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mocking soldiers; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng
who cried, “His blood be on us, and our children!”—all behold the
enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek to hide from the divine
majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun, while
the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet, exclaiming,
“He died for me!”
Amid the ransomed throng are the apostles of Christ, the heroic
Paul, the ardent Peter, the loved and loving John, and their true-
hearted brethren, and with them the vast host of martyrs; while
outside the walls, with every vile and abominable thing, are those by
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whom they were persecuted, imprisoned, and slain. There is Nero,
that monster of cruelty and vice, beholding the joy and exaltation
of those whom he once tortured, and in whose extremest anguish
he found Satanic delight. His mother is there to witness the result
of her own work; to see how the evil stamp of character transmitted
to her son, the passions encouraged and developed by her influence
and example, have borne fruit in crimes that caused the world to
shudder.
There are papist priests and prelates, who claimed to be Christ’s
ambassadors, yet employed the rack, the dungeon, and the stake to
control the consciences of his people. There are the proud pontiffs
who exalted themselves above God, and presumed to change the law
of the Most High. Those pretended fathers of the church have an
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account to render to God from which they would fain be excused.
Too late they are made to see that the Omniscient One is jealous of
his law, and that he will in no wise clear the guilty. They learn now
that Christ identifies his interest with that of his suffering people;
and they feel the force of his own words, “Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me.”
The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God, on
the charge of high treason against the government of Heaven. They
have none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the
sentence of eternal death is pronounced against them.
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It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble inde-
pendence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death. The wicked
see what they have forfeited by their life of rebellion. The far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory was despised when offered
them; but how desirable it now appears. “All this,” cries the lost soul,
“I might have had; but I chose to put these things far from me. Oh,
strange infatuation! I have exchanged peace, happiness, and honor,
for wretchedness, infamy, and despair.” All see that their exclusion
from Heaven is just. In their lives they declared, We will not have
this Jesus to reign over us.
As if entranced, the wicked have looked upon the coronation of
the Son of God. They see in his hands the tables of the divine law,
the statutes which they have despised and transgressed. They witness
the outburst of wonder, rapture, and adoration from the saved; and
as the wave of melody sweeps over the multitudes without the city,
all with one voice exclaim, “Marvelous are thy works, Lord God
Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints;” and
falling prostrate, they worship the Prince of life.
Satan seems paralyzed as he beholds the glory and majesty of
Christ. He who was once a covering cherub remembers whence he
has fallen. A shining seraph, “son of the morning;” how changed,
how degraded! From the council where once he was honored, he is
forever excluded. He sees another now standing near to the Father,
veiling his glory. He has seen the crown placed upon the head of
Christ by an angel of lofty stature and majestic presence, and he
knows that this office might have been his.
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Memory recalls the home of his i
Controversy Ended
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and content that were his until he indulged in murmuring against
God, and envy of Christ. His accusations, his rebellion, his decep-
tions to gain the sympathy and support of the angels, his stubborn
persistence in making no effort for self-recovery when God would
have granted him forgiveness,—all come vividly before him. He
reviews his work among men and its results,—the enmity of man
toward his fellow-man, the terrible destruction of life, the rise and
fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the long succession of
tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to
oppose the work of Christ and to sink man lower and lower. He sees
that his hellish plots have been powerless to destroy those who have
put their trust in Jesus. As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit
of his toil, he sees only failure and ruin. He has led the multitudes to
believe that the city of God would be an easy prey; but he knows that
this is false. Again and again in the progress of the great controversy
has he been defeated and compelled to yield. He knows too well the
power and majesty of the Eternal.
The aim of the great rebel has ever been to justify himself, and
to prove the divine government responsible for the rebellion. To this
end he has bent all the power of his giant intellect. He has worked
deliberately and systematically, and with marvelous success, leading
vast multitudes to accept his version of the great controversy which
has been so long in progress. For thousands of years this chief of
conspiracy has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the time has now
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come when the rebellion is to be finally defeated, and the history
and character of Satan disclosed. In his last great effort to dethrone
Christ, destroy his people, and take possession of the city of God,
the arch-deceiver has been fully unmasked. Those who have united
with him see the total failure of his cause. Christ’s followers and the
loyal angels behold the full extent of his machinations against the
government of God. He is the object of universal abhorrence.
Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for
Heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity,
peace, and harmony of Heaven would be to him supreme torture. His
accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced.
The reproach which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests
wholly upon himself. And now Satan bows down, and confesses the
justice of his sentence.
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Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy
is made plain. God’s justice stands fully vindicated. Before the
whole world is clearly presented the great sacrifice made by the