LAST-DAY

TOKENS .

By Adolphus Smith
1887
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THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

ON the 1st of Nov., 1755, probably the most severe and extensive
agitation of the earth on record took place, and marked the opening of
the seal of Rev. 6:12. Of this earthquake, Sears, in his "Wonders of the
World," says it "extended over a tract of at least 4,000,000 square
miles," pervading "the greater portion of Europe, Africa, and
America." Monteith, in his "Physical Geography," says of this
earthquake that "the waters of the Scotch lakes suddenly rose above,
and then subsided below, their level. On the shores of the West Indies,
the tide rose twenty feet, and the water resembled ink. . . . The waters
of Lake Ontario were also sensibly affected."
In the city of Lisbon, Portugal, the effect was most disastrous.
Monteith says:—
It commenced with a dull, rumbling sound below the surface,
immediately followed by a tremendous shock which threw down a
large part of the city, and in the space of six minutes 60,000 people
perished. The sea retired to a distance, only to return in a vast wave
fifty feet high. The unfortunate people rushed from the falling
buildings to secure shelter on the new and massive marble quay,
(dock) which suddenly sank with them into the sea, the water closing
over the spot to the depth of 600 feet. Not a single fragment of the
many vessels, nor one of the thousands of human bodies that were
drawn into this frightful chasm, ever floated to the surface, all being
engulfed in the fissures which opened, and immediately closed over
them.
Sears further says:—
The terror of the people was beyond 'description. Nobody wept
—it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with
horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying,
"Misericordia the world's at an end !"
This great earthquake marked the beginning of a series of
wonderful events designed by God to herald the near advent of his
Son from heaven. The attention of the world had just been called to
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the subject of the second advent, by a work on the Revelation,
published by the eminent Bengel, of Germany; and the cry of the
people in the disaster at Lisbon,—"The world's at an end !"—without
doubt led reflective minds to the study of that portion of the
prophecies, the seal upon which was then opened by the Son of God.
Bengel did not look for the second advent to transpire in his day, but
about one hundred years thereafter, or in the present generation.
Under the sixth seal a series of events transpire that are of the greatest
importance to the children of men, marking with measured, solemn
tokens like the knell of closing time. "And I beheld when he had
opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth
her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, And the
heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places." Rev. 6:12-14,
With this order of events agree our Lord's prophetic words,
recorded in Matt. 24:20, 30; Mark 13:24-26; Joel 2:10, 11, 30, 31; 3:13-16;
and Isa. 34:1-4.

DARKENING OF THE SUN AND MOON.

NEARLY twenty-five years had passed away since the great
earthquake, with no special token of the approaching end. The
attention of Europe and America was absorbed in the great
Revolutionary War of the latter country. The growing influence of the
Reformation had put a stop to sanguine persecutions of the people of
God by the papacy, the last public act of martyrdom having occurred,
according to Dowling's "History of Romanism," in 1762. The papacy
was yet in the exercise of its arrogant, political assumptions, modified,
it is true, by the growing influence of Protestantism, yet a factor of
some importance in the solution of international problems.
The time had come when the Saviour's prediction, "The sun shall
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," was to be
fulfilled, thus marking another stage in the closing drama of earth's
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history. See Mark 13:24. Although similar phenomena had been
witnessed Oct. 21, 1716, and again at the West, over a vast extent of
country, Oct. 19, 1762, the dark day of May 19, 1780, was the pre-
eminently dark day since that upon which our Lord was crucified.
Concerning this phenomenon, Webster, in his dictionary, edition
of 1884, p. 1604, says:—
The dark day, May 19, 1780; so called on account of a remarkable
darkness on that day, extending over all New England. In some
places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air for
several hours together. . . . The true cause of this remarkable
phenomenon is not known.
The following concerning this event is from the Ogden (Iowa)
Reporter of Jan. 20, 1887:—
New England was engulfed in darkness and gloom for a space of
thirty hours; the birds sang their evening songs, and fowls of all kinds
retired to roost; the cows came in from the range, and the church bells
tolled for the last roll-call, and prayers went up to God from the
Alleghany Mountains to the river St. Lawrence, and not an infidel
could be found in all the land.
Business in some cases was suspended, and a gloom or dread
seemed to rest upon the people, who generally believed that the
Judgment day had come or was impending.
Mr. Tenney, of Exeter, N.H., as quoted by Dr. Gage to the
Historical Society, says:—
The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as
had ever been observed since the Almighty fiat gave birth to light. I
could not help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in
the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness or struck
out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A
sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was equally
invisible with the blackest velvet.
This darkness was all the more remarkable from the fact that the
moon had fulled the day before, and an eclipse, therefore, was
impossible. No other event since the beginning of the Christian era
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has even approximately fulfilled the prediction of Christ, that, as a
sign of his second appearing "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light." Mark 13:24. The fact that the phenomenon
was a local one also locates the causes, however mysterious or
unknown, which produced it, the sun and moon being only relatively
darkened, just as we understand the terms "rising" or "setting" of the
sun not as actual but as relative events, due entirely to mundane
progression; but this fact does not invalidate the phenomenon as a
fulfillment of prophecy, or as one of the most mysterious and
unaccountable freaks of nature ever known or recorded.

THE GREAT STAR SHOWER.

ON the night of Nov. 13, 1833, occurred one of the most
remarkable celestial phenomena of which we have any record in
history. The Scriptures had foretold the wonderful display as a sign of
the near approach of the day of the Lord: "And the stars shall fall
from heaven." But did stars really fall, as predicted ? We think so.
What Bible authority have we for drawing a line of distinction
between those heavenly bodies that greatly exceed the magnitude of
our earth or sun, and those that are too diminutive to be visible to the
eye, though alike obedient to the laws that govern celestial spheres.
The present classification of the spheres is for convenience in the
pursuit of celestial science,—a distinction unknown to the Bible except
as regards their names or degrees of glory. See 1 Cor. 15:41.
The mighty Jupiter is confessed to be a star or planet. And who
can deny the same honor to the sisterhood of the asteroids, though too
diminutive to be visible to the naked eye ? Could they be brought
nearer to the earth, they could be distinctly seen.
So with the so-called aerolites. Obeying the same laws of
attraction that govern our earth and all the spheres, they are really
stars; and could they without being drawn out of their uniform course
revolve around our luminary, coming at times within a mile or so of
our earth, they could be distinctly seen reflecting the light of the sun.
When we see an aerolite or meteor fly through our atmosphere, and
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become luminous, we say of it, "I saw a star fall." And so we did,
though astronomy may call that star an aerolite,
Although there have been other displays of this phenomenon,
notably that of 1866, yet that of 1833 in the order of its occurrence
being the next great sign following the darkening of the sun and
moon; in the manner of display, "even as a fig-tree casteth her
untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind;" and in the
general impression upon the minds of the people that it heralded the
Judgment as come or impending—was the most complete fulfillment
of the prophecy in the great chain of events under the sixth seal of
which we have any record. And what is the next event to transpire ?
— “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and
every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Rev. 6:14.
Then the wail of the lost will be heard from one end of the earth to the
other; for all will realize that the day of wrath has fully come. The
same scene is depicted in Matt. 24:29-31; Isa. 34:1-8; Joel 3:13-16.
Almost fifty-three years have passed away since the last sign was
given to warn mankind of the near approach of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord. Just as sure as the signs that portend the Judgment
have been given as predicted, just so sure will the event that they have
heralded transpire in due time. Reader, while the mercy of God delays
the final catastrophe, will you heed our Saviour's admonition, "Watch
ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
the Son of man"? Luke 21:36.

NATIONAL TROUBLE.
THE inspired prophet thus testifies concerning the last days:
"There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a
nation even to that same time." Dan. 12:1. Since men became
sufficiently numerous on the earth to engage as hostile bands in
mortal conflict, there have been "wars and rumors of wars." But
nothing in the history of our world can compare in approximate
magnitude with the modern development of the bloody art of war.
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The prophetic injunction of Joel 3:9-14 is being responded to in
the present generation, which response, according to verses 13, 14,
compared with Matt. 13:39 and Rev. 14:14-20, was to take place in the
last days. The Bible declares that all nations are to be gathered again
at Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1, 2), at which time the great battle of
Armageddon will be fought. Rev. 16:16. This gathering of the nations
is said to be in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:12), in the day of the
Lord, or the end of the world. On the term "Jehoshaphat," the
Religious Encyclopedia has the following:—
Jehoshaphat, in Hebrew, signifies the judgment of God. It is very
probable that the Valley of Jehoshaphat, that is, of God's judgment, is
symbolical, as well as the valley of slaughter, in the same chapter.
The term "Valley of Jehoshaphat," symbolically, must
necessarily apply to a great area of country round about Jerusalem, or
to the literal valley as only the strategic point where the Lord
descends with the holy angels to execute judgment upon the
belligerent nations around. See Joel 3:11; Isa. 13:3-5; 66:15, 16; Zeph.
3:8; Rev. 19:11-21. This gathering of the nations is to be effected by the
agency of unclean spirits (Rev. 16:13, 14), who will doubtless inflame
the nations with jealousy for the sacred places of Mount Zion.
Concerning military preparations in Europe, the San Francisco
Chronicle of Jan. 30, 1875, comments as follows:—
A careful survey of the European situation seems almost
sufficient to justify a belief in the prediction of the enthusiasts who
declare that the true interpretation of John's apocalyptic vision shows
that "the battle of the great day of God Almighty at Armageddon " is
actually at hand. All Europe is at present one vast camp. The nations
are arming from the British Channel to the Ural Mountains; from the
Mediterranean to the Baltic, as if with a prophetic understanding that
a terrible and portentous crisis is at hand. The nations are becoming
armies; the general masses of the people are being turned into
soldiers. The arsenals are busy shaping more deadly weapons of
destruction than were ever before known. The foundries are casting
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colossal cannons, compared with which those heretofore used in
warfare are but children's toys.
The greatest gun manufactory in the world is that of Herr Krupp,
at Essen, Germany, employing more than 20,000 operatives, who with
their families aggregate over 65,000 persons supported by that
industry. In this factory guns are now made with tenfold more
penetrative power than any ordnance known twenty years ago. The
most recently manufactured gun weighs nearly 139 tons, is 52.5 feet in
length, and has a caliber of 15.7 inches. The heaviest projectile used in
this gun weighs 2,314 pounds, and is five feet and two inches in
length. A charge of 1,069 pounds of powder gives this projectile a
velocity of 2,099 feet per second, and a penetrative power of 47.1
inches wrought iron plate. It is said that recently an immense quantity
of old plowshares has been sent to the Krupp manufactory, to be
made into cannons. Small arms, notably the Remington rifle, are now
made which are capable of over thirty discharges a minute. The
factory at Ilion, N.Y., can turn out 1,000 of these guns per day.
But ministers and people of the popular churches give
expression to the belief that a better day is dawning upon our world,
—a millennial reign of peace and good-will among the nations, and a
triumphal conquest of the world by the Christian religion. They base
the argument upon Isa. 2:2-5 and Micah 4:1-5, and support it by
reference to collateral considerations existing in the comparatively
recent organization of a so-called "International Arbitration and Peace
Association," which has for its object a union of influential men of all
nations, in an effort to avert the evils of war by wise legislation or
arbitration. They claim it also from the fact that, notwithstanding the
unparalleled activity among all nations in preparations for war on a
scale so grand, and so completely exhaustive of resources, an
exceedingly sanguine conflict must apparently be speedily
precipitated to relieve a tension that otherwise must explode the
machinery of State into fragments. Yet time and again, when no
earthly power seemed adequate to avert the threatened catastrophe,
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the pent up forces were restrained, the gage of battle went down, and
the world again breathed with momentary relief.
But while popular Christianity sees in these phenomena a
supposed evidence of the dawning of the cherished millennium, the
student of prophecy beholds a fulfillment of the predicted restraining
influence of the angels of God, as brought to view in Rev. 7:1, until the
closing work of the gospel can go to all nations of the earth. But as
soon as this work shall have been accomplished, popular Christianity
will awake to the consciousness that their dream of peace and safety
will not be realized, and their hope will die in blood and tears.
Their ideal "kingdom of God." will be negatived by the
fulfillment of Joel 3:9-14 (compare verse 13 with Matt. 13:39) and 2
Tim. 3:1-5; and their peace and safety cry will be supplemented by
trouble and sudden destruction. See Dan. 12:1; 1 Thess. 5:2, 3; Isa.
34:1-4.

