The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 77
April 17, 1900
“The Third Angel’s Message. The Making of the Beast” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 16, p. 248.
IT is essential to know the elements that enter into the “falling away,” out of which came the “man of sin,” “the son of perdition,” “the mystery of iniquity,” “that Wicked,” “the Beast;” because it was by these elements that the power was gained which made the Beast, and which has been, and is to be, wielded by the Beast in his terrible career. For of him it is written that “an host was given him... by reason of transgression.” Daniel 8:12. Now, since all transgression is sin, because “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4), this statement in Daniel is, in itself, the original suggestion from which Paul wrote the expression “the man of sin.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.1
It was by sin; by reason of transgression; by courting the elements of sin and playing into the hands of transgressors, that the man of sin gathered to himself the “host” which gave to him the power that characterizes him as the Beast. This process is described in Paul’s words to the elders of the church at Ephesus, who met him at Miletus, in Acts 20:30: “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” This, in itself, tells of the self-exaltation of men to the place of Christ. They drew disciples to themselves, instead of to Christ; it was their design to draw disciples to themselves, instead of to Christ; and, in carrying out this design, they spoke perverse things. This they did deliberately: they did it TO draw away disciples after them. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.2
Note further: It was not simply to draw disciples to themselves; but to draw AWAY disciples after them. These were men professing to be Christians, speaking to people who were, likewise, professed Christians—some of them, indeed, in good faith. But these self-exalted ones, not content that men should be disciples of Christ, perverted the truth of Christ, while still professing it; and this they did to draw AWAY from Christ and his truth disciples unto themselves and their errors. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.3
All this was, in itself, to court the elements of sins, and to play into the hands of the transgressors. And this all for power. For, for what but power could any man want disciples drawn to himself? And what kind of power could it be that was gained by this means?—It could be nothing else than the power of iniquity. And while it was true that great numbers, even “an host,” could by this means be gained, yet it was a host gained only by means of transgression. And this host being gathered from the elements of iniquity, only by means of iniquity, could never, in any of its workings, be anything but the working of iniquity, even as described; it would be “the man of sin,” “the mystery of iniquity.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.4
Even while the apostles yet lived, the mystery of iniquity had already begun to work, though not to open observation. But no sooner was their watchful attention gone and their apostolic authority removed, than it developed into vigorous activity. In order to make easier the “conversion” of the heathen; to multiply disciples to themselves; and, by this, establish their own influence and authority, would-be leaders and self-exalted men began to adopt heathen customs and forms, mingling them with the Christian forms, and adapting the Christian forms to the heathen rites. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.5
Of all the ceremonies of the heathen, the mysteries were the most sacred and most universally practiced. And to gain the favor of the heathen, these perverse teachers gave it out that they also had mysteries. And to make good the representation, they gave to baptism and the Lord’s Supper the name of “the mysteries,” in the very terms of the pagan mysteries; and this they followed up by gradually incorporating from the heathen practices the very rites that were designated by the terms expressive of the heathen mysteries. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.6
The mysteries were directly related to the worship of the sun; for “the most holy and perfect rite in the Eleusinian mysteries was to show an ear of corn mowed down in silence, and this was a symbol of the Phrygian Atys.” And the Phrygian Atys was simply the incarnation of the sun. The character of the rites performed in the celebration of the mysteries is suggested in Ephesians 5:11, 12: “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” This evil was spread over both the East and the West of the Roman Empire before the apostle John had been dead forty years. So swiftly proceeded the fulfillment of the prophecy that “an host” would be “given him... by reason of transgression.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.7
Another step: It was a universal custom of the heathen to worship with their faces toward the east; because the sun was the great object of their worship, and there first he displayed his bright beams. This practice of the heathen was also adopted by the perverse teachers who would draw disciples to themselves, and who would gain an host by reason of transgression. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.8
Yet another step in the apostasy was the adoption of the heathen day of the sun—Sunday—as a festival day. So general did this become that, even before A.D. 200, one of the apostasy—even now one of the “church Fathers”—has reported that “others suppose that the sun is the God of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festival.”—Tertullian. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.9
