (verses 19-21). And the angel +explained: "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth +... and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall +arise: another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the +first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words +against the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they +shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing +of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his +dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (verses 23-26). + +With the explanation that the fourth beast signified the fourth +kingdom, it is impossible to evade the conclusion that the +politico-religious power symbolized by the little horn that came up +among the ten horns refers directly to the papacy. There is no other +object that can fulfil the prophecy. The papacy was just beginning +to make itself strongly felt among the divisions of the Western Roman +Empire, and it is a fact of history that three of the original +ten divisions _in the territory of Italy_ were actually plucked +up successively before the rising papacy as if to give it room for +development. + +When the Western Empire was overthrown in A.D. 476, the kingdom of +the Heruli was established in Italy. In 493 this was succeeded by +the Ostrogoths, which continued for sixty years and was afterwards +succeeded by the Lombards. The Lombard Kingdom was overthrown by Pepin +and Charlemagne, who gave a large part of the conquered territory to +the pope, thus favoring the papacy with her _first temporal power_. +This grant completed the symbol of Daniel's vision by constituting the +papacy a temporal as well as an ecclesiastical power. + +The description of the great things spoken by the mouth of the little +horn and of the persecution of the true saints of God by this power +corresponds so minutely with the characteristics of the first beast +of Revelation 13 that no further description is here necessary. It is +said that he would also "think to change times and laws." The language +is spoken as if this were a most extraordinary thing to do. Surely it +is no extraordinary thing for a king to alter _secular_ laws in his +own dominion; and so far as heathen kingdoms are concerned, it would +be no sacrilegious act for them to alter their _religious_ laws and +customs. But the little horn was to set himself up against the Most +High and think to change _His_ times and laws--an act of unparalleled +audacity, impiety, and blasphemy. This description the papacy has +consistently and constantly fulfilled. The pope has assumed the power +to make time holy or unholy as he sees fit; to command men to abstain +from meat and to cease work, contrary to the demands of God. He has +claimed the power to dispense with God's laws or obedience to them, +"forbidding to marry," and through his indulgences to remit the +penalty due to sin. + +The student of prophecy can not fail to see the striking similarity +between the description of the little horn in Daniel 7 and that of +the ten-horned leopard-beast of Revelation 13. The following parallels +prove their identity: + +1. Both are blasphemous powers (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:6). + +2. They speak great things and blasphemies (Dan. 7:8, 20; Rev. 13:5). + +3. Both are persecuting powers making war on the saints (Dan. 7:21; +Rev. 13:7). + +4. The chronology of each shows that the power rose to prominence +about the time of the cessation of the pagan Roman Empire. + +5. The length of time during which they were to continue is the +same--forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days. + +6. Both are to be gradually but finally destroyed (Dan. 7:26; Rev. +13:10). + +These powers, then, appear at the same time, in the same territory, +have the same character, do the same work, continue the same length of +time, and meet the same fate. _These facts prove identity._ We have, +therefore, positive proof drawn from the parallel prophecies in Daniel +that the first beast of Revelation 13 signifies the politico-religious +system of Rome. + +[Sidenote: Length of papal reign] + +The identification of the little horn of Daniel 7 with the +leopard-beast of Revelation 13 is now complete. That both apply to the +papacy has been conclusively shown. We shall now turn our attention +to the length of time that this power was to reign. Daniel limits the +triumph of the little horn to "a time and times and the dividing of +time" (Dan. 7:25). "Time," in the singular, of course, signifies one +time. "Times," plural, without a designating number, signifies two +times. "The dividing of time" is rendered in chapter 12:7, also in +both texts in the Revised Version, "a half." So the entire period is +three and a half times. + +The seven-year period of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity is described as +seven _times_ (chap. 4:25). We therefore conclude that the period of +three and a half times signifies three and a half years. This agrees +with the reign of the leopard beast of Revelation 13, namely, "forty +and two months" (verse 5), or according to the Jewish method of +computing time--thirty days to the month--twelve hundred and sixty +days. Notice that this also agrees both in the manner of statement and +in point of duration with the flight of the woman into the wilderness, +as described in Revelation 12. She was to be nourished for "a time, +and times, and half a time" (verse 14), which period is spoken of in +verse 6 of the same chapter as "a thousand two hundred and threescore +days." + +The terms ordinarily used to measure the duration of time may be and +often are used in a symbolic sense; for time, as well as anything +else, can be symbolized. Thus days may properly symbolize years; for +they are analogous periods of time, the diurnal revolution of the +earth being taken to represent the earth's annual movement. Other +standards of reckoning may also be employed symbolically, but the one +here referred to is doubtless most frequently employed. Such a system +of reckoning time was known anciently. The Mosaic law recognized two +kinds of weeks, the first of seven days' duration, the last day of +which was a Sabbath; another week of seven years' duration, the last +year being a Sabbath of rest for the land. This fact explains such +expressions as "forty days, _each day for a year_" (Num. 14:34), and +"I have appointed thee each day for a year" (Ezek. 4:6). + +There is no doubt that the year-day method of computing time is used +in the prophecy of Daniel 9, the sixty-nine _weeks_ reaching from the +time of the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. until A.D. 26, the year +when Christ was baptized and entered on his personal ministry. + +[Sidenote: The correct starting-point] + +Applying the year-day standard to the period of twelve hundred and +sixty days, we have twelve hundred and sixty years. The next question +to arise is, What date shall we select as the proper time from which +to measure this 1,260-year period? It is important that we correctly +solve this question. Expositors have selected different dates. They +usually point out some particular historical date having an important +bearing on Rome's development; as, for example, A.D. 606, when Phocas, +Emperor of the East, accorded the Church of Rome special recognition. +But the papacy grew up in the _West_. If we are to regard as of +unusual importance political recognition of the claims of the papacy, +why not give preference to imperial recognition in the very section +that constituted the home of the papacy? + +Before considering further the relation of the growing papacy to the +imperial power in the Western Empire, I must call attention to an +important fact generally overlooked or disregarded by expositors. +The 1,260-year period not only marks the time of triumph by the +beast-power, but also _measures the period during which the woman, or +true church, was to be secluded in the wilderness_. Two parallel lines +of prophetic truth--respecting the true church and a false church--are +therefore set forth as coexistent and in contrast with each other. +The correct starting-stake can not, therefore, be when the papacy +had obtained complete ascendency, for this would be too late to +consistently begin to measure the decayed state of the true church. +The date selected must be consistent with both lines of prophecy. +The apostasy did not take place suddenly, however, but was a gradual +decline, a "falling away"; and the papacy, on the other hand, did not +rise to great power suddenly, but grew up by degrees. It was at +first "a little horn," but finally his "look was more stout than +his fellows." Paul says that the "mystery of iniquity"--the seed of +apostasy--was already working in his day and that later "that Wicked" +should be revealed in all its terrible features (see 2 Thess. 2:3-8). +We therefore have to deal with a sliding-scale, a gradual decline on +the part of the true church, and a constant increase of that false, +apostate power which finally culminated in the full-grown papacy. + +Bearing in mind that the 1,260-year period measures both phases, we +are obliged to select for our beginning a time about half way between +both extremes, a time when, we might say, the "falling away" from the +pure apostolic truth and standard was about half completed and when +the papacy was about half developed. While the woman was secluded in +the wilderness, the beast-power occupied the public view; and this +was exactly the reverse of apostolic times, when the woman was exalted +above all and before all, "clothed with the sun and with the moon +under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." In other +words, the extreme of darkest night succeeded the light of glorious +day. + +The period of the first apostles was the period of the church's purity +and triumph. In their hands the cause was safe and the pure truth +shown forth in beauty and power. But with the close of the apostolic +era, the apostasy came on at a rapid rate, as the extant writings of +the early church fathers show. + +By the middle of the fifth century the light of the gospel was +eclipsed in the darkness of Romanism. During this century the papacy +secured political recognition of its claims to direct jurisdiction +over all churches. This occurred during the pontificate of Leo I, who, +because of his success in furthering the interests of the popedom, +shares alone with Pope Gregory the title of "the Great." To quote from +the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Leo "entered upon a pontificate +which was to be epoch-making for the centralization of the government +of the church." Political causes combined to advance the claims of the +papacy to universal recognition. Attila, with his fierce barbarians, +invaded Italy and laid waste many of her fairest provinces and then +advanced boldly on Rome, whereupon Pope Leo went out to the camp of +the invaders and secured the evacuation of Italy. The pope obtained +the full support of Valentinian III. In 445 Leo enforced authority in +the distant patriarchate of Alexandria. In 444-446 he was in conflict +with the Illyrian bishops. During this time in a letter addressed +to them he laid down the principle that St. Peter had received the +primacy and oversight