RAGING CHARIOTS.
"THE chariots shall rage in the streets." Nah. 2:4. The prophecy
of Nah. 2:3-6 could never be understood except in the light of modern
railroad engineering. At the beginning of the present century there
was not a steam locomotive engine in the world. In 1804 such a
locomotive was introduced on a tramway in Cornwall, Wales. In 1815,
George Stephenson introduced a very good locomotive that was in a
few years adopted on railroads generally.
The first locomotive in the United States was brought over from
England in 1829. The first one made in this country was built by the
West Point Foundry in 1830. Successive improvements up to the
present day have developed a locomotive with its attendant train of
splendid palace and dining room cars, running at a high rate of speed,
with comparative immunity from accident, that can scarcely be
excelled. Up to the beginning of the present century, but few would
believe that horse-power could ever be superseded by steam
locomotion, much less that long lines of railway would be constructed
for the rapid transportation of passengers and merchandise.
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The following letter, addressed to Robert Fulton, the hero of the
steam-boat "Clermont," on the Hudson River in 1807, will doubtless
be of interest to the reader:—
Albany, March 11, 1811.
DEAR Sir: I did not until yesterday receive yours of the 25th of
February. Whether it had loitered on the road, I am at a loss to say. I
had before read of your very ingenious proposition as to the railway
communication. I fear, however, upon mature reflection, that they
will be liable to objection, and ultimately more expensive than a canal.
They must be double, so as to prevent the danger of two such heavy
bodies meeting. The walls on which they are placed must be at least
four feet below the surface, and three feet above, and must be
clamped with iron, and even then they would hardly sustain so heavy
a weight as you propose, moving at the rate of four miles an hour on
wheels. As to wood, it would not last a week; they must be covered
with iron, and that, too, very thick and strong. The means of stopping
these heavy carriages without a great shock, and of preventing them
from running on each other (for there would be so many on the road
at once), would be very difficult, and in case of accidental, or
necessary stops to take wood, water, and the like, many accidents
would happen. The carriage for condensing water would be very
troublesome. Upon the whole, I fear the expense would be much
greater than that of a canal without being so convenient.
CHANCELL OF LIVINGSTON.
In December, 1832, a railroad advertisment in Pennsylvania read
as follows:—
The engine with a train of cars will run daily, commencing this
day, when the weather is fair. When the weather is not fair, horses
will draw the cars. Passengers are requested to be punctual at the
hour of starting.
At the present day, no river nor frightful chasm offers obstacles
to the building of railways that cannot be surmounted by the
construction of beautiful and substantial bridges; and when the iron
track cannot traverse the crest of a mountain, the base of the
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tremendous pile is transforated, and a direct and easy passage for the
fleeting train secured.
The prophecy of Nah. 2:3-6 evidently has reference to modern
railroads. The term "flaming torches" fitly describes the locomotive
with its glaring head-light and its funnel pouring out smoke and
sparks and vapor.

A WONDERFUL NATION,
IN 1776 the goddess of liberty gave birth to an infant republic, in
the New World, that was destined to become a giant among the
nations of the earth. From a population of 3,000,000 souls, and a
territory of about one million square miles, the infant prodigy has
grown to a population of about 60,000,000 inhabitants, and a territory
equal to almost one half the area of North America, or to nearly the
whole of Europe. The inspiration of her success as a republic has been
infused into nearly every State of North and South America, and into
some of the nations of the Old World. That such a great nation, so
remarkable in its origin, rapid in its development, and gigantic in its
ultimate proportions should not be a subject of prophecy, fostering, as
it ever has, the rights of conscience and the liberty of man, were a
greater wonder than that Babylon or Grecia should ever have been
accorded that honor.
In Rev. 13:11 is brought to view a two horned beast that was seen
coming up about the time the ten-horned beast of verse 1 was seen
going into captivity. See verse 10. It is a matter of history that the ten
horned beast, which is a symbol of the papacy, went into captivity in
1798, when the pope was taken prisoner by the French and a
republican government was given to Rome. No nation on earth of
sufficient importance to be mentioned in prophecy was at that time in
process of rapid development, except the United States of America; all
the states of South America, and Mexico in North America being
colonies of European nations The complete division of the Roman
Empire had long existed, and prophecy admitted of no other nation
rising from its midst to exert a controlling influence over the people of
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God. The Colonies of America, though for a time belonging to divided
Rome, did not constitute any part of that empire till long after its full
development as a subject of prophecy.
The United States rose out of the earth to national dignity,
separated by the great oceans from the peoples and nations and
tongues from whence Rome had birth. The four great kingdoms of
Dan. 2 and 7 arose out of the sea, or great waters (see Isa. 8:7, 8; Rev.
17:15); but the two-horned beast arose out of the earth, not by the
subjugation and ruin of other nations; but being removed from them,
it sprung up out of its burrow in the virgin soil of the New World.
The two horns of this beast are symbols of republicanism and
Protestantism, the mild and lamb-like principles upon which our
government was founded. But although it had this lamb-like
appearance, "it spake as a dragon;" that is, its laws were dragonic or
Satanic. See Rev. 20:2. The law that held about 3,000,000 human
beings in slavery is an example. But the dragonic character is yet to be
more fully developed when it will command, on pain of death,
obedience to the customs and usages of the papacy, or, in other
words, will enforce the worship of the ten-horned beast and his
image, which image we understand to be an ecclesiastical
organization under national law,—a union of State and church,—
when the dogmas and usages of corrupt Christianity will be enforced
by civil law. And can such a state of things take place in our free
country ? People must lack discernment very decidedly if they can
read the news of the day, and not see the rapid strides of popular
sentiment in that direction.
But if the two-horned beast has arisen according to the prophecy,
then we are certainly living in the last days, and the wrath of God is
about to be poured out upon the beast and his image. See "Marvel of
Nations," by Uriah Smith.

GREAT INCREASE OF KNOWLEDGE.

