“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 249.2

We have seen that from the days of Constantine to the end of the sixth century image worship had become universally established in the Catholic Church.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 249.3

Thus stood Catholic idolatry when, early in the seventh century, the Mohammedans swarmed up from the deserts of Arabia, executing judgment upon the “idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” Revelation 9:20.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 249.4

“The triumphant Mussulmans, who reigned at Damascus and threatened Constantinople, cast into the scale of reproach the accumulated weight of truth and victory. The cities Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had been fortified with the images of Christ, His mother, and His saints; and each city presumed on the hope or promise of miraculous defense.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 249.5

“In the rapid contest of ten years, the Arabs subdued those cities and these images; and, in their opinion, the Lord of hosts pronounced a decisive judgment between the adoration and contempt of these mute and inanimate idols. In this season of distress and dismay the eloquence of the monks was exercised in the defense of images.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 249.6

Under the influence of the charge of idolatry, which the Mohammedans incessantly urged against the Catholics, some began to awake to the thought that perhaps the charge was true, and strongly desired the reformation of the Church. Besides these there were scattered throughout Christendom true Christians who constantly opposed, with the word of God and the example of primitive times, the worship of images.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.1

In a hundred years these influences had become so strong that Emperor Leo the Isaurian, in 727, took his stand, and issued an edict, against the worship of images. Opposition to this movement of the emperor’s caused the famous Iconoclastic Controversy, between the worshipers and the breakers of the images, which continued with bloody and unabated fury for one hundred and twenty years,—726-846,—and which finally resulted in the triumph of the worship of images, and the “religion of Constantine.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.2

The emperor ordered the images to be broken to pieces, the walls of the churches to be whitewashed, and prosecuted with honest but imprudent vigor his design of extirpating idolatry. But a fierce dissension at once raged throughout all Christendom: the monks and the people arose in defense of their images and pictures, and the emperor, even in his own capital, was denounced as a heretic and a tyrant.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.3

There was an image of the Saviour, renowned for its miraculous powers, over the gate of the imperial palace called the Brazen Gate, from the rich tiles of gilt bronze that covered its magnificent vestibule. The emperor ordered the sacred figure to be taken down and broken to pieces. But the people from all parts of the city flew to the defense of their favorite idol, fell upon the officers, and put many of them to death.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.4

“The women were even more violent than the men. Like furies they rushed to the spot, and, finding one of the soldiers engaged in the unhallowed labor at the top of the ladder, they pulled it down, and tore him to pieces as he lay bruised upon the ground. ‘Thus,’ exclaims the pious annalist, ‘did the minister of the emperor’s injustice fall at once from the top of the ladder to the bottom of hell.’ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.5

“The women next flew to the great church, and finding the iconoclastic patriarch officiating at the altar, overwhelmed him with a shower of stones and a thousand opprobrious names. He escaped, bruised and fainting, from the building. The guards were now called out, and the female insurrection was suppressed; but not until several of the women had perished in the fray.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.6

“The execution of the imperial edicts was resisted by frequent tumults in Constantinople and the provinces; the person of Leo was endangered, his officers were massacred, and the popular enthusiasm was quelled by the strongest efforts of the civil and military power.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.7

In 728 the edict of the Eastern emperor abolishing the worship of images was published in Italy. The pope defended the images, of course, and “the Italians swore to live and die in defense of the pope and the holy images.” And thus there was begun a war which, in its nature and consequences, was in every sense characteristic of the papacy. It established the worship of images, as an article of Catholic faith; it developed the supremacy of the pope in temporal affairs.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.8

When Leo’s decree against the worship of images was published in the West, “the images of Christ and the Virgin, of the angels, martyrs, and saints, were abolished in all the churches in Italy;” and the emperor threatened the pope that if he did not comply with the decree, he should be degraded and sent into exile. But the pope—Gregory II—stood firmly for the worship of images, and sent pastoral letters throughout Italy, exhorting the faithful to do the same.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.9

