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T H E K I N G ’ S
B U S I N E S S
Nero, 31 years after our Lord’s ascen sion. M ultitudes were apprehended; they were covered by th e skins of wild beasts, to rn to pieces by devouring dogs; fastened to crosses, w rapped up in combustible garm ents, th at, when daylight failed, they m ight, like torches, serve to dispel th e gloom of night. For this tragic scene, Nero lent his own gardens; and thus the shrieks of women burning to ashes supplied music and diversion for th e ir circus. The second was under Domitian, in th e year 95 and 40,000 are supposed to have perished. The th ird began in the th ird year of T rajan , in the year 100. The fou rth was under Antonins. The fifth began in th e year 127 under Severus, when g reat cruelties were com m itted. The sixth began in th e reign of Maximus, in 235-7. The seventh, which was th e most dreadful ever known, began in 250, under Valerian. The n in th was under Aurelian, in 274. The ten th began in th e 19th year of Diocletian in 303. In th is dreadful persecution, which lasted ten years houses filled w ith Christians were set on fire, and whole droves were tw isted together w ith ropes and cast into th e sea. I t is related th a t seventeen thou sand were slain in one month. In this fiery persecution it is believed th a t hot fewer th an one hundred and forty thousand Christians died by violence, besides seven hundred thousand th a t died through banishments, or th e pub lic works to which they were con demned.” Following this persecution period of the church, was an epoch of church union w ith the state under Con stantine, which corresponds w ith Per- gamos. This in tim e gave way to the period of the dark ages to which Thya- tira is likened. A fter th e dark ages the church lay á dead mass till th e refo r mation. Then a few like Luther, Melancthon, Erasmus, John Huss, John Calvin, John Knox, a rem n an t indeed, began to bring new life to th e church.
This period is set fo rth by Sardis. We may wonder if L u th er read th is descrip tion in 3:5 where Christ says He will no t blot out of the Book of Life th e name of a tru e one. The Pope had th reaten ed to blot L u th e r’s name off the roll of th e church. The church finally took on such energy th a t g reat revivals followed under Whitfield and th e Wesleys and others and out of these revivals was born a love for th e whole world. Men w ith b ro therly love for all m ankind began to organize mission boards and th e church entered upon th e g reatest m issionary period in its history. How appropriately the Philadelphia church depicts th is period. But in the la st twenty-five years th e denom inations have become rich. Large stru ctu res adorn our streets m arked Methodist, P resbyterian, Bap tist, Congregational, etc. The eccles iastical machinery has grown power ful. The church has been d rifting from th e Bible under false ecclesiasti cal teachers and leaders. The tru th of Christianity has been corrupted. Thou sands of mere professors have crept into th e membership of our churches. The mass is cold. The active tru e Christians in the m idst make it a luke warm mass. The final days of apostasy, th e Laodicean period of th e church, are upon us. We only w ait the coming of Jesus to take the tru e to H imself ■and spue the organized mass of mere profession out of His mouth. The only message from our ascended Lord to th is Laodicean mass is “Be zealous, therefore and repen t.” “He th a t h ath an ear, let him hear w hat the Spirit saith to th e churches.”
I have been greatly helped in my de fense against the critics. I would like perm ission to rep rin t some of th e ar- ticles.4—A m issionary in Ceylon.
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