JESUS WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM
"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" Luke 19:42.

OUR DAY

In the Light of Prophecy

By W.A. SPICER

SOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
Fort Worth, Texas    Atlanta, Georgia

Copyrighted, 1917, by
Review and Herald Publishing Association

Copyrighted in London, England
All Rights Reserved

[Pg vii]

CONTENTS

[Pg ix]

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

[Pg 11]

"FOUNDED UPON A ROCK"
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105.

FOREWORD

These are eventful times. With history-making changes passing rapidly before men's eyes, the questions press upon thoughtful minds in all lands, What do these things mean? What next in the program of world-shaping events?

Like a great searchlight shining across the centuries, the sure Word of Prophecy focuses its bright beams upon Our Day. In this light we see clearly the trend of events, and may understand what comes next in the program of history fulfilling prophecy.

In the Volume of the Book the living God speaks to Our Day of events of the past that have a lesson for the present, and of things to come. Divine prophecy fulfilled before men's eyes is God's challenge to unbelief. The Word of Holy Writ has been the guiding light through all the ages. It is the lamp to our feet today.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:14.

[Pg 13]

"PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE"
"If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20.

THE BOOK THAT SPEAKS TO OUR DAY

Man may write a true book, but only God, the source of life, can write a living book. "The word of God ... liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter 1:23. The Bible is the living word of God. We look at the volume; we hold it in our hands. It is like other books in form and printer's art. But the voice of God speaks from these pages, and the word spoken is alive. It is able to do in the heart that receives it what can be done only by divine power.

The Book That Talks

Far in the heart of Africa a missionary read to the people in their own language from the translated Word of God. "See!" they cried; "see! the book talks! The white man has a book that talks!" With that simplicity of speech so common to children of nature, they had exactly described it. This is a book that talks. What the wise man says of its counsels through parents to children, is true of all the book:[Pg 14] "When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Prov. 6:22.

Here is companionship, faithful and true, a blessed guide and guardian and friend.

God Its Author

The sixty-six books of Holy Scripture were written by many penmen, over a space of fifteen centuries; yet it is one book, and one voice speaks through all its pages. Spurgeon once said of his experience with this book:

This book declares of itself: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 2 Tim. 3:16. "The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21. As the rugged verse of the old hymn puts it:

It is the voice of the Almighty. Very different it is from the sacred books of the non-Christian religions. In those writings it is man speaking about God; in the Holy Scriptures it is God speaking to man. The difference is as great as heaven is higher than earth. Here it is not man groping in the darkness after God. In this book of God's revelation we see the divine arm reaching down to save the lost,[Pg 15] and hear the voice of the loving Father calling to His children, every one and everywhere. "Incline your ear," He calls; "hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. 55:3.

The Word That Creates

We must have something more than instruction; we must have a word of power that is able to tell of sins forgiven, and to conduct us beyond the grave to heaven. One of the greatest of China's sages, Mencius, said, "Instruction can impart information, but not the power to execute." That touches the crucial point. We must have instruction that can come with power divine to execute. We have it only in God's words. Christ said: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63.

The words of God are living words. When God spoke in the beginning, "Let there be light," lo, the light sprang out of the darkness. There was power in the word spoken to bring forth. "Let the earth bring forth grass," was the word of the Lord: and the earth was carpeted with its first rich greensward. So through all the work of creation, the creative power was in the word spoken.

"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. 33:6, 9.

Even so, when this word speaks instruction to man, there is creative power in the word, if received, to work mightily in the soul that is dead in trespasses and sins. Man must be born again, be re-created. That we know; for Christ says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again ["from above," margin], he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.

And the word of God—the Bible from heaven—received by faith, is the agency by which this new birth "from[Pg 16] above" is wrought. This is the declaration of our text: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter 1:23.

HEALING THE CENTURION'S
SERVANT "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." Matt. 8:8.

[Pg 17]

The Word That Works Within

Not only does the word of God give the new birth, making the believer a new man,—the past forgiven and a new heart within,—but the word that re-creates abides in the believing heart that studies it and clings to it, to work in the life with actual power that is not of the man himself. To the Thessalonians, who had "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God," the apostle wrote:

"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1 Thess. 2:13.

The word itself works within, and works effectually. There is nothing mechanical about it. The mere letter profits nothing. The Bible on the center table, unstudied and unloved, has no magic power. But God promises to abide by His Spirit of power in the heart that listens to His voice and trembles at His word. Jesus Himself tells us the secret of this power of the word to work in the believing heart:

"If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23.

No wonder, then, that believing and receiving the word brings divine power into the life, making it possible for transformations of character to be wrought, for victories to be won and obedience rendered to every command of God.

Simply believing God's word touches the current of everlasting power, even as the trolley arm of the electric car reaches up and touches the current of power flowing through[Pg 18] the wire overhead. The faith that takes the living word brings the power divine into the heart to move all the spiritual mechanism of life's service.

The Word Our Safety and Defense

When Christ came to live as our example in the flesh, and to give His life a sacrifice for sin, He, the divine Son of God, made Himself like unto His brethren. "I can of Mine own self do nothing," He said. John 5:30. Tempted and tried, He found His defense in the Holy Scriptures. When Satan came to tempt Him to sin, the Saviour said, "It is written." He clung to the sure defense. Again the tempter came. He was met with the word, "It is written again." The third time it was the same weapon of defense, "It is written." Matt. 4:1-11.

Christ found safety only in the Scriptures of truth. So the Bible is the Christian's shield against the enemy's attacks. As Jesus studied the Scriptures and kept the words ever in His heart for a defense against temptation, so must every Christian study and meditate upon God's Holy Word if its counsels and precepts are to be his defense in the moment of sudden temptation to sin. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart," said the psalmist, "that I might not sin against Thee." Ps. 119:11. It was the only way for Christ, our Pattern; it is the only way for us.

The Bread of Life

The word of God is the daily food for the soul. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4.

Who has not, in hurried times, missed a meal, working on through the day, never thinking of the prolonged fast? But after a time there came a sense of weakening force, a lack of physical power. What was the trouble? At once the reason was evident—one had not taken food, and the[Pg 19] system was calling for a renewal of its forces. Just so the spiritual life must needs be fed by the word of God.

CHRIST'S WEAPON OF DEFENSE—THE WORD OF GOD
"Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Matt. 4:10.

[Pg 20]

Do we at times feel a sense of weakening of the spiritual power, a letting down of the vital forces of the soul? Ah, in the hurry of life we have neglected to feed upon the living bread. We can no more sustain spiritual vigor and health without feeding daily upon God's Holy Word than we can maintain physical power without eating our daily bread. Eat of the life-giving word. The taste for it grows with the partaking.

There is life in "every word." The psalmist found the Lord's testimonies "sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb," or, as the marginal reading has it, than "the dropping of honeycombs." Ps. 19:10. We get the picture of the honeycomb inverted, the cell caps broken open, the sweetness dripping down. Just so every word of the Lord is a cell full of sweetness and life for the soul that feasts upon the Holy Scriptures.

The Source of All Doctrine

The Bible is the complete and perfect rule of faith and doctrine. Here every doctrine of salvation is found. Inspiration has declared it in the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy:

"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:15-17.

The divine command is, "Study." For every generation there has been a message borne by this living word, making call to reformation of life, or giving warning and comfort. "The Bible is not a collection of truths formulated in propositions,"[Pg 21] said Dr. Samuel Harris, of Yale, "but God's majestic march through history, redeeming men from sin."

In every age God has been ruling and overruling, witnessing by His Spirit through the living word. The experiences recorded of past ages have their special lesson for the present time:

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Rom. 15:4.

"Let vs therfore all with feruent desyre," as the Old English of 1549 spelled the exhortation of Erasmus, "thyrste after these spirituall sprynges.... Let vs kisse these swete wordes of Christ with a pure affeccion. Let vs be newe transformed into them, for soche are oure maners as oure studies be."

The Book for All Mankind

It speaks in every tongue to the human heart. Its power to transform has been shown through all the centuries in every clime and among every race. One of the Gospels was put into the Chiluba tongue of Central Africa. After a time a Garenganze chief came to Dan Crawford, the missionary, changed from the spirit of a fierce, wicked barbarian to that of a teachable child. Explaining his conversion, the chief said: "I was startled to find that Christ could speak Chiluba. I heard him speak to me out of the printed page, and what he said was, 'Follow me!'"

Of the Bible's universal speech to all mankind, Dr. Henry van Dyke has said:

RAISING JARIUS'S DAUGHTER
"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1:4.

In the days of His life on earth, Jesus was a welcome guest in humble homes in Judea and Galilee. "The common people heard Him gladly." His presence brought peace and comfort to the home. He is no longer with us in bodily presence; but He is the same Saviour still—"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Heb. 13:8. By[Pg 23] His Spirit, through the living word of Holy Scripture, He enters the home where faith receives Him, and speaks again the gracious salutation, "Peace be to this house."

Christ the Central Theme

All the Bible bears witness of Christ as the Saviour of the world. He Himself said of the Scriptures, "They are they which testify of Me." John 5:39. "To Him give all the prophets witness." Acts 10:43. We see Him as the coming Messiah in promise and prophecy, in type and shadow. His is the divine, living personality standing out in every book that makes up the Sacred Volume. As we read with loving heart, the Author seems near in every page.

And having beheld Him giving His life as the divine sacrifice, and rising in triumph over death to be our great High Priest in the heavenly temple, as we read these Sacred Scriptures yet again, in every book, from Genesis to Revelation, we see Him as the coming King of kings, coming to take His children to the eternal home of the saved. The whole book is a bright window through which we gaze on coming glory.

"The Word of God ... liveth and abideth forever." 1 Peter 1:23. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:35.[Pg 24]

ON THE WAY TO EMMAUS
"Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Luke 24:27.

[Pg 25]

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
"I am God,... declaring ... from ancient times the things that are not yet done." Isa. 46:9, 10.

THE WITNESS OF THE CENTURIES

The Sure Word of Prophecy

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed." 2 Peter 1:19.

