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STUDY III
THE NECESSITY AND JUSTICE OF THE
DAY OF VENGEANCE
Upon this Generation, Type and Antitype--The Great Tribulation a Legitimate
Effect from Preceding Causes--The Responsibilities of
"Christendom," and Her Attitude Toward Them--Of Civil Authorities,
of Religious Leaders, of the Various Ranks of the Masses of Men
in Civilized Lands--The Relationship of the Heathen Nations to Christendom
and to the Trouble--The Judgment of God--"Vengeance is
Mine: I will Repay, Saith the Lord."
"Verily, I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this
generation." Matt. 23:34-36; Luke 11:50,51
TO THOSE unaccustomed to weighing principles from
the standpoint of an exact moral philosophy it may seem
strange that a subsequent generation of humanity should
suffer the penalty of the accumulated crimes of several preceding
generations; yet, since such is the expressed judgment
of God, who cannot err, we should expect mature
consideration to make manifest the justice of his decision.
In the above words, our Lord declared that thus it should
be with the generation of fleshly Israel whom he addressed
in the end of the typical Jewish Age. Upon them should
come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the
blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, who
was slain between the temple and the altar. Matt. 23:35
That was a terrible prophecy, but it fell upon heedless
and unbelieving ears; and, true to the letter, it had its fulfilment
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about thirty-seven years later, when civil strife and
hostile invaders accomplished the fearful recompense. Of
that time we read that the inhabitants of Judea were divided
by jealousies into many warring factions, and that
mutual mistrust reached its highest development. Friends
were alienated, families were broken up, and every man
suspected his brother. Theft, impostures and assassinations
were rife, and no man's life was secure. Even the temple was
not a place of safety. The chief priest was slain while performing
public worship. Then, driven to desperation by the
massacre of their brethren in Caesarea, and apparently appointed
everywhere else for slaughter, the whole nation
united in revolt. Judea was thus brought into open rebellion
against Rome, and in defiance against the whole civilized
world.
Vespasian and Titus were sent to punish them, and terrible
was their overthrow. One after another of their cities
was swept away, until at last Titus laid siege to Jerusalem.
In the spring of A.D. 70, when the city was crowded with
the multitudes who came up to the feast of the Passover, he
drew up his legions before her walls, and the imprisoned inhabitants
shortly became the prey of famine and the sword
of the invaders and civil strife. When any managed to creep
out of the city they were crucified by the Romans; and so
dreadful was the famine that parents killed and ate their
own children. The number that perished is stated by Josephus
to have been over a million, and the city and temple
were reduced to ashes.
Such were the facts in fulfilment of the above prophecy
upon rebellious fleshly Israel in the end of their age of special
favor as God's chosen people. And now, in the end of
this Gospel age, according to the broader significance of the
prophecy, is to come the parallel of that trouble upon nominal
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spiritual Israel, which, in its widest sense, is Christendom
--"a time of trouble such as was not since there was a
nation," and hence in some sense even more terrible than
that upon Judea and Jerusalem. We can scarcely imagine a
trouble more severe than that above described, except in
the sense of being more general and widespread, and more
destructive, as the machinery of modern warfare signally
suggests. Instead of being confined to one nation or province,
its sweep will be over the whole world, especially the
civilized world, Christendom, Babylon.
We may therefore regard that visitation of wrath upon
fleshly Israel as a foreshadowing of the greater indignation
and wrath to be poured upon Christendom in the end of
this age. Those who in their haste incline to view this course
of the Almighty toward this generation as unjust have only
failed to comprehend that perfect law of retribution, which
surely, though often slowly, works out its inevitable results.
The justice, yea, the necessity and the philosophy of it, are
very manifest to the thoughtful and reverent, who, instead
of being inclined to accuse God of injustice, apply their
hearts to the instruction of his Word.
The Great Tribulation a Legitimate Effect
from Preceding Causes
We stand today in a period which is the culmination of
ages of experience which should be, and is, in some respects,
greatly to the world's profit; especially to that part of the
world which has been favored, directly and indirectly, with
the light of divine truth--Christendom, Babylon--whose responsibility
for this stewardship of advantage is consequently
very great. God holds men accountable, not only
for what they know, but for what they might know if they
would apply their hearts unto instruction--for the lessons
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which experience (their own and others') is designed to
teach; and if men fail to heed the lessons of experience, or
wilfully neglect or spurn its precepts, they must suffer the
consequences.
Before so-called Christendom lies the open history of all
past time, as well as the divinely inspired revelation. And
what lessons they contain!--lessons of experience, of wisdom,
of knowledge, of grace, and of warning. By giving
heed to the experiences of preceding generations along the
various lines of human industry, political economy, etc.,
the world has made very commendable progress in material
things. Many of the comforts and conveniences of our
present civilization have come to us largely from applying
the lessons observed in the experiences of past generations.