of the whole church and that hence all important +matters must be referred to and decided by Rome. He also proceeded +to extend his authority over Gaul. In this effort he obtained from +Valentinian III the famous decree of June 6, 445, which "recognized +the primacy of the Pope of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the +dignity of the city, and the decrees of Nice (in their interpolated +form); ordained that any opposition to this rulings, which were to +_have the force of law_, should be treated as treason; and provided +for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of any one who +refused to answer a summons to Rome." + +The apostle John was banished to the Isle of Patmos in 95. Regarding +that date as the close of the pure apostolic era, and 445, when the +pope received from the emperor of the West official recognition of his +claims to universal supremacy in the church, as representing one other +extreme, we have but to calculate the time half way between these +extremes to find the consistent starting-stake for the beginning of +that time prophecy which is to measure both lines of prophetic truth. +From 95 to 445 is a period of 350 years. Half of this period is +175 years. Therefore 175 years after 95, or 270, is the correct +starting-point. + +Protestant church historians recognize the decline that came in the +early church. Many of them, as D'Aubigne, Marsh, Rutter, Waddington, +and others, point to the third century, or the latter half of the +third century, as marking an unusual epoch in this declension. Others, +however, who view things almost wholly from the external point of +view, regard the accession of Constantine in the early part of the +following century as marking the important epoch. With reference +to this subject, I quote Joseph Milner, the English ecclesiastical +historian: "I know it is common for authors to represent the +declension of Christianity to have taken place only after its external +establishment under Constantine. But the events of history have +compelled me to dissent from this view of things."--Ch. Hist., Cent. +IV, Chap. I. + +It is also evident from the facts of history that, in addition to +the corruption of evangelical faith, that other phase of the +apostasy--human ecclesiasticism--was also highly developed before the +end of the third century. George P. Fisher says, "The accession of +Constantine [A.D. 312] found the church so firmly organized under +the hierarchy that it could not lose its identity by being absolutely +merged in the state."--History of the Christian Church, p. 99. + +In the year A.D. 270 Anthony, an Egyptian, the father of monasticism, +fixed his abode in the deserts of Egypt and formed monks into +organized bodies. Dowling, describing the extravagance of monkery and +the false standard of piety and holiness it created, declares that +monkery "_actually affected the church universal_." See History of +Romanism, pp. 88, 89. Very few marks of genuine piety remained. With +the decline of evangelical knowledge came a reign of superstition +and ignorance. Milner, adverting to the institution of monkery in the +_third century_, expresses his "regret that the faith and love of +the gospel received toward the close of it a dreadful blow from the +encouragement of this unchristian practise."--Century III, Chap. XX. + +In another place the same historian, speaking of the absence of truth +and the prevalence of error in the third century, says: "It is vain to +expect Christian faith to abound without Christian doctrine. Moral and +philosophical and monastical instructions will not effect for men +what is to be expected from evangelical doctrine. And if the faith of +Christ was so much declined (and its decayed state _ought to be dated +from about the year 270_,) we need not wonder that such scenes as +Eusebius hints at without any circumstantial details, took place in +the Christian world."--Century IV, Chap. I. (Parenthetical clause is +Milner's; italicizing, mine.) In addition to this quotation, and as if +to give emphasis, the historian places prominently in a side-head the +words, "_Decay of pure Christianity, A.D. 270_." + +Measuring forward from A.D. 270 the alloted period of twelve hundred +and sixty years brings us to A.D. 1530, a year which marked the +beginning of Protestantism in its organized form. The first Protestant +creed, the Confession of Augsburg, was made that year. + +The description of the papal power under the symbol of the ten-horned +beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7 presents a +melancholy picture of world-events during the long period of twelve +hundred and sixty years ending with the sixteenth century reformation. + +[Sidenote: Principle of parallelism] + +Before proceeding to give in chronological order a description of +events following the reign of the beast, I wish to call attention to +an important plan followed in the Biblical presentation of prophetic +truth; namely, that the events are taken up by parallel series +covering the same period of time. But in addition to this point, we +observe the principle of _contrast_. When the history of political +events is described, we have in contrast therewith a description of +ecclesiastical events; and with the representation of a false church +or an apostate state of Christianity, we have in immediate contrast +the history of God's chosen people. Or perhaps the order is reversed, +but the principle remains the same. While, in the nature of things, +these distinct lines can not always be well represented symbolically +as occurring at the same time, they are presented in parallel series, +thus proving that they were to be fulfilled simultaneously. + +In direct contrast with the power of apostate Christendom represented +by the papacy, which for certain reasons I have presented first, we +have in chapter 11 of the Revelation a brief history of God's true +people that existed during the papal reign. In this case, however, a +description of the apostasy and of the true church are presented in +the same series and in such a way as to give special emphasis to the +point of contrast as well as to prove their simultaneous fulfilment. +Thus we read: "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and +the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the +altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without +the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the +Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two +months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall +prophecy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in +sackcloth" (chap. 11:1-3). + +It is clear that two powers in the Christian era are here represented, +the one continuing "forty and two months" and the other twelve hundred +and sixty days, or years, heretofore explained as measuring the length +of the beast's reign, also of the woman's seclusion in the wilderness. +This similarity naturally suggests that we have here the same general +facts set forth under other symbols. Jerusalem, the holy city, the +temple, and the two witnesses therefore correspond to the woman of +chapter 12. The crowd of uncircumcised Gentiles and their profanation +of the city of God for twelve hundred and sixty years correspond to +the beast-power of chapter 13. + +Wonderful truth is represented in the vision of this chapter. The +symbols are drawn from Old Testament history, from the religious life +of the Jews--God's chosen people in contrast with the uncircumcised +Gentiles. It is evident, therefore, that the true church and the false +church of the gospel era are represented. + +Notice carefully the symbols: holy city, temple, altar, worshipers, +and living witnesses, or prophets. These represent the sum and +substance of all divine revelation in the Mosaic age: holy city, +Jerusalem--_the place where God set his name_; the temple--_divinely +authorised, holy, acceptable worship_ based on careful adherence to +God's commandments formerly given; the altar--_the great symbol of +atonement, the reconciliation of humanity with the divinity_; +the worshipers in one temple--_all of God's people in unity_; the +prophets--_the divinely commissioned representatives of God bearing +a living message for the people of their time_. These conditions +represent the Judaic ideal. Whether they were ever able to reach their +ideal or not, it is evident that the Jews had the conception of a +unified, holy, acceptable service (see Isa. 4:3; 52:1; 62:1-7). The +two witnesses referred to are clearly represented as prophets; for +the work ascribed to them as attesting their divine commission is a +repetition of the miraculous works of Moses and Elijah by which +they established their claims to be prophetic leaders authorized by +Jehovah. The witnesses seem to be distinguished from the worshipers +simply on account of their power and message. + +[Sidenote: The two witnesses] + +These symbols represent the true apostolic church. It is the holy +city, Jerusalem, his temple, whose holy, united worshipers obey the +commands of God. The application of the "witnesses" particularly +specified as they are in the description, requires further +explanation. It is said, "These are the two olive trees and the +two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth" (Rev. 11:4). +Whatever these two witnesses signify in particular, they are the +same as the olive trees and candlesticks spoken of. It appears that +allusion is made to Zechariah 4, where two olive trees are represented +as standing, one on each side of a golden candlestick, distilling into +it their oil for light. When the angel was asked for an explanation of +these two olive trees and the candlestick, he answered, "This is the +_Word_ of the Lord ... by my _Spirit_ saith the Lord" (verse 6). We +are to understand, therefore, that God's Word and Spirit are the "two +witnesses" in his church; that is, they signify the divine element +operating in his church. Just as the mediation of the prophets was +necessary in the olden times to maintain constant contact with God, +without which the religious exercises degenerated to mere formalism, +so the living _Word_ and _Spirit_ of God were present in the apostolic +church to elevate its service above mere human systems and forms +of worship. That the Word of God and the Spirit of God are special +witnesses is proved by many texts. Jesus said, "Search the scriptures +... they are they which _testify_ of me" (John 5:39). "This gospel of +the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a _witness_ unto +all nations" (Matt. 24:14). "The Holy Ghost also is a _witness_" (Heb. +10:15). "The Spirit itself beareth _witness_" (Rom. 8:16). "It is the +Spirit that beareth _witness_" (1 John 5:6). + +Of the uncircumcised Gentiles it is said, "The holy city shall they +tread under foot forty and two months." This signifies the great +apostasy that overspread the earth, defiling and perverting the true +worship of God. The burden of this series, however, is not to describe +the foreign element thus introduced, but to set forth in greater +fulness the fact that during the same time that the idolatrous +multitude of Gentiles trod down the holy city God preserved his own +people. _The temple still remained_, and it had devout worshipers; +_the two witnesses still