The prophetic scriptures afford infallible evidence that the voice of the living God speaks in Holy Writ. One of the distinguishing marks of divinity is the power that foretells and records the course of history long ages before the events come to pass.

God's Challenge

God's challenge to false religious systems in olden time was this:

"Declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." Isa. 41:22, 23.[Pg 26]

And all the gods of the nations were silent; for they are no gods. The Lord alone, the one who speaks by the Holy Scriptures, is able to tell the end from the beginning.

"I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand." Isa. 46:9, 10.

By this means God has borne witness of Himself through the ages, that it might be known that the Most High rules above all the kingdoms of men, and that men might recognize His purpose to put an end to sin and bring eternal salvation to His people. "I have spoken it," He declares, "I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."

The fulfilment of the word of prophecy in history is a fascinating story. To the Lord, the future is an open book, even as the present. The word is spoken, telling of the event to come; it is written on the parchment scroll by the prophet's pen. Time passes; centuries come and go. Then, when the hour of the prophecy arrives, lo, there appears the fulfilment. And it is seen in matters pertaining to individuals, as well as in the affairs of cities and empires.

The Word Fulfilled after Long Waiting

In the dream divinely given to the lad Joseph, it was plainly foretold that his brothers would one day come as suppliants before him. His father rebuked him for telling the dream, saying, "Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" Gen. 37:10. The brothers sold the lad into slavery, to be well rid of him. Yet twenty years later, all unconscious of his identity, these same brethren presented themselves before the prime minister of Egypt, and "fell before him on the ground." Gen. 44:14.

Again: the wicked stronghold of Jericho had been utterly destroyed. Joshua declared:

"Cursed be the man ... that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born,[Pg 27] and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." Joshua 6:26.

The hands of angels had thrown down its walls, and its ruin was to stand as a memorial. More than five hundred years later, when the apostate Ahab was ruling, and Israel and Judah had departed from the Lord, Hiel the Bethelite set out to rebuild Jericho. "He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born."

But accident and death may come at any time. The work on the walls went on, no one thinking of the neglected Scriptures with their warning of long ago. So the full account runs:

"He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Joshua the son of Nun." 1 Kings 16:34.

The fate of some of the mightiest cities the world ever saw has borne testimony through the centuries to the fulfilment of the prophetic word.

The Witness of Nineveh

Nineveh was founded by Nimrod. He built not only his capital here by the Tigris, but other towns round about, conceiving first of all the idea of grouping the capital and its suburbs into one great city, the "Greater Nineveh," as we would say in these days of Greater London and Greater New York. At the dawn of history Nineveh was "a great city." Gen. 10:11, 12. In Jonah's day it was an "exceeding great city."[A] Sennacherib, of the Bible story, was its beautifier. Rawlinson says:

[Pg 28]

A description is preserved on the clay cylinder in the king's own words:

At the preaching of Jonah the city had repented; but in later years pride of conquest and luxury and wealth were filling it with blood. The prophet Nahum warned it of certain doom, appealing to those who had any fear of God to turn to Him. The message was:

THE SITE OF NINEVEH
"How is she become a desolation!" Zeph. 2:15.

"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him." Nahum 1:7.

Some, no doubt, heeded the warning and turned to God for refuge. But the city's life of sin ran on. Then the prophet Zephaniah spoke the word, just as the stroke was to fall:

"Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction;[Pg 29] she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God." Zeph. 3:1, 2.

Prophecies uttered against the mighty city had declared:

"He will make an utter end of the place thereof." "The palace shall be dissolved ["molten," margin]." "She is empty, and void, and waste." Nahum 1:8; 2:6, 10. "How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in!" Zeph. 2:15.

The Medes and the Babylonians overthrew Nineveh. The king immolated himself in his burning ("molten") palace. Nineveh became a desolation. Describing a battle that took place there in the seventh century of our era, between the Romans and the Persians, the historian Gibbon bears testimony to the fact that it has indeed become "empty, and void, and waste:"

And to this day, the site of Nineveh is pointed out across the river from Mosul, only mounds of ruins, these almost obliterated by the drifting sands of centuries. The word spoken is fulfilled, though at the time it was spoken it little seemed to proud and prosperous Nineveh that such a fate could ever be hers.

From Nineveh's mounds we seem to hear a voice that says: "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever." 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

The Burden of Tyre

TYRE BY THE SEA
"They shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers." Eze. 26:4.

Tyre was the greatest maritime city of antiquity. Its inhabitants, the Phœnicians, traded in the ports of all the known world. Ezekiel describes the heart of the seas as its borders. "Thy builders have perfected thy beauty," he says. He tells how all countries traded in its marts and contributed to its wealth. And then, obeying the word of the Lord, the prophet bears a message of rebuke and warning,—"the burden of Tyre,"—and pronounces the coming judgment:

"Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee.... And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and[Pg 31] break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God." Eze. 26:3-5.

The accounts of travelers bear witness that the prophecy has been fulfilled. As to the site of the island city of Ezekiel's day, Bruce, nearly a century ago, said that he found it a "rock whereon fishers dry their nets." (See "Keith on the Prophecies," p. 329.)

In more recent times, Dr. W.M. Thomson found the whole region of Tyre suggestive only of departed glory:

The Desolation of Babylon

Yet another city of ancient times there was, the mightiest of them all, whose fate was a subject of prophecy, and whose history bears special testimony for us today; for, more than[Pg 32] any other, the Lord used that city as a symbol of the pride of life and the exaltation of the selfish heart against God.

Let us study briefly the desolations pronounced upon Babylon of old.

BABYLON IN THE DUST
"Babylon shall become heaps,... without an inhabitant." Jer. 51:37.

While Babylon was still the mightiest city of the world, with the period of greatest glory yet before it, the Lord revealed its ignoble end. By the prophet Isaiah He declared:

"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." Isa. 13:19-22.[Pg 33]

Never could a more doleful future have been pictured for a city full of splendor, the metropolis of the world. About one hundred and seventy-five years after this word was written on the parchment scroll, the Medes and Persians were at the gates of Babylon. Her time had come, and Chaldea's rule was ended.

But still, under Medo-Persia, and later under the Greeks, the city itself was populous and prosperous and beautiful. The skeptic of the time may have pointed to it as evidence that here, at least, the Hebrew prophet had missed the mark.

Apollonius, the sage of Tyana, who lived in the days of Nero and the apostles, has left an account of Babylon as he saw it, as late as the first century of our era. Still the Euphrates swept beneath its walls, dividing the city into halves, with great palaces on either side. He says:

And of the king's judgment hall he reported:

Evidently Babylon was still "the land of graven images," and the desolation foretold by the prophet had not yet befallen its palaces. But that prophetic word, written eight[Pg 34] hundred years before, was still upon the scroll of the Book, the sure Word of God, who sees the end from the beginning.

EGYPT'S GLORY DEPARTED
"The idols of Egypt shall be moved." Isa. 19:1.

The view given us by Apollonius is perhaps the last glimpse we have of Babylon's passing glory. Even then for centuries the walls had been a quarry from which stones were drawn for Babylon's rival, Seleucia, on the Tigris. And Strabo, the Greek geographer, who also wrote in the first century, had described Babylon as "in great part deserted," adding,

Already pagan writers had begun to describe its condition in the terms of the prophecy uttered so long before. And now what is its state? The doom foretold has fallen heavy upon the city, upon its palaces, and "upon the graven images of Babylon." For a century and more, travelers' accounts have frequently borne witness to the exact fulfilment of the[Pg 35] prophecy in the remarkable desolations of that city, once mistress of the world.

"Babylon shall become heaps," said the prophecy, "and owls shall dwell there." This is what Mr. Layard, the English archeologist, found on his visit in 1845:

The prophecy said, "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there." The words might be construed to mean that the famous site would never become the place of a Bedouin village. But it is literally true, say travelers, that the Arabs avoid the place even for the temporary pitching of their tents. They consider the spot under a curse. They call the ruins Mudjelibe, "the Overturned." (See "Encyclopedia of Islam," art. "Babil.")

As late as 1913, Missionary W.C. Ising visited the site where Professor Koldeway was excavating the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace. He wrote:

Egypt and Edom

The massive ruins by the Nile bear witness to prophecy fulfilled. When Egypt rivaled Babylon, the word was spoken: "It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations." Eze. 29:15. It was not utterly to pass, as Babylon, but to continue in[Pg 36] inferior state. Thus it came to pass. Once populous Edom, famed for wisdom and counsel, now lies desolate, according to the word: "Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished." Jer. 49:17.

The Testimony of History

RUINS OF EDOM
"Edom shall be a desolate wilderness." Joel 3:19.

Thus the centuries bear testimony to the fulfilment of the prophetic word. The panorama of all human history moves before us in these writings of the prophets. Flinging their "colossal shadows" across the pages of Holy Writ, as Farrar says, we see—

It is no human book that thus from primitive times forecasts the march of history through the ages.

The Lord not only spoke the word in warning and entreaty for those to whom it first came, but it is written in the Scriptures of truth as a testimony to all time, that the Bible[Pg 37] is the word of God, and that all His purposes revealed therein and all the promises of the blessed Book are certain and sure. The prophets who bore messages from God to Nineveh, and Babylon, and Tyre, spoke messages also for our day.

Fulfilled prophecy is the testimony of the centuries to the living God. The evidence of prophecy and its fulfilment is God's challenge and appeal to men to acknowledge Him as the true God and the Holy Scriptures as His word from heaven.

"I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee.... Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it?" Isa. 48:3-6.

Surely no one can look at the evidence in history of the fulfilment of prophecy without seeing that of a truth the One who spoke these words knew the end from the beginning; and finding the living God in the sure word of prophecy, one must be prepared to listen to His voice in all the Scriptures, when it speaks of sin and the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Further, the prophetic word also has much to say of events yet future, of the course of history in modern times. It behooves us to give heed to what that word speaks concerning our own times and the events that are to take place upon the earth before the end. The apostle Peter exhorts us to the study in these words:

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19.[Pg 38]

THE GREAT IMAGE
"He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass." Dan. 2:29.