The art of printing has brought these lessons within the
range of every man. The present generation in this one
point alone has much advantage every way: all the accumulated
wisdom and experience of the past are added to
its own. But the great moral lessons which men ought also
to have been studying and learning have been very generally
disregarded, even when they have been emphatically
forced upon public attention. History is full of such lessons
to thoughtful minds inclined to righteousness; and men of
the present day have more such lessons than those of any
previous generation. Thoughtful minds have, from time to
time, noted and called attention to this fact. Thus, Professor
Fisher, in prefacing his account of the rise, progress and
fall of empires, truly says: "That there is a reign of law in
the succession of human events, is a conviction warranted
by observed facts. Events do not spring into being disjoined
from antecedents leading to them. They are perceived to be
the natural issues of the times that have gone before. Preceding
events have foreshadowed them."
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This is indeed true: the law of cause and effect is nowhere
more prominently marked than on the pages of history. According
to this law, which is God's law, the seeds of past
sowing must of necessity germinate, develop and bring
forth fruitage; and a harvest at some time is therefore inevitable.
In Vol. II, we have shown that the harvest time of the
Gospel age is already come; that it began in 1874, when the
presence of the Lord of the harvest was due; and that, while
a great harvest work has been in progress ever since that
date, we are now fast nearing the latter end of the harvest
period, when the burning of the tares and the gathering
and treading of the fully ripe clusters of the "vine of the
earth"
(the matured fruits of the false vine--"Babylon") are due.
Rev. 14:18-20
The Responsibilities of Christendom and Her
Attitude Toward Them
Babylon, Christendom, has had a long probation of
power, and has had many opportunities both to learn and
to practice righteousness, as well as many warnings of a
coming judgment. All through this Gospel age she has had
in her midst the saints of God--devoted, self-sacrificing,
Christlike men and women--"The salt of the earth." She
has heard the message of salvation from their lips, seen the
principles of truth and righteousness exemplified in their
lives, and heard them reason of righteousness and of judgment
to come. But she has disregarded these living epistles
of God; and not only so, but her so-called Christian nations,
in their greed for gain, have brought reproach upon the
name of Christ among the heathen, following the Christian
missionary with the accursed rum traffic and other "civilized"
evils; and in her midst and by her authority the true
embryo kingdom of heaven (composed only of the saints,
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whose names are written in heaven) has suffered violence.
She has hated them and persecuted them even unto death,
so that thousands of them all along the centuries have, by
her decrees, sealed their testimony with their blood. Like
their Master, they were hated without a cause; they were
rejected as the offscouring of the earth for righteousness'
sake; and their light was again and again quenched that
the preferred darkness might reign with its opportunities to
work iniquity. Oh how dark is this record of Christendom!
The mother system is "drunk with the blood of the saints
and martyrs of Jesus"; and she and her daughters, still
blind, are ready still to persecute and behead (Rev. 20:4),
though in a more refined manner, all who are loyal to God
and his truth, and who venture, however kindly, to point out
to them plainly the Word of the Lord which reproves them.
The civil powers of Christendom have been warned frequently
when again and again empires and kingdoms have
fallen with the weight of their own corruption. And even
today, if the powers that be would harken, they might hear
a last warning of God's inspired prophet, saying, "Be wise
now, therefore, O ye kings: be instructed ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way,
when his wrath is kindled but a little...Why do the nations
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings
of the earth set themselves [in opposition], and the rulers
take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his
anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast
away their cords from us." But their resistance shall avail
nothing; for, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
the Lord shall have them in derision. Then [since they persistently
neglect to heed his warnings] shall he speak unto
them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."
Psalm 2:10-12,1-5
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Again, as represented by the simple and now widely
known principles of his holy law, "God standeth in the congregation
of the mighty [of those in authority]; he judgeth
among the gods [the rulers, saying], How long will ye judge
unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Defend the
poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy;
deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the
wicked." (Psa. 82:1-4) That the import and expediency of
this counsel are, by the exigencies of the present times,
being forced upon the attention of those in authority, the
daily press is a constant witness; and numerous are the
warning voices of thoughtful men who see the danger of the
general neglect of this advice. Even men of the world, who
scan the future only from the standpoint of expediency,
perceive the necessity for the pursuance of the course advised
by the prophets.
The late Emperor William of Germany saw this, as is indicated
by the following from the Berlin correspondent of
the Observatore Romano (1880):
"When the Emperor William received the news of the
last horrible attempt upon the life of the Czar he became
very serious, and after remaining silent for some minutes he
said, with melancholy accent, but with a certain energy, 'If
we do not change the direction of our policy, if we do not
think seriously of giving sound instruction to youth, if we
do not give the first place to religion, if we only pretend to
govern by expedients from day to day, our thrones will be
overturned and society will become a prey to the most terrible
events. We have no more time to lose, and it will be a
great misfortune if all the governments do not come to an
accord in this salutary work of repression.'"
In a book widely circulated in Germany, entitled Reform
or Revolution, its author, Herr von Massow, who is neither a
Socialist nor a Radical, but a Conservative, and President of
the Central Committee for Labor Colonies, accuses his countrymen
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of "ostrich politics," of imitating that bird's proverbial
habit of hiding its head in the sand in the belief that it
becomes invisible when it cannot see. Von Massow writes:
"We may ignore facts, but we cannot alter them. There is
no doubt that we are on the eve of a revolution. All who
have eyes to see and ears to hear must admit this. Only a
society submerged in egoism, self-satisfaction and the hunt
for pleasure can deny it; only such a society will continue to
dance on the volcano, will refuse to see the Mene-Tekel, and
continue to believe in the power of bayonets.