"MANY shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
Dan. 12:4.
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Whether with reference to the prophetic visions of the book of
Daniel and of the Scriptures in general, or with reference to the arts
and sciences ministering to the convenience and comfort of man in
social life, the present generation witnesses a more complete
fulfillment of the above prophecy than any that has preceded it since
it was penned by the inspired man of God. The art of printing from
movable type was invented in the fifteenth century; but up to one
hundred years ago, printing as an art had not so far advanced as to
enable the operative to work of more than fifty impressions an hour.
Since that time, and more especially within the last forty years, the art
has been carried to such a state of perfection that a thousand-fold
more printed matter can be delivered from a single machine than
from any that were in use a century ago. The consequent increase in
the number of newspapers and periodicals, to say nothing of their
increased size nor of book publications, has been nearly two hundred-
fold. So vast an increase of publications indicates a thirst for
knowledge or information somewhere, and a consequent gratification.
But with the increase of literature in general, a thorough
knowledge of the Bible, especially of its prophetic portions, has kept
even pace, as evinced by the following facts and considerations:
Although the first Congress of the United States of America
performed the functions of a Bible society by ordering, at its expense,
the importation of 20,000 Bibles for the use of the people, yet not until
three years after, in 1780, was the first Bible society in all the world
organized, in England. Another on a larger scale of operation was
organized in 1804, and in 1816 the American Bible Society was
organized. These two societies have issued since their organization
about ninety-eight million copies of the Bible, in many languages.
There are also other Bible societies in the different states of Europe,
engaged in publishing and distributing the Scriptures. The first
concordance to the Bible was prepared by one Hugo de St. Caro, in
the thirteenth century; but not until the present century did successive
improvements bring such a work up to a point of almost absolute
perfection. With such a work and other aids to the study of the
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Scriptures in hand, the student of prophecy has a hundred-fold the
advantage of former generations in locating the events of prophecy or
becoming familiar with all other Bible subjects. Hence, in Biblical
exegesis the prophecy, "Knowledge shall be increased," has met with
a signal fulfillment in the present generation.
A marvelous increase in the developments of art and science is
also a characteristic of modern times. Until early in the present
century the most rapid means of ordinary transit known on land was
the horse or dromedary, and the sail at sea. The following interesting
document, taken from a secular paper, and headed, "A Historic
Document—How the News of Cornwallis's Surrender Was Received
in Boston," is an excellent illustration of the methods and time
employed in the transmission of news a hundred years ago:—
The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown was announced
to the citizens of Boston on the 26th of October, 1781; by "flyers," of
which we give below a verbatim copy. These "flyers" were sheets
about ten by seven and one half inches in size, coarsely printed, as
appears by the copy below, by N. Willis. This printer, Nathaniel
Willis, was the grandfather of Nathaniel Parker Willis, the poet and
journalist. He was born in 1755, and died in 1831; was one of the
famous Boston "Tea Party," and subsequently was a journalist in Ohio
many years. The document from which, the copy below was made is a
well-preserved one, time-stained but perfectly intact, and compares
curiously with the newspaper extras which in these times announce
extraordinary events to the public:—
BOSTON, October 26.
A Gentleman who arrived here this Morning, from Providence,
has favour'd us with the following
IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE ! Providence, October 25, 1781,
Three o'Clock P. M.
This Moment an Express arrived at his Honor the Deputy
Governor's from Col. CHRISTOPHER OLNEY, Commandent on
Rhode-Island, announcing the Glorious Intelligence of the Surrender
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of LORD CORNWALLIS, and his ARMY, an account of which was
printed this Morning at New-port, and is as follows, viz:
NEW-PORT October 25, 1781.
YESTERDAY afternoon arrived in this harbour, Captain
LOVETT, of the Schooner Adventure, from York-River, in Chefapeake
Bay, which fhe left the 20th inftant, and brought us the GLORIOUS
NEWS of the SURRENDER of LORD CORNWALLIS and his ARMY
Prifoners of War to the ALLIED ARMY, under the command of our
illuftrious GENERAL, and the French fleet, under the command of his
Excellency Const de Graffe.
A ceffation of arms took place on Thursday the 18th inftant, in
confequence of propofals from Lord CORNWALLIS for a capitulation
His Lord haf propofed a ceffation of TWENTY-FOUR HOURS —but
TWO only were granted by his Excellency General WASHINGTON—
The articles were compleated the same day, and the next day the
allied army took poffettion of YORKTOWN.
By this Glorious conqueft NINE THOUSAND of the Enemy,
including Seamen, fell into our hands, with an immense quantity of
warlike Stores, a forty Gun Ship, a Frigate, an armed Veffel, and about
ONE HUNDRED SAIL of TRANSPORTS.
Printed and Sold at N. WILLIS'S Printing Office.
At the present time, should an event of national importance
transpire in almost any oriental country, an account of it would
appear the following morning in the daily papers of the principal
cities of the United States. Had a prophecy of such an event been
declared to our grandfathers when in their prime, the utmost stretch
of their faith or fancy would scarcely have enabled them to believe it.
In these days, when large and splendid steamboats are so
common that a passing one will scarcely suffice to divert the attention
of the ragged urchin from the bobber of his fish-line, the following
sketch from the World's Encyclopedia concerning the first trip of the
first steam-boat, the "Clermont," on the Hudson, from New York to
Albany, in 1807, furnishes a, striking contrast:—
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Mr. Fulton made his trial trip on the Hudson River, from New
York to Albany, and thousands of curious spectators thronged the
shores to witness the failure of "Fulton the Fanatic." None believed,
few hoped, and everybody jeered. An old Quaker accosted a young
man who had taken passage, in this manner: "John, will thee risk thy
life in such a concern if I tell thee she is the most fearful wild-fowl
living, and thy rather ought to restrain thee." But on Friday morning,
the 4th of August, 1807, the "Clermont " left the wharf, and went
puffing up the Hudson, with every berth, twelve in number, engaged
to Albany. The fare was seven dollars. Fulton stood upon the deck,
and viewed the motley and jeering crowd upon the shore with silent
satisfaction. As she got fairly under way, and moved majestically up
the stream, there arose a deafening hurrah from ten thousand throats.
The passengers returned the cheer, but Fulton, with flashing eyes and
manly bearing, remained speechless. He felt this to be his long-sought
hour of triumph.
A knowledge of the arts and sciences with reference to many
other interests of social and domestic life, is a marked characteristic of
the present generation. What would we do without railroads, steam-
boats, the telegraph, the telephone, threshing-machines, sewing-
machines, reaping and mowing-machines, cast-iron plows, kerosene
oil for lighting purposes, electric lights, friction matches, cook-stoves,
well pumps, photography, and many other useful and convenient
articles and appliances ? Yet George Washington, the first President of
the United States, and his contemporaries knew nothing about them.
They belong to a later generation, fulfilling the prophecy for the last
days—"Knowledge shall be increased."
But the prophecy says also that "many shall run to and fro." This
is fulfilling in the present generation, not only by increased thorough
searching of the Bible through and through, but also by the constant
going from place to place of individuals and masses in pursuit of
business or quest of pleasure. Enter the railroad depots in any of our
great cities, and see the throngs of people coming or going on every
train; or stand in the streets of such cities on a pleasant Sunday
 16
evening, and see the moving masses that throng the sidewalks, and
truly one would be impressed with the fact that many "run to and
fro." Rapid and cheap means of transportation has created a spirit of
unrest and a desire to go somewhere that was unknown to our
forefathers. And is not this a token of the end of this dispensation, and
the near approach of the great and dreadful day of the Lord ? Only
the wisdom which is given from heaven will enable any to
understand these things; but they that do, will shine as the brightness
of the firmament in the kingdom of God. See Dan. 12:3, 10.

NATURAL PHENOMENA,
"AND I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." Joel 2:30.
These wonders were to be exhibited in the last days; and if they
serve any purpose as a subject of prophecy, it is to indicate by their
gradual increase in number and startling manifestation the near
approach of the great day of the Lord.

EARTHQUAKES.
So far as can be judged from the records, earthquakes have
become more than a thousand times more frequent in this generation
than they were in the first centuries of the Christian era. It is said that
in 1868 more than one hundred thousand persons perished by
earthquakes. The Christian Statesman of July 17, 1875, says:—
The continued occurrence and great severity of earthquakes has
distinguished the period in which we are now living above all others
since the records of such phenomena began to be generally preserved.
Strange phenomena sometimes attend earthquakes, apparently
indicating the presence of an unseen intelligence controlling the forces
of nature. The following concerning the earthquake at Charleston,
S.C., of last year, is an example:—
Pedestrians in their wanderings through the ruins to-day,
discovered many new and interesting freaks of the earthquake. Some
of them were found at the residence of Maj. J. H. Robinson, a well-
 17
known citizen. The building was badly wrecked in some places, while
in others it seemed to have escaped injury. In one bedroom of the
house the strangest freaks imaginable took place. On one side of the
chamber oil paintings were thrown from the wall with such force as to
destroy the canvas and crush the frames, while on the mantlepiece a
few feet away, in the same room, stood a slender, tall vase which
retained its perpendicular. On another wall in the room two or three
small photographs in frames-were left undisturbed, while within
three feet of them the plastering was, as it were, wrenched off and
ground into dust, and the scantling upon which the lathing was
nailed was torn out of its place. A lounge was hurled across the room
and broken to pieces, while chairs a few feet away were not even
overturned. In some places a gate-post on one side of an entrance was
twisted off, while the other post, but four feet distant, was neither
loosened nor cracked.
Tidal waves, also, sometimes sixty feet in hight, attend
earthquakes, sweeping in upon the land with irresistible and
destructive power, while the angry roar of the ocean at such times is
said to be frightful. The N.Y. Tribune of Nov. 12, 1869, says:—
Later and fuller details are every day increasing the interest with
which scientific observers regard the recent earthquakes and tidal
disturbances, and are confirming our first impression that these
convulsions of nature would prove to be among the most remarkable
and extensive of which there is any written record.

"BLOOD AND FIRE AND PILLARS OF SMOKE."

These are among the startling wonders to be exhibited in the last
days. The following sketches furnish a forcible illustration of the
manner in which this prophecy is being fulfilled:—
The Albany Times has the following account of what it very
justly calls a phenomenon: It was seen on Wednesday last [Aug, 28,
1872], about six miles from Albany, beyond the Old Mc Kown woods.
During the storm which prevailed, a cloud, funnel-shaped, descended
from the heavens, extending apparently from the clouds to the
 18
ground. The tail was near the ground, and within this peculiar-shaped
mass, smoke and fire were seen to prevail to a degree which caused
general alarm among the residents in that locality, being impressed
with the idea that Plantamonr's comet had been delayed and come at
last. The funnel-shaped mass would separate occasionally, when the
flame was plainly visible. This continued ten minutes, and was
witnessed by a number of persons, all of whom agree as to the
circumstances referred to. After the funnel-shaped cloud had
disappeared, it was discovered that the corn and other produce on the
farms in the locality where the tail of the funnel apparently rested,
were all burned off even with the surface of the earth. By this, a great
deal of property was destroyed, and no little alarm occasioned. What
produced the phenomenon is more than any one in that locality could
determine, and it would be well if some scientific gentleman could
make an investigation and report the result.
A writer in the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle speaks of a remarkable
sight witnessed by a Georgia officer of the law, as follows:—
Yesterday morning myself and another policeman were standing
at the corner of Broad and Jackson streets. I won't be positive as to the
exact time, but it was between 2 and 3 o'clock, I am sure. As you well
know, the night was dark and stormy, with heavy rains and furious
gusts of wind alternating. At the hour indicated, the rain had ceased,
and the fitful dashes of wind had been superseded by a strong, steady
blow. From the southeast the blow came, increasing in its power every
minute. I was certain that a storm was brewing or approaching, and
began to feel somewhat alarmed. But a few minutes had passed when
we discerned a bright reflection in the direction whence proceeded the
storm, and at once we formed the opinion that a conflagration had
broken out in that portion of the city—toward the Central Railroad
yards. While watching the unusual sight, and momentarily expecting
the fire alarm to ring out, we were amazed to discover that the light
did not spread or take on that fiery tint peculiar to fires.
Then a strange humming, roaring sound became audible, much
the same as that made by a coal-burning locomotive in the distance.
 19
By this time several people had gathered to watch the strange sight,
and at the suggestion of an earthquake a stampede for the middle of
the street was made. But no vibration being perceptible, and the roar,
which had now become awful, being confined to the southeast,
seemingly in company with the luminous visitor, the opinion was
reached that Augusta was about to become the center of a disastrous
death-dealing storm of some kind. Then, too, it was noticed that the
light, instead of growing larger, became brighter, and was advancing
toward us with lightning-like rapidity. The wind had increased in
fury, and came round the corners with enough force almost to carry a
man off bodily. We were frightened, but the scare was of brief
duration; for in a few minutes the aerial visitor had come and gone.
Far above us, sweeping onward with great rapidity, was seen a
luminous cloud, while close behind followed an immense mass as
black as the shadows of hades. The noise accompanying was fearful,
and was enough to bring terror to the heart of the stanchest man.
Several of the group who witnessed the wonderful phenomenon
claimed that the black cloud moved in the shape of a funnel.
The atmospheric disturbances of a few years past have been
more wonderful than any previously recorded in history. The
phenomena often attending cyclonic disturbances would seem to
indicate the presence of a malicious intelligence ruling the elements
(see Eph. 2:2), as the following instances prove. Speaking of a cyclone
in Dakota in 1884, the Inter Ocean recorded the following:—
The peculiarities of the recent cyclone are coming in. Twelve
miles northeast of Huron a man named Briggs had thirty-two head of
cattle killed by being blown into the James River and drowned, or
thrown on the ground and mashed. He had six horses killed in the
same way. Eleven hundred bushels of threshed oats in his granary
were all swept away. His wife is a well-known butter-maker for the
Huron market. The last three months she and her servant packed all
the butter they had made, in crocks, and stored it in the cellar, several
hundred pounds in all. When they saw the storm coming they went
into the cellar and crouched in the northeast corner of it, the direction
 20
from which the cyclone was coming. It carried away and destroyed
the house, scooped up every crock of butter, carried them away, and
they cannot be found. The women were unhurt.
William Felkey had two horses in his stable; also a colt. The
stable, horses, and colt are yet to hear from. Myron Kenney had two
harnessed horses and a stable halter wafted away. The horses were
seen to go up in the air and come down a long distance off. About two
hours afterward they walked back home with all the harness off but
the collars.
S. N. Davis saw seven regular cyclones in the air at the same,
time, ten miles away from Huron. The Rev. George A. Cressey lives a
mile from the business center of Huron. The cyclone that struck near
here was in plain sight from his house, a mile distant. He says no
wind was stirring outside the storm belt, and there were no other
clouds in the sky. At times two or three cyclonic clouds were in view.
All had a special motion, and looked exactly like an ordinary tin
funnel. The cloud gradually rose and fell, going southeast. While in
sight there appeared to be a double funnel, the outer one black and
the inner one white. When the lower end touched the ground,
everything it touched was destroyed.
The Cincinnati Enquirer published some peculiarities reported of
a cyclone in Ohio, from which we condense the following: Straws
were blown into oak trees. Fowls were entirely stripped of feathers. A
man was floated on a mattress several hundred feet by the wind. He
was injured, but not seriously. The storm was about half a mile wide.
It twisted immense trees off at the ground, as though they were pipe-
stems; cut crops of grain and grass off as clean as a mowing-machine;
and stripped trees of their bark. A wagon was carried half a mile. The
tires on two of the wheels were each cut in two as with some sharp
instrument, and each partly straightened in exactly the same shape.
Dishes were carried and driven into stumps, so that they could not be
pulled out. On one man's premises there was destruction of property,
but the family escaped alive from the cellar. There were six horses in
the barn. The building was lifted and blown away, leaving the dumb-
 21
foundered animals there exposed to the storm, but otherwise not
injured. One side of a church building was carried over a river, and
the foundation plowed through the ground for twenty-five or thirty
feet. Tombstones in the church-yard were snapped off by the wind as
though they were sticks of wood. A man was picked up by the wind,
and thrown 300 yards in the direction opposite to that in which the
storm was traveling. A baby was lifted by the wind and placed on a
feather bed, and both were carried 150 feet and deposited on the
ground, a log falling on either side of the baby, pinning the bed fast
while its tiny occupant remained unhurt.
The forest fires a few years ago, in some portions of Michigan
and Wisconsin, were equally phenomenal in this respect. A writer in
the Milwaukee Sentinel says of the Wisconsin fire:—
In some places the forest trees lay in every imaginable position,
while in others they were carried into windrows. . . . In some
instances great tongues of fire like lightning would issue from the
dark clouds, and light upon the buildings; Pennies were melted in the
pockets of persons who were but little burned. A small bell upon an
engine, and a new stove, standing from twenty to forty feet from any
building, were melted. Many thought the "great day of His wrath"
had come. And why should they not ? Persons who visit the ruins
since the fire are forced to think that God hid his face in wrath, and
sent forth his thunderbolts of destruction; nay, that he gave the very
fiends of hell the right and power to shake the place and burn it up.
Exhibitions of aurora borealis also have never been so frequent
and startling as during the present century. The whole face of the
heavens is sometimes flushed as with the fever glow of our dying
world.