prophesied_, although clothed in sackcloth, +an emblem of melancholy and mourning. While the visions of the +Revelator describe particularly the power of apostasy and iniquity +reigning during the Dark Ages, they do not fail to give us the +assurance that at the same time God had a people whose names were +written in the book of life (chap. 13:8)--"saints" (chap. 13;10). +And these were made the object of the most violent persecution (chap. +13:17; 17:6). + +It is rather difficult to trace the true work of God during those +times; for his "saints" were either ignored by the professed multitude +or else regarded as heretics. But there existed in different countries +bands of people who opposed the doctrines and ecclesiastical tyranny +of Rome and who claimed adherence to the simple, primitive faith +of Christ as expressed in the gospel. Among these were the Cathari, +Lombards, Albigenses, Waldenses, and Vaudois. I will not say that all +these so-called heretics are to be regarded as the true people of God, +but from the few records that we have of them, derived chiefly from +their enemies, it seems clear that there were among them many who were +truly "saints" and who clung tenaciously to the true faith of Christ. +God's Word and Spirit were therefore prophesying, although in +an unnatural condition, symbolized by the sackcloth state of the +witnesses. We must also remember that even among the Catholic party +were to be found noble persons whose hearts were true to whatever +truth they had and whose emotions and aspirations at times broke over +the bounds of traditional theology and gave expression to sentiments +Scriptural and sublime. + +The time period first specified in this special scene is the same +twelve hundred and sixty years that marks the reign of the beast and +therefore closes with the reformation of the sixteenth century. We +shall have occasion to return to this series later and trace its +predictions down to our own times. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ERA OF MODERN SECTS + + +[Sidenote: Another epoch predicted] + +We have seen that the 1,260-year universal reign of the first beast +of Revelation 13 ends with the period of the Reformation. The exact +manner in which this should be accomplished is not definitely given +in the prophecy, aside from the statement, "He that leadeth into +captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must +be killed with the sword" (verse 10). This description would seem to +indicate a period of captivity in which the papacy would be deprived +of its great power, after which it would be finally destroyed; and +this agrees with Paul's description of the papacy in 2 Thessalonians +2, where he speaks of that Wicked "whom the Lord shall consume with +the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his +coming" (verse 8). And Daniel, speaking of the end of the 1,260-year +reign of the same papal beast, points out a reformation time when +"they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto +the end" (Dan. 7:26). + +There is no doubt that these references point out the work of the +Reformation which broke the power of Rome's universal supremacy and +her long reign of tyranny over the earth. Humanism, discovery of the +art of printing, the revival of learning, and other causes contributed +to this result. But the real revolt came in 1517, when Luther in +Saxony nailed to the church door in Wittenberg his ninety five theses +against the papal traffic in indulgences. The Reformers made their +appeal from the decisions of Councils to the inspired Word of God, +and this was the secret of their success. With wonderful power and +boldness they proclaimed truth that had been neglected or discredited +for ages. The holy fire spread over Western Europe. Men became +agitated as if moved by a mighty unseen power, until the papacy was +shaken from end to end. + +[Sidenote: Protestantism in prophecy] + +We regret that the true work of reformation did not long continue. +A.D. 1530 marks a new epoch--the rise of organized Protestantism; +marks the end of the 1,260-year period, and the introduction of +another ecclesiastical power. The historian D'Aubigne recognizes +the distinction between the Reformation as such and organized +Protestantism. In his well-known work, History of the Reformation, he +says: "The first two books of this volume contained the most important +epochs of the Reformation--the Protest of Spires and the Confession of +Augsburg.... I determined on bringing the reformation of Germany and +German-Switzerland to the _decisive epochs_ of 1530 and 1531. The +History of the Reformation, properly so-called, is then in my opinion +almost complete in those countries. The work of faith has there +attained its apogee: that of conferences, of interims, of diplomacy +begins.... The movement of the sixteenth century has there made +its effort. I said from the very first, It is the History of the +Reformation, and not of Protestantism, that I am relating."--Preface +to Volume IV. + +Protestantism, then, is to be distinguished from the Reformation. +Considering its prominence in the ecclesiastical world, we should +naturally expect to find it represented in the symbols of the +Revelation. Strangely enough, few commentators ever make the least +effort to identify Protestantism with any of the symbols of this book. +Mohammedanism is there; Paganism is there; _the true church_ is +there, and, it is universally admitted, _the false church_ is there. +Therefore, whether Protestantism be true or false, _it_ must be there, +but where? + +The application of the first beast of Revelation 13 to the papacy has +been so clearly established that the point is well-nigh indisputable. +The period of its universal supremacy is clearly limited to the +1,260 years. And everyone knows that it was the sixteenth century +reformation that ended that period of tyranny. We have shown that +that period ends with A.D. 1530. The prophecy immediately following +describes Protestantism in these words: + +[Sidenote: The two-horned beast] + +"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two +horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the +power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them +which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was +healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down +from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that +dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power +to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the +earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the +wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the +image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and +cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should +be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, +free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their +foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the +mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is +wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the +beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred +threescore and six" (Rev. 13: 11-18). + +Protestant commentators generally apply both the ten-horned beast and +the two-horned beast to Rome, the first representing the political +power, and the second the ecclesiastical power. But this position, +while clearing Protestantism of any moral stigma, is such a manifest +violation of the laws of symbolic language and the general principles +of Scriptural interpretation that I marvel that any critical thinker +could decide to adopt it. The two beasts are especially distinguished, +and in each case the symbol is complete. The first beast combines with +its beastly characteristics the qualities of the human, as did the +little horn of Daniel 7, thus clearly and positively representing +_both the political and the ecclesiastical dominion_ of Rome. It is +the human characteristics that constitute the leading feature of the +terrible work ascribed to the first beast; therefore, the papacy _as a +religious power_ is particularly intended. Hence the second beast can +not be intended to represent the ecclesiastical phase of Rome. Notice, +also, that the symbol of the second beast is likewise complete in +itself--animal and human--thus embracing both the political and the +ecclesiastical. _Another system totally distinct from the first is +therefore represented._ + +I call attention to certain distinct points proving that these two +beasts are not identical or simultaneous: + +1. The first is spoken of as "a beast"; the second is called "another +beast." + +2. The first came up from the sea; the second came out of the earth. + +3. The first was like a leopard; the second was like a lamb. + +4. The first had ten horns signifying ten temporal kingdoms; the +second had two horns, referring to but two temporal powers that +supported it. + +5. The first blasphemed God and his tabernacle, and was therefore +antichrist; the second claimed to be the true prophet of God and +brought down "fire from heaven" to attest his claim, but he was in +reality a "false prophet" (chap. 16:13; 19:20). + +6. The first obtained his power and authority from the dragon which +preceded him; while the second derived his power from the ten-horned +beast "before him." + +7. The first caused people to worship the preceding power styled "the +dragon"; while the second caused people to "worship the first beast." + +8. The first was to continue 1,260 years; while the reign of the +second is not here stated, but is covered in a parallel prophecy to +which we shall refer later. + +The first beast came up out of the sea, which signifies the empire in +an agitated state; and it is a fact of history that the ten kingdoms +came up through great political convulsions. The empire was in a state +of comparative quiet, however, when the second beast "_came up out +of the earth_." This beast stands as the symbol of Protestantism in +Europe, although his power and influence was afterwards to extend to +"the whole world" (chap. 16:14). But this beast existed first on +the same territory occupied by the papacy; therefore the two horns +doubtless signify temporal kingdoms also, and two of the original +ten. The two nations first to turn violently against the papacy and +to become the chief supporters and defenders of Protestantism were +Germany and England. + +It is evident that the second beast of Revelation 13 was not to be +such a terrible power politically as was the first beast, for it is +described merely as having "two horns _like a lamb_." But as soon as +we enter the department to which _speaking_ by analogy refers us, we +find him to be a great religious power, and it is in this character +alone that he is delineated in the remainder of the chapter. That his +religious power is his leading characteristic is further proved by +the fact that in every subsequent reference he is styled the "false +prophet" (chap. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). Every reference which I give +to the second beast must therefore be understood as signifying the +religious system known as Protestantism. + +This beast was to exercise great power--"all the power of the first +beast before him." By this expression we are to understand that +Protestantism was to exert a universal influence; that it was to +become a leading factor in the world's history, as was Romanism before +it. This has already been fulfilled. The leading nations of the world +today, the nations that have contributed most to the development of +modern civilization and to the light and progress of the age, are +Protestant nations. Those countries that have retained the yoke of +Romanism are still withering under its blighting influence. + +It is said that this beast causes people to "worship the first beast." +This is parallel to the statement that during the reign of the first +beast the people "worshiped the dragon," which in reality preceded +it. I have shown that the devotees of Romanism worshiped the dragon by +perpetuating in their religious ceremonies and worship the practises +of paganism. Likewise Protestants have brought over and incorporated +in their religious system doctrines, rites, and ceremonies that +originated in Romanism; and in this respect they worship the first +beast, even in the very act of rendering service to their own system. +Such doctrines as infantile damnation, sprinkling for baptism, the +eternal destruction of all those who are outside the pales of the +church, infant baptism, and other things are all children of the +apostasy originating in Rome. The Romish Church possesses a human +ecclesiastical headship and an earthly government ruling in the place +of Christ, and Protestants make an "image" to this beast by building +their sects in imitation--sects made and ruled by men. To these they +attach their own names and the distinctive creeds and doctrines of +men, and thus their devotees receive the "mark" and "name" of the +beast. + +At this point we must make a distinction which, being true in the +facts of history, must necessarily be intended in the symbolic +representation. This beast was to bring down "fire from heaven." +According to the symbols of chapter 12, the woman, or true church, +"fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, +that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore +days." The time prophecy is the same, and covers the same period, as +the reign of the papal beast. Therefore, just as an important change +in the papacy occurred at the expiration of that prophetic period, +so also a radical change must be expected with reference to the true +church: it must be no longer completely obscured in the wilderness. +Now, as the Reformation and Protestantism as a religion were the means +of ending Rome's universal spiritual supremacy, so also they must +be regarded as possessing sufficient light and truth to bring into +prominence once more the work of the Spirit and the true people of +God. "Fire from heaven" may therefore be regarded as describing the +divine work of reformation, the unfolding of truth accompanied by the +saving power of God. Such spiritual work has accompanied the origin of +various religious movements during the Protestant era. + +The general description of the two-horned beast, however, makes +prominent an evil characteristic--the disposition to lead the people +into deception by making an image to the beast and then worshiping it. +The evil is not located in the ability to bring down fire from heaven, +but in the deceptive work of image-making and image-worship, for which +the spiritual work simply furnished an occasion. The spiritual work of +reformation is, therefore, to be distinguished from the later work +of creed-and sect-making; and since the beast takes advantage of the +manifestation of spiritual power and deceives men, he becomes a sort +of apostate and is denominated "the false prophet" (see chap. 16:13; +19:20). + +The beast, ecclesiastically considered, stands as the symbol of the +religious system and practise of Protestantism as a whole--a peculiar +combination of truth and error, of good and bad, of "fire from heaven" +and false miracle-working power (chap. 16:14); while the "image to +the beast" signifies the sectarian institution--the man-made and +man-controlled unscriptural sect machinery constructed in imitation +of the papal original. To construct such earth-born churches and lead +people to adore and worship them is but a species of idolatry and the +rankest deception. It is a sad fact, in Protestantism as well as in +Catholicism, that vast multitudes of people are more devoted to their +respective churches than to the Lord Jesus Christ. They can witness +the open rejection of God's precious Word and the vilest profanation +of his holy name without uttering a word of protest; but let any one +say a word against _their church_, and instantly they are aroused to +the highest pitch of indignation. _Beast-worshipers!_ + +The Protestant era has witnessed many wonderful reformations in which +the true fire of God fell upon waiting souls, but this initial work of +the Spirit has in each instance been employed as an excuse for taking +the next step--making an image; and thousands of honest souls, lacking +better light, have been induced to submit to such human organization. +Those of this number who were truly saved, however, always loved +and adored their Lord more than the human church to which they +were attached, and consequently they should not be regarded as +beast-worshipers. They are the ones whom the Lord denominates _his +people_ when the voice calls them out of Babylon (chap. 18:4). + +The second beast also exhibits the characteristics of a persecuting +power, and in this respect it is similar to the ten-horned beast. The +early history of Protestantism shows that at that time the principle +of religious intolerance brought over from Romanism manifested itself +in the actual putting to death of numerous dissenters. Thus, we find +Calvin, at Geneva, consenting to the burning of Servetus because of a +difference in religious views. At a convention in Torgau, in 1574, the +Lutherans established the real presence of Christ in the eucharist and +then instigated the Elector of Saxony to seize, imprison, and banish +those who differed from them in sentiment, as a result of which Peucer +suffered ten years of the severest imprisonment and Crellius was put +to death. The Protestant Council of Zurich condemned Felix Mantz to be +drowned because he insisted that infant sprinkling was not baptism. In +England the "Bloody Six Articles" of Henry VIII are a silent testimony +to the intolerant spirit of that age, when the royal reformer +dragged dissenters forth to execution. Witness also the twelve years' +imprisonment of John Bunyan and hundreds of others confined in jails +throughout the country; the persecution of the Quakers; the relentless +opposition to the Covenanters of Scotland, who were hunted and +destroyed like beasts because they insisted on their right to worship +God in their own way. It was this intolerant spirit that drove the +Puritans to the inhospitable shores of America, where they might have +the free privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of +their own conscience. + +It is possible that the persecuting principle ascribed to the +two-horned beast may include both the literal and the ecclesiastical +cutting off, reference being made directly to the spirit of +intolerance which manifested itself first in literal slaughter and +later in an unwarranted ecclesiastical exclusiveness. + +The "number of the beast" alludes to his pretentious claims and is +probably a symbol of division. The definite number 666 is said to be +also the number of a man, and since the pope is the most important man +connected with the papal system, it is natural to identify him with +the individual referred to. Paul doubtless pointed out the pope +particularly as the "_man of sin_," "the son of perdition" (2 Thess. +2:3). In former ages, before the modern system of notation was +introduced, the only method of denoting numbers was by employing the +letters of the alphabet, certain letters having the power of number +as well as of sound. We still employ the same system for certain +purposes. The number of a name was simply the number denoted by the +several letters of that name. + +The pope has a special title. He wears in jeweled letters upon his +mitre the inscription, _Vicarius Filii Dei_--Vicar of the Son of +God. Taking from his name all the letters that the Latins used for +numerals, we have just 666. + +The era of modern sects is also covered in other places in Revelation, +for the ecclesiastical history of the Christian dispensation is +described under different parallel series of symbolism. In the other +series, however, the symbols representing Protestantism stand so +closely connected with predictions of the last reformation that +I shall not attempt to enumerate them in this chapter, but shall +consider them briefly in connection with those symbols describing the +great final religious movement toward which all the prophetic lines +of truth converge and which forms the special subject of the present +work. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE LAST REFORMATION + + +The scene changes, and again we have the picture of God's chosen +people set in bright relief against the dark background of +Protestantism and the still darker shades of papal apostasy. + +[Sidenote: The 144,000 on Mount Zion] + +"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with him an +hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in +their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many +waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of +harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song +before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no +man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, +which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not +defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow +the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, +being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth +was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of +God" (Rev. 14:1-5). + +What a contrast with the beast powers described in the preceding +chapter of the Revelation! This redeemed company is on Mount Zion, not +hidden in the darkness of the wilderness. They are with the Lamb, not +wandering after the beast. Instead of being oppressed and overcome by +opposers, they are singing the joyful song of redemption and harping +with their harps; and instead of having the "mark of the beast," they +have their "_Father's name written in their foreheads_." The manner in +which this joyful, redeemed company is distinguished from the host +of beast-worshipers brought to light under the preceding symbols, +proclaims unmistakably the fact that we have here a description of +the true people of God who have obtained victory over the apostasy. In +other words, a distinct reformation is predicted. + +This sublime scene is not a description of heaven, for the context +shows its direct contact with the forms of apostate Christianity with +which it is placed in contrast on earth. Certain leading figures in +the scene, as Christ the Lamb and a number of angels, are heavenly +beings; but their presence simply shows the divine character of the +work in contrast with those other religious powers, one of which came +up out of the sea and the other out of the earth. Besides, we have +already shown