And so much like the heathen was that of these of the apostasy, that the heathen themselves charged those so-called Christians with being worshipers of the sun. And the only defense that was offered by those of the apostasy was: “What then? Do you do less than this? Do not many among you, with an affectation of sometimes worshiping the heavenly bodies, likewise move your lips in the direction of the sunrise? It is you, at all events, who have admitted the sun into the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day, in preference to the preceding day.”—Id. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.10
While this was the only defense they made, it is true that they did, in fulfillment of the words of Paul, speak perverse things—perverted the word of the Lord—to justify it. In the Scriptures it is written: “The Lord God is a sun and shielf.” Psalm 84:11. And again: “Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” Malachi 4:2. These beautiful passages were perverted, to justify the honoring of the sun, and especially at his rising. They claimed that in so honoring the sun they were honoring God, who is a sun, and who, as the Sun of righteousness, would “arise.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.11
Another step in promoting the honor of the sun was taken, especially under the leadership of the church at Rome. The early Christians celebrated the Passover, in remembrance of the death of Christ, the true Passover. Accordingly, they celebrated it on the fourteenth day of the first month. Rome, however, and from her all the west, adopted Sunday as the day of this celebration. According to the original and the Eastern custom this celebration, being on the fourteenth day of the month, would, of course, fall upon different days of the week, as the years revolved. But the rule of Rome was that the celebration must always be on a Sunday—the Sunday nearest to the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish year. And if that fourteenth day of the month were itself a Sunday, then the celebration was not to be held on that day; but upon the next Sunday. And this is why it is that, to this day, Easter, even though celebrated always on Sunday, is so very variable in its recurrence,—sometimes in March, sometimes early in April, sometimes late in April,—but always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the twentieth of March, or the spring equinox. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.12
Indeed, this very item of Easter itself illustrated this gathering of a host to the man of sin, by reason of transgression. The word “Easter” is peculiar to the English language, and to the British Isles. “It is derived from Eostre, or Ostára, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the fourth month, answering to our April—thence called Eostur-monath—was dedicated.” The heathen in Britain were celebrating in early spring this festival of their goddess Eostre, when the agents of Rome first entered Britain; and by them this name of the heathen goddess was adopted, with the festival in her honor; and the whole ceremony thus adopted was carried on as the celebration of the so-called Christian Passover. And, says the Venerable Bede: “The old festival was observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.” The word “Easter” in Acts 12:4 is not a translation, but a sheer insertion by the translators; as the Greek is pascha, meaning “passover.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.13
Another item worth noticing, in this connection, is that this Eostre, or Ostára, of the ancient Britons, is identical with the Ishtar, or Astarte, of Babylon and Nineveh, and the Ashtaroth of the Phnicians. She was the female of Bel in Babylon and Nineveh, and of Baal in Phnicia; and represented the female element in sun worship. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.14
“The Gathering of Israel” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 16, pp. 248, 249.
WHILE by every consideration of the Scriptures it is certain that there is not to be a return of the Jews, it is equally certain that there is to be a gathering of Israel. And this gather of Israel, and, in this sense, this return of the Jews, is to be, as was quoted in last week’s study on this subject, concerning Israel as the good olive tree. Because of unbelief, the branches of that tree were broken, and so the tree stood all marred and incomplete; but from the wild olive tree, branches are taken and grafted into the good olive tree,—and also such of the original branches as abide not still in unbelief,—until all its lost branches are restored, and the tree stands full, complete, and perfect, as originally conceived. “And SO all Israel shall be saved.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.1
And such has been the story of Israel always. It has always been true that “they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9:8. This was so in the family of Abraham, at the very beginning of God’s peculiar people. Ishmael was the child of Abraham, but was born after the flesh, and so was not a child of God. Abraham, in his natural affection, thought that Ishmael should be recognized by the Lord as His, according to original design and his original purpose in the gospel; and so exclaimed, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.2
But the Lord said, No. “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.... But my covenant will I establish with Isaac.” Genesis 17:19-21. Isaac was the child of faith, born by the promise of God, “born after the Spirit.” Accordingly, though both were the sons of Abraham, only one was a son of God. This did not utterly exclude from the promises him that was born after the flesh; but he could become partaker of the promises only by himself becoming a child of promise. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.3
And this “allegory,” which was worked out in the family of Abraham, was for the instruction of all people in all ages, that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are of the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9:6-8. It tells to all people, forever, that that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and can not inherit the things of the Spirit; that, unless one is born of promise, and thus becomes a child of promise, he never can be partaker of the promises. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 248.4