"The great majority of the educated have no idea of the
magnitude of the hatred which is brewing among the lower
orders. The Social-Democratic Party is regarded as any
other political party; yet this party does not care about political
rights, does not care for administrative reform or new
laws. This party is based upon the wish of the lower classes
to enjoy life, a wish to taste pleasures of which those who
never owned a hundred-mark bill have an altogether distorted
conception...Order will, of course, soon be restored
[after the Socialist regime]; but what a state the
country will be in! There will be countless cripples, widows
and orphans; public and private banks will have been
robbed; railroads, telegraphs, roads, bridges, residences,
factories, monuments--everything will be demolished, and
neither the Union, nor the States, nor the towns and parishes
will be able to find the millions which it would cost to
repair even a fraction of what is destroyed. It is almost incredible
that nothing is done to ward off the danger. Charity
is not what is needed but warm hearts, willing to show
some regard for the lower classes. Love, all-embracing love,
will overcome much of the hatred that is brewing. Many
may be lost to such an extent that nothing will bring them
back; but there are also millions who may still be won for
law and order, if proof is given that it is possible for them to
obtain a livelihood worthy of a human being; that they
need not, as is the case just now, be worse off than the animals
which are, at least, stabled and fed."
The writer proceeds at length to open the eyes of the
people of Berlin to the danger in which they live. "The Berliners,"
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he says, "imagine themselves secure in the protection
of the Guards, some 60,000 strong. A vain hope!
During the Autumn, when the time-expired men leave
their regiments, and before the new recruits have come, the
garrison is scarcely 7,000 strong. An insurrection led by
some dissatisfied former officer could soon find 100,000 and
even 160,000 workmen to take part. All these men have
served in the army, and are as well trained as their opponents,
and understand the necessity of discipline. Telegraph
and telephone wires would be cut; railroads
damaged to prevent the arrival of re-enforcements; officers
hurrying to their posts would be intercepted. The revolutionists
could blow up the barracks and shoot down the
Emperor, the Ministers, generals, officials--every one wearing
a uniform--ere a single troop of cavalry or a battery of
artillery could come to their assistance."
But do those in authority heed the warnings and the solemn
lessons of this hour? No: as the Prophet foretold of
them--"They know not, neither will they understand: they
walk on in darkness [until] all the foundations of the earth
[the foundations of society--the hitherto established principles
of law and order] are moved"--terribly shaken--shaken
that they may be removed. Heb. 12:27; Psa. 82:5;
Isa. 2:19
The late Emperor of Germany was quite heedless of the
expressed fears of his grandfather, just quoted. Years ago, in
presenting Prince Bismarck with a magnificent sword
sheathed in a golden scabbard, the Emperor said:
"Before the eyes of these troops I come to present your
Serene Highness with my gift. I could find no better present
than a sword, the noblest weapon of the Germans, a symbol
of that instrument which your Highness, in the service of
my grandfather, helped to forge, to sharpen, and also to
wield--a symbol of that great building-time during which
the mortar was blood and iron--a remedy which never fails,
and which in the hands of Kings and Princes will, in case of
need, also preserve unity in the interior of the Fatherland,
even as, when applied outside the country, it led to internal
union."
[D56]
The London Spectator commenting on this expression
says:
"That is surely a most alarming, as well as astounding,
statement. There are two explanations of it current in Germany
--one that it is directed against the claim of any German
State to secede from the Empire, and the other, that it
announces the decision of the Emperor and his confederates
to deal with Socialists and Anarchists, if necessary, through
military force. In either case the announcement was unnecessary
and indiscreet. Nobody doubts that the German Empire,
which was, in fact, built by the sword at Langensalza,
as well as in the war with France, would decree the military
occupation of any seceding State; but to threaten any
party, even the Socialists, with martial law, while it is
trying to win through the ballot, is, in fact, to suspend the
Constitution in favor of a state of siege. We do not suppose
that the Emperor intended anything of the kind, but it
seems clear that he has been brooding over the situation;
that he feels the resistance of the Socialists, and that his conclusion
is--'Well, well, I have still the sword, and that is a
remedy that never fails.' Many a King has come to that
conclusion before him, but few have been so far left to
themselves as to deem it wise on such a subject to think
aloud. It is a threat, let us explain it as we will; and wise
monarchs do not threaten until the hour has arrived to
strike, still less do they threaten military violence as the
remedy even for internal grievances. 'The sword a remedy'
for internal ills 'which never fails!' As well say the surgeon's
knife is a remedy for fever which never fails. Prince
Schwartzenburg, a Tory of Tories, with an irresistible army
at his back, tried that remedy under more favorable circumstances,
and his conclusion after long experience was
embodied in the wisest of all political good sayings, which
the German Emperor would do well to consider--'You can
do anything with bayonets--except sit on them.'