that whenever angels figure in the symbolic scene _on +earth_, they represent distinguished agencies among men, and the +message of good angels, being obviously from heaven, is therefore the +message of God. When different angels, bearing different messages, +appear in the same general symbolic scene, they represent not isolated +or independent movements, but different phases of the same work. + +The Revelator introduces another phase of the religious movement under +consideration with these words: "And I saw another angel fly in the +midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them +that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, +and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to +him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made +heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" (verses +6, 7). + +In the message of the angel there are set forth a number of distinct +truths. Prominence is given to the call to worship the one true God. +This stands in contrast with the apostasy preceding; for under the +papacy its adherents "worshiped the dragon" and "they worshiped the +beast," while the second beast caused people to "worship the first +beast" and to "worship the image of the beast." The message of this +angel is universal and indicates a world-wide missionary effort in +which the true God and his holy worship alone will be exalted, and +that before the end of time, for the judgment is set forth as an +impending event for which men must speedily prepare. + +But the description does not end here. An awful revelation, falling +like hail-stones or coals of fire upon the heads of the devotees of +modern churchianity, is proclaimed by divine authority: "And there +followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that +great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the +wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying +with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and +receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink +of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture +into the cup of his indignation" (verses 8-10). + +Here we are brought face to face with some of the most solemn truths +contained in the Book of God. The very powers of apostate Christianity +just described under the symbols of two beasts are now represented +_by the angel_ as Babylon; for, be it observed, the divine message +is against those who worship the beast _and his image_. The image was +made by the second beast. Therefore Babylon includes both Romanism +and Protestantism--the whole realm of formal churchianity; and +beast-worship is here condemned in one of the most terrible +denunciations found in all the Word of God. All the evils inherent +in the false, unscriptural systems of so-called Christianity are here +summed up under the one word _Babylon_, of which we shall have more to +say later. + +Two things prominently brought out in these symbols should be +remembered, however--first, that even during the reign of the beast +and his image, God had true people who were carefully distinguished in +the prophecy as those whose names were written in the book of life and +who would not "worship the image of the beast"; and second, that the +symbolic scene now being considered represents these saved individuals +as gathered out into one company with the Lamb on Mount Zion, before +the end of time. The illustration is that of the joyful Israelites +who made their return to Zion after the fall of literal Babylon, where +they were long held in captivity. This is the illustration and the +prophetic description; therefore we may rest assured that just as +truly as time revealed the rise of the papal and Protestant systems, +as set forth in the symbols of the Revelation, just so surely will +there come _before the end of time_ a revival of pure, apostolic +Christianity, a reformation in which the true people of God will take +their stand outside of all forms of the apostasy and carry the full +gospel of the Son of God to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, +and people." + +We have traced in prophetic symbolism the four epochs of the Christian +dispensation represented respectively by the star-crowned woman, the +leopard-beast, the two-horned beast, and the redeemed company gathered +together with the Lamb on Mount Zion. The papal period, represented +by the leopard-beast, continued for 1,260 years, its universal sway +terminating with the sixteenth century reformation. The length of the +Protestant reign following is not stated in this series. + +[Sidenote: The two witnesses] + +Let us now return to the description of the two witnesses given in +Revelation 11. We have already considered the first part of that +symbolic description pertaining to the 1,260 years during which the +holy city was to be trodden under foot and the two witnesses were +to prophesy in sackcloth; and we have shown that this description is +exactly parallel with the prophecy that set forth the period of the +papal supremacy. But the description continues, covering the era of +modern sects and leading up to the work of a final reformation. + +After describing the 1,260-year prophecy of the two witnesses, +the narrative continues: "And when they shall have finished their +testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall +make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And +their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which +spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was +crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations +shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not +suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell +upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send +gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that +dwelt on the earth" (Rev. 11:7-10). + +[Sidenote: The witnesses slain] + +This intricate picture of symbolical imagery is placed chronologically +just after the 1,260-year reign of Romanism and hence it was to meet +its fulfilment during the Protestant era. It describes in the most +graphic and realistic manner the evil characteristics and tendencies +of the sect-system. I have already shown that in the primitive church +the two witnesses--the Word and the Spirit of God--were the real +vicars of Christ, giving both character and government to the +universal church of God on earth. We have also seen that with the rise +of human ecclesiasticism the reign of the Word and Spirit ended in +so far as the Church of Rome was concerned. The same is true also +of Protestantism. The establishment of man-made creeds and the +concentration and centralization of church power and governmental +authority in human hands--a church-rule patterned after the kingdoms +of this world--is a _rejection of the divine government of God_ +just as the appointment of a king in the Old Testament times was a +rejection of God's plan of governing Israel. In this sense God's two +witnesses have been openly ignored and rejected in Protestantism as +well as in Romanism and the ancient churches of the East, and man-made +creeds and systems of government substituted in their stead. They are, +therefore, represented as slain, although of course a certain amount +of respect is still shown them in that they are not suffered to be +wholly put out of sight. + +[Sidenote: The witnesses resurrected] + +"And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered +into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon +them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying +unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; +and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great +earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake +were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and +gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, +the third woe cometh quickly" (verses 11-14). + +The resurrection of the witnesses doubtless signifies a time of +reformation and implies its true character. If the death of the +witnesses was the result of ecclesiasticism and false teaching, their +resurrection must signify a final triumph over ecclesiasticism and the +restoration of primitive Christianity under the direct authority +and government of God. Even omitting all details in this complex +description, we can scarcely avoid the conclusion that if the general +description given in this chapter means anything, it means the +restoration of Christianity before the end of time to the condition in +which it existed before the apostasy. + +[Sidenote: The time prophecy] + +The time prophecy "three days and a half" is difficult to explain +except in the light of clearly ascertained historical facts. The term +"day" is of itself very indefinite, being used in the Scriptures +to designate periods of different length. In the description under +consideration it evidently can not signify the ordinary 24-hour day +nor yet the year-day; for it covers the Protestant period +following the 1,260-year reign of Romanism and preceding the Last +Reformation--the same period of time covered by the second beast of +Revelation 13. + +The events of the Protestant period naturally divide it into shorter +epochs of about a century each in length. The historian D'Aubigne, who +wrote about 1835, noticed this distinction and referred to it in his +famous History of the Reformation. These are his words: "It has been +said that the three last centuries, the sixteenth, the seventeenth, +and the eighteenth may be conceived as an immense battle of _three +days_' duration. We willingly adopt this beautiful comparison ... the +first day was the battle of God, the second the battle of the priest, +the third the battle of Reason. What will be the fourth? In our +opinion the confused strife, the deadly contest of all these powers +together TO END IN THE VICTORY OF HIM TO WHOM TRIUMPH BELONGS."