The Lord had designed to save his people to the uttermost. He had vowed that the gates of hell should not prevail against them and that no man should pluck them out of his hand. In this he did not presume to destroy the agency of his followers; but rather guaranteed them protection against the power of a third party. But never did the Lord intimate that the church itself could not fall. That would be imparting to his disciples an infallibility which belongs only unto God. It was in their power to say whether they would or would not remain on the Lord's side. Evidently they preferred not to, for "they transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broke the everlasting covenant," and so were soon brought to realize the fearful fulfillment of all that was couched in that penetrative prophecy of the Master: And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.-Matthew 11: 12. The breaking of the covenant is a serious offense; the Lord, as one of the parties thereto, could not be further bound; and so Israel, the church, by their rashness threw down the bars permitting every evil of the enemy to enter and commit untold destruction among the flock. Thus the enemy unopposed, continued to make havoc of the church. It continued until the saints were overcome and "worn out." And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of a time. -Daniel 7:25. And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced and prospered. -Daniel 8: 12. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.-Daniel 8: 24. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. -Revelation 13: 7. The children of the church, "scattered and peeled," were driven into disorganization, represented by the apostle as a "wilderness." "And the woman fled into the wilderness." (Isaiah 18: 2, 7; Revelation 12: 6.) In the 12th chapter of Revelation the story of the persecution and apostasy of the church is concisely presented in a remarkable vision. The apostle viewed the church in the embodiment of a "woman," a figure frequently used in scripture to represent the people of God. Note 2 Corinthians 11: 2; Ephesians 5:23; Revelation 19:7-10; 21: 9; John 3: 29; Matthew 25: 1-3. As first presented she stood in an attitude of triumph, and did we not learn of her later condition we would almost be tempted to say that no power could prevail against her. She is seen clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, while twelve stars adorn her brow. All this, of course, is figurative language and must be so interpreted. No literal woman was ever clothed with a literal sun. The sun represented the light and intelligence that attended the early church, for when in communion with the Master she truly received instruction from the "Sun of righteousness." Thus was the blessed doctrine of revelation made the medium to convey unto the church "the glory of God." The moon, a planet without light of itself and occupying a place beneath the woman, symbolized the Mosaic law which formerly reflected through types and shadows the gospel of the kingdom. It had passed away and was no longer binding on the church. A crown of twelve stars pointed unmistakably to the quorum of twelve apostles, the foremost officers of the kingdom, they in turn representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus was the church, established in the days of Christ and the apostles, prepared to resist every evil if she would. A new scene presents itself to view. It is "A great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns." This represents the Devil (verse 9), but it is the Devil working through human agency as he usually does. The agent used upon this occasion clearly indicates that it is some idolatrous empire, as the term dragon prophetically signifies. (Ezekiel 29: 3.) At the time of the vision the predominating empire of the world was Rome, therefore it must be that nation which is signified:-"And the dragon, the heathen Roman Empire, stood before her to devour her child." (Sir Isaac Newton, On the Prophecies, page 316. See also Reverend Hurd, D. D., On the Prophecies, page 161.) The seven heads and ten horns upon this beast confirm our identification of the Roman Empire. During its long existence it had no less than seven different forms of government, and was finally divided into ten separate kingdoms. We shall have more to say of this hereafter. Following the fortunes of this woman or church we are led at once into a pathway of gloom. Her child, that which was born of her, was taken to heaven. The child represented the work of the church, giving birth to the people of God through the ordinances of baptism and the laying on of hands, "Ye must be born again." And so the church in those early times labored and ultimately brought forth a people for God to a redeemed condition. Accomplishing this the child was taken from her, and with him went the gifts and signs hitherto plentifully abounding through the revelations of Jesus Christ. With the departure of the child and the consequent loss of revelation the church must needs suffer; her ministry must fail her, for none were permitted to assume authority until called thereto by the voice of God. Forsaking now her posture of purity and fearing the dragon rather than exercising faith in God, she fled to a "wilderness." Ordinarily a wilderness is not a pleasant place to dwell. It is that which civilization shuns and progress passes by. Here it is that chaos is king and savagery supreme. We nowhere read that her crown of apostolic stars and raiment of sunlight glory accompanied her. It was not in the nature of apostles to run from the enemy, nor could it be possible to shut up within a wilderness the revelations of Jesus Christ, the sunlight apparel of the church. It was not in fact the church in apostolic splendor and prophetic power that fled, rather a trust-betraying, truth-forsaking offcast of heaven who, departing from the old paths, betook herself to the desolations of apostasy. Her condition is most distressing. Unable to feed herself "they feed her there." How then could this enfeebled woman extend help or salvation to others, when powerless to help herself? The food administered her does not appear to be of a hearty nature. Like all other invalids, she is "nourished," and were this nourishment received from on high we might entertain hopes of a speedy recovery; but no, her nurses are but ordinary individuals, "they feed her there." What a picture of pity this, and what a contrast to her former self when attended by the magisterial orbs of heaven. Deprived of her spiritual endowment, lonely by the loss of her child, existing in a desert retreat, prostrated and utterly helpless, surely she was "a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth when thou wast refused, saith thy God." (Isaiah 54: 6.) Daniel, alluding to her distress, says, "And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people."