"What could a Roman Imperator have said that was
stronger than 'the sword is the remedy that never fails'?
There is the essence of tyranny in a sentence of that kind;
and if the Emperor really uttered it after consideration, it is
not a leader that Germany has in him, but an absolute ruler
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of the type which all modern history shows us to be worn
out. It may turn out, of course, that the Emperor spoke
hastily, under the influence of that emotion, half-poetic,
half-arising from an exaggerated sense of his own personality,
which he has often previously betrayed; but if his
speech is to be accepted in the light of a manifesto to his
people, all that can be said is, 'What a pity; what a source of
hopefulness has passed away!'"
The declaration of the present Czar of Russia, that he
would uphold autocracy as ardently as did his father, was
another indication of failure to heed the solemn warnings
of his auspicious hour and of the Word of God. And mark
how it was received by the people of his dominion, despite
all the official energy exercised there to muzzle free speech.
A manifesto was issued by the People's Rights Party of Russia,
and circulated throughout the empire.
The manifesto was in the form of a letter to the Czar, and
was remarkable for plain and forcible language. After censuring
him for his assertion of his absolutism it declared:
"The most advanced zemstvos asked only for the harmony
of Czar and people, free speech, and the supremacy
of law over the arbitrariness of the executive. You were deceived
and frightened by the representations of courtiers
and bureaucrats. Society will understand perfectly that it
was the bureaucracy, which jealously guards its own omnipotence,
that spoke through you. The bureaucracy, beginning
with the Council of Ministers and ending with the
lowest country constable, hates any development, social or
individual, and actively prevents the monarch's free intercourse
with representatives of his people, except as they
come in gala dress, presenting congratulations, icons, and
offerings.
"Your speech proved that any attempt to speak out before
the throne, even in the most loyal form, about the
crying needs of the country, meets only a rough and abrupt
rebuff. Society expected from you encouragement and
help, but heard only a reminder of your omnipotence, giving
the impression of utter estrangement of Czar from
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people. You yourself have killed your own popularity, and
have alienated all that part of society which is peacefully
struggling forward. Some individuals are jubilant over
your speech, but you will soon discover their impotence.
"In another section of society your speech caused a feeling
of injury and depression, which, however, the best social
forces will soon overcome, before proceeding to the peaceful
but obstinate and deliberate struggle necessary to liberty.
In another section your words will stimulate the
readiness to struggle against the present hateful state of
things with any means. You were the first to begin the
struggle. Ere long it will proceed."
Thus all the nations of "Christendom" are heedlessly
stumbling on in the long-preferred darkness. Even this fair
land of boasted liberty, in many respects so richly favored
above all other nations, is no exception; and it, too, has had
many warnings. Note the almost prophetic words of its
martyr President, Abraham Lincoln, written shortly before
his assassination, to a friend in Illinois. He wrote:
"Yes, we may all congratulate ourselves that this cruel war
is nearing its close. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and
blood. The best blood of the flower of American youth has
been freely offered upon our country's altar that the nation
might live. It has been a trying hour indeed for the Republic.
But I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves
me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my
country. As a result of the war, corporations have been
enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow,
and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong
its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people
until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the
Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety
for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the
midst of war."
And again in the year 1896, Representative Hatch of
Missouri, in a speech before Congress in financial and social
matters, is reported in the public press to have said:
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"Mark what I say! If the inexorable law of cause and effect
has not been expunged from the statute book of the Almighty,
unless a halt is called very soon, you may expect to
see the horrors of the French Revolution put on the American
stage with all the modern improvements, and that
within the next decade. Nor am I alone. That gentleman,
Astor, who went to England some time ago, bought him a
place on the island and became a British subject, saw what
is coming as plainly as I do, so he took time by the forelock
and skipped out when there was not such a rush for staterooms
as there will be after a while. He knew very well that
if things would keep on as you and I have seen them for
some time past the time was not far off when there would be
such a crowd of his class of people hurrying aboard every
outgoing steamer he might be shoved off the gangplank."
The Hon. H. R. Herbert, Secretary of the U. S. Navy, in
a speech at Cleveland, O., April 30, 1896, used the following
language in a very moderate speech to business men:
"We are entering upon an era of vast enterprises that
threaten to occupy to the exclusion of others all the ordinary
avenues of human progress. The optimist may tell you
that this is to be for the betterment of the conditions of human
life, that large enterprises are to cheapen products,
cheapen transportation. The mammoth store in which you
can get everything you want, and get it cheap, is everywhere
appearing. Industrial plants with millions of capital
behind them are rapidly taking possession of the field once
occupied by smaller enterprises of the same character.
"Human wit seems unable to devise, without dangerously
curtailing the natural liberty of the citizen, any
plan for the prevention of these monopolies, and the effect
is the accumulation of vast wealth by the few, the narrowing
of the opportunities of the many, and the breeding of
discontent. Hence conflicts between labor and capital are
to be of greater significance in the future than in the past.