--Book +XI, Chap. 9. + +"Three days and a half," or three hundred and fifty years, after the +formation of the first Protestant creed, in 1530, God began to reveal +special light and truth on his Word and to cause a great awakening, +which is gradually resulting in the rejection of human ecclesiastical +rule, the recognition of the primitive government of God, and the +restoration of all the pure truths of the Word of God. + +Another point in the prophecy under consideration assists us in fixing +the chronology of the reformation predicted. The "great earthquake" +stands closely associated with the time of the resurrection and +exaltation of the witnesses. The principles of interpreting symbols +would lead us to identify this earthquake as a mighty political +convulsion destructive in its nature, and yet one that would be +overruled for the furtherance of Christ's kingdom--a convulsion that +would also terminate the destructive reign of the "second woe." I can +not here digress to give proofs, but there is no doubt that the +second woe of Revelation (see chap. 9:13-20) signifies the political +dominancy of the Ottoman Empire. This power, constituting the +political backbone of Mohammedanism, has indeed been a most serious +woe upon the inhabitants of the earth and an obstacle in the path of +true missionary progress. With these facts before us, we can clearly +see that the earthquake was the great European War and that we are now +living in the time when a special reformation is due. + +[Sidenote: Another important series] + +Another parallel series of prophecies covering the same ground and +terminating at the same point will bring the subject of the Last +Reformation to a grand climax. I have shown that the religious powers +described in Revelation 13 as two beasts were also termed Babylon. We +shall now give a more particular description of this antitype of +the Old Testament Babylon. The Euphratean city--Babylon--the +proud metropolis of the Chaldean monarchy, combined in itself the +corruptions and wickedness of the world and then filled up the measure +of its sins by destroying the temple in Jerusalem and leading into +captivity the chosen people of God. When John wrote, however, this +ancient city was no more. It had long since been destroyed, and it +has never been rebuilt to this day. Even the Arab refuses to pitch his +tent among its lonely, serpent-infested ruins. The city to which +the apostle alludes in these prophecies must therefore refer, not to +ancient Babylon, but to some other analogous power which was yet to +arise and of which the old Babylon was a type. + +OUTLINE OF PARALLEL PROPHECIES SHOWING FOUR ECCLESIASTICAL EPOCHS + +--------------------------------------------------------------------------- + The Apostolic | The Medieval Period | Era of Modern | The Last + Period | | Sects | Reformation +----------------+---------------------+----------------+------------------- + DRAGON | LEOPARD-BEAST | TWO-HORNED | FALL OF + Rev. 12:3, 4, | Rev. 13:1-10 | BEAST | BABYLON + 7-17 | | Rev. 13:11-18 | Rev. 14:1-9 +----------------+---------------------+----------------+------------------- + PURE WOMAN | WOMAN SECLUDED IN | | 144,000 ON MOUNT + Rev. 12 | THE WILDERNESS | | ZION + | Rev. 12:6 | | Rev. 14:1-6 +----------------+---------------------+----------------+------------------- + TEMPLE AND | HOLY CITY TRODDEN | TWO WITNESSES | WITNESSES + TRUE WORSHIP | DOWN | SLAIN | RESURRECTED + Rev. 11:1 | Rev. 11:2 | Rev. 11:7-10 | Rev. 11:11-14 +----------------+---------------------+----------------+------------------- + | GREAT BABYLON | HARLOT | GOD'S PEOPLE + | Rev. 17:1-6 | DAUGHTERS | CALLED OUT + | | Rev. 17:5 | Rev. 18:1-4 +----------------+---------------------+----------------+------------------- + FOURTH | REIGN OF THE | | CHRIST'S KINGDOM + BEAST | "LITTLE HORN" | | TRIUMPHANT + Dan. 9:7, 23, | Dan. 7:8, 20-25 | | Dan. 7:26, 27; + 24 | | | 2:34, 35 +----------------+---------------------+----------------+------------------- + +[Sidenote: Great Babylon] + +A more particular description of the antitypical Babylon is given by +the Revelator in the seventeenth chapter, as follows: "And there came +one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, +saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the +great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the +earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth +have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried +me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon +a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven +heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet +color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having +a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of +her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, +BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE +EARTH. And I saw a woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and +with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered +with great admiration" (verses 1-6). + +The careful student will immediately perceive that we have here +another representation of the same apostate powers already described +under other symbols. The leading figures--a woman and a beast--combine +symbols from human life and animal life, thus representing clearly the +union of civil and ecclesiastical power. The combination is exactly +the same in its essential characteristics as that presented by the +first beast of Revelation 13. And since it is the same seven-headed +and ten-horned beast, representing the same political power, we +conclude that the human characteristics exhibited in this connection +symbolize the same religious power--the Church of Rome. In the +present vision, however, the ecclesiastical phase is singled out +and particularly distinguished and described, thus placing special +emphasis on the papal church itself in contradistinction to the +temporal power of the empire. The political phase of Rome's history +has already been sufficiently described for our present purpose. We +shall, therefore, devote our attention to the ecclesiastical phase as +developed under this particular symbol of the woman. + +The nature of the symbol itself fixes the interpretation. A woman +must of necessity symbolize a church, but we must determine by the +character of the woman whether or not the true church or a false +church is represented. The woman of the vision was splendidly attired +and evidently occupied a prominent place; for she is represented as +riding on the beast, the political empire, thus directing its course; +and she is also represented as sitting upon many waters, interpreted +as "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (verse 15), +denoting her wide influence over distant nations. She is not +simply represented as a prominent person, however, but _as a vile +character_. She is "a great whore," "with whom the kings of the +earth have committed fornication." It is clear that in Scripture +false, idolatrous worship is represented as _whoredom_ (see 1 Chron. +5: 25; Ezekiel 16 and 23). Hence a false church is represented. + +[Sidenote: Mother and daughters] + +There is only one church that can fulfil the description, and that +is the Church of Rome. Long has she delighted in calling herself the +"mother church," but centuries before she made this claim, the pen +of inspiration affixed to her indelibly the title of +"_mother_"--"MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." +She bore upon her forehead this inscription, together with the title +"Mystery, Babylon the Great." Other false apostate churches there are, +but she heads the list and is the mother of them all. No wonder the +apostle marveled when he saw this professed church of Jesus Christ +defiled by the most abominable wickedness, in league with all the +evil powers of earth, and, above all, "drunken with the blood of the +saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." That Rome from +the date she became firmly established in power has ever been a +constant persecutor of the saints, the pages of all history abundantly +attest. Even Rome's ecclesiastical writers and historians themselves +admit her use of force in destroying those whom she denominated +heretics. + +Revelation 17 covers the same period chronologically and ends at +the same point of time as did chapter 13. Hence we should naturally +suppose that it would also describe in some manner the power +symbolized by the two-horned beast--Protestantism--as well as +duplicate the description of the ten-horned beast--Catholicism. That +the papacy is symbolized in chapter 17 by the corrupt whore sitting +on the ten-horned beast, is too plain to need any particular +demonstration. The other division of the apostasy is included under +the term "harlots," the daughters of the "mother" church. In our +interpretation of chapter 14 we showed that the angel clearly +applied the term Babylon to the worshipers of the second +beast--Protestantism--as well as to those of the first beast. +Therefore we must regard Babylon as a general term denoting the whole +city of religious confusion, the mother and her harlot daughters being +simply specific divisions. + +[Sidenote: Testimony of commentators] + +Many commentators, even Protestant commentators, have been frank +enough to admit the real application and force of these symbols of +Revelation as applying to both Catholicism and Protestantism. Auberlen +asserts that "'harlot' means, in the Old and New Testaments, the +apostate church of God."--Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, +p. 278. Again, he says, "Not simply Rome, but Christendom as a whole, +even as Israel as a whole, has become a harlot. The true believers are +hidden and dispersed."--Ibid., p. 290. While it may not be exactly in +accordance with the Scriptures to speak of the true church of God as +being apostate, yet in a sense it is true, for a large part of those +who originally constituted the church of God actually did apostatize, +until a false church assumed almost universal sway and divers forms +of error prevailed, practically eclipsing, for a long period, the true +church of God on earth. Auberlen stated his conclusion in these words: +"Notwithstanding the universal character of the harlot, it remains +true that the Roman and Greek churches are in a more peculiar sense +the harlot than the Evangelical Protestant."--P. 294. + +In the well-known Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, the Rev. +A.R. Fausset, writing on Rev. 17:2, says of the harlot: "It can not be +Pagan Rome but Papal Rome, if a particular seat of error be meant, +but I am inclined to think that the judgment (chap. 18:2) and the +spiritual fornication (chap. 18:3), though finding their culmination +in Rome, are not restricted to it, but comprise the whole apostate +church--Roman, Greek, and even Protestant, so far as it has been +seduced from its 'first love' to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and +given its affections to worldly pomps and idols." + +William Kincaid, in Bible Doctrine, p. 249, says: "I think Christ +has a true church on earth, but its members are scattered among the +various denominations, and are more or less under the influence of +mystery Babylon and her daughters." + +Alexander Campbell said: "The worshiping establishments now in +operation throughout Christendom, increased and cemented by their +respective voluminous confessions of faith, and their ecclesiastical +constitutions, are not churches of Jesus Christ, but the legitimate +daughters of that mother of harlots, the Church of Rome." + +Lorenzo Dow says of the Romish Church: "If she be the mother, who are +the daughters? It must be the corrupt, national, established churches +that came out of her."--Dow's Life, p. 542. + +Again, Hahn in Auberlen says: "The harlot is not Rome alone (though +she is preeminently so), but every church that has not Christ's mind +and spirit. False Christendom, divided into very many sects, is truly +Babylon, i.e., confusion." + +The description of the two forms of the apostasy, Papal and +Protestant, given in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, was +conveyed under the symbols of two beasts, differing in external +appearance, but in certain respects similar in character. Immediately +following that representation there is, as we have already shown, a +description of a distinct reformatory work set forth by the 144,000 +with the Lamb on Mount Zion, the fall of Babylon, and the promulgation +of the everlasting gospel in all the world. The term "Babylon" as used +in that scripture is applied to both the worshipers of the beast and +the worshipers of the image of the beast (made by the second beast); +therefore it embraces both forms of the apostasy. + +We have just seen that the description of Babylon, given in Revelation +17 under the symbols of a corrupt woman and her harlot daughters, +represent the papal church and the divisions of Protestantism. We +shall now proceed to show that the two lines of prophecy (chaps. 