GREAT WEALTH.
IN the last days gold and silver and other commodities
representing great wealth were to be abundant, even among the
professed people of God. See Isa. 2:7, 20; James 5:1-3; Rev. 18. It is true
that there has been much gold and silver from time immemorial, and
 22
the splendor which only wealth could purchase has many illustrations
in the courts of some of the absolute monarchies of the past, notably
those of Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Akbar. But it remains for
later times of greater political freedom, and more abundant
appliances of art and science, to divert the influx of wealth from the
imperial throne, and distribute it more generally among the people.
The discovery of America, and with it the wealth of Atahualpa and
Montezuma, awakened a greed for gold at whose shrine it did not
scruple to sacrifice blood and tears. At that time it is said there were
only $60,000,000 of gold in Europe. The discovery of mines in the New
World, notably those of California, greatly increased the supply of the
precious metal. It is said that California has several times produced
$90,000,000 of gold in a single year.
In the present generation, wealth approximating that of ancient
monarchs has been acquired by many men who do not figure at all
conspicuously in the political arena. The great number of modern
millionaires has rendered the simile "As rich as Croesus" a stale
proverb. Modern improvements enable the common people of this
generation to live in better houses, and surround themselves with
more comforts and luxuries than many ancient kings were able to
command.
But the gift of wealth that might have been used to bless
suffering humanity, has been greatly abused. While thousands are
living in squalor and wretchedness, those who might be the almoners
of heaven to them are lavishly spending their gold at the shrine of
extravagant dress and equipage. The following instances are pertinent
illustrations:—
Colonel Oliver Payne is said to have given his sister, Mrs.
Secretary Whitney, a check for half a million dollars several months
ago, with instructions that she was to spend it for the entertainment of
her friends during her stay in Washington.—Grand Rapids Telegram.
A secular paper says:—
A Washington correspondent estimates that the funeral of Vice-
President Hendricks cost the Government $160,000.
 23

DOG COFFINS.
Asked about the truth of the report that he had recently interred
a dog in one of the public cemeteries, a Broadway undertaker said:—
I was consulted a week or so ago about burying a dog, but the
party has not ordered a coffin yet. I have furnished coffins, however,
for quite a number of dogs, and once a coffin for a parrot. The highest-
priced casket I ever supplied for a dog cost $160. A New York lady
was the mourner. It was of solid rose-wood, carved, silver-plate, and
everything first-class. I don't remember just what kind of a dog it was.
Its name was on the plate. . . . The average price paid for a dog's
casket is from $50 to $75, and the plates with the name are usually
silver and sometimes plated. . . . The casket for the parrot of which I
have spoken, was really an exquisite work of art, and the cost of
manufacture alone was over $200. It was 1 ft. 10 in. in length, of solid
rose-wood, hand-carved and hand-polished, and the mountings of
solid silver, while the linings were of the richest quality. Beneath the
outer cover was a plateglass covering, through which the dead bird,
which had been carefully embalmed, could be gazed upon by its
devoted mistress.—N. Y. Sun.

EXTRAVAGANCE IN DINNERS.
Not every one is aware of the extent to which extravagance in
dinners is carried in New York. At a dinner given not long ago by Mr.
P — a banker residing on Madison Square, what served as "dinner
cards" for the ladies cost $1,200. They consisted of the best quality of
wide ribbons, each different in color, and each long enough for a sash.
The ends were exquisitely painted, and edged with an elaborately
made fringe. One end of each was drawn over a ring which was
fastened below the chandelier, and carried to the lady's place for
whom it was designed. These formed a tent over the table, which was
very elegant in effect. Each lady, as she seated herself, drew her sash
from the ring above, appropriating it as she pleased. . . . At another
 24
"simple meal," given on Fifth avenue, to a company of eleven, the
large square dinner cards, painted for the occasion, cost $100 each.
In the Pacific Rural Press of Feb. 14, 1886, we find the following
editorial, which is a fair illustration of the condition of the two classes
generally:—

TWO PICTURES.
It struck us as rather a forcible showing of the wide disparity
between the rich and the poor, even in this age of progress and
enlightenment, to read, as we did in adjoining columns of telegraphed
news in an evening paper last week, as follows:—

THE BANQUET.
The dinner was splendid and beautiful in its appointments. Ten
courses were served throughout; clusters of fresh fruits, bananas, and
apples brightened the table here and there. The tea and coffee services
were of solid gold, on massive golden trays; the forks and spoons
were of hammered silver, of rich designs; the china was hand-painted
Dresden, Vienna, and Paris ware, and each plate was distinct in itself,
containing some historic portrait or scene, or some odd design. The
table was spread in the finest of white damask, relieved in the center
by a large basket of roses, flanked on each side by an oval plaque of
Jacqueminots. The company were received in the long oriental
parlors, where bright and beautifully blended colors presented an
almost enchanting picture.

THE RIOT.
Fears are entertained that the riots of yesterday will be renewed
to-day. This is what could naturally be expected when the immunity
enjoyed by the mob in the work of destruction yesterday is
considered. The police showed that they were entirely powerless.
Trouble of serious proportions will ensue if the distress existing
among the working people is not soon relieved. Men will not starve
forever, and if the authorities refuse to help them, then they need not
 25
be surprised if force is resorted to, to procure bread. . . . A number of
policemen for a moment stood in the way of the men, but were swept
aside like chaff, and a host of desperate men rushed up, and the house
was overrun despite frantic screams and protests. When the invaders
went away, they left scarcely a sound pane of glass in the whole
building.

COST OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE CZAR AND THE

EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.
As to the expense to the emperor of Austria of the imperial
meeting with the czar at Krimsir [in 1885] it must have been
something awful. It must, in fact, have been the most costly thirty
hours in the whole history of the court of Vienna. The immense
schloss was cleaned, redecorated as far as possible, and refurnished,
while the grounds were put in order and the vast court-yard was
transformed into a garden. There were sent from Vienna 500 beds
with bedding, sixty court carriages, 150 horses, 1,000 pieces of carpet,
400 pairs of curtains, 800 complete breakfast services, 7,000 sets of
silver forks and spoons, 400 coffee pots, 300 teapots, 10,000 wine
glasses, 10,000 plates, 1,500 bottles of the finest Rhine wines, 2,500
bottles of claret, 3,000 bottles of champagne, 300 bottles of other
liquors, 200 clocks, 200 pounds of coffee, fifty pounds of tea, three
hundred-weight of sugar, and 800 pounds of wax candles, as well as
scores of wagon loads of furniture, pictures, plate, and china. The
suites and retinues numbered nearly 800 persons. A fire brigade was
also dispatched from Vienna, as well as three military bands and the
company of the Vienna imperial theater. — London World.
This list of items might be greatly increased, but enough is given
to exemplify the subject. While great wealth has been accumulated by
many individuals, and people generally have enjoyed the blessings of
competence, there has also been individual poverty and
wretchedness. But thousands might to-day be above want had they
not in times of prosperity acted upon the proverb, "Easy come, easy
go." Then, when stringent times come, they become jealous of
 26
capitalists, and communism, or anarchism becomes the visible
outgrowth of their discontent. But these things were to be so in the
last days, and their manifestation among us indicates that we are
living just at the close of this dispensation, and the ushering in of the
great day of the Lord.