"There are thoughtful men who predict that out of the
antagonisms between capital and labor is to come a conflict
that will be fatal to the republican government among us, a
conflict that will result first in anarchy and bloodshed and
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then in monarchy under some bold leader who shall be able
by military power to bring order out of chaos.
"Sometimes we are pointed to Socialism as the logical
outcome of the present condition. The first experiments in
this direction, it is said, are to be made in the cities, the employers,
with unlimited means at their command, and the
employees, with little opportunity for advancement, except
by the ballot, are to contend with each other, class against
class, for the control of municipal governments. This is one
of the perils of the future...It was once supposed that the
American farmer would forever stand as an immovable
bulwark, but a change has come over the spirit of many of
our farmers."
The ecclesiastical powers of Christendom have also had
line upon line and precept upon precept. They have been
warned by the providential dealings of God with his people
in the past, and by occasional reformers. Yet few, very few,
can read the handwriting on the wall, and they are powerless
to overcome, or even to stay, the popular current.
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage seemed to see and understand to
some extent; for, in a timely discourse, he said:
"Unless the Church of Jesus Christ rises up and proves
herself the friend of the people as the friend of God, and in
sympathy with the great masses, who with their families at
their backs are fighting this battle for bread, the church, as
at present organized, will become a defunct institution, and
Christ will go down again to the beach and invite plain,
honest fishermen to come into an apostleship of righteousness
--manward and Godward. The time has come
when all classes of people shall have equal rights in the
great struggle to get a livelihood."
And yet this man, with a stewardship of talent and influence
which but few possess, did not seem in haste to follow
his expressed convictions as to the duties of influential
Christians in the hour of peril.
The warnings go forth, and convictions of duty and
privilege fasten upon many minds; but, alas! all is of no
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avail; they go unheeded. Great power has been, and to
some extent still is, in the hands of ecclesiastics; but, in the
name of Christ and his gospel, it has been, and still is, selfishly
used and abused. "Honor one of another," "chief seats
in the synagogues," and "to be called Rabbi," Doctor,
Reverend, etc., and seeking gain, each "from his own quarter
[or denomination]" (John 5:44; Matt. 23:6-12;
Isa. 56:11),
and "the fear of man which bringeth a snare"--
these hinder some even of God's true servants from faithfulness,
while apparently many of the under-shepherds never
had any interest in the Lord's flock except to secure the
golden fleece.
While we gladly acknowledge that many educated cultivated,
refined and pious gentlemen are, and have been, included
among the clergy in all the various denominations
of the nominal Church, which all through the age has included
both wheat and tares (Matt. 13:30), we are forced to
admit that many who belong to the "tare" class have found
their way into pulpits as well as into the pews. Indeed the
temptations to pride and vainglory, and in many cases to
ease and affluence, presented to talented young men aspiring
to the pulpit, have been such as to guarantee that it
must be so, and that to a large extent. Of all the professions,
the Christian ministry has afforded the quickest and easiest
route to fame, ease and general temporal prosperity, and
often to wealth. The profession of law requires a lifetime of
intellectual energy and business effort, and brings its
weight of pressing care. The same may be said of the profession
of medicine. And if men rise to wealth and distinction
in these professions, it is not merely because they have quick
wits and ready tongues, but because they have honestly
won distinction by close and constant mental application
and laborious effort. On the other hand, in the clerical profession,
a refined, pleasant demeanor, moderate ability to
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address a public assembly twice a week on some theme
taken from the Bible, together with a moderate education
and good moral character, secure to any young man entering
the profession, the respect and reverence of his community,
a comfortable salary and a quiet, undisturbed and
easy life.
If he have superior talent, the people, who are admirers
of oratory, soon discover it, and before long he is called to a
more lucrative charge; and, almost before he knows it, he
has become famous among men, who rarely stop to question
whether his piety--his faith, humility and godliness--
have kept pace in development with his intellectual and
oratorical progress. In fact, if the latter be the case, he is less
acceptable, especially to wealthy congregations, which,
probably more frequently than very poor ones, are composed
mostly of "tares." If his piety indeed survive the pressure
of these circumstances, he will, too often for the good of
his reputation, be obliged to run counter to the dispositions
and prejudices of his hearers, and he will shortly find himself
unpopular and undesired. These circumstances have
thus brought into the pulpit a very large proportion of
what the Scriptures designate "hireling shepherds." Isa. 56:11;
Ezek. 34:2-16; John 10:11-14
The responsibility of those who have undertaken the gospel
ministry in the name of Christ is very great. They stand
very prominently before the people as the representatives of
Christ--as special exponents of his spirit, and expounders of
his truth. And, as a class, they have had advantages above
other men for coming to a knowledge of the truth, and
freely declaring it. They have been relieved from the burdens
of toil and care in earning a livelihood which fetter
other men, and, with their temporal wants supplied, have
been granted time, quiet leisure, special education, and numerous
helps of association, etc., for this very purpose.