Yet, although this lesson was worked out to completion in the family of Abraham at the very beginning of the course of Israel; though it was repeated in the family of Isaac—in Esau and Jacob; and though it was written for the instruction of all people afterward, great claim is, and ever has been, made in behalf of them “which are the children of the flesh.” And in spite of all the instruction the Lord has given upon the subject, it is insisted that he is bound, in justice, to recognize as his children those who are children of the flesh. But such a thing never, in justice, can be. Such a thing would undo all righteousness, and would ruin the universe. It is asking that God shall clothe sin with righteousness, that he shall accept sin as righteousness, and exalt it as righteousness, to the place of righteousness. But that is all that Lucifer wanted, in the beginning of sin: that is the secret of the whole controversy from that time when it began in heaven, unto this day, and even to the end of the controversy in the triumph of righteousness over sin, to the complete exclusion of sin. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.1
And so from Abraham’s day until this hour, and unto the end of the world, the children of the promise are counted for the seed of Abraham, in place of the children of the flesh. Forever it is so, and is abundantly shown to be so, that they which be of faith, these only are the children of Abraham, and, as such, alone are heirs of Abraham, of Christ, and of God. And in the gathering of Israel, only these will come,—these who have been, when they lived, or are, while they live, children of the promise,—“they which are of faith.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.2
Read the story of faith, in Hebrews 11, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah, and of those that sprang “of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth;” because “they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.3
Read on in the story of faith, through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the number of whom the time to tell would fail. “These all, having obtained a good report provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Thus all israel are to be made perfect together: they are all to be gathered at once. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.4
And that time of gathering all Israel is declared by the word of the Lord in Isaiah: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which are ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” Isaiah 27:12, 13. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.5
This day when “the great trumpet shall be blown” is the day when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16); and “he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, and from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31), and “then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.6
And “as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22, 23. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.7
This is the gathering of Israel: this is the return of the Jews. And there is no other. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.8
“Studies in Galatians. Galatians 3:24, 25” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 16, p. 249.
“WHEREFORE the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.1
These two verses are the conclusion of the argument in verses 21-23. Accordingly they are introduced by “Wherefore.” “Wherefore” signifies “for which cause or reason; in consequence of which; consequently.” It is easy to see that these two verses are the consequence of the preceding ones. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.2
Notice verse 23: the law is not against the promises of God; but, instead, is an aid in attaining unto the promises. And we know that all the promises of God are in Christ. Then, since the law is an aid in attaining unto the promises; and all the promises are in Christ, evidently the law is an aid in men’s attaining unto Christ. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.3
Next, notice verse 22: “The scripture hath concluded [shut up] all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” Plainly, then, the law is a means of bringing men to Christ and to the promises by faith in him. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.4
Next, notice verse 23: “Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” As we were “shut up unto the faith,” and “were kept under the law, shut up,“—it was the law that shut us up, and it shut us up unto the faith,—plainly the law brought men to faith. But faith is always Christ, and Christ is always faith, for he is “the author and finisher of faith.” And since the law brought men to faith and Christ is the substance of all faith, in the nature of things the law brought men to Christ. And so, verse 24 states the fact, as the consequence of all this: “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.5
But the great question with most persons is, What law is that? It is a fair enough question, because, since whatever law it is, it brings men to Christ: and if men take the wrong law, it will not bring them to Christ. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.6
But it can easily be known what law it is. Read again the text: “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster”—we are no longer under the law. Now, what is it to be under the law?—It is to be under the dominion of sin; for it is written: “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law.” Romans 6:14. Then, whoever is under the law, is under the dominion of sin, and this because “sin is the transgression of the law.” And what law is it?—It is the moral law—the law which says: “Thou shalt not covet;” for it is written: “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Romans 7:7. And this is the very thought that is before us in Galatians 3:23, 25, and in the verses preceding, of which verses 24, 25, are only the conclusion. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.7