“At this signal, Ravenna, Venice, and the cities of the exarchate and Pentapolis adhered to the cause of religious images; their military force by sea and land consisted, for the most part, of the natives; and the spirit of patriotism and zeal was transfused into the mercenary strangers. The Italians swore to live and die in the defense of the pope and the holy images.... The Greeks were overthrown and massacred, their leaders suffered an ignominious deasth, and the popes, however inclined to mercy, refused to intercede for these guilty victims.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.10

At Ravenna, A. D. 729, the riot and bloody strife was so great that even the exarch, the personal representative of the emperor, was slain. “To punish this flagitious deed, and restore his dominion it Italy, the emperor sent a fleet and army into the Adriatic Gulf. After suffering from the winds and the waves much loss and delay, the Greeks made their descent in the neighborhood of Ravenna.... In a hard-fought day, as the two armies alternately yielded and advanced, a phantom was seen, a voice was heard, and Ravenna was victorious by the assurance of victory. The strangers retreated to their ships, but the populous seacoast poured forth a multitude of boats; the waters of the Po were so deeply infected with blood, that during six years the public prejudice abstained from the fish of the river; and the institution of an annual feast perpetuated the worship of images, and the abhorrence of the Greek tyrant. Amidst the triumph of the Catholic arms, the Roman pontiff convened a synod of ninety-three bishops against the heresy of the Iconoclasts. With their consent he pronounced a general excommunication against all who by word or deed should attack the traditions of the Fathers and the images of the saints.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.11

The establishment of the worship of images as an article of Catholic faith, will be related next week.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.12

“Loving Is Giving” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 78, 16, pp. 250, 251.

THE word “love” is a common one. It is much used. Its meanings are many and various. Sometimes it implies nothing more than admiration. Often it indicates only greed. It may denote personal sentiment and individual affection between men and women. Frequently it is indicative of the most supreme type of selfishness. It often signifies gross immorality and base passion.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.1

In brief, our ideas of love have become so narrow and so low that if the word be analyzed in relation to the emotions, passions, and actions, to which it is for the most part applied, it will be found to express two of the worst traits of human life—selfishness and lust.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.2

Even at best, human love is often but little better than a form of selfishness. A man loves a woman—why?—Because of his desire to draw her to himself, to possess her,—to have her for his life companion,—to gain her to be exclusively his own.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.3

But the love of God is the absolute opposite of all these things. “God so loved... that He GAVE. With God loving is giving. “God is love.” With the Eternal One to love is to give. “God is love.” His life is nothing but love. With Him to live is to love, and to love is to give—living is loving, and loving is giving.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.4

Now, therefore, the supreme idea in the love of God is this—It is a love which gives. Any love which does not give is not the love of God at all. It is only human. It is earthly, sensual, devilish. Common affection is not true love. The test of all genuine love is that it has in it the element of giving—yea, that its very essence is self-sacrificial giving. In this, when a man loves a woman it is that he may give to her all human devotion.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.5

“God so loved... that He gave.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.6

The word translated “love” signifies “benevolent.” The word “benevolent” comes from two Latin words—bono, which means “rightly” or “well,” and volens, meaning “wishing.” The word “benevolent” is therefore defined as follows: “Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects.” Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by degrees the word “benevolent” has been widened to include not only feelings but actions.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.7

From these definitions it is clear that the love of the Bible is a love that manifests itself in giving. More than this, right giving—the giving of the Bible—springs from right willing or wishing.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.8

There are many in the world who make expensive presents or gifts to others. There are wealthy men who give millions of dollars to different enterprises. Yet much of this giving is pure selfishness. God frowns upon it, because it does not proceed from right wishes, from noble desires of the heart. A gift may be made with the idea of gaining the favor of some one else. Such gifts, whether made to Christ’s cause or to men, are displeasing to God. Many times lavish gifts are bestowed upon great enterprises because the giver desires to become well known and well thought of. This is naught but pharisaism. It is written: “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.9

The love of God therefore is a love which gives—gives because of love and loyalty to the cause and object upon which it is bestowed. This giving love, and it alone, is the love of God.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.10

How many times has this and similar testimony been borne in a public social meeting: “I am very happy; I feel so much of the love of God in my heart; this faith grows more and more precious to me day by day.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.11

And yet many who utter such words have absolutely no idea of the responsibilities of the love of God—the responsibility to give. He who does not feel the burden upon him to give of his life, to give of his God-intrusted talents, and to give of his property, of his money, to the suffering cause of God, does not know the love of God, for—ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.12

God so Loved THAT HE GAVE.