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Here, on the one hand, have been these great opportunities
for pious zeal and devoted self-sacrifice for the cause
of truth and righteousness; and, on the other, great temptations,
either to indolent ease, or to ambition for fame,
wealth or power. Alas! the vast majority of the clergy have
evidently succumbed to the temptations, rather than embraced
and used the opportunities, of their positions; and,
as a result, they are today "blind leaders of the blind," and
together they and their flocks are fast stumbling into the
ditch of skepticism. They have hidden the truth (because it
is unpopular), advanced error (because it is popular) and
taught for doctrine the precepts of men (because paid to do
so). They have, in effect, and sometimes in so many words,
said to the people, "Believe what we tell you on our authority,"
instead of directing them to "prove all things" by the
divinely inspired words of the apostles and prophets, and
"hold fast" only "that which is good." For long centuries
the clergy of the Church of Rome kept the Word of God
buried in dead languages, and would not permit its translation
into the vernacular tongues, lest the people might
search the Scriptures and thus prove the vanity of her pretensions.
In the course of time a few godly reformers arose
from the midst of her corruption, rescued the Bible from
oblivion and brought it forth to the people; and a great
protestant movement--protesting against the false doctrines
and evil practices of the Church of Rome--was the
result.
But ere long Protestantism also became corrupt, and her
clergy began to formulate creeds to which they have taught
the people to look as the epitomized doctrines of the Bible,
and of paramount importance. They have baptized and
catechised them in infancy, before they had learned to
think; then, as they grew to adult years, they have lulled
them to sleep, and given them to understand that their safe
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course in religious matters is to commit all questions of doctrine
to them, and to follow their instructions, intimating
that they alone had the education, etc., necessary to the
comprehension of divine truth, and that they, therefore,
should be considered authorities in all such matters without
further appeal to God's Word. And when any presumed to
question this assumed authority and think differently, they
were regarded as heretics and schismatics. The most
learned and prominent among them have written massive
volumes of what they term Systematic Theology, all of
which, like the Talmud among the Jews, is calculated to a
large extent to make void the Word of God, and to teach for
doctrine the precepts of men (Matt. 15:6; Isa. 29:13); and
others of the learned and prominent have accepted honorable
and lucrative professorships in Theological Seminaries,
established, ostensibly, to train young men for the
Christian ministry, but in fact to inculcate the ideas of the
so-called "Systematic Theology" of their several schools--to
fetter free thought and honest reverent investigation of the
sacred Scriptures with a view to simple faith in their teachings,
regardless of human traditions. In this way generation
after generation of the "clergy" has pressed along the
beaten track of traditional error. And only occasionally has
one been sufficiently awake and loyal to the truth to discover
error and cry out for reform. It has been so much easier
to drift with the popular current, especially when great
men led the way.
Thus the power and superior advantages of the clergy as
a class have been misused, although in their ranks there
have been (and still are) some earnest, devout souls who
verily thought they were doing God service in upholding
the false systems into which they had been led, and by
whose errors they also had been in a great measure blinded.
While these reflections will doubtless seem offensive to
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many of the clergy, especially to the proud and self-seeking,
we have no fear that their candid presentation will give any
offense to any of the meek, who, if they recognize the truth,
will be blessed by a humble confession of the same and a
full determination to walk in the light of God as it shines
from his Word, regardless of human traditions. We rejoice
to say that thus far during the harvest period we have come
to know a few clergymen of this class, who, when the harvest
truth dawned upon them, forsook the error and pursued
and served the truth. But the majority of the clergy,
alas! are not of the meek class, and again we are obliged to
realize the force of the Master's words--"How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!"
whether those riches be of reputation, fame, learning,
money, or even common ease.
The common people need not be surprised, therefore,
that the clergy of Christendom, as a class, are blind to the
truths due in this time of harvest, just as the recognized
teachers and leaders in the end of the typical Jewish age
were blind and opposed to the truths due in that harvest.
Their blindness is indeed a recompense for their misused talents
and opportunities, and therefore light and truth cannot
be expected from that quarter. In the end of the Jewish
age the religious leaders significantly suggested to the
people the inquiry, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees
believed on him?" (John 7:48) and in accepting their
suggestion and blindly submitting to their leadings, some
missed their privilege, and failed to enter into the blessings
of the new dispensation. So it will be with a similar class in
these last days of the Gospel dispensation: those who
blindly follow the leading of the clergy will fall with them
into the ditch of skepticism; and only those who faithfully
walk with God, partaking of his spirit, and humbly relying
upon all the testimonies of his precious Word, shall be able
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to discern and discard the "stubble" of error which has long
been mixed with the truth, and boldly to stand fast in the
faith of the gospel and in loyalty of heart to God, while the
masses drift off in the popular current toward infidelity in
its various forms--Evolution, Higher Criticism, Theosophy,
Christian Science, Spiritism, or other theories denying the
necessity and merit of the great Calvary sacrifice. But those
who successfully stand in this "evil day" (Eph. 6:13)
will,
in so doing, prove the metal of their Christian character; for
so strong will be the current against them, that only true
Christian devotion to God, zeal, courage and fortitude will
be able to endure to the end. These oncoming waves of infidelity
will surely carry all others before them. It is written,
"A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy
right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee, because thou
hast said, The Lord is my protection, and the most High
hast thou made thy refuge...He that dwelleth in the secret
place [of consecration, communion and fellowship] of
the most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
...He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under
his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and
buckler." Psalm 91
Individual Christians cannot shirk their personal responsibility,
placing it upon pastors and teachers, nor upon
councils and creeds. It is by the Word of the Lord that we
are judged (John 12:48-50; Rev. 20:12), and not by
the
opinions or precedents of our fellowmen in any capacity.