"PERILOUS TIMES."
"THIS KNOW also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come." 2 Tim. 3:1. The apostle supplements the text with a catalogue
of nineteen sins that were to be practiced to an alarming degree in the
last days, constituting them perilous. They were to be perilous not so
much to be physical as to the moral and soul well-being of society,
and especially of the church. The carnal heart prompts to the practice
of all the sins enumerated, and there have ever been, to same extent,
aggravated exhibitions of them among men; but in the last days; they
were to flourish, luxuriantly, even among those who have a form of
godliness.

"PRIDE."
One of the most conspicuous sins enumerated is pride, The time
has come when the professed church of Christ represented by the
popular Protestant denominations of the world, can no longer say
with the great apostle, “Silver and gold have I none;" but wealth and
pride have taken the place of that which is of more value than earthly
riches, “even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit."
Costly temples whose seatings are marked by caste which wealth
or poverty create, are erected to the name of Him who had not where
to lay his head, and whose services are supported by resort to very
questionable pleasures and practices. The following items concerning
the proposed Episcopal cathedral in New York City, taken from a
recent issue of the Detroit Free Press, furnish a pertinent example:—
It is understood that the site for the great Protestant Episocipal
cathedral has been definitely settled upon at last. The property chosen
is now occupied, by the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum, which is
 27
situated near the northwest corner of Central Park. The cost will be
about $850000, The property includes, all told, 162 city lots.
In another article in the same paper is the following concerning
this magnificent church:—
When the cathedral is built, Central Park will be below it like a
great garden, and between it and the Hudson will stretch the long
slope of Riverside Park. The Grant monument, if money to build it is
ever collected, will be only a few blocks away, and handsome houses,
with mansions of millionaires interspersed here and there, will fill the
surrounding section, expelling the squatter and the goat, as the
prowling red man was expelled many years ago. The ground
purchased comprises about 160 city lots, and extends three blocks —
from One Hundred and Tenth to One Hundred and Thirteenth
streets, lying between Ninth and Tenth avenues. The price to be paid
for it is $850,000, and the edifice to be erected will probably cost from
four to five millions. The ground has belonged for half a century to an
orphan asylum, which has grown wealthy simply by the increase in
its value. It will necessarily be a few years, anyway, before the great
cathedral can be built, but there is no doubt now that it will be built,
and it will probably be one of the most imposing structures of its kind
in the world.
In our large cities, on pleasant Sundays, at the close of morning
service a crowd emerges from the wide portals of the popular
churches, who, from appearances, worship at fashion's shrine rather
than at the altar of Him who was "meek and lowly in heart."
The following paragraph on this point, constituting one of many
witnesses that might be adduced, is from the Nashville Christian
Advocate:—
A well-known English clergyman, who had preached one
morning in a magnificent New York church, watched the
congregation filing out of the aisles. "Do American ladies, then, go to
some place of amusement after church ?" he asked. "They are dressed
for the theater."
 28
A popular minister of a popular church in this State is reported
to have said, in a discourse on the subject of dress, that it was entirely
proper for people to dress according to their means. That ladies might
be robed in costly apparel, made according to the fashion of the times,
wear gold and jeweled rings, and gold watches and chains; and that
God would be better pleased with it, provided they were able to do it,
than if they were to dress in style beneath the standard of their means.
Alas ! there are too many willing ears among the professed people of
God, who listen to such teaching.

"DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS."
Another characteristic of the times is disobedience to parents. In
the days of our grandfathers, as a general rule, far more respect was
paid to parental authority and to age in general than is the case in the
present generation. Now, the boy of from three to ten years is often
the terror of the whole household, never obeying unless hired to do
so, or unless other entirely selfish motives prompt it. Having entered
his "teens," he becomes proficient in swearing, smoking, and other
vices. He calls his father "governor" or "the old man," and his poor
mother, who is weeping out her life for him, "the old woman." The
daughter rocks in the easy chair, engaged in crocheting, or reading a
tale of love or murder, while her weary mother performs the labor of
the kitchen or the laundry. To this rule there are happy individual
exceptions, but the general rule of this generation is to openly violate
the fifth precept of the moral law.

"TRUCE-BREAKERS."
Those who will not fulfill their promises or do as they agree.
Truly we are living in a time when this characteristic is prominent in
business and social circles. Making due allowance for the spirit of
boasting, which is also another characteristic of the last days, if we can
trust the statements of old and reliable business men, the present
generation is characterized by a lack of business and social integrity or
respect for promises or engagements, as compared with that which
 29
preceded it, when our grandfathers were in their prime. In this
respect, also, the present generation is ripe for the great harvest of the
day of the Lord.

"WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION."

Here is another characteristic of the last days. The present
generation has become so enervated by greedily devoured tales of
romance, and the indulgence of questionable pleasure; and the sight
of ghastly crime has become so common, that the finer sensibilities
are, to a great extent, so benumbed that abnormal exhibitions of
passion are very common, and the most tender ties of nature are
ruthlessly broken. The following paragraphs, among many that might
be adduced, are a sufficient illustration of the subject under
consideration :—
NEW RINGGOLD, PA., JAN. 11.—Mrs. Hetty Maurer and her
two-year-old child were found frozen to death this morning, by the
road-side, two miles from her home and near the house of her father,
John Klinger, of Rahn township. Mrs. Maurer had been a petted child.
In 1883 she ran away with Joseph Maurer, one of her father's hands,
and her father sent her word that she should never darken his door
again. A year ago Maurer went to Canada, and for a while sent money
to her, and with her own little earnings and by aid from a sister she
managed to exist. Her husband died at Montreal of small-pox, and she
learned his fate only two weeks ago. Thinking that time had softened
her father's heart, she went to his home yesterday to ask shelter for
herself and her child. The old man refused to hear her plea, and she
left. When found to-day the babe was wrapped in the mother's shawl.
Deputy Coroner Rergan has taken charge of the bodies, and refuses to
let Klinger bury them.—Chicago Daily News.
DELAWARE, OHIO, Nov. 26.—Mrs. William Dunlap, a woman
heretofore respectable and received in church circles, stripped her
thirteen-year-old step-daughter, covered her with soft soap, and
scrubbed her with a house broom and cold water. She afterward
whipped her frightfully with a leather strap. For telling of these
 30
cruelties, Mrs. Dunlap later scrubbed out the poor child's mouth with
soft soap. The child shows several bad scalp wounds caused by her
cruel step-mother's battering the girl's head against the wall.
Among professors of religion in the last days was to be another
class:—

"LOVERS OF PLEASURES."
"Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." Splendid
churches are now built with supplements to the auditorium, of
kitchen, dining-room, parlor, etc., where circles of its pleasure-loving
members can join hands with invited worldly guests in feasting and
merriment, ostensibly for the purpose of replenishing the depleted
treasury of the church. The following lucid testimony concerning the
worldward tendency of a great church clearly exemplifies the subject
of this article:—
The church of God is to-day courting the world. Its members are
trying to bring it down to a level with the ungodly. The ball, the
theater, nude and lewd art, social luxuries, with their loose moralities,
are making inroads into the sacred inclosure of the church; and as a
satisfaction for all this worldliness, Christians are making a great deal
of Lent, and Easter, and Good Friday, and church ornamentations. It
is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish Church struck on that rock, the
Romish Church was wrecked on the same, and the Protestant Church
is fast reaching the same doom. Our great dangers, as we see them,
are assimilation to the world, neglect of the poor, substitution of the
form for the fact of godliness, abandonment of discipline, a hireling
ministry, an impure gospel, which, summed up, are a fashionable
church. That Methodists should be liable to such an outcome, and that
there should be signs of it in a hundred years from the "sail-loft",
seems almost the miracle of history; but who that looks about him to-
day can fail to see the fact?
Do not Methodists, in violation of God's word and their
"Discipline," dress as extravagantly and as fashionably as any other
class ? Do not the ladies, and often the wives and daughters of the
 31
ministry, put on "gold and pearls and costly array" ? Would not the
plain dress insisted upon by John Wesley, Bishop Asbury, and worn
by Hester Ann Rogers, Lady Huntington, and many others equally
distinguished, be now regarded in Methodist circles as fanaticism?
Can any one going into a Methodist church in any of our chief cities,
distinguish by their attire the communicants from theater and ball
goers? Is not worldliness, seen in the music? Elaborately dressed and
ornamented choirs, who in many cases make no profession of
religion, and are often sneering skeptics, go through a cold, artistic, or
operatic performance, which is as much in harmony with spiritual
worship as an opera or theater. Under such worldly performances,
spirituality is frozen to death.
Formerly, every Methodist attended class, and gave testimony of
experimental religion; now, the class-meeting is attended by the few,
and in many churches abandoned. Seldom do the stewards, trustees,
and leaders of the Church attend class. Formerly, nearly every
Methodist prayed, testified, or exhorted in prayer-meeting; now, but
very few are heard. Formerly, shouts and praises were heard; now,
such demonstrations of holy enthusiasm and joy are regarded as
fanaticism. Worldly socials, fairs, festivals, concerts, and such like
have taken the place of the religious gatherings, revival meetings,
class and prayer meetings of earlier days.
How true that the Methodist "Discipline" is a dead letter! Its rules
forbid the wearing of gold, or pearls, or costly array; yet no one ever
thinks of disciplining its members for violating them. They forbid the
reading of such books and the taking of such diversions as do not
minister to-godliness; yet the church herself goes into shows, and
frolics, and festivals, and fairs, which destroy the spiritual, life of old
as well as young. The extent to which this is now carried on is
appalling. The spiritual death it carries in its train will only be known
when the millions it has swept into hell stand before the Judgment.
The early Methodist ministers went forth to sacrifice and suffer
for Christ. They sought not the places of ease and affluence, but of
privation and suffering. They gloried, not in their big salaries, fine
 32
parsonages, and refined congregations, but in the souls that had been
won for Jesus. Oh! how changed ! A hireling ministry will be a feeble,
a timid, a truckling, a time-serving ministry, without faith, endurance,
and holy power. Methodism formerly dealt with the great central
truth. Now, the pulpits deal largely in generalities and in popular
lectures; the glorious doctrine of entire sanctification is rarely heard
and seldom witnessed to in the pulpits. —Bishop Foster.
All the specifications of the apostle's warning are completely
fulfilled in this generation, rendering these days indeed perilous in
the acquisition of a sterling Christian character that Heaven can
approbate, and that will pass the test of the Judgment hour.

WANING OF THE OTTOMAN POWER.