Verse 22 says: “The scripture hath concluded [shut up] all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe;” and verse 23 says: “We were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” There can be no manner of question that these expressions “under sin” and “under the law” are identical in meaning, and therefore it is plain that to be “under the law” is to be “under sin.” And being “under sin,” being “shut up under sin,” and thus “kept under the law, shut up unto the faith,” it is certain that it is the law by which is the knowledge of sin,—the law which says, “Thou shalt not covet.”—which is the schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. And this is the more evident by the fact that after faith is come, after we are justified by faith, we are no longer under the law; we are no longer under the dominion of sin; we are no longer shut up; because we have attained unto the very thing which is the object of the law, which is Christ. For “Christ is the end [the object, the aim, the purpose] of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” Romans 10:4. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.8
Notice again: for what purpose is it that men are brought to Christ?—“That we might be justified by faith.” This is the same as the preceding verses: “We were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith.” “The scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” Plainly, therefore, whatever law it is, it is a law that brings men to faith. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.9
Now, it is not true, and it never was true, that the ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings ever brought anybody to faith. It was faith that brought them to that law. “By faith Abel offered unto God ... sacrifice.” Did the sacrifice, or the offering of it, bring Abel to faith?—No. Faith brought Abel to the sacrifice. That sacrifice was a lamb, and, in Abel’s faith, it was Christ. And by the faith of Christ, in which he offered that sacrifice, “he obtained witness that he was righteous.” Thus he attained to righteousness by faith; to justification by faith. Thus faith brought him to that ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.10
But what brought him to the faith that brought him to the law of sacrifices and offerings?—The knowledge of sin brought him to the faith. And what brought him to the knowledge of sin?—The moral law, to be sure—the law that says: “Thou shalt not covet”—the law by which alone is the knowledge of sin. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.11
Cain brought an offering: but it was not brought in faith, and therefore was not accepted; and consequently sin still lay at his door. Genesis 4:7. Cain had no faith in Christ, and therefore his offering was of no avail. And even though an offering were made of a lamb, if there was no faith in Christ in him who offered it, it would not avail. The faith must be there before he brings his offering at all, or else it is of no avail. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.12
Thus, by every consideration, it is certain that, instead of the ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings bringing men to the faith, it was faith that always brought men to the sacrifices and offerings. And it must be faith that would do that, or else, the sacrifice and the offering was nothing. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 249.13
“Back Page” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 16, p. 246.
THE Senate Porto Rico tariff and civil government bill passed the House of Representatives in Congress, Wednesday, April 11, by a vote of one hundred and sixty-one to one hundred and fifty-three, and was signed by the President, and so became the law of Porto Rico, Thursday, April 12. It definitely establishes a colonial system of government by the United States, without the Constitution, with a governor and council appointed by the President, approved by the Senate, the governor the personal representative of the President, and responsible only to the President. It is in principle, and will prove in practice, Republican Rome’s system of colonial government, which was a mighty element in hurrying that republic into the terrific imperial despotism that it became. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 246.1
THE present assistant secretary of the Navy, Hon. Chas. H. Allen, of Massachusetts, has been chosen by the President as the first United States colonial governor of Porto Rico. The Washington correspondent of the Detroit News-Tribune says that “Mr. Allen is credited by those familiar with his two-years’ service in the Navy Department, with being a man of unusual poise and ability, and with unswerving loyalty to his President and party.” Of course in Porto Rico he can not be loyal to the Constitution; because there he is to govern without the Constitution. Since he is the personal representative of the President, he can be loyal only to the President. That is, in that place and office he can not be loyal to principle, but only to a person. ARSH April 17, 1900, page 246.2
BY the signature of the President, April 12, the Porto Rico bill became law. by it the Porto Ricans are not citizens of the United States, and have no representation in the United States; and yet are taxed by the United States, though the money thus raised is to be spent upon Porto Rico itself. Friday, April 13, the New York World recalled the fact that, “one hundred and thirty-five years, one month, and fifteen days ago to-day, the British Parliament passed an act for the taxation of the American colonies, the money thus raised to be expended in and upon the colonies themselves. The whole world knows what followed.” In view of current events of daily happening, can any one fail to see that this nations is steadily repudiating every principle of its Constitution as a republican government? And how much further must she go before she shall have actually repudiated every such principle? And then what? ARSH April 17, 1900, page 246.3