My brother, my sister, when you and I kneel down to pray that God will bless the Third Angel’s Message and hasten on its work with power in the earth, how can we have faith that the Lord will be pleased with that prayer when we are withholding the money so necessary to make the work go?ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.13

It is useless for men to pray to God to bless the work and to tell the Lord how much they love the work when they do not support it by their offerings. Such prayers are an abomination in the sight of heaven.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.14

What good does it do to pray for the success of the Third Angel’s Message if we do not freely give the strength and money necessary to forward it in the earth? Any one who does this simply does not believe the Third Angel’s Message at all.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.15

Statesmen and army officers have a saying that “money is the sinews of war.” The same is to a great extent true in the warfare now being waged on earth between Christ and His followers on the one side and Satan and his followers on the other side.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.16

It is not well-worded testimonies that count. Long prayers may or may not reveal loyalty and devotion to the cause of God.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.17

In the Bible it is written: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Loving in word and in tongue,— merely talking about the love of God,—making a profession of love,—is a very different thing from possessing the real love of God. The real love of God is a thing of deed, not of word. It is a love which does; it is a love which gives.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 250.18

And now, my dear brethren and sisters, one and all, is God calling upon us to love His cause? Oh, yes; we know He is, and we must hasten to manifest that love in the same way that God himself manifests it—by giving. He has said that financial ruin and disgrace are starring His schools in America and the institutions in Scandinavia in the face. He is calling for gifts, both large and small, to succor these instrumentalities and save them to His cause.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.1

Here is an opportunity to manifest the love of God in “deed and in truth,” and the Lord has confidence that His flock will heed His voice and manifest their love. If He did not have this confidence, He would not make the call.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.2

Giving on this wise is in itself the gift of God. It is so written in the Scriptures:—ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.3

“Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit [we want you to understand] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace [“gift,” margin] also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, [or gift] in [the gift of] faith, and [in the gift of] utterance, and [in the gift of] knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace [gift] also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.4

The desire to give manifesting itself in the act of giving is in itself a gift of God. He who rightly gives to the cause of God is exercising a spiritual gift bestowed on him by the Master. This gift God freely bestows upon all who open their hearts and hands liberally to perform it.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.5

Giving is a gift. The exercise of this gift is just as surely the exercise of a gift of God as is the exercise of the gift of faith, or of utterance, or of knowledge, or of prophecy, or of teaching, or of tongues. It is a gift of ministry, and he who exercises it is a minister of the gospel.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.6

The gift of giving is the gift which proves the sincerity of our love. To all men and women who wish to prove that they possess the love of God, the great apostle commends this gift. By the exercise of the gift of giving, the redeemed of God can prove to all the world and to themselves that they have the love of God abounding in their hearts in deed and in truth.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.7

So therefore, in the language of Paul, I say: “Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.... But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: FOR GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.”ARSH April 16, 1901, page 251.8

“Back Page” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 78, 16, p. 256.

THE treaties which created the famous “triple alliance” between Germany, Austria, and Italy expire in 1903. In 1870 France reckoned upon the assistance of Italy, but was disappointed. This led to an estrangement between the two countries. Also the French occupation of Tunis twenty years ago was interpreted by Italy as a hostile move. However, time having effaced some of these animosities, the two nations are trying to get together once more, as seen by the recent reception of the Italian fleet at Toulon. By keeping on intimate terms with France, which, by her military aid under Louis Napoleon, about forty years ago, helped to liberate her, Italy will feel free to demand a revision of the terms of the triple alliance in case she decides to renew her part of the same in 1903.ARSH April 16, 1901, page 256.1

April 9, 1901

April 23, 1901