13 +and 17) are parallel chronologically, for they both end at the same +time and in the same manner. + +[Sidenote: The last reformation] + +As the first of these two series of prophecy ended with the fall of +Babylon and the deliverance therefrom of a people who were with the +Lamb, not wandering after the beast, and who had "the Father's name +written in their foreheads," not the name or the mark of the beast, +so also the second series ends in the same manner. After describing +Babylon under its twofold form, mother and daughters, the Revelator +says: "After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, +having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And +he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is +fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the +hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful +bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her +fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication +with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the +abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, +saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her +sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (chap. 18:1-4). + +A movement of mighty power is symbolized in these verses. The language +is based on the experience of the ancient Israelites in literal +Babylon, who, when the fall of the city occurred, obtained release +from their enforced captivity, and were permitted to return to their +own land. The real meaning in this case is clear: that apostate +Christianity has been a veritable Babylon in which the true people +of God have been held as in captivity, and that the time of their +deliverance would come, when they would, by divine authority, be +called out. Notice the parallelism in the two descriptions of the fall +of Babylon. In chapter 14 an angel declares "Babylon is fallen, is +fallen" (verse 8), and the next angel _with a loud voice_ warns that +those who "worship the beast and his _image_ ... shall drink of the +wine of the wrath of God" (verses 9, 10); while in chapter 18 the +first angel cries "mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon +the great is fallen, is fallen" (verse 2), and "_another voice_ from +heaven" says, "COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of +her sins, and that ye _receive not of her plagues_" (verse 4). + +That this symbolic picture represents a wonderful religious +reformation is almost too clear to need proof, for it succeeded +chronologically, and is placed in direct contrast with, the apostasy; +hence there can be but one logical conclusion, namely, that neither +Catholicism nor Protestantism is the last work and that God has +authorized a work that shall gather his true people out of the entire +babel of sect confusion. And that this movement is to be effected +before the end of time is also clearly shown. In the following +chapter, after describing God's judgment on Babylon, and the call of +his people out of her, "a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise +our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and +great" (verse 5). God's servants are called upon to rejoice on +account of their deliverance. Those who are at heart image-makers and +beast-worshipers will oppose this truth, and when they witness the +departure of the faithful followers of the Lord, leaving to Babylon +nothing but the godless, graceless professors, they will "weep and +mourn over her" (chap. 18:16) and cry, "Alas, alas that great city" +(verse 16). But the voice of heaven calls on the saints for a song +of thanksgiving, saying, "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy +apostles and prophets" (verse 20). Yea, "praise our God, _all ye his +servants_, and ye that fear him, both small and great" (chap. 19:5). + +Are we to expect such a response? Yes. It is true in the prophecy and +will therefore be true in fact before time ends. "And I heard as it +were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, +and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord +God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor +to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made +herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in +fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness +of saints" (chap. 19:6-8). + +The scriptures just cited complete another line of symbolic truth. +The primitive church was represented as a pure woman, the bride (chap. +12:1). During the reign of the papacy a false, immoral woman reigned +over the kings of the earth, while the true woman, or church, +was hidden 'in the wilderness' (chap. 12: 6). Under the reign of +Protestantism her members were scattered in all parts of the city of +Babylon. But, thank God, they are to be called out of their scattered +condition, and as a company are represented in two forms--first, as a +redeemed host with the Lamb on Mount Zion, bearing the Father's name +only (chap. 14:1-5), and second, _as the bride of Christ_ preparing +herself for the soon coming of the Lord. This is proof positive that +the true church is to be brought out and placed on exhibition _before +the end of time_. + +Others of the sacred writers describe this same prophetic movement. +Zechariah predicts it thus: "And it shall come to pass in that day, +that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day +which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall +come to pass, that _at evening_ _time it shall be light_" (Zech. 14:6, +7). These verses stand a little clearer in the Septuagint Version: +"And it shall come to pass in that day [the papal day] that there +shall be _no light_: and there shall be for one day [the Protestant +day] _cold and frost_: and that day shall be known to the Lord; it +shall not be day or night [a mixture of light and darkness]: but +_towards evening it shall be light_." + +We have seen that Daniel predicted the long reign of darkness and +apostasy in the Christian dispensation. Desiring to understand +the matter, he made inquiry, and although the same thoughts +are beautifully expressed in the Authorized Version, I shall, +nevertheless, quote from the Septuagint, which makes the thought +still clearer: "_When will be the end_ of the wonders which thou hast +mentioned? And I heard the man clothed in linen ... swear by Him that +lives forever, that it should be for a time of times and half a time: +when the dispersion is ended they shall know all these things" (Dan. +12:6, 7). + +"A time, and times, and the dividing of time" is the same prophetic +period of 1,260 years, the reign of the papacy. This was to be +followed by a period of "dispersion," and such Protestantism has been, +for the people of God have been scattered in hundreds of bodies. But +this dispersion was to be "_ended_" some time, and then the people of +God would "know all these things." "And I heard, but I understood not: +and said I, O Lord, _what will be the end_ of these things? And he +said, Go, Daniel: for the words are closed and sealed up _to the time +of the end_" (verse 9). At the "time of the end" the dispersal of God's +saints was to cease. This predicts the evening-time reformation, and +the nature of its work is shown in the following verse: "Many must +be CHOSEN OUT, _and thoroughly whitened, and tried with fire, and +sanctified_" (verse 10). + +The same spiritual movement is also predicted by Ezekiel. In chapter +34 he describes the people of God as sheep (see verse 31). These +sheep are represented as abused, oppressed, and scattered by false +shepherds. Their gathering in this Last Reformation is predicted in +verses 11 and 12: "For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will +both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his +flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; _so +will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places +where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day_." + +Reader, this is the work of reformation that God is now accomplishing +in the world. Babylon is spiritually fallen, and God is calling his +people out. In the well-known Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, +Rev. A.R. Fausset, commenting on Rev. 18:4, has well said: "Even in +the Romish Church, God has a people; but they are in great danger; +their only safety is in coming out of her at once. So also in every +apostate or world-conforming church, there are some of God's visible +and true church, who, if they would be safe, _must come out_." + +When literal Babylon was overthrown, the Jews escaped to their own +land. Likewise God's people in spiritual Babylon are commanded to come +out, and with songs of rejoicing they are to make their way to Mount +Zion, and then lend all their efforts to the one work of restoring +primitive truth, thus making Jerusalem "the joy of the whole earth." +Like the Jews of old, "the ransomed of the Lord _shall return_ and +COME TO ZION with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they +shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" +(Isa. 35:10). + +The Psalmist informs us that in Babylon the Jews hung their harps on +the willows and wept when they remembered Zion. When their captors +demanded of them the songs of Zion, they answered despairingly, "How +shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Psa. 137:1-4). +Zion's songs were _songs of deliverance_; hence the Jews could not +sing them in captivity. So also has it been in spiritual Babylon. But +when the ransomed of the Lord "return and come to Zion," "songs and +everlasting joy" break forth again. + +The Revelator describes this glorious result after the period of the +apostasy in these words: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled +with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and +over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, +stand on the sea of glass, _having the harps of God_. And they _sing +the song of Moses_ [a song of deliverance] the servant of God, and +the song of the Lamb [a song of redemption]" (Rev. 15:2, 3). Those who +have returned from Babylon have heavenly harps and can sing the songs +of Zion. Praise God! + + "From Babel confusion most gladly I fled, + And came to the heights of fair Zion instead; + I'm feasting this moment on heavenly bread; + I'll never go back, I'll never go back. + + "The beast and his image, his mark, and his name, + My love or allegiance no longer can claim, + Though men may exalt them to honor and fame; + I'll never go back again." + + +The prophecies already cited make clear a mighty religious movement +before the end of time, a movement designed to triumph over the +apostasy. Since the apostasy was twofold in its nature, comprehending +a corruption of evangelical faith and the development of +ecclesiasticism, it is evident that the Last Reformation must both +restore primitive truth and eliminate ecclesiasticism, thus bringing +back