[Pg 39]

DANIEL INTERPRETING NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM
"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great Image." Dan. 2:31.

PROPHETIC OUTLINE OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY

THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 2

"There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days."

In a dream by night the Lord gave to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a clear historical outline of the course of world empire to the end of time and the coming of the eternal kingdom.

The king was a thoughtful monarch; and having reached the height of his power, he was one night meditating upon "what should come to pass hereafter." Not for his sake alone, but for the enlightenment and instruction of men in all time, the Lord answered the wondering question of the king's meditation by giving him the dream. "He that revealeth secrets," said Daniel the prophet, "maketh known to thee what shall come to pass."[Pg 40]

BABYLON IN HER GLORY
"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency." Isa. 13:19.

[Pg 41]

And that we may know at the beginning that there is nothing fanciful and uncertain about this great historic outline reaching to the end of the world, we note first the assurance with which the prophet closed his interpretation: "The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."

The details of the dream had been taken from the king's mind, while conviction as to the wondrous import of it remained. This was in God's providence, to show the folly of the worldly-wise men of Babylon, and to bring before the king the prophet of the Lord with a divine message. The prophet Daniel, under the inspiration of God, brought his dream again to the king's mind:

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."

The prophet next declared the interpretation. And now follows the history of the world in miniature.

Babylon

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold."[Pg 42]

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
"Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." Dan. 5:28.

[Pg 43]

The parts of the image, then, of various metals, from head to feet, represented successive empires, beginning with Babylon; and the kingdom of Babylon, represented by Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold.

History shows how fitly the golden head symbolizes the Babylonian kingdom. Long before, the prophet Isaiah had described it as "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency." Isa. 13:19. And now, in Nebuchadnezzar's day, it was the golden age of the Babylonian kingdom. No such gorgeous city as its capital ever before stood on earth. And Nebuchadnezzar was the great leader of its conquests, and the beautifier and builder of its walls and palaces. "For the astonishment of men I have built this house," one tablet reads; and hundreds repeat the story.

Thus Nebuchadnezzar's records of stone today repeat the proud boast faithfully reported in the Scripture, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" Dan. 4:30. To the king it seemed that such a city could never fall. One inscription reads:

Medo-Persia

But the prophet Daniel, proceeding with the divine interpretation, interrupted all such proud thoughts with the declaration, "After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee."[Pg 44]

Now the look was forward into the future. And the word came to pass. Babylon's decline was swift after Nebuchadnezzar's death. Daniel the prophet himself lived to interpret the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast:

"God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.... Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.... Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." Dan. 5:26-28.

The breast and arms of silver, in the great image, represented the Medo-Persian kingdom, which followed the Babylonian, "inferior" to it in brilliancy and grandeur, as silver is inferior to gold. Medo-Persia, however, enlarged the borders of the world empire; and the names of Cyrus and Darius are written among the mightiest conquerors of history.

But the prophet does not stop to dwell upon the grandeur of fleeting earthly kingdoms. The interpretation hastens on to reach the setting up of a kingdom that shall not pass away. Following Medo-Persia, a third power was to rise,

Grecia

"And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth."

The "third kingdom" after Babylon was Grecia, which overthrew the empire of the Medes and Persians. And Grecia's dominion fulfilled the specifications of the prophecy, which indicated a yet wider expansion of empire. Its sway was to be over "all the earth," said Daniel the prophet, foretelling its history. Arrian, the Greek historian, writing afterward, said that Alexander of Greece seemed truly "lord of all the earth;" and he adds:

The sides of brass in the great image represented Grecia, the brazen metal itself being a fitting symbol of those[Pg 45] "brazen-mailed" Greeks, celebrated in ancient poetry and song,

A Power Rising in the West

While Grecia's supremacy under Alexander was disputed by none, there was a power rising in the West that was soon to enter the lists for the prize of world dominion.

Some of the ancient writers say that at the time of his death Alexander had in mind to push westward to strike down the growing power of the city of Rome, of which he had heard. Plutarch says that this man Alexander,

Lucan, the ancient Roman poet, repeats the thought:

But in the prime of his years, Alexander was cut down, and Rome had yet more time in which to develop its strength preparatory to the deciding contest for the mastery of all the world. Sure it is that after Grecia, there followed the Roman Empire, the strongest and mightiest and most crushing of them all. This fourth universal empire the prophet proceeded to describe, as represented by the legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image.

Rome

"The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise."[Pg 46]

How appropriately the iron of the image fits the character of the fourth great empire! Gibbon, the historian, calls it "the iron monarchy of Rome." It broke in pieces the kingdoms, subduing all, just as prophecy had declared so long before. As iron is strongest of the common metals, so according to the prophecy—"as iron that breaketh all these"—this fourth kingdom was to be more powerful than any before it. Strabo, the geographer, who lived in the days of Tiberius Cæsar, said,

Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, who lived in Rome in the third century,—under the "iron monarchy,"—wrote thus of this prophecy:

Hippolytus also saw clearly from the prophecy that the empire of his day would be divided, and he wrote of the kingdoms that were "yet to rise" out of it. For Daniel's interpretation explained clearly the meaning of the mingling of clay with the iron in the feet and toes of the great image.

The Kingdoms of Modern Europe

"Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

"And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay."

"The kingdom shall be divided." So declared the prophet of God. In the height of its power, Rome scouted the[Pg 47] thought that so mighty a fabric could ever be broken up. Horace sang in his "Odes,"

But the words were written on the ancient parchment in the days of Babylon, "The kingdom shall be divided;" and true to the word of the prophet, the Roman Empire fell apart with the mixture of nations and peoples that swept into it. The elements did not hold together, even as the mixture of iron and clay in the image did not cleave together. Broken up by the invasions of fresh nations from the north, the Western Empire was divided into lesser kingdoms, out of which have grown the modern nations of western Europe.

Not one word in the outline of the prophecy thus far has failed of fulfilment. These modern kingdoms growing out of divided Rome have never been reunited. "They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men," said the prophecy. Nearly all the reigning houses of Europe today are related by intermarriage; the prophecy said it would be so; but "they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." So we see it. No statesman, no master of legions, has been able to join these nations together again in one great empire. Charles V had the thought in mind, some think. Napoleon dreamed of doing it. But it was not to be. Nevermore was there to be one universal monarchy.

We may know that as surely as the course of world empire has followed the exact outline of the prophecy put on the inspired record in the days of Babylon of old, just so surely the[Pg 48] specifications of the closing portion of the outline will be fulfilled.

The fourth great kingdom was to be divided. Rome was the fourth empire: it was divided. The kingdoms of the divided empire are acting their part before our eyes today.

The Next Great Event

And what next? That is the question for us. Now the prophetic outline that began with ancient Babylon touches the things of our own day. The word spoken before Nebuchadnezzar so long ago is now spoken especially to us:

"In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

"Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."

"In the days of these kings,"—these kingdoms of our own time,—the next great world-changing event is to be the coming of Christ to begin the setting up of his everlasting kingdom. That is the grand climax toward which all the course of history has been tending. At last the end is to come.

As the stone, cut out of the mountain "without hands," smote the image, so that all its parts, representative of earthly dominion, were ground to dust and blown away, so Christ's coming kingdom, set up "without hands," by no human power, but by the power of the eternal God, will end all[Pg 49] earthly dominion and bring the utter destruction of sin and sinners out of the earth.

"The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."

Then may all eyes well be turned toward the next great step foretold in the prophetic outline—the coming of Christ's glorious everlasting kingdom, which shall not pass away.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MISSIONARY W.C. ISING
Ruins of the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, in which was the hall of Belshazzar's Feast.

[Pg 50]

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST
"This same Jesus ... shall so come in like manner." Acts 1:11. COPYRIGHT STANDARD PUB. CO.

[Pg 51]

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM
"Behold, thy King cometh,... lowly, and riding upon an ass." Zech. 9:9.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28.

Too often the second coming of Christ is looked upon simply as a doctrine. It is, however, more than a doctrine merely to be believed; it is an impending event, something that is to take place on earth, and the most stupendous, all-transcendent event for the world since Christ came the first time to die on Calvary for the sins of men.

This second coming of Christ, like His first coming, has been the theme of divine prophecy from the beginning. This was emphasized by the apostle Peter in his second recorded sermon. He pressed upon the people of Jerusalem the fact that the things "which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer" (Acts 3:18), had been fulfilled to the letter before their eyes. Not a word had failed. Just so, he said, all that the prophets had spoken of His second coming would be fulfilled:

"He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of[Pg 52] restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:20, 21.

The Promise of His Coming

As iniquity began to abound, God sent a message to the antediluvian world, declaring that Christ's coming in glory would end the reign of sin:

"Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all." Jude 14, 15.

The promise of Christ's coming was the "blessed hope" in the patriarchal age. In Job's dark hour of trial his heart clung to the promise, and he was kept from despair:

"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: ... whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Job 19:25-27.

The psalmist sang of it:

"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." Ps. 50:3.

And the prophets of later times were unceasingly moved upon to talk of the glory of that coming, of events preceding it, and of the preparation for it.

"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence." "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa. 62:6, 11.

The message of His coming is to be heralded to the ends of the earth; for it is "good tidings of great joy" to every one who will receive it.

On that last night with His disciples before the crucifixion, when His heart was sorrowful even unto death, as the burden[Pg 53] of all our iniquities was about to be laid upon Him, Christ's love for His own made precious to Him the thought of His second coming to gather them home at last, safe from all sin and trouble; and He said:

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3.

In that assurance the heart finds rest. O the preciousness of the promise, "I will come again"! "I am coming for you," is the cheering message. "Yes, Lord," we reply, "we will wait, and watch, and be ready, by Thy grace."

The Manner of His Coming

Christ's second coming is to be visible to all the world. There is to be nothing secret or mystical about it. The revelator says:

"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Rev. 1:7.

Christ Himself described the scene to His disciples as it will appear to the eyes of all:

"As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:27. "Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Mark 13:26.