Therefore all should imitate the noble Bereans who
"searched the Scriptures daily" to see if the things taught
them were true. (Acts 17:11) It is our duty as Christians
individually
to prove all things we accept, and to hold fast
that which is good. "To the law and to the testimony; if
they speak not according to this word, it is because there is
no light in them." Acts 17:11; 1 Thess. 5:21;
Isa. 8:20
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The same principle holds good in temporal, as well as in
spiritual things. While the various ships of state are drifting
onward to destruction, those who see the breakers ahead,
while they cannot alter the course of events in general, can,
to some extent at least, seize present opportunities wisely to
regulate their own conduct in view of the inevitable catastrophe;
they can make ready the lifeboats and the life
preservers, so that when the ships of state are wrecked in the
surging sea of anarchy, they may keep their heads above
the waves and find a rest beyond. In other words, the wise
policy, to say nothing of principle, in these days is to deal
justly, generously and kindly with our fellowmen in every
rank and condition of life; for the great trouble will spring
from the intense wrath of the angry nations--from the dissatisfaction
and indignation of the enlightened masses of
the people against the more fortunate, aristocratic and ruling
classes. The subjects of dissatisfaction are at present
being widely discussed; and now, before the storm of wrath
bursts, is the time for individuals to make known their principles,
not only by their words, but by their conduct in all
their relations with their fellowmen. Now is the time to
study and apply the principles of the golden rule; to learn
to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to act accordingly. If
men were wise enough to consider what, in the very near
future, must be the outcome of the present course of things,
they would do this from policy, if not from principle.
In the coming trouble it is but reasonable to presume
that, even in the midst of the wildest confusion, there will
be discriminations in favor of such as have shown themselves
just, generous and kind; and extreme wrath against
those who have practiced and defended oppression. It was
so in the midst of the horrors of the French Revolution; and
that it will be so again, is intimated by the counsel of the
Word of the Lord, which says, "Seek righteousness, seek
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meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's
anger." "Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and
pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and
his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is
against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of
them from the earth." (Zeph. 2:3; Psa. 34:14-16) These
words of wisdom and warning are to the world in general.
As for the "saints," the "little flock," the
"overcomers," they
are promised that they shall be accounted worthy to escape
all those things coming upon the world. Luke 21:36
The Relationship of the Heathen Nations to Christendom
and to the Great Tribulation
While the fierce anger of the Lord is to be visited upon
the nations of Christendom specially, because they have
sinned against much light and privilege, the Scriptures
clearly show that the heathen nations have not been without
responsibility, and shall not go unpunished. For many
generations and through many centuries they have taken
pleasure in unrighteousness. Their fathers in ages past forgot
God, because they did not like to hold his righteous authority
in remembrance: they loved darkness rather than
light, and wilfully pursued the folly of their own imaginations;
and their descendants have steadily walked on in the
same downward course, even to the present day.
Concerning the responsibility of these nations, the
Apostle Paul (Rom. 1:18-32) tells us very plainly what is
the mind of the Lord, saying, "The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
those men who, through injustice suppress the truth; because
the knowledge of God is apparent among them, for
God hath shewed it unto them. For his invisible things,
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even his eternal power and deity, since the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being perceived by the things that
are made; so that [having this light of nature--i.e., the testimony
of nature as to the existence, power and goodness of
God, and of conscience indicating what is right and what is
wrong] they are without excuse [in pursuing an evil course
of life]; because though they knew God [to some extent at
least]; they did not glorify or thank him as God, but became
vain in their reasonings, and their perverse heart was darkened
[as the natural result of such a course]. Assuming to be
wise men, they became fools, and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image-likeness of corruptible
man, and of birds, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over, through the lusts of their
hearts for impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves;
who exchanged the truth concerning God for a false
religion, and reverenced and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is worthy of praise forever. Amen!
"On this account God delivered them over to infamous
passions [i.e., God did not strive with or endeavor to reclaim
them, but let them alone to pursue their chosen evil
course and to learn from experience its bitter fruits]...
And as they did not choose to retain the knowledge of God,
God gave them over to a worthless mind, to do improper
things, abounding in every iniquity; in wickedness, in covetousness,
in malignity; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
bad habits; secret slanderers, revilers, haters of God, insolent,
proud, boasters, devisers of evil things, disobedient
to parents, obstinate, covenant breakers, destitute of natural
affection, without pity; who, though they know the ordinance
of God [that those who practice such things are
worthy of death], not only are doing them, but even are
approving those who practice them."