IN Bible prophecy, events in the political world affecting the
interests of God's people, run parallel with the history of the church.
This has been true of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome; and it
is also true of the Ottoman Empire as a factor in the closing drama of
the world's history. At the beginning of the eighth century, more than
200 years after the complete subdivision of the Roman Empire into ten
kingdoms, the successors of Mohammed are said to have been "the
most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe." And yet it appears
that Mohammedans as such did not possess distinct national
character until near the end of the 13th century, when Othman (i.e.,
the young bustard) succeeded his father Orthogrul as chief of a tribe
of Oguzian Turks, a people who had emigrated from the steppes of
Tartary east of the Caspian Sea, and raised it to the dignity of empire.
Orthogrul had been emir to the Turkish sultan of Iconium, to which
dignity the son, also, succeeded.
On the conquest of that sultany by the Moguls, near the end of
the 13th century, Othman planned to found a new empire, and for
that purpose effected the consolidation of the different Turkish tribes.
He fixed the seat of his government at Byrsa, or Brousa, situated on
the side and near the base of Mount Olympus, about sixty miles south
of Constantinople, overlooking one of the most beautiful and fertile
 33
valleys in Asia Minor, and assumed the title of sultan. From this point
dates the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Turks had long before
embraced Mohammedanism, and had wrested the temporal dominion
of the Saracens from the califs of Bagdad.
Ambitious of extending his dominion, or from other mercenary
motives, Othman made an attack upon the Grecian Empire, on July
27, 1299. From that time the Turks greatly harrassed the Grecians for
150 years,—five months of thirty days each, prophetic time. Rev. 9:5.
Success so far attended the Turkish arms that in about seventy years
after the founding of the empire, the seat of government was removed
from Brousa to Adrianople, about 130 miles northwest of
Constantinople. The character of the Turkish ruler is well expressed
by the term "apollyon"—a destroyer. See Rev. 9:11. At the end of the
period of 150 years, the Turk had so far weakened the Grecian power
that on the death of the Greek emperor, his successor did not dare
ascend the throne without the consent of Amurath, the Turkish sultan,
which he asked and obtained. Thus ended the supremacy of the Greek
division of the Roman Empire. About four years after, Amurath
having died, his successor besieged and took Constantinople, in 1453,
and made it the seat of the Ottoman Empire.
The submission of the Greek emperor to the Turkish power, in
1449, removed from the four sultanies composing the Ottoman
Empire, the restraint which Greek supremacy had imposed, and gave
them 391 years, and fifteen days of national liberty, in which to satiate
their thirst for carnage and plunder. See Rev. 9:15. This period ended
on the 11th of August, 1840, when England, Russia, Austria, and
Prussia interposed to settle a difficulty between the sultan and
Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt,— an interposition that the sultan was
obliged to permit, thus ending the supremacy of his empire.
In the book of Daniel, the Ottoman Empire is termed " the king of
the North," in contradistinction to the king of the South, or, Egypt.
Successive conflicts of the Turk with foreign powers continue so to
weaken the empire that, foreign intervention no longer granted, in the
near future the sultan will be compelled hastily to remove his throne
 34
from Constantinople to Jerusalem—"between the seas in the glorious
holy mountain." Dan. 11:45.
The fulfillment of this last specification in the prophecy, yet
unfulfilled, is of deep interest to this generation, inasmuch as it
constitutes one of the most important tokens, and the last token, of the
close of probationary time to our world. A survey of the situation in
the East, compels the belief that the long pent-up forces that have
accumulated round the Bosporus, in the jealousies of the European
nations may, at any time, explode into fragments the Ottoman power,
and precipitate the time of trouble such as never was since there was a
nation. The following paragraphs clearly and forcibly indicate the
near approach of that terrible day.
Mr. Peter B. Sweeny, of New York, in the Chicago Times of Sept.
25, 1886, says:—
The next war in Europe, come when it may,— and it may begin
at any hour,—will be of a destructive violence unknown up to this
day. Every source of revenue has been strained, if not drained, for the
martial effect. It would be idle to say that the world has not seen the
like, because never before has it had such destructive warlike means.
Europe is a great military camp. The chief powers are armed to the
teeth. It is the combination of general effort. It is not for parade or
amusement. Enormous armies in the highest condition of discipline
and armed to perfection, leaning on their muskets or bridle in hand,
are waiting in camp and field for the order to march against each
other.
The following is part of a cable dispatch to the Providence (R.I.)
Journal of Sept. 13, 1886, introduced in that paper under a heading
containing these words: "The Road Clear for Russia; British Back-
down on the Eastern Question; Sea-coast for the Czar, and Egypt for
England:"—
LONDON, SEPT. 12: Lord Churchill and Lord Salisbury have
adopted a bold scheme for dishing Gladstone on the foreign side of
imperial policy. A powerful party, every day growing in influence,
led by men whose names are a tower of strength, has commenced an
 35
agitation for the reversal of England's traditional Turkish policy. The
platform of the new party is the withdrawal from the Turkish alliance,
and the establishment of close relations with Russia. English policy in
the East, pivots on the defense of Constantinople by the British, and
the exclusion of Russia from an outlet into the Mediterranean. This
policy is now vigorously attacked. The promoters of the pro-Russian
movement boldly assail the Turkish government in both Europe and
Asia, as fatal to human progress and injurious to British interests.
England is shown to be the only power that thinks it worth while to
bolster up the vicious rule of the Pashas. The great powers, without an
exception, are willing to see the question of the future ownership of
Constantinople and the partition of the Turkish Empire, settled and
done with.
In the same paper is an editorial on the subject, from which is the
following:—
We can begin to appreciate the change that has come over British
public opinion in the last decade, when we see a newspaper so
thoroughly imbued with the Tory doctrines, and so conversant with
the purposes of the Tory government, as the London Standard,
declaring that England can well afford to let Russia and Austria fight
out the Turkish problem for themselves. Yet Disraeli was given a
coronet a few years ago, because he preferred to see his country
undergo the horrors of a terrible war rather than allow Russia a foot-
hold south of the Danube. And England resounded with the praises of
his name. Disraeli seems to be forgotten already. No voice, even
among, his most zealous followers, is raised in advocacy of his dearest
theory and the traditional policy of his party. Even the Marquis of
Salisbury seems willing to forget the shard which he took in carrying
out Disraeli's projects. Englishmen are beginning to see, at length, that
they have no real interest in this quarrel; or, if they do not, they
appreciate that their hands are tied, and that as a result of their own
mistaken statesmanship, they are left in Europe virtually friendless.
Constantinople is of no more importance to her than Jerusalem. In
Egypt, not in Turkey, is to be found the key to her Asiatic possessions.
 36
In view of the impending crisis in the East, the declaration of
Solomon, "Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," is a
pertinent aphorism. But the prophecy goes on to declare that at that
time Michael shall stand up; and God's people, whose names are
written in the book of life, will be delivered, and a partial resurrection
take place. See Dan. 12:1, 2. This certainly indicates the close of
probationary time; for it is evident that Michael is the Archangel (Jude
9), the Lord himself (1 Thess. 4:16), the Son of God (John 5:25, 28), the
Prince of Israel (Dan. 10:21), the root and offspring of David (Rev.
22:16); that his standing up indicates the close of the investigative
Judgment which began in 1844 (see 1 Pet. 4:17; Rev, 14:6, 7; Dan. 7:9,
10, 13, 14); and that the awaking from the dust of the earth is the
resurrection.
"The great decisive day is at hand."
[Note—For facts in the foregoing article, see "Chambers'
Encyclopedia," "Ancient and Modern History," "Lands of the
Saracens," "Seven Trumpets," etc.]

MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
THE Spirit of God expressly warns us that seducing spirits are to
abound in the last days, working great signs and wonders, and, if
possible, fatally deceiving the very elect. See 1 Tim. 4:1; Matt. 24:24;
Rev. 13:13. These prophetic specifications are being remarkably
fulfilled in the manifestations of modern Spiritualism. The magianism
of Egypt, the astrology of Chaldea, the witchcraft of ancient and
modern times, and modern Spiritualism, are only different terms
expressive of the same leading principles under different dates and
detail of manifestation.
Modern Spiritualism had its starting-point at the humble house
occupied by Michael Weekman, at Hydesville, N. Y., in 1847, who at
different times during that year heard rappings upon his door; but he
entirely failed to discover the cause. Under these uncomfortable
circumstances he left the premises, which, however, were soon
tenanted by Mr. John D. Fox. The rappings were continued, and
 37
extended to every part of the house, depriving the inmates of sleep.
Two of the Fox girls, occupying a bed together, were disturbed by the
close proximity of the knocks to the bed, and, it is said, one of them
tried the experiment, sportively, of responding by corresponding
knocks. Succeeding in this, questions were asked, and answered by an
indicated number of knocks. Thus, in response to questions, the
agency declared itself to be a spirit. The family were called up, and a
thorough search was made for the cause of the phenomenon, but
without avail. The neighbors were sent for, who also searched, but
with no satisfactory result. Great excitement followed, and for several
subsequent days multitudes visited the house to witness the
phenomena.
About three weeks after, David, a son of Mr. Fox, went into the
cellar where the raps were then heard, and said, "If you are the spirit
of a human being who has once lived on the earth, can you rap the
letters that will spell your name ? and if so, rap now three times."
Three raps were promptly given, and David proceeded to call the
alphabet, writing down the letters as they were indicated, and the
result was the name "Charles B. Roams." David was further informed
by the invisible agent, that he was the spirit of a peddler who had
been murdered in that house some years before; but the most careful
investigation did not verify the revelation in any particular.
The knockings were continued, but, at length, only in the
presence of the two younger daughters, Catherine and Margarette;
and on the family's removing soon after to the neighborhood of
Rochester, the manifestations still accompanied them. In the original
nomenclature of Spiritualism, silence indicated a negative, one rip an
affirmative, and five knocks a call for the alphabet, when, by calling
the letters by the living voice or by passing a pencil over them, the
proper letter was indicated by a rap.
On the 14th of November, 1849, in accordance with directions, a
public lecture was given at Corinthian Hall, Rochester; and, to
examine into the origin of the manifestations, a committee was
appointed to make a most thorough examination into the phenomena;
 38
but the effort was not rewarded with satisfactory results. Other
committees, subsequently formed, meeting with no better success, one
of the ladies was appointed, in whose presence, in a private room to
which they were strangers, the young lady mediums should be
disrobed, and be made to stand upon pillows with their ankles firmly
tied; but the raps were repeated, and intelligent answers to questions
communicated in the usual way.
But these manifestations were not long confined to the Fox
family. In the space of two or three years it was calculated that the
number of recognized mediums practicing in the United States was
not less than thirty thousand. The variety of Phenomena known by
the general term of "spiritual manifestations," are said to be very
numerous, the following being the principal:
1. Making peculiar noises of various kinds, indicative of more or
less intelligence, and even uttering articulate speech or musical notes,
loud, forcible, or gentle, but all audible realities.
2. The moving of material substances in a remarkable manner,
with like indications of intelligence; thrumming musical instruments;
writing with pen or pencil; and performing sleight-of-hand acts, etc.
3. Controlling the physical and mental powers of the mediums,
independent of the will or conscious influence of men, and through
them speaking, writing, preaching, prophesying, etc.
4. Presenting apparitions of a part or the whole of the human
form, singly or in groups, conversing together, and giving sensible
demonstrations of their existence by contact, etc.
5. Through these various manifestations communicating,
ostensibly by departed human spirits, to friends in the flesh, and to
the public, intellectual, moral, and social instruction concerning the
present and future state, etc.
Among the adherents to the system, are ranked men who figure
prominently in the religious and political world, and it is evidently
destined to exert a positive, controlling influence upon the destinies of
nations, going forth to the kings of the earth to gather them to the
field of Armageddon, at the last day. See Rev. 16:13, 14.
 39

