The herald., 1896-12-21
NEW CHRISTIANITY CHURCH.
The, First Christian Church and Its
Aim

Rev. w. W. Welsh, pastor. Rev.vi:2:
And I saw, and behold a white horse;
and he that sat on him had bow and
crown was given unto him: and he went
forth conquering and to conquer"
He said in part: The Apocalypse.
book of symbols and allegories, is the
most important of the writings of the
New Testament and yet the most diff
cult to understand. Two leading
thoughts run through the whole book
viz, the consummaton of the first Chris
tian church and its judgment and the
establishment of the new Christianity
or the end of the world or church and the
second advent of Christ as the bride
groom of the new church, which john
saw coming down from out of heaven,
az bride adorned for her husband.
These two grand events are represent
cd by a network of symbols and allie
gories from the beginning of the Chris
tian era to the extinction of the first
Christian church and the erection ann
confirmation of the new one instead
thereof. To understand the process bv
which these two objects are accomplish
cd and their periods of occurrence. eX-
pressed a. they are throughout the mar
rative in figures, types and metaphors, it
becomes absolutely necessary to know
the signitication of each and every figure
and symbol and the Bible correspondent
tial language of theOame. without which
no living man can give a reasonable So
luton of this mysterious book. This
synbolical imagery was given to John
the Divine in vision by series of pano-
ramic scenes. each scene adapted to the
completion of the grand whole. An I'M
poftant one of which was that of four
horses of various colors, with riders of
different characters. These horses ap-
peared in succession, az the seals of the
closed book We're opened-the first horse
was white and his rider had in his hand
bow, and there was given iim a crown
and he went forth conquering and to
conquer The horse. the noblest of ami
mails. symbolizes the noblest of mans
powers-the understarding-his color
denotes its purity; the rider represents
the sacred word-the moral conqueror;
the bow with which he was armed sig
nities doctrine, and the arrows truths:
the crown he wore was the insignia of
battle of good and truth against evil and
error. and going from conquering to
conquest denotes perpetual warfare to
consummation. This symbol represents
the first state of Christianity. the apos-
tolic age, when truth and Righteousness
predominated in every department of
the church, and the white horse con-
dueror went forth conquering and to
conquer until the victorious principles
OF true religion oversprcad and subdued
large portions of Asia, Europe, Africa
amt the isle of the sea. and even great
Babylon and imperial Rome submitted
to its resistless force and became each
metropolis OF Christianity; and had its
noble teachings been kept pure in a
few centuries the whole world would
have been redeemed and the human race
restored to paradise reganed. But,
alas. as early as the second century the
q II ;.l..1 i.
is prefigured by the appearance of a red
horse and rider on the scene, who took
peace from the earth Cor church, and
caused death and devastation The red
horse sy1nbolizes the understanding of
love perverted, which is always the case
IN the commencement of a decline in a
church. The second state of decline is
signified by the appearance of a black
horse and rider; black, as being the op-
posite of white, denotes she Justification
of truth, which invariably follows the
perversion of love.
The third and final state of decline is
symholized by "the pale horse and his
fider-death," and hell followed, and
power was given to the rider to kill with
the sword or symbolically by false per-
suaslons; by hunger or the want of
heavenly knowledge; by death or the
extinction of charity and faith; and by
the beasts of the earth or the lusts of the
flesh This completes the devastation
of the church, for it is said that hell fol-
lowed, which signifies condemnation,
and always succeeds the extinction Of
spiritual life. There is signal contrast
between the first state of the Christian
church represented by the white horse
and his conquering rider with his bow
and crown, subduing evil and error and
giving mankind reign of love, peace
and happiness, and the state in which
the black horse and his rider produced
sorrow, misery and death, and the final
extinction of all the good and truth in
the church, bringing about it's sad end
all of which is amply proven by the fol-
lowing symbolical visions and scenes of
John, the divine revelator