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While, as here shown, the heathen nations long ago suppressed
what truth was known in the early ages of the world
concerning God and his righteousness, and preferred darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil, and out
of their evil and vain imaginations invented false religions
which justified their evil ways; and while succeeding generations
have endorsed and justified the evil course of their
forefathers by subscribing to their doctrines and walking in
their footprints, thus also assuming the accumulation of
their guilt and condemnation, on the very same principle
that the present nations of Christendom also assume the obligations
of their preceding generations, yet the heathen
nations have not been wholly oblivious to the fact
that a great light has come into the world through Jesus
Christ. Even previous to the coming of Christ the wonderful
God of Israel was known among many heathen
nations through his dealings with that people; and all
through the Gospel age the saints of God have been bearing
the good news abroad.
Here and there a few individuals have heeded the truth,
but the nations have disregarded it generally, and walked
on in darkness. Therefore "the indignation of the Lord is
upon all nations." (Isa. 34:2) The heathen nations are now,
without the gospel and its advantages, judged unworthy of
a continued lease of power; while the so-called Christian
nations, with the gospel light and privileges of which they
have not walked worthy, are also, by its standard of truth
and righteousness, judged unworthy of continued power.
Thus every mouth is stopped, and all the world stands
guilty before God. Of all the nations "there is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are
all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good; no, not one."
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The justice of God in punishing all nations is manifest;
and while the heathen nations will receive the just reward
of their doings, let not the greater responsibility of Christendom
be forgotten; for if the Jews had "much advantage
every way" over the Gentile nations, chiefly in that unto
them were committed the oracles of God (Rom. 3:1,2),
what shall we say of the nations of Christendom, with their
still greater advantages of both the Law and the Gospel?
Yet it is true today of Christendom, as it was then of the
Jewish nation, that the name of God is blasphemed among
the heathen through them. (Rom. 2:24) Note, for instance,
the imposition of the liquor and opium traffics upon the
heathen nations, by the greed of the Christian nations for
gold.
A reliable witness, who speaks from the personal knowledge
wrote, some time ago, to the New York Voice as follows:
"According to my own observations on the Congo and
the West Coast [Africa], the statement of many missionaries
and others, drink is doing more harm to the natives than
the slave trade now or in past times. That carries off people,
destroys villages; this not only slays by the thousands, but
debauches and ruins body and soul, whole tribes, and
leaves them to become the parents of degenerate creatures
born in their own debauched image...All the workmen
are given a big drink of rum every day at noon, and forced
to take at least two bottles of gin as pay for work every Saturday
night; at many of the factories, when a one, two or
three years' contract expires, they are forced to take a barrel
of rum or some cases or demijohns of gin to carry home with
them. Native traders are forced to take casks of liquor in exchange
for native produce, even when they remonstrate,
and, gaining no redress, pour the liquor into the river;
traders saying, 'The niggers must take rum, we cannot
make money enough to satisfy the firm at home by selling
them salt or cloth.' Towns are roaring pandemoniums every
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Sunday from drink. There are villages where every
man, woman and child is stupid drunk, and thus former religious
services are broken up. Chiefs say sadly to missionaries,
'Why did not you Godmen come before the drink
did? The drink has eaten out my people's heads and hardened
their hearts: they cannot understand, they do not care
for anything good.'"
It is even said that some of the heathen are holding up
the Christian's Bible before them, and saying, "Your practices
do not correspond with the teachings of your sacred
book." A Brahmin is said to have written a missionary, "We
are finding you out. You are not as good as your Book. If
your people were only as good as your Book, you would
conquer India in five years." See Ezek. 22:4.
Truly, if the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south
shall rise up in judgment against the generation of Israel
which the Lord directly addressed (Matt. 12:41,42), then
Israel and every previous generation, and the heathen
nations shall rise up against this generation of Christendom;
for where much has been given much will be required. Luke 12:48
But, dropping the morally retributive aspect of the question,
we see how, in the very nature of the case, the heathen
nations must suffer in the fall of Christendom, Babylon.
Through the influences of the Word of God, direct and indirect,
the Christian nations have made great advancements
in civilization and material prosperity in every line,
so that in wealth, comfort, intellectual development, education,
civil government, in science, art, manufacture, commerce
and every branch of human industry, they are far in
advance of the heathen nations which have not been so favored
with the civilizing influences of the oracles of God,
but which, on the contrary, have experienced a steady decline,
so that today they exhibit only the wrecks of their former
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prosperity. Compare for example, the Greece of today
with ancient Greece, which was once the seat of learning
and affluence. Mark, too, the present ruins of the glory of
ancient Egypt, once the chief nation of the whole earth.
In consequence of the decline of the heathen nations and
the civilization and prosperity of the Christian nations, the
former are all more or less indebted to the latter for many
advantages received--for the benefits of commerce, of international
communication and a consequent enlargement of
ideas, etc. Then, too, the march of progress in recent years
has linked all the nations in various common interests,
which, if seriously unsettled in one or more of the nations
soon affect all. Hence when Babylon, Christendom, goes
down suddenly, the effects will be most serious upon all the
more or less dependent na
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