ITS FRUITS.
The text-book of Christianity, the Bible, has exerted a happy,
molding influence upon the most enlightened nations of the earth.
The principles of justice, purity, and charity it has inculcated, when
heeded, have restrained the lawless, and protected the innocent; have
promoted the refinement of the wealthy and the opulent; have lifted
the degraded from their low estate to the plane of pure humanity;
have founded asylums for the indigent and the unfortunate; have
preserved the peace and purity of the domestic circle, of society, and
of the nation; have made life generally a blessing; have shed a halo
over the path of declining years; and have given a joyous hope in
death of immortality in the world to come, free from the
contaminating touch of sin.
Has Spiritualism done more? Has it done anything to ameliorate
the condition of unfortunate humanity, or to refine society? Its
principles are antagonistic to the Christian religion. Its manifestations
consist mainly of certain marvelous tricks, or sleight-of-hand
performances, that can do nobody any good. Man, by his own
cunning, or by the psychologic or mesmeric power concentrated by
the electric current of a circle of mediums, can accomplish astonishing
feats; and when to this is added the mesmeric influence of Satan, the
manifestations are a little more marvelous, but of the same nature.
Man performs some of his feats of legerdemain in the seclusion of a
cabinet; Satan, more openly, being hidden, as the agent, by his
invisibility.
The faith inspired by Spiritualism in not elevating, and the
reward it offers does not fill the measure of pure desire. The human
mind, when concentrated in the application of its powers, can
produce wonderful results, and the stronger can obtain control over
the weaker by mesmeric or psychologic influence. The manifestations
of Spiritualism purport to be those of departed immortal souls of once
living men, women, and children, and reveal a condition of things in
the spirit world more versatile and unsatisfactory than such as exist in
 40
this, elevating the vile above the pure, and creating desires that cannot
be gratified except en rapport with living beings in the flesh. But the
Bible teaches that "the dead know not anything;" that they have no
"more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun" (Eccl.
9:5, 6, 10); that in the day of death their "thoughts perish" (Ps. 146:4);
and that, in the point of natural life man has "no pre eminence above"
any other animal. Eccl. 3:18-20.
But man is a much higher order of animated nature than
anything else that breathes in this world; and though, because of sin,
he is returned by the fiat of the Creator to the dust from whence he
was taken, he has the promise from that Creator of a resurrection from
the dead, and conditional immortality. "Why should it be thought a
thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead ?" Acts 26:8.
What need of a resurrection if the soul is sent immediately to heaven
or hell at death ? and what good sense in it if the spirit be made to
suffer torment in hell, or joy in heaven, for perhaps thousands of
years, and then be called back, united to its body, and judged to
determine whether worthy of either condition, or, in other words,
whether God has made any mistake in the matter ? But if all sleep
alike, unconscious of the lapse of time, till the day of Judgment, and
all be fairly judged before entering upon their awarded state, the fact
commends itself to our better judgment as correct. This view of the
subject is a perfect safeguard against the most startling, manifestations
of Spiritualism. Spiritualism is of Satanic origin, and will secure for its
followers who do not break away from its influence, a share in the
arch deceiver's fate.
While it is denied that man has a spirit, or soul, independent of
his natural body, it is confessed that there are spiritual beings, such as
holy angels, and fallen angels, or devils, all superior in intellectual
power to man. (See Jude 6; John 8:44.) These can exert an influence
over the minds of men or women who will yield to their control. Evil
spirits can exert an influence over individuals, modulating the tones
of the voice and the gestures of the mediums, so as to represent those
peculiar to our departed friends with whom the fallen spirit was well
 41
acquainted when alive, thus appealing to our affection by familiar
tokens for belief in a system sure to end in our utter ruin if believed in
and followed.
The so called system of "Christian science," or "faith cure," is a
Christianized form of modern Spiritualism.
"But do you not believe," says one, "that God can, and does now,
in answer to prayer, heal the sick ?"—Yes, certainly; and yet it is
evident that ever since the fall of man the work of the Spirit of God
has been counterfeited; and doubtless it is especially so in these last
days. According to their own writings, the people who advocate and
practice metaphysical healing, deny the death of Christ; represent
God as a principle; claim a future state of probation; declare that the
second coming of Christ has taken place, and many other absurdities
contrary to plain declarations of the Bible. Although there may be
modifications of the general belief, yet the whole body must be
leavened with error fatal to the vitality of true religion. Do the
advocates of the "faith cure" follow the Bible rule for healing the sick ?
See James 5:14, 15. Let the reader observe.
"But," says one, "could I not be healed by them and not indorse
their religious views ?" We answer, Leave their method of curing
diseases entirely alone. If the Lord is willing to heal you of infirmity
while you walk in obedience to his will, accept it gratefully; but if not,
you would better suffer on a little longer here, and have immortality
in the near future.
The prince of the power of the air can afflict the bodies of men
and women as he did Job's and many others; and whom he afflicts he
can heal. It is evident that this so called " faith cure" is all the more
dangerous because of its hiding its real character. The Bible bears a
plain testimony against going after such things; and if God's people
will but "prove all things" by the Bible, there will be little danger of
their going astray.

THE THREE MESSAGES OF REV. 14:6-13.

 42
In the last days three important messages were to go forth to the
world, to prepare the way for the coming of Christ in his glory. See
Rev: 14:6-12.
The first of these messages announces the hour of God's
judgment as having come. In the days of Paul and Peter the Judgment
day was yet in the future, and was an appointed time. See Acts 17:31;
24:25; and 1 Pet. 4:17. The term "is come" in 1 Pet. 4:17 was supplied
by the translators, and does not harmonize with the texts cited. Will
come would doubtless more properly express the meaning of the
apostle. The apostle Paul also warned the church that the day of
Christ, of which the Judgment announced in Rev. 14:6,7 is a
preliminary event, was not then at hand, nor could it come, according
to prophecy, for more than 1700 years thereafter. See 2 Thess. 2:1-10;
Rev. 13:5-7; Dan. 7:19-26.
It is impossible that these messages could have been given
previous to the time of the end, which began in 1798, when papal
supremacy ended; for the book of Daniel as a prophetic index of
closing time, was sealed by angelic authority until that event should
have occurred. Besides that which was checked by apostolic authority,
history records the fact that a few fanatical movements on the subject
of the second advent as an approximate event have occurred, notably
one in the tenth century. Luther expressed it as his opinion that it
would occur about 300 years after his time, or in the present century.
Bengel, an eminent Biblical scholar and divine of Germany in about
1741, thought it would occur in about 1836. Thus, all the lines of
sound prophetic exegesis center in about the present generation. The
territory over which the three messages were to be proclaimed, was to
be co extensive with the dominions of man in the earth, and they were
to be given in every tongue. It is evident, therefore, that the work is
not to be done in a corner. Such demonstrations being due in the
present generation, it becomes a question of vital interest as to
whether such proclamations are going forth to the world. The
following facts are, doubtless, a sufficient elucidation.
 43
THE FIRST MESSAGE.
Between A. D. 1827 and 1844, William Miller, in the United
States, Edward Irving, in England, and Dr. Joseph Wolfe, missionary
at large, and other prominent ministers, without special reference to
each other, proclaimed, in their respective fields of labor, the essential
elements of the First Angel's Message. The magnitude that the work
assumed at that time appears in the fact, as stated, that in the United
States about 300 ministers united in giving the proclamation, and in
England about seven hundred more, while Mr. Wolfe proclaimed the
doctrine in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, in
Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia (in Asia), Arabia,
throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Turkistan, Bokhara,
Afghanistan, Cashmere, and many other places. At that time Christ
came, not to the earth, but before the Ancient of days, and the
investigative Judgment upon the house of God began (Dan. 7:9-13),
fulfilling the prophecy of Dan. 8:13, 14. The Sanctuary here spoken of
is the heavenly, and its cleansing is identical with the antitypical day
of atonement of which that of the earthly sanctuary was a type. See
Lev. 16; Heb. 8:1-8; 9.
The second and third messages are given during the hour of
Judgment announced by the first, a brief space of time reaching from
1844 to the close of probation. But the first message prolongs its note
of warning, and is joined by the second and third, all ending together
at the close of probationary time and the beginning of the great day of
the Lord.

THE SECOND MESSAGE.