The day of the Lord—the close of probation, the initial outpouring of the judgments of God—will come "as a thief in the night," but Christ's personal appearing will be visible to all. The heavens will open, the earth quake, the trump of God resound, and such glory as mortal eye has never seen will burst upon the world when He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords.[Pg 54]

THE TRANSFIGURATION A TYPE OF HIS COMING
"Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him." Matt. 17:3.

"This Same Jesus"

The Lord would have His children understand that this One who comes in power and glory is the same Saviour of men who once walked by blue Galilee. As the disciples were watching their Saviour, and ours, ascending bodily into heaven from Olivet, until "a cloud received Him out of their sight," suddenly two angels stood by them, who said:[Pg 55]

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:9, 11.

CHRIST SET AT NAUGHT BY THE ROMANS
"Behold your King!" John 19:14.

"This same Jesus"! It was the loving Friend and Elder Brother, Son of man as well as Son of God, who was passing from their sight. He will come back the "same Jesus," though in glory indescribable, having "all the holy angels with Him."

The prophet Habakkuk thus described Christ's glorious appearing, as it was represented to him in vision:

Surely it is the "same Jesus," and the mark of the cruel nails is the shining badge of His power to save.

As the redeemed see Him who was crucified for them coming in glory, they will cry, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. 25:9.

But that day will be a day of darkness as well as of light. The unready, the unrepentant, will realize too late that in rejecting Christ's pardon and love and sacrifice, they have rejected the only means by which they might have been prepared to meet the coming King, before whose face no sin can endure. "Every eye shall see Him," the apostle says, and he describes the terror of that day to the unprepared:

"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:15-17.

The scenes of that great day are so beyond human comprehension that it is difficult to realize that such a time is actually before us.

The Purpose of His Coming

The Scriptures make very clear the purpose of Christ's second coming and the events of that great day. It has been the hope of the children of God through all the ages. The apostle Paul calls it the "blessed hope."[Pg 57]

"The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11-13.

The saints of God have fallen asleep in death with their faith reaching forward to Christ's glorious appearing. So the veteran apostle fell, with eyes upon "that day."

"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." 2 Tim. 4:6-8.

Christ's second coming is the grand climax of the plan of salvation. Not till then are the children of God ushered into the eternal kingdom. Then the crowns of life are bestowed, and the saved all go together through the gates into the city—patriarch and prophet, apostle and reformer, and the child of God of this last generation. Of the ancient worthies it is written:

"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40.

What a glorious day it will be when the ransomed of all the ages, march in together through the gates into the city!

It is to take His children to their eternal home that Christ comes the second time. This was His promise to the disciples:

"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2, 3.

Not in detail, but in their general order, let us follow the events of that great day.[Pg 58]

CHRIST COMING IN GLORY
"The Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him." Matt. 25:31.

[Pg 59]

The Prelude to His Coming

as the revelator saw it and heard it in a vision of the last day:

"There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth,... and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God." Rev. 16:17-19.

"The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Rev. 6:14.

His Glorious Appearing

Then bursts upon the world the glory of our Saviour's coming:

"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet." Matt. 24:30, 31.

"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Rev. 14:14, 15.

The Resurrection of the Just, and the Translation of the Living Righteous

The time to reap has come, and the wheat is gathered at last into the garner of the Lord:

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the[Pg 60] trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.

"He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:31.

"This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:15-18.

THE EMPTY TOMB
"Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." 1 Cor. 15:23.

The righteous dead are raised to life as the trump of God sounds and the voice of the Archangel calls to His sleeping saints, and the living righteous are transformed from mortality[Pg 61] to immortality. Then all together, with the escort of the angels, they follow the Saviour to the heavenly mansions that He has prepared in the city of God.

The Destruction of the Wicked

Before the glorious majesty of the coming King no sin can endure; for true it is that "our God is a consuming fire"—now, in the day of His mercy, consuming sin out of the heart that by faith approaches the throne of grace, but in that day consuming the unrepentant sinner with his sin.

It is the great day long foretold by seer and prophet.

Again let us read the description of what it will mean to the unsaved to see Christ coming in glory; for the terror of that day must warn us now to keep within the refuge of the Saviour's loving grace:

"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:15-17.

The same glory that transforms the righteous is a consuming fire to those who have rejected Christ's salvation:

"Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess. 2:8.

"When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them[Pg 62] that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. 1:7-9.

The Climax of Human History

Thus the second coming of Christ brings the resurrection and translation of the righteous, the death of the wicked, and the end of the world. The resurrection of the wicked does not then take place, but only that of the just; save for some of the wicked dead who had a special part in warring against Christ,—"they also which pierced Him" (Rev. 1:7). These are raised to see His coming, necessarily to fall again before the consuming glory of His presence.

The righteous are taken to reign with Christ in the heavenly city for a thousand years, and during the same period the earth lies in desolation and chaos, uninhabited by man, a dark abyss, the dreary prison house of Satan. Of the two resurrections, first of the just and then of the unjust, we are told:

"They [the righteous] lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." Rev. 20:4-6.

It is at the end of the thousand years that the resurrection of the wicked takes place. Then the city of God descends, "the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven," and the wicked come forth to condemnation and the second death, from which there is no waking.

"Now is the Accepted Time"

Now is the day of salvation, when by Christ's grace we may prepare for that great day. To be found among His redeemed ones in that day will be of infinitely greater worth[Pg 63] than anything this world can give, of pleasure, or possessions, or honor. Nothing will count then but the blessed hope.

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, found the personal Saviour in the days of the Methodist revival in England. All her wealth and all her social influence were devoted to Christ, even though titled friends took umbrage at her close association with the poor and the humble who gave heed to the message of the hour, and pressed into the kingdom. She wrote of her joy in being numbered with the children of God:

One night, at a royal ball, the Prince of Wales asked a titled lady where the Countess of Huntingdon was. "Oh, I suppose she is praying with some of her beggars somewhere!" was the flippant answer. "Ah," said the crown prince, "in the last day I think I should be glad to hold the hem of Lady Huntingdon's mantle." True it is that the greatest gift of grace now, as it will be then, is to be numbered among the obedient children of God.

CHRIST ANSWERING HIS DISCIPLES' QUESTIONS
"When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24:3.

[Pg 65]

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE FORETOLD
"There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Matt. 24:2.

SIGNS OF THE APPROACHING END

OUR SAVIOUR'S GREAT PROPHECY

Part I

Christ had spoken of the coming desolation of the sacred temple at Jerusalem. The disciples were astonished. "Master, see," said one, "what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" The Saviour replied:

"Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" Mark 13:2.

"What Shall be the Sign?"

As soon as they were alone on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city, the disciples came to Jesus, saying:

"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24:3.

Replying to this question, the Saviour spoke first of the fall of Jerusalem; He foretold in a sentence the experiences of[Pg 66] His church through dark ages to follow; then He described the events of the latter days, the signs showing His second advent near at hand; and, finally, He pictured the scenes of His own glorious appearing in the clouds of heaven. The fullest record of the discourse is found in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew.

A Striking Parallel

The first portion of the prophetic discourse (verses 4-14) deals with general conditions that were to prevail both in the last days of the Jewish state, and on a yet larger scale in the course of history leading to the last days of the world. There was so close a parallel between these times that Christ, in one description, answered both questions asked, When shall these things come upon Jerusalem? and, What shall be the signs of the end of the world?

The prophetic word foretold the rise of false Christs, the coming of wars, famines, and earthquakes in "divers places." The believers saw these things fulfilled in that generation before Jerusalem fell; but as we read the prophecy, we see the wider application and yet larger fulfilment through the course of history since that day, these calamities increasing in the earth as the end draws near. Before the end of the Jewish state, the believers carried the gospel to all the known world of their day. (See Col. 1:23.) In these latter days we are seeing the yet wider proclamation of the gospel, as foretold in the fourteenth verse, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

The Last Days of Jerusalem

We may note briefly some of the events of Jerusalem's last days. Christ had forewarned the believers:

"Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."[Pg 67]

Having rejected the true Christ, the nation was open to deception by the false. We catch just a glimpse of the fulfilment in the book of Acts; in secular history the full story is told. Ridpath says:

During the Saviour's life and ministry a divine hand had to a great extent held the elements of violence in check, but as the light was rejected more and more, the spirit of evil came to hold sway unrestrained. Dr. Mears well describes the changed conditions in these words:

Thus the events led rapidly on toward the day of Jerusalem's fall, so long foretold by the prophets.

The Sign to the Believers

The disciples had asked for a sign, and Christ gave them a token by which they might know when the time to flee from Jerusalem had come. Here Luke's Gospel gives the fullest record:

"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." Luke 21:20-22.

THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY THE ROMANS UNDER TITUS, A.D. 70
"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Luke 21:20.

The unbelieving in Jerusalem and Judea could not conceive that their city, so long protected and favored of God, could be destroyed. Not even the appearance of the Roman[Pg 68] [Pg 69]armies could shake their blind self-confidence. But at the first sight of the encircling armies, the Christians knew that the time for flight was at hand. But how to flee was the question, with the compassing lines drawn close about the city. Moreover, the Zealots, the furious war party in power, would be little likely to allow any number to pass out to the Roman forces.

Just here God's providence made a way of escape. Cestius, the Roman commander, after having partially undermined one of the temple walls, suddenly decided to defer pushing the attack. "He retired from the city," says Josephus, "without any reason in the world." (See "Wars," book 2, chap. 19.) And the Zealots flew out after the retiring Romans, furiously attacking the rear guards.

Then those watching Christians knew that the time for quick flight had come, according to Christ's prophecy uttered many years before. They fled out of the city and out of the country round about.

Through all the years, Christ's prophecy had exhorted them, "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20. The prayer was answered, for it was in the autumn and on a week day that the flight was made.[B] Watching for the sign, and instantly obeying, they were delivered.