-Daniel 12:7. Perhaps a plainer translation is found in the Breeches Bible, an edition in common use just preceding the bringing forth of the King James. It reads: "When ye church shall be scattered and diminished in such sort as it shall seem to have no power." "But there was a remnant," says one. Yes, a remnant surely, but where was the web and woof? The majestic church, with its principles and practices, ordinances and orders, priests and powers, helps and governments, apostles and prophets, had passed away. And the dragon, persecuting the church unto a condition of disorganization and bewilderment, a "wilderness," turned upon the honest hearted lovers of the old faith. With these he made war, and who shall say that he who can terrorize an organization unto flight can not prevail over the "remnant of her seed?" It is true that the woman continued to exist in the wilderness, but not as her former self. She had shed her apostolic glory and prophetic power. She did not exist as a helpful, saving institution; rather as a helpless invalid and patient. The church in the Dark Ages may be justly compared to the condition of the Jews after their rejection and dispersion. Cast off by the Lord, their house was rendered desolate. Once a foremost nation of the world they were "hewn down and cast into the fire." The fires of persecution inclosed them on every side. Subdued by the Romans, their city was devastated, their temple burnt and their government destroyed. Thenceforth they became "wanderers among the nations," a people without a place and without any national organization. They existed, however, as individuals, a "remnant" of that once mighty nation. It was the same with the church, overthrown by internal dissension and polluted by corrupting practices she soon weakened, and fell an easy prey to the adversary, who, driving her into the "wilderness" of obscurity, rendered her existence in organized capacity impossible. Yes, there was "a remnant" left, the honest in heart wherever found are truly to be acclaimed as such. But it takes the whole cloth to outfit the church, a "remnant" won't do. A few holy men in the communion of the church of Rome, the dominating church of the Dark Ages, does not convert it into the church of Christ, no more than a few golden particles in a mountain would convert it into a mountain of gold. There are Jews in almost every nation, but there is no nation of the Jews. Some few stars did. indeed glimmer during that "night" of "gross darkness," "not in clusters or constellations, but at remote distances in the wide expanse some who, within the pale of a false communion, rejoiced in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." But where did such exist in organized capacity as a visible church of Christ? The sojourning of the woman in the wilderness, indicates her being in a state of concealment and invisibility, and also of spiritual barrenness, no longer bringing forth spiritual children . . . the woman in the wilderness signifies that the true church shall be in a barren and unfruitful state and hidden from the eyes of men.-Cunninghame, Dissertation, etc., pp. 184, 280. Apostasy has been universal. If we trace the history and note the condition of the eastern churches, the Coptic, Armenian, Nestorian, Syrian, or Greek professing Christian churches we shall see the same thing. In all, sooner or later, the light of truth so graciously granted has been first obscured and then lost while a darkness, all the more dangerous in that it professes to be light, has taken its place. The worship offered in these churches has for ages been little better than idolatry; the morality practiced and the doctrines inculcated at fundamental variance with those of Christ.-Guinness; End of the Age, vol. 10, p. 338. Shortly after this, events of great importance took place in Great Britain and the light of faith disappeared in profound night.-D'Aubigne's Reformation, vol. 5, p. 33. We have been apt to imagine that the primitive church was all excellence and perfection! And such without all doubt the first Christian church which commenced at the day of Pentecost was. But how soon did the fine gold become dim. How soon was the wine mixed with water! How little time elapsed before the god of this world so far regained his empire that Christians in general were scarce distinguishable from heathens save by their opinions and modes of worship. And if the state of the church in the very first century was so bad we can not suppose it was any better in the second. Undoubtedly it grew worse. John Wesley, sermon 66. Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects and degrees of men, women and children of whole Christendom, an horrible and most dreadful thing to think, have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry, of all vices most detested of God and damnable to man and that by the space of 800 years and more. Church of England Homily, number 2; Perils of Idolatry. What became of the true church during the 1260 years of ecclesiastical despotism? In the first verse of the last chapter (Revelation 11) John is commanded to measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein and in the last verse, the temple of God is opened in heaven; but nothing is said of that temple, during the fearful interval of 1260 years. On the contrary there is everything to awaken the most painful apprehensions of its entire desolation. The court is given to the Gentiles. The holy city is trodden under foot. The two witnesses are overcome and slain. Their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city. . . . It could not be destroyed by others, but might it not become instrumental to its own destruction! . . . The purest church therefore may annihilate itself as a church, by the admission of other materials into combination with it.-Rogers' Lectures, etc., vol. 3, pp. 164, 165, 166. The Rev. E. C. Brewer, LL. D., submits us a list of heresies introduced into the church in the early centuries, together with the date of their establishment. A. D. 200. Prayers for the dead began. A. D. 251. Paul the first hermit. A. D. 325. Celibacy of the clergy recommended. A. D. 360. Adoration of saints, martyrs, and angels. A. D. 375. Christmas Day appointed a religious festival. A. D. 431. Mary called the Mother of God. A. D. 487. Sprinkling of ashes in Lent (Felix III). A. D. 500. Priests began to wear a distinctive dress. A. D. 506. Stone altars enjoined. A. D. 525. Extreme unction introduced by Felix IV. A. D. 547. Lenten fast extended to forty days; (Council of Orleans).-Historic Note-Book, Philadelphia, 1901. It is not difficult to foresee that the continued incoming of such evils would soon swamp the church. The Church of Christ being overcome and defeated, it is to be expected that another power will rule in her estate. "The kingdom of heaven" suffered "violence and the violent" took "it by force," henceforth the citizens must swear allegiance to the conqueror. They will worship at another shrine. This will not be difficult, as they have prepared themselves for "a strong delusion" and the heart of man withdrawn from his Maker worships as readily another god. It is his nature to worship; and if not the true, then the false. |