to the world the original conception of the church as embracing +the whole divine family under the direct moral and spiritual dominion +of Christ. It is also evident from the prophecies that this is to be +accomplished by literally forsaking the systems of man-rule just +as ancient Israel was restored after the captivity by God's people +leaving Babylon and coming home to Zion. + +Zion represents the church in its primitive, unified condition under +the government and law of Christ alone. Babylon represents a foreign +rule and another law. The two systems are fundamentally different. +This difference was true in the type and must therefore be true in +the antitype. In the old days of Israel's glory foreigners visited +Jerusalem, but their presence in the city of God did not make them +Israelites. And at one time the people of God were carried into +captivity in Babylon, but their presence in that foreign, heathen city +_did not make them Babylonians_. + +This distinction is also clear in the antitypical relation. We do not +have to go to prophetic symbols to find in the New Testament clear +predictions of the rise of a false Christianity in opposition to the +true. They stand out in marked contrast in the prophecy. On the one +side there is a false religious system described as a beast power +reigning. On the other side is placed in contrast a company that have +gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his +mark, and they stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. The +mother of harlots appears, but in contrast therewith is seen a pure +woman, the bride of Christ. In contrast with Babylon we have Zion. + +The sect system, wherein ecclesiasticism reigns and where the full +truth in all its purity can not be taught and practised, does not +represent the true church, but Babylon. The system is foreign. It +contains, however, many _who are not Babylonians_ but children of +the divine family--Israelites indeed. The awful judgments of God +pronounced against Babylon are directed against the false system +itself and the real beast-worshipers it contains, not against the +true people of God, who love their Lord and are willing to walk in the +light of his Word as fast as they are able to understand it. When +we consider that this sect system has been the means of deceiving +millions--millions who will come up in that last day and plead their +religious profession, only to hear the awful words, "Depart from me, +I never knew you"--when we consider, I say, these evil results, we can +not but repeat the words of the prophecy concerning the overthrow of +Babylon, "True and righteous are His judgments." The commandment of +God is, "_Come out of her_, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her +sins, and THAT YE RECEIVE NOT OF HER PLAGUES." + +The movement to ignore sect lines and bring the true people of God +into unity is not based upon a mere interpretation of prophecy, +however. The necessity of such a work is being felt by the true +people of God everywhere, even those who make no particular claims +to knowledge of prophetic interpretation. Knowledge that the +ecclesiastical systems of the present day do not represent the +real church outlined in the New Testament is all that is absolutely +necessary in order to stir the heart for reformatory action. Departure +from the truth of God carries with it responsibility on the part of +all those who become awakened to that departure--_responsibility to +return to the Bible standard_. A final reformation there must and +would be even if it had never been predicted by the prophets of old; +for Christ, the great ever-living head of the church, would at the +proper time pour out upon his servants the spirit of judgment +against all unscriptural systems and forms of worship and demand the +restoration of the pure church of the morning time of our era. + +[Sidenote: The future prospect] + +The work of God in the latter days is to be more extensive, however, +than simply calling God's people together from their scattered +condition in sect Babylon. There are indications in the prophecy +already cited that the "everlasting gospel" is to be carried to +the ends of the earth. The movement is to be world-wide. In our +consideration of parallel prophecies in Daniel, we saw that the +kingdom is represented in two phases--first as a _stone_, under which +symbol it broke down the kingdoms of heathen darkness; and then as +a _mountain_, when it _is to fill the whole earth_. And again, after +describing the 1,260-year reign of the papacy, Daniel said: "But the +judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume +and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the +greatness of the kingdom _under the whole heaven_, shall be given +to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an +everlasting kingdom, and _all dominions shall serve and obey_ HIM" +(Dan. 7: 26, 27). + +There is abundant evidence to be seen by the careful observer that +there are now at work in the Christian world forces that are preparing +for great changes. Christian charity is refusing to be confined by +sectarian barriers. The Christian consciousness is becoming aroused to +the evils of sectarianism and sectarian systems as it has never been +aroused in any past age. There is a longing among spiritual +people everywhere to escape from the blighting effect of a divided +Christianity. Evangelism is becoming more and more detached from +organized denominations, and the denominational lines are being +ignored in a way that would have astonished the people of a +century ago. Numerous attempts are being made to unite the various +denominations on the mission fields and in the homeland. While many +of these efforts are mere blind groping for a way out of the fogs of +sectarianism, they show unmistakably that back of and underlying all +these efforts is a mighty force slowly but surely gathering power +that (so far as God's true people are concerned) shall in time rise +to break once for all the rigorous reign of human ecclesiasticism and +reestablish in power and glory the simple, primitive theocracy, where +Christ shall be exalted as the true and only ruler of his people. + +Ecclesiasticism, however, dies hard. In fact, it is scarcely correct +to say that it will die at all. The churches of men are largely made +up of worldly-minded professors who know not the birth and life of +the Spirit. To such the church will never appear as anything different +from an institution organized and governed after the pattern of the +kingdoms of this world. According to the prophecy, God's true saints +will die to ecclesiasticism by forsaking the sect system, but the +rule of human churchly power will go right on until the end of time. +Furthermore, we may expect the contrast and the conflict between these +two forces to become more pronounced as the years go by. While the +Revelation represents the call of God's people out of Babylon as +the movement that again brings into prominence the "bride," the true +church (chap. 19:1-9), it also reveals the fact that there will be +another great movement in opposition to the truth. + +"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of +the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth +of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working +miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole +world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" +(chap. 16:13, 14). The nature and purpose of this gathering is +described in another place. "Satan ... shall go out to deceive the +nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to +gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of +the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and _compassed +the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city_: and fire came +down from God out of heaven, and devoured them" (chap. 20:7-9). + +Let this be a solemn warning to all, that God's people may discern +between the false and the true. The movement that brings together +in one the real saints of the Lord is effected by the Spirit of +God, while "unclean spirits" operating in the apostate powers of +the ecclesiastical world will effect a totally different union. The +distinction is clear in the prophecy and must therefore become true in +fact. + +The final reformation is on. "Final," I say, because it leaves nothing +to be restored as regards either doctrine, practise, or spirit. +It stands committed to the restoration of the whole truth and +the harmonious unity of all true Christians in one Christ-ruled, +Spirit-filled body. In short, it stands committed to the restoration +of apostolic Christianity in its entirety--its doctrines, its +ordinances, its personal regenerating and sanctifying experiences, its +spiritual life, its holiness, its power, its purity, its gifts of the +Spirit, its unity of believers, and its fruits. This reformation will +continue until it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth, +until "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom +under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of +the Most High." + +Nor is this picture of events a mere dream of fanciful idealists; for +it is already true in part, and the "more sure word of prophecy" to +which we have appealed sustains our hope. The actual fulfilment of so +many predicted events assures us that there shall not fail one word +of all his good promises. Already multiplied thousands of the Lord's +redeemed people have discerned God's plan of effecting unity and have +completely ignored all the lines of sect and human ecclesiasticism, +recognizing as the church nothing else than the entire brotherhood in +Christ, and recognizing as ecclesiastical authority nothing else than +that moral and spiritual dominion of Christ by which alone he governed +his people in primitive times. + +This reformation is the movement of God. It is not a humanly organized +movement depending for its success on the ability of men to persuade +people to leave other churches and join them. God himself is breaking +down the barriers that divide, and in response to his call the +redeemed are forsaking human sects and creeds, and their hearts are +flowing together. The center of this movement is not a particular +geographical location, nor is its nucleus a particular set of fallible +men: the center and nucleus of this world-wide movement is OUR LORD +JESUS CHRIST, and its operative force is the SPIRIT OF THE LIVING +GOD, which draws the faithful together in bonds of holy love and +fellowship. Multitudes already recognize no other bonds of union than +that moral and spiritual affinity which is the common heritage of +all the disciples of Jesus that know the blessed experience of the +heavenly birth. Multitudes more are beginning to see the light of this +glorious truth, and in due time Christ, the Light, will illuminate the +hearts of all the saved ones. All hail the day that lies just ahead! + + "Back to the one foundation, from sects and creeds made free, + Come saints of every nation to blessed unity. + Once more the ancient glory shines as in days of old, + And tells the wondrous story--one God, one faith, one fold." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Reformation +by F. G. 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