Thus it was that when the Romans returned later to the siege, never to give up till the city fell, none of the Christians were overwhelmed in its destruction. Even so are we to watch the signs of our own times, that we may escape those things that are coming upon the earth, and be ready to "stand before the Son of man."[Pg 70]

The Prophetic Word Fulfilled

Christ had declared that the temple, the pride of the nation, would be utterly destroyed. In the last siege, the Roman commander tried to spare the magnificent pile. When the Jews made it their chief fortress, because of its massive strength, Titus remonstrated with them, saying:

But the prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. The people seemed possessed with fury. The hardened Roman pagans were astonished at their suicidal rashness. Titus's efforts to save the temple failed, and it went down in ruin, as Christ had foretold.

A PANEL FROM THE ARCH OF TITUS
Showing the golden candlestick and other sacred vessels of the temple being carried in triumph through the streets of Rome.

[Pg 71]

The disciples of Christ had called His attention to the immense blocks of stone that composed the temple walls. "See, what manner of stones," one said. When Titus examined these same stones, after the fall of the city, he is said to have declared:

Rather, we would say, in the light of Scripture teaching, the destruction that came upon the city was but the fruit of its own way. God's guardian care had long protected the city of David. When His protection was finally thrust aside and the people put themselves in the power of the great destroyer, divine justice could no longer save the city from the judgments that were bound to fall upon persistent transgression against light.

The lesson is one of those written "for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." Jerusalem, in that generation of great light and high privilege, fell because it knew not the time of its visitation. Still Christ's sad lament bears its warning to the ears of men: "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" Luke 19:42.

Part II

Having foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and given to the believers signs by which they might find deliverance in the day of its overthrow, Christ yet more fully answered the second part of the disciples' question, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24:3.[Pg 72]

THE CATACOMBS NEAR ROME
In these underground passages persecuted Christians found a hiding place, held their services, and buried their dead.

[Pg 73]

The Period of Tribulation

Quickly He passed to the events of the latter days. But first He sketched, in a few words, the tribulations through which His church was to pass during the intervening centuries. Daniel the prophet had written of this experience, foretelling the long period during which the papal power was to "wear out the saints of the Most High." Dan. 7:25. Of these times, Christ said in His prophetic discourse:

"Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matt. 24:21, 22.

It is evident that Christ referred to the time of tribulation foretold by Daniel, not to the trials attending the flight of the Christians from Jerusalem, for their flight was a deliverance of the elect from trial. However much the weak may have suffered temporarily in fleeing from their homes, the great suffering of that time came upon the unbelieving, who had no shelter.

This prophecy given by our Saviour presents the picture of a long-continued persecution of His own elect, and foretells the shortening of the allotted time. God was to intervene in some special way to save His people. And it was even so. The elect did suffer all through the centuries of intolerance, until the rise of the Reformation and the spreading abroad of God's Word broke the power of ecclesiasticism, thus shortening the days of bitter tribulation.

The End Drawing Near

According to Daniel's further prophecy, the period of trial and persecution was to reach "even to the time of the end." Dan. 11:35. Naturally, then, we should look for the signs of the latter days to begin to appear following these days of tribulation. And so we find the next words of Christ's discourse introducing the topic of His second coming. From[Pg 74] now on the prophetic outline deals with events leading down to the end of the age.

First the Saviour utters a warning against false ideas concerning His second coming. That no theories of a secret coming or of a mystic coming might deceive the unwary, He says in plain words:

"If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:23-27.

Today we see the need of this warning. Some of the most subtle deceptions are found in the teaching that Christ has already come, secretly, or that He comes in the chamber of death, or in the spiritualistic séance. Against all these errors we are forewarned, as well as against any agencies that may come showing marvelous signs and wonders. The close of human probation, the coming of the day of God, will be as a thief in the night; and Christ's coming itself will overtake the unwatchful all unprepared. Nevertheless, when He comes, "every eye shall see Him," and all the glory of heaven will burst upon a quaking world.

Signs in the Heavens and the Earth

Now the Saviour's outline of prophecy presents the signs which were to show when the coming of the Lord was near. Referring again to the days of tribulation foretold by the prophet Daniel, Christ says:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens[Pg 75] shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." Matt. 24:29, 30.

In Luke's record of the same prophetic discourse, additional signs are given, describing conditions in the earth as Christ's coming draws near. His account reads:

"There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:25-28.

Yet again, the prophet John, in the Revelation, foretells these signs in the sun and moon and stars, as they were presented to him in a vision of the last days. But his record shows that this series of signs was to be preceded by a great earthquake. He describes the order of events as follows:

"I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6:12, 13.

In these scriptures four great signs of Christ's approaching advent are listed for our study, as follows:

The Time When the Signs Begin

Christ's prophecy points out approximately the time when the first of the signs that He gave, the darkening of the sun, should appear,—"immediately after the tribulation[Pg 76] of those days." And the "great earthquake" of John's vision was to precede this sign in the heavens.

The Reformation of the sixteenth century began to cut short the days of tribulation; but some countries shut out the liberalizing influences of the Word of God, and there the persecution continued.

Even as late as near the end of the seventeenth century, in 1685, France revoked the Edict of Nantes, that had granted toleration, and persecution raged as of old. The church was driven again to the desert. Speaking of the early decades of the eighteenth century, Kurtz says:

There was severe persecution of the Moravians in Austria, in these times, many of the persecuted finding refuge in Saxony. It was in 1722 that Christian David led the first band of Moravian refugees to settle on the estates of Count Zinzendorf, who organized through them the great pioneer movement of modern missions.

But by the middle of the century, the era of enlightenment and the force of world opinion, in the good providence of God, had so permeated the Catholic states of Europe that general violent persecution had ceased. One incident will suffice as evidence of this.

The scene was in France, where alone, of all the Catholic states, there were any great numbers of Protestants. In 1762 a Huguenot of Toulouse, unjustly charged with crime, was put to torture and to death, under the pressure of the old persecuting spirit. Many Huguenots thought the persecutions of former times were reviving, and prepared to flee to Switzerland. But Voltaire took up the matter, and so wrought upon public opinion that the Paris parliament reviewed the case, and the king paid the man's family a large indemnity.

This shows that by the middle of that century the days of any general persecution had ceased. In the nature of the[Pg 77] case, we may not point to the exact year and say, Here the days of tribulation ended.

From these times, then, we are to scan the record of history to learn if the appointed signs began to appear. As we look, we find the events recorded, following on in the order predicted:

"There shall be signs," the Saviour said. We are to study the record of events, watching to catch the signs of the approaching end as earnestly as the mariner watches the beacon lights when he nears the longed-for haven on a dark and stormy night.

AN ANCIENT FLOUR MILL
"Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." Matt. 24:41.

[Pg 78]

[Pg 79]

LISBON FROM ACROSS THE BAY
The scene of the great earthquake and tidal wave, Nov. 1, 1755, when in six minutes sixty thousand people perished.

THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE OF 1755

"Lo, There Was a Great Earthquake"

The first of a series of signs of the approaching end is thus described by the revelator:

"I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake." Rev. 6:12.

THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE
"There shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Matt. 24:7.

The verses immediately preceding this scripture plainly describe the days of persecution of the saints of God, and the era of protest and reform that cut short that time of tribulation. Then this first sign appears. This is in harmony with Christ's statement that the signs of His second coming should begin to appear following the tribulation of those days.

Just about the close of the days of tribulation occurred the Lisbon earthquake, as it is called, though its effects reached far beyond Portugal. Prof. W.H. Hobbs, geologist, says of it:

[Pg 80]

"Lo, there was a great earthquake," the revelator said. It was indeed "a great earthquake," and great was its influence. In all the world, men's hearts were mightily stirred. James Parton, an English author, says of it:

The World Set to Thinking

This earthquake set men to thinking of the great day of God. Voltaire, the French philosopher, was "profoundly moved" by it, we are told. "It was the last judgment for that region," he wrote; "nothing was wanting to it except the trumpet." More than a month afterward, while still the perturbations of the earth were continuing, this skeptic wrote a poem upon the problem presented, voicing the sentiment:

Just at the time, plans were under way for the opening of a theater at Lausanne for the special performance of some of Voltaire's rationalistic dramas. But the enterprise was deferred. One writer says:

So, in an age of rationalism and unbelief, men's thoughts were turned toward God, and human helplessness and earth's instability were recognized.

Extent of the Lisbon Earthquake

As to the extent of the earthquake, a writer of the period shows that it was felt in Sweden and in Africa and in the West Indies, adding:

The commander of an English ship, lying off Lisbon at the time, thus described the scene in a letter to the ship's owners:

Recognized as a Sign

Looking down through the ages, the prophet of the Revelation saw the coming of the latter days, when signs of the approaching end were to begin to appear. Just there he beheld "a great earthquake." The terrible event was noted by inspiration as a sign of the coming of the final judgment. Earthquakes there had been before, and increasing earthquakes were to follow after,—"earthquakes in divers places,"—as Christ foretold, speaking of the signs of His second coming. But as befitted this first of the series of signs of the approaching end, a conviction from God seemed to come into the hearts of men in that generation, that this was indeed a token to remind the world of a coming day of doom.

In the year of the disaster, an English poet, John Biddolf, published a book of verse, pointing some of the lessons of the hour, from which we quote a few descriptive stanzas:

Thus this first of the predicted latter-day signs bore its message to men. Its immediate scene was set in the Old World, but its warning was world-wide. The next sign foretold was to appear in the New World, but like the Lisbon earthquake, its message of warning was for all men.

THE FLOOD
"So shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:39.

[Pg 84]

MIDDAY AT SEA MAY 19, 1780
"Between one and two he was obliged to light a large candle to steer by." See p. 89.

[Pg 85]

SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS
"Can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Matt. 16:3.

THE DARK DAY OF 1780

"The Sun Shall be Darkened"

We recall that in the vision of latter-day signs given to the prophet John, he saw the "great earthquake" followed by a sign in the heavens:

"The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood." Rev. 6:12.

Of this event our Saviour spoke, in giving the signs of His second coming which were to begin to appear following the cutting short of the days of persecution. We repeat His words:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light." Matt. 24:29.

The Prophecy Fulfilled

True to the order of the prophecy, following the great earthquake of 1755 in Europe, there came, in America, the second sign of the approaching end, the wonderful darkening of the sun, known in history as "The Dark Day."[Pg 86]

This sign appeared at the time indicated in the prophecy, "immediately after the tribulation of those days;" or as Mark has it, "in those days, after that tribulation." On May 19, 1780, the sun was darkened, and the following night the moon did not give her light. Whatever explanation men may have to offer as to the cause of the phenomenon, the fact remains that when the time of the prophecy came, the sign appeared.

The first volume of the "Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences," published in Boston in 1785, contains a paper entitled, "An Account of a Very Uncommon Darkness in the States of New England, May 19, 1780. By Samuel Williams, A.M., Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy in the University at Cambridge [Massachusetts]."

Of the extent, duration, and degree of darkness on that occasion, this scientific observer said:

Whittier has commemorated it in the poem, "Abraham Davenport:"

The words of the poet are substantiated by the plain prose of the dictionary maker. In the department explanatory of "Noted Names," Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (edition 1883) says:

Cause Unknown

At the time, some explained the darkness as being due to smoke from forest fires, others to the exceptional rise of vapors and atmospheric dust in the warm spring following the melting of unusually heavy winter snows. But forest fires were not of extraordinary occurrence in these regions, and many a springtime since has seen the melting of heavy winter snows and the rise of vapors; yet May 19, 1780, still stands unique in the annals of modern times as "the dark day." However observers and writers disagreed as to the nature of the mantle of darkness that was drawn over New England that day, they were one in recognizing the extraordinary character of the event.

The facts are fully covered by the statement in the dictionary, "The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known."

What we do know is that the Saviour's prophecy declared, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light." And when the time for it came, the sign appeared.[Pg 88]

Contemporary Records

Though the comparatively small-sized newspapers of the day were crowded with news of the progress of the Revolutionary War, then raging, no little space was given to reports and discussions of this remarkable darkening of the sun.

A correspondent of the Boston Gazette and Country Journal (of May 29, 1780) reported observations made at Ipswich Hamlet, Mass., "by several gentlemen of liberal education:"

Of the night following, this gentleman (then at Salem) wrote:

The Boston Independent Chronicle of June 8 quoted from Thomas's Massachusetts Spy:

Not only over the land, but out at sea also, the unnatural darkness of the day and night of May 19, 1780, was observed. In the Independent Chronicle of June 15, 1780, a correspondent, telling of interviews with various observers, said:

Thoughts Turned to the Judgment

This writer commented as follows concerning the feelings awakened by the event:

The Independent Chronicle of June 22, 1780, printed a letter from Dr. Samuel Stearns, who had been appealed to because of his knowledge "in philosophy and astronomy." First, he disposed of one suggestion that had been made:

Then, in the rather heavy language of the science of that period, this writer told how the action of the sun's heat was continually projecting into the atmosphere particles of earthy[Pg 90] matter; and in his opinion it was some "vast collection of such particles that caused the late uncommon darkness." But as to the real accounting for the phenomenon he wrote:

Thus men's minds were exercised by this sign "in the sun, and in the moon."

The early records of New York City tell of the interest excited there, though evidently the darkness was not so marked as it was farther north.

In the Connecticut Legislature

President Timothy Dwight, of Yale College, a contemporary, left the following account of one of the historic incidents of the day:

It was this striking incident that Whittier described with the poet's pen:

Thus, in a manner that arrested the attention of men and put awe and solemnity into their hearts, with thoughts of the coming of the great day of God, the first of the predicted signs in the heavens was revealed.

At a later time, when students of the Bible seemed moved upon simultaneously, in both Europe and America, to give attention to the doctrine of Christ's second coming, it was more generally understood that these signs had come in fulfilment of prophecy.

As we look to the past, we see how truly the tokens of the coming King began to appear as the church of Christ emerged fully from the long, dark period of tribulation. A new era was dawning, in which the Lord was to fill the earth with light before His second appearing, according to His word to Daniel the prophet:

"Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.

At last the time of the end was at hand, and the signs of the latter days had begun to appear in the earth and in the heavens. The Lord was preparing to send to all the world the closing gospel message of Christ's soon coming in glory.[Pg 92]

THE GREAT METEORIC SHOWER NOVEMBER 13, 1833
"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6:13.

[Pg 93]

A STAR HERALDS HIS FIRST ADVENT
"We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him." Matt. 2:2.

THE FALLING STARS OF 1833

"The Stars Shall Fall from Heaven"

A great impetus was given to the study of divine prophecy by the events of the closing years of the eighteenth century. Observers had seen the papal power receive a "deadly wound" in the events and effects of the French Revolution; and it was understood that the world was entering a new era of enlightenment and liberty.

Bible students began to see more clearly the lesson of the great outlines of historic prophecy, and hearts were stirred with the evidences that the coming of the Lord was drawing near. In Europe and America, in the early decades of the nineteenth century, there was the beginning of a revival of the study and preaching of the advent idea.

Another Sign in the Heavens

Just here appeared another great sign in the heavens, foretold by the word of prophecy. Of the sign that was to[Pg 94] follow the darkening of the sun and moon, Christ's prophecy says:

"The stars shall fall from heaven." Matt. 24:29.

The prophet John beheld the spectacle in a vision of the last days, and described it in these words:

"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6:13.

On Nov. 13, 1833, came the wondrous celestial exhibition of falling stars, which is listed as one of the most remarkable phenomena of the astronomical story.

Meteoric displays, swarms of shooting stars, have been observed at various times all through the ages; but this phenomenon, coming in the order given by the prophecy, that is, following the darkening of the sun, constituted the sublime display answering to the pen-picture of the Apocalypse,—as if all the stars of heaven were falling to the earth.

The essential thing about a sign is that it shall be seen, that the circumstances of its appearance shall fasten attention. Not in America alone, but equally in all the civilized world, as a topic of study, this sign in the heavens commanded the attention of men.

An English scientist, Rev. Thomas Milner, F.R.G.S., wrote:

This writer called it "by far the most splendid display on record."—Id., p. 139.

Another English astronomical writer of more recent date says:

This same work describes the extent of the display as follows:[Pg 95]

The Spectacle Described

The closest scientific observations were made by Prof. Denison Olmsted, professor of astronomy at Yale, who wrote in the American Journal of Science:

Prof. Simon Newcomb, the astronomer, declares this phenomenal exhibition of falling stars "the most remarkable one ever observed." (See "Astronomy for Everybody," p. 280.)

This was not merely a display of an unusual number of falling stars, such as Humboldt observed in South America in 1799, or such as we find recorded of other times before and since. It was a "shower" of falling stars, just such a spectacle as one must picture from the words of the prophecy, "And the stars of heaven fell."

The French astronomer Flammarion says of the density of the shower:

This affords us a better idea of the scene than the estimate of 34,640 stars an hour, which was made by Professor Olmsted after the rain of the stars had greatly abated, so that he was able to make an attempt at counting.[Pg 96]

Dr. Humphreys, president of St. John's College, Annapolis, said of the appearance at the Maryland capital:

Nothing less than this could have presented the counterpart of the prophetic picture.

Thoughtful hearts were solemnized by the unwonted spectacle. Prof. Alexander Twining, civil engineer, "late tutor in Yale College," giving his views as to the nature of the flaming visitants from space, wrote:

Multitudes felt that the great Creator had spoken to men in this notable wonder of His heavens. Again and again in the records and reminiscences of that time, testimony is borne to the fact that observers were impressed with the likeness of the scene to that described in the divine prophecy as one of the signs of the end of the world.

The Prophetic Picture Reproduced

The New York Journal of Commerce emphasized the exactness of detail with which the prophecy described the scene as it appeared in 1833. This is the apocalyptic picture, as the ancient prophet saw it in vision:

"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6:13.[Pg 97]

A correspondent of the Journal of Commerce draws the picture as it was seen nearly eighteen centuries later, the likeness to the prophetic description being emphasized in every line:

In this connection was noted by the same writer the special appropriateness of the prophet's figure of the fig tree casting the green figs in a mighty wind:

Professor Olmsted's long and carefully elaborated account in the American Journal of Science, gave a report from a correspondent in Bowling Green, Mo., as follows:

[Pg 98]

THE SIGN OF FIRE
"As this sign of fire in the watchtower was a signal to God's people anciently to flee from the coming danger (see Jer. 6:1), so the signs appearing now in the heavens and in the earth are God's signals of warning to the people of our day."

[Pg 99]

A Sign to All the World

It was not in North America alone, but in all the civilized world, that the attention of men was called to the prophetic word by the discussions of this event. Thus the English scientific writer, Thomas Milner, writing for the British public, spoke as follows of the profound impression made:

So the sign in the heavens made its solemn appeal to all the world. It brought to the multitudes who saw it, thoughts of God and the last great day. An observer living at the time in Georgia, wrote, "Everybody felt that it was the judgment, and that the end of the world had come." Another, in Kentucky, wrote, "In every direction I could hear men, women, and children screaming, 'The judgment day is come!'"

Rather, it was a signal that the hour of God's judgment was drawing near. The signs so long foretold were appearing, one by one, to register their enduring mark on the record of fulfilling prophecy.

Immediately following these times, there began an awakening concerning the vital Bible doctrine of the second coming of Christ, which has grown into the definite advent movement that is carrying the gospel message of preparation for the coming of the Lord to every nation and tongue and people.

The Sign of 1833 Emphasized by Other Displays

We have mentioned the fact that Humboldt had observed an extraordinary fall of meteorites in South America, thirty-three years, before, in 1799. And he reported at the time[Pg 100] that the oldest inhabitants there had a recollection of a similar display in 1766.

From these reports, scientists deduced the theory that these showers were to be expected every thirty-three years. Hence in 1866 they were watching for a repetition of the 1833 display.

That there was a measure of truth in the deduction was made evident by an unusual fall of meteorites Nov. 14, 1866. This time Europe was the scene of the display. But the event was not to be compared with that of 1833. This appears plain from the account of observations made by Sir Robert Ball and Lord Rosse, the British astronomers.

Sir Robert Ball says that when the meteorites began to fall, he and Lord Rosse went out upon the wall of the observatory housing Lord Rosse's great reflecting telescope:

Grand as the spectacle was, it was but a reminder, apparently, of the star shower of 1833, when not "several" meteorites fell at a time, nor many, merely, but, as it appeared, "the stars of heaven fell unto the earth."

However, the spectacle of 1866, which was observed over a great part of the Old World,[D] served to direct renewed attention to the incomparable event of 1833, as well as to the prophetic descriptions of the "wonders in the heavens" (Joel 2:30) which were to appear as the end drew near.

[Pg 101]

CHRIST'S PROMISE TO RETURN
"I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." John 14:3.

Textbooks and astronomical works thereupon began to count it as fully established that every thirty-three years the displays would be repeated. It was confidently predicted that 1899 would witness a repetition, possibly on the scale of 1833.

Professor Langley's "New Astronomy" (published in 1888) said:

Chambers's Astronomy, published in 1889, said:

But the November date passed in 1899, and the years have passed; and the wondrous scene of 1833 has not been repeated. Clerke's "History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century" says:[Pg 102]

The Lord's Signal to Watch

Thus the wisest astronomical predictions made shortly before 1899, based upon the apparently recurrent regularity of the phenomenon, failed; but the predictions of the sure word of prophecy, set down on the sacred record eighteen centuries before, were fulfilled to the letter.

At the close of the days of the predicted tribulation of the church, the signs began to appear—the sun was darkened, the moon withheld its light, and the stars of heaven fell.

The series began at the time specified, the signs came in the order given in Christ's prophecy. The record of history bears witness that the prophecy was fulfilled.

It may be that on a yet more awful and universal scale these phenomena will be seen again in that last shaking of the powers of heaven which is to attend the rolling back of the heavens as a scroll, the immediate prelude to Christ's glorious appearing. But Christ's prophecy, at this point, was not giving a description of events at the very end of the world, but signs by which it might be known when the end was drawing near.

As the signs should be recognized, the Saviour intended that those who loved His appearing should be quickened with hope, and inspired to hasten to the world with the gospel message preparing the way of the Lord. The Lord's word for His children was,

"When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:28.

Long ago these signs began to come to pass. Now may the Lord's believing children well look up and rejoice, knowing that the day of eternal redemption is indeed nigh at hand.[Pg 103]

He Will Come for His Own

SATAN OFFERS GOLD, AND THE WORLD STAMPEDES TO ITS DESTRUCTION
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." James 5:1.

[Pg 105]

THE MISER
"Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." James 5:3.

THE MEANING OF PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS

"THERE SHALL BE SIGNS ... UPON THE EARTH"

From the specific signs in the heavens, which were to herald the coming of the latter days and awaken the church to look for its coming Lord, our Saviour's prophecy passed on to designate certain general conditions in the world which were to continue until the great day of God comes:

"There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:25-27.

Among the developments here foretold, and which contribute to the "distress of nations, with perplexity," we may list the following:[Pg 106]

THE ARMING OF THE NATIONS
"Prepare war,... beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." Joel 3: 9, 10.

1. Political Unrest—the Arming of the Nations

Following on closely with the signs in the heavens, there appears also the awakening to national aspirations and rivalries in Europe, out of which has grown the arming of the nations. The beginning of the modern race of armaments may be dated from those stirring and eventful years of 1830 to 1848. We have seen the resources of the soil and the inventive genius of man devoted to preparations for war on a scale never before thought of. The prophet Joel foretold these conditions in the last days:

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles ["the nations," R.V.]: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.... Let the heathen be wakened....[Pg 107] Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision [or "cutting off"]: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3: 9-14.

READY FOR THE CONFLICT
"For the day of the Lord is near." Joel 3: 14. PHOTO FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.

Another prophecy forewarns of the "peace and safety" cry that is to be heard as the end draws near. We are told that many people in the last days will be saying that swords are to be beaten into plowshares, and that the nations will cease from war (Isa. 2:3, 4); but the actual conditions are repeatedly described in prophecy as warlike and perilous. Thus the revelator saw the closing days:

"The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth." Rev. 11: 18.[Pg 108]

A FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matt. 24: 42.

[Pg 109]

What we see then among the nations proclaims the approaching end.

2. Signs in the Social World

A New Testament prophecy of the latter days says:

"In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3: 1-4.

The "perilous times" have come, when, as never before, the world is pleasure mad.

"Unrestrained passion for pleasure," said M. Comte, editor of the French Relèvement Social, writing just before the European war, is bringing a terrible train of evils into modern society. Along with it he put "the hunt for money without regard for means," adding:

Many agencies for social and temperance reform are rendering the greatest human service; but for lost humanity the only hope is Christ, the divine Saviour. With an urgency born of the last call, His gospel is sounding to a world on the verge of eternity. Yet with divine love longing to save, the world sweeps on, less and less mindful of eternal interests. Christ's prophecy foretold it as it is:

"As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24: 37-39.[Pg 110]

Who can look out upon mankind today without the conviction that this scripture is being fulfilled? The drift is strong toward the world and away from God; but we are bidden to watch and pray, lest the coming day find us unprepared.

3. Signs in the Industrial World

Industrial conditions today add their contribution to the "distress of nations, with perplexity." Through the word of prophecy the Lord long ago foretold these conditions, with a warning to the careless rich, and a warning to the laborer and the poor, not to be drawn into contention over the things of this world, for the Judge is at the door. The prophecy, it will be seen, refers specifically to latter-day conditions.

"AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?"
A night scene on the Thames embankment, London.

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers[Pg 111] who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

THE RICH YOUNG MAN
"Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Matt. 19: 21.

"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5: 1-9.

There is no need to argue that the issues with which the prophecy deals are pressing upon the world with ever-increasing[Pg 112] perplexity. We quote but two statements, by men not engaged in agitation, but calmly and thoughtfully setting down the signs of the times.

The late Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock) wrote a few years ago in the Review of Internationalism:

Of the rapid growth of discontent and its propaganda, Mr. Frederick Townsend Martin, of New York, wrote:

Thus hearts grow faint "for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." But while the increasing "distress of nations, with perplexity," abounds, the Lord sends the steadying, assuring message that soon Christ will come to end the reign of sin and strife. He would have His children keep the gospel light glowing, and wait patiently for Him.

4. The Great Missionary Movement

The Saviour's prophecy of the signs of His second coming places the work of world evangelization as the culminating sign. This in itself is a joyful token of the approaching[Pg 113] end, a bright signal of hope in a suffering world. He said:

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24: 14.

Before the end, the light of the gospel was to shine into every dark corner of the earth. True to the sure word of prophecy, when the latter days began,—"the time of the end,"—there sprang up the great movement of modern missions which has been one of the leading characteristics of the last century. Here are a few facts showing the missionary developments of a single century:

Since 1900 the missionary movement has remarkably increased in extent and activity. It is estimated that now there are about 22,000 foreign missionaries in the fields, with many thousands of trained native evangelists and helpers.

The prophecy is fulfilling before our eyes. It is not the conversion of the world that Christ's words foretold, but the evangelization of the world; and when all the world has heard the gospel of the kingdom, "then shall the end come."

Another prophecy—that of Rev. 14: 6-14—shows that the closing phase of this world-wide missionary movement is to be the proclamation of the special gospel message of preparation for the coming of the Lord, calling all men to worship God and keep His commandments, and warning them against following the traditions of men that make void the Word of God.[Pg 114]

THE SUNSET HOUR
"The work that centuries might have done Must crowd the hour of setting sun."

[Pg 115]

With the coming of this generation there has come just such a message, in the rise and progress of the advent movement, the burden of the message being expressed in the very language of the prophecy—"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." Rev. 14: 7. And the movement is spreading rapidly "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Thus in vision the prophet on Patmes heard the message given; and when its warning cry had reached all nations, he saw Christ coming in the clouds of heaven to reap the harvest of the earth.

"Even at the Doors"

Of the beginning of the special signs of the last days, Christ said:

"When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21: 28.

But of the time when these signs should all be seen fulfilled or in process of fulfilment, the Saviour said:

"Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Matt. 24: 32-35.

In this generation we see these things. All about us the signs have appeared. We know, then, by the word that shall not pass away, that the generation has at last appeared that is to see the Saviour coming in power and great glory. "Of that day and hour knoweth no man," but we may know "that it is near, even at the doors"—the day for which the saints of God have hoped through all the ages.[Pg 116]

PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH
"Understandest thou what thou readest?" Acts 8:30.

[Pg 117]

THE ROYAL PALACE OF BABYLON
"The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." Dan. 2:37

THE HISTORIC PROPHECY OF DANIEL 7

FOUR GREAT UNIVERSAL EMPIRES

Part I

So important is it that we understand the events leading on to the end, that repeatedly the "sure word of prophecy" outlines the course of this world's history, and sets up waymarks along the highway to the everlasting kingdom.

In the light of prophecy we see the hand of God guiding and overruling through all history, shaping events for the carrying out of His purpose to end the reign of sin and to bring in the reign of eternal righteousness. His prophetic word foretells events of history, that we may know that He is the living God over all, and that we may understand that the divine purpose will surely be fulfilled. Above a wicked world there is a God in heaven, waiting only the appointed time for the accomplishment of His purposes.

"I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that[Pg 118] are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.... I have spoken it, I also will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.... My salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion." Isa. 46:9-13.

In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, recorded in the second chapter of Daniel, the Lord revealed in brief but graphic outline the course of history from the days of Babylon to the end of the world. The four great universal monarchies,—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome—were represented by the various parts of the metallic image. That prophecy described particularly the division of the Roman Empire into the kingdoms of western Europe. "In the days of these kings," declared the word of the Lord, the God of heaven was to set up His kingdom, bringing an end to all earthly powers.

In the seventh chapter we are taken over the same course of history, in Daniel's vision of the four beasts. Here also chief attention is devoted to the fourth great kingdom; and especially to its divided state; for the events taking place at this time are of the deepest eternal interest to all men.

In this vision Daniel saw four universal empires represented by great beasts. One after another the symbolic beasts arose, did their work, and gave place to the next scenes in the history. The angel clearly explained to Daniel the meaning of the vision:

"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever."

Of necessity, then, it is a repetition of the story of the four universal monarchies dealt with in the second chapter, and ending with the setting up of the everlasting kingdom.

Let us place the view given the prophet in vision alongside the record of history.

First, however, a word as to the manner in which the great beasts appeared to the prophet:[Pg 119]

"I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."

Again and again, in the figurative language of Scripture, winds are used as the symbol for wars; and the sea, or waters, for nations or peoples. (See Jer. 25:31-33; Rev. 17:15.) The prophet saw the clashing of the nations in war, and out of these conflicts arose the kingdoms described in the prophecy.

THE FIRST BEAST
"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings." Dan. 7:4.

Babylon

Note the prophetic picture of the prophecy and the corresponding representation in history.

Prophecy.—"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it."

History.—As the lion is king of beasts, it was a fitting symbol of Babylon, "the glory of kingdoms." Isa. 13:19.[Pg 120] The eagle's wings suggest rapidity of movement and far-reaching conquest. The prophet Habakkuk said of it, "Their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle." This was the characteristic of Babylon under the earlier kings, but especially under Nebuchadnezzar. Berosus, the ancient Chaldean historian, wrote of him:

THE SECOND BEAST
"And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear." Dan. 7:5.

But now, at the time of Daniel's vision, degeneracy had come; the empire was tottering. The lion heart was gone, the eagle's wings were plucked, and within three years from the time the vision was given, Babylon was overthrown.

Medo-Persia

As the dominion passed from Babylon to the next great power, the prophet says:

Prophecy.—"Behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the[Pg 121] mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh."

History.—The Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon. Medo-Persia was a dual kingdom, lifting itself up on one side, first the Median branch the stronger, then the Persian, under Cyrus and his successors, rising higher. This two-sided characteristic, noted as a distinguishing mark in the prophecy, was emphasized by the ancient writers also. Æschylus, the Greek poet, who lived in the time of Persia, wrote:

The word spoken in the vision, "Arise, devour much flesh," describes the history from the time when the Persian side rose uppermost. Rawlinson says, "Cyrus proceeded with scarcely a pause on a long career of conquest."

An alliance against Persia was formed by Lydia, Egypt, and Babylon (Herodotus 1:77); and as these three great provinces were subdued, they may well be represented by the three ribs in the mouth of the Medo-Persian bear.

Grecia

Yet another kingdom was to follow, and strikingly the symbol pictures the characteristics of the Greek conquest.

Prophecy.—"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; and the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it."

History.—The third kingdom was Grecia. Under Alexander the Great, the Greeks swept into Asia with the quickness of the leopard's spring. And the four wings on the leopard must represent astonishing fleetness. Plutarch speaks of[Pg 122] the "incredible swiftness" of Alexander's conquests. Appian wrote:

THE THIRD BEAST
"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard." Dan. 7:6.

Thus the ancient Roman writer pictured the career of Grecia just as represented by the prophetic symbol—the fleetness, the great dominion given it, the division of the empire into satrapies, as suggested by the four heads of the leopard. Out of the conflicts following Alexander's death, there came the fourfold headship of the empire. Rawlinson says, "A quadripartite division of Alexander's domain was recognized." (See "Sixth Monarchy," chap. 3.) The real situation is best represented, as Dr. Albert Barnes says, by "one animal with four heads," just as the prophetic symbol described it centuries before.[Pg 123]

Thus the course of empire followed the outline of the "sure word of prophecy" from age to age.

There was to be no abiding kingdom till the time came for God's glorious kingdom to be set up.

THE FOURTH BEAST
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly." Dan. 7:7.

Rome

As the prophet watched the moving panorama of history, foretold in symbols, he said:

Prophecy.—"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things."[Pg 124]

ROME ON THE TIBER
The palace of the Cæsars appears high on the hill at the left.

[Pg 125]

History.—As the iron of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream fitly represented the "iron monarchy of Rome," so here the dreadful beast, with its iron teeth, can be none other than Rome, which followed Grecia in world dominion. It was the most powerful, the most dominating, of all the beasts in the prophetic series. A Roman Catholic writer, Cardinal Manning, compresses into a paragraph the correspondence of history to the likeness of the prophecy:

BATTLE OF ZAMA, B.C. 202
By which Rome broke the power of Carthage, its rival, and "began the conquest of the world."

[Pg 126]

Thus far every symbol of the prophet's vision finds its exact and clear counterpart in history. A writer living in the third century, in the days of imperial Rome, rejoiced to see how exactly the prophecy was being fulfilled. Hippolytus (counted a saint by the Catholic Church) wrote:

Now the prophetic outline comes to the time of the division of the Roman Empire, introducing events of deepest personal interest to us today.

Part II

The Fourth Kingdom and the "Little Horn"

It was the fourth great monarchy, Imperial Rome, and the events to follow it, that engaged the anxious inquiry of the prophet. He says:

"Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."

The prophet wanted to know the truth about it; and the angel told him the truth. First, the angel said:[Pg 127]

"The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces."

The fourth kingdom, as we have seen, was Rome. As Cardinal Manning said of the empire, "It was 'exceeding terrible,' according to the prophecies of Daniel; it was as it were of iron, breaking down and subduing the nations."

Of the ten horns that arose out of this fourth great empire, the angel said:

"The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings."

We look to the history of the Roman Empire, and what do we see?—Just the picture of the prophecy. We see the original Roman Empire of the West divided into lesser kingdoms. We see the barbarian peoples of the North sweeping down upon the empire, breaking it up, and establishing within its boundaries the various kingdoms that are to this day represented by the kingdoms of western Europe.

And as we watch the history at this point, we surely see "another little horn," another land of power, rising among the horns representing the kingdoms of divided Rome—a kingdom, yet a kingdom "diverse" from the others. The work of this power riveted the attention of the prophet; and it is of the greatest importance that we also should watch closely to catch the lesson of the divine prophecy.

Prophetic and Historic Pictures of the "Little Horn"

This is plainly the picture presented by the prophet, as we look again, observing details more closely.

The prophet beheld the division of the Roman Empire into lesser kingdoms. Then, springing up among these kingdoms, he saw the little-horn power subduing three of the ten kingdoms, speaking great words, and making war with the saints of God. It was to be a religious power, then, ruling among the kings of the earth, and asserting religious dominion over the faith and consciences of men. "The same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them."[Pg 128]

THE INVASION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE BY THE HUNS
"We see the barbarian peoples of the North sweeping down upon the empire, breaking it up, and establishing within its boundaries the various kingdoms that are to this day represented by the kingdoms of Western Europe."—Page 127.

[Pg 129]

We look to history, and this is what plainly appears:

We see, as described in the prophecy, a time when ten contemporaneous kingdoms filled the territory of the original Western Empire. Just there we see an ecclesiastical kingly power rise to religious supremacy—the Roman Papacy. We see, through its influence, three of the ten kingdoms overthrown, "plucked up by the roots"—three Arian or heretical kingdoms. And as we watch the history, we find this power making "war with the saints" and prevailing against them through long ages.

A Roman Catholic writer describes it in a paragraph:

Yet again we look at the picture presented in prophecy. Then we turn to history; and precisely where and when the prophet saw the "little horn" coming up, we see the Roman Papacy rising to supremacy. We see this ecclesiastical power wielding a kingly scepter among the kingdoms of divided Rome, exalting itself above them, with a look "more stout than his fellows." We hear it speaking great words, and we see it carrying on warfare against the saints.

Clearly, there was no other power in history, rising at that time and in that place, which suggests the slightest correspondence to the prophecy. In every detail the Roman Papacy does correspond to it.

The prophetic outline has brought us to the rise of the great apostasy, so fully dealt with in the New Testament prophecy; but there are further specifications in this prophecy of the seventh of Daniel which demand brief study.[Pg 130]

RAISING THE SIEGE OF ROME, A.D. 538
The crushing defeat of the Goths by the armies of Justinian, who placed Vigilius in the papal chair under the military protection of his famous general, Belisarius.

[Pg 131]

ST. PETER'S AND THE VATICAN
The magnificent headquarters of the papal system.

THE 1260 YEARS OF DANIEL'S PROPHECY

Compressed into forty-four words, the age-long story of the workings of the Roman Papacy is thus told by the angel who interpreted Daniel's vision of the little horn:

"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 time." Dan. 7:25.

The spirit of this apostasy was abroad in apostolic days. "The mystery of iniquity doth already work," said the apostle Paul. 2 Thess. 2:7. And this power is to continue to work until the end, when it will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. Verse 8.

A Prophetic Period

But according to the word of the angel to Daniel, there was to be a period during which, in a special sense, the Papacy was to hold supremacy over the saints and the times and the laws of the Most High.[Pg 132]

"They shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." In the Scriptures the word "time," used in this manner, means a year: "at the end of times, even years." Dan. 11:13, margin. Therefore a time (one year) and times (two years) and the dividing of time (half a year) means three years and a half. The same period is mentioned twice in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, once (verse 14) as "a time, and times, and half a time," and again (verse 6) as "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

But in the symbolic representations of time in prophecy, a day stands for a year (see Eze. 4:5, 6, and other scriptures). Thus the prophecy foretold a long period of 1260 years during which papal supremacy would continue.

Now we may ask, When was this supremacy to begin? what would mark the rise of the Papacy to acknowledged supremacy? and what events mark the ending of the 1260 years?

A Pivotal Point in History

The answer of history to the voice of prophecy is clear.

The sixth century was a pivotal period in the history of the world. The bishops of Rome had been asserting the claims of that seat (or "see") above all others. Justinian was emperor of the East. Of Justinian and his time Bury says:

Of this turning point in the world's history, Finlay says:

Just here we find the Papacy lifted definitely into acknowledged supremacy. Imperial Rome had already left its ancient[Pg 133] seat to the Papacy, the imperial throne being no longer maintained at Rome. The Bishop of