The terms of the first message were sufficiently explicit,—"The
hour of His judgment is come" but the early theological schooling of
those who gave the message, doubtless greatly influenced them in
associating the Judgment with the personal and visible advent of
Christ from heaven, and the cleansing of the Sanctuary of Dan. 8:14
with the burning of our world (see 2 Pet. 3), subjects that had not then
been elucidated by scriptural authority.
 44
For wise purposes God permitted a mistake that did not
invalidate the message, to be made; for in the great host of Advent
believers at that time there were, as in Gideon's army, too many that
were moved by fear or faint-heartedness, and but few that had faith
that could brook disappointment and delay, and cling to the prophetic
word when hope seemed almost vain. The result was a great falling
away, a rejection of the message by the popular churches, and a
consequent moral fall; for the message they rejected was from
Heaven. But the few who had not rejected the message, impelled by
the same divine Spirit that had inspired that work, arose and
proclaimed the second message (Rev. 14), applying the term
"Babylon," signifying confusion, to the popular Protestant
denominations of the world. The history of the popular churches for
the last forty years justifies the terms of the message, and demands an
increased intonation of its warning as the years go by. Gradually there
has crept into her communion traffic that exceeds in defilement that
which was ejected from the temple by the Son of God.
Auction sales of women and of merchandise, and lotteries
violating the civil law; socials of various kinds, such as grab-bag,
neck-tie, newspaper, pop-corn, soap-bubble, broom-drill, donkey,
mum, promiscuous kissing, etc.; theatrical farces, necromancy, opera
singing, and dancing, while attendance upon the opera, the theater,
and the circus are indulged in to such an extent as would have
alarmed the founders of the creed-bound churches had prophetic ken
lifted the vail from the social customs of this generation.
In this matter we do not lay the foundation of a theory, and then
compass sea and land in search of material to rear the superstructure,
but the facts are furnished us from the rostrum and the press, and
from ministers and laymen of these churches themselves. While the
message from heaven is sounding the alarm, "Babylon is fallen," she
takes up and prolongs the refrain, "Is fallen, is fallen."
The following article, which appeared in a recent issue of the
Chicago Daily News (Dec. 2, 1887), under the heading, "A fancy
 45
Religious Bazaar —Fine display of Women's Work at Bishop Fallow's
Church," is a practical comment on Rev. 18:12, 13:—
"What would my church be if it were not for the ladies !"
exclaimed Bishop Fallows last evening, as he entered the door of the
little stone edifice at the corner of Adams street and Winchester
avenue, and beheld the display of womanly handiwork spread before
him.
It was the opening day of the annual bazaar given by the ladies'
association of the church, and the exhibition of articles, fancy and
useful, was absolutely bewildering. Ranged about the cozy little
chapel were a series of booths, where pin-cushions, sachet-bags,
tidies, mats, screens, fans, scarfs, and every conceivable article of
household decoration were displayed for sale. Charming young ladies
presided in the booths, and lured many a young man to their side
only to ask him to buy for "charity's sake."
"Why don't you try your charms on the old men ?" was asked of
one of the young misses as she tucked away a crisp two-dollar bill
that she had just extorted from a young dry-goods clerk.
"Oh, the old birds are so wary we can't capture them," was the
quick reply, and the pretty damsel thrust forward a hand-
embroidered slipper-case and smiled so bewitchingly that the
reporter's purse opened of its own accord.
"The gals can sell the goods, but their mothers can beat 'em on
coffee," observed a gray-headed old deacon, as he sipped a cup of rich
Java, the delicious aroma of which filled the entire room. One or two
line-looking but sedate old ladies volunteered to relieve the girls for a
time, but, soon finding that the money-drawer was not filling as
rapidly as before, they were glad to return to the culinary department,
where their long experience gave them a decided advantage. The
attendance was large, and the opening day was looked upon as a
marked success.
The following from the REVIEW, under the heading, "A
Specimen," is a witness to the subject of this article:—
 46
A correspondent sends us the record of a little incident which
shows into what condition some of the churches of our land have
fallen.
A church not a hundred miles from his place, threw wide open
its doors for an entertainment by a sleight-of-hand performer,
magician, mesmerist, ventriloquist, spirit medium, slate writer, etc.
The entertainment was to be a roaring scene of fun and frolic for old
and young, according to the hand-bill advertising it, a copy of which
he has sent us. According to the bill it must have been a mixture of
reality and fraud, truth and deception, human cunning and diabolical
agency. But viewed from any stand-point, and in any aspect, it must
have been an abomination in a place of worship.
The following article is from the Christian Million, (London):—
Side by side with the astonishing development of prurient
literature, there has grown up in Sunday-schools and temperance
societies with a close membership, an equally astonishing
development of kissing games. In these kissing games, teachers and
senior scholars indulge for hours together; and they form the great
attraction of many gatherings. . . . It was our painful duty to visit a
London S. S. entertainment where these things were being carried on
from six in the evening till midnight. We protested verbally, and also
by leaving an entertainment where we felt the presence of God was
not recognized. It began with a can-can in which, to an idiotic song
and tune, first the upper, then the lower, members of the body were
raised and swung about. After this, an hour was spent in kissing and
kissing. Then came the grand treat called "the army." Marching
around in pairs, these Sunday-school teachers went through a drill in
which "present arms" and "fire a volley" meant embracing and kissing
between the sexes. When we state that the male "teachers" knelt down
before their partners to embrace them, and that six "volleys" were
ordered at once, or that kissing in that posture was ordered to
continue until the word "halt" from the bugle-man the reason of our
departure and strong, indignant protest will be evident.
 47
In the REVIEW of a few months ago, under the heading "A
Church Theatrical in New Orleans," is the following:—
A theatrical entertainment was given a few evenings ago, under
the auspices of the M. E. church in the city of New Weans. It was held
for three successive evenings, in Washington Artillery Hall. This
spacious building was well packed with people of all classes and ages.
A farce was enacted, in which many persons, arrayed to
represent wax figures, were placed upon the stage, dressed in various
costumes, representing different characters. A man dressed in
woman's attire acted the part of a lecturer, commenting upon each
one as having been some individual of note in the annals of tragedy or
romance. A man dressed in uncouth paraphernalia, and acting the
part of a clown, at the command, "wind her up, Theophilus," placed a
ratchet-wheel at the back of the individual, pretending to wind up the
internal machinery. The figure would then go through a course of
movements representing scenes in the tales of "Blue Beard," "Ole Bull
the Fiddler," "Mother Goose," "The Puritan Maid and her Lover," etc.
The lecturer announced to the audience that the famous
personage "Ole Bull," was the inventor of the modern tunes known as
"Yankee Doodle," "Home Sweet Home," "When the Robins Roost
Again," etc. A love song was then sung by the man in woman's
costume, entitled, "The Old Man and his Daughter Dinah." The
chorus, "Sing tu-ri-lu-ri-la," was sung in a squalling falsetto voice. The
farce closed with a general wind up with the ratchet-wheel, and each
pretended figure joined in a dance.
Mr. Brinker, late of the Star Dramatic Company, recited the
"Wounded Soldier" and "On the Frontier." Some of the expressions
used in the former piece were such as to make decidedly bad
impressions upon the minds of the youth, who composed no small
part of the audience. "Our Father who art in heaven," and "What in
the Devil does this mean ?" were uttered with almost the same breath.
After the theatrical entertainment concluded, a sumptuous repast of
chicken salad, iced tea, guess cake, etc., was indulged in.
 48
In the REVIEW AND HERALD of June 14, 1887, the following
article appeared, from the Boston Christian Witness of May 19. The
introductory note in the REVIEW says that the following is an
"account of a new style of entertainment devised by some of the
church authorities, for the purpose of raising money. Between affairs
of this stamp and the 'donkey sociables' which have lately come into
vogue, it would seem that there is not much room for the Devil to
introduce more of his devices before Rev. 18:2 will have its most
literal fulfillment:"—
The crazy tea party in the vestry of the M. E. Church, last
Thursday evening, was one of the most enjoyable church festivities
ever held in this town. At six o'clock, sharp, the doors were opened,
and those desiring to satisfy the inner man in a crazy fashion, soon
took possession of the bountifully supplied tables. As we viewed the
tables, the fact that it was a crazy tea became more and more
apparent. Cold meats occupied cake-baskets; hot rolls in dripping-
pans, knife-trays, fruit-trays, etc.; cake on coalshovels, platters, dust-
pans, and pickle-dishes; tea and coffee in milk-pails, pint bowls, ice
cream dishes, and creamers; milk in vinegar bottles and sugar bowls,
and vice versa; salt and pepper in match boxes, earthen casts, and
miniature coal-hods; and everything else in as crazy a manner as
possible. The tables were decorated with decorative bouquets of dried
grasses, flowers made of rags, onions, and fruits of the season, in
water pitchers and soup-tureens. The table-cloths and napkins were of
the crazy-patchwork patterns. Our investigations had gone thus far
when a procession of crazy waiters suddenly appeared, carrying
wash-boards, dripping-pans, dish-pans, baskets, lap-boards, and
other articles too numerous to mention. The costumes of the waiters
were of all colors, shapes, and styles, and a whole newspaper could
not do justice in describing them; so we will not attempt it, but will
say that a double-headed man and our popular market-man, arrayed
in elephant trousers, bangs, false hair, rouge, and court-plaster, and
carrying an immense wash-board, were sights well worth the ten
cents admission—not counting the host of other waiters who had
 49
escaped from some asylum previous to the occasion. During the
evening the company was called to order by the clarion notes of a
five-cent trumpet, supplied with wind by a retired editor of the
Herald, when the following musical entertainment was presented. . . .
After which supper was resumed, and lasted until about half past
nine, when we departed for home. Altogether the crazy tea was a very
successful affair, and cast much credit upon the ladies and gentlemen
who had the matter in charge, besides putting a neat little sum in the
treasury for the benefit of the organ fund.
This list of practices that ought to cause every professor of
religion engaging in them, to blush, might be greatly increased; but
the limits of a newspaper article forbid.
The following extract from an address by Bishop Mc Tyeire, on
the subject of an increased tendency of the church toward worldliness,
delivered at Richmond, Va., May 5, 1886, shows very forcibly the drift
of the prominent Protestant churches
Acts of worldliness to which our church half a century back was
a stranger, are now regarded without alarm by many Christian men
and women; such as, attending theaters and operas, occasionally
visiting the race-courses, dancing, permitting children to attend the
weekly matinee; to which may be added some noticeable forms of
Sabbath desecration, such as, the neglect of church-going, excursions
for pleasure, and the buying of food in the market-house. Yet graver
offenses, occasionally committed, pass unchallenged by church
authorities; such as, gambling in "futures," and the purchasing of
lottery tickets. It is not merely that such things are done, but that the
doing shocks the spiritual sensibility of the membership so little.
The idea obtains with many that our societies are expected to
furnish constant entertainment of some kind for all who become part
of the body of Christ; that in the Sabbath-school, all exercises are to be
light and varied; that in the Sabbath service, prayers are to be short;
the lessons of the day are to be brought within narrow limits, and
often one or both omitted. The man of God is to gauge all the services
of the sanctuary by the relish of the world for the things of God.
 50
Along with this may be noted an extreme hesitancy in bringing to trial
those who openly bring scandal upon the church; an unreadiness to
act upon committees of investigation or as witnesses against
offenders, and the still greater difficulty of securing the expulsion of
immoral and unworthy persons. . . .
The duty of sustaining His cause, of devoting everything to His
service, is impressed upon every believer at the instant of his
conversion. The grateful pledges of that supreme hour are by many
remembered and redeemed during a whole life after; but by very
many those joyful vows are languidly performed. The daily oblation
is not presented to Him who, though rich, became poor, that we
through His poverty might be rich. This divorce of the body of faith
from the spirit of works continually threatens the dissolution of
spiritual life in thousands of our membership. The dark cloud of
covetousness is settling down steadily upon many church altars, and
will surely extinguish their fires. And until this vice is clearly
recognized as fatal to religion, and of the very essence of sin, it will
continue, as a worm, to gnaw away at the base of all the enterprises of
the church.
Will the reader please see also the testimony of Bishop Foster, in
No. 10 of this series?
The cup of Babylon is almost full, and, in her unsteady hand it is
slopping over. But there are a few devoted men and women in her
communion who lament her fall, and strive, though in vain, to stay
the tide of evil. A voice from heaven calls, "Come out of her, my
people." Rev. 18:4.

———
From a series of 13 articles by Adolphus Smith; Published in the Review and
Herald periodical from September 20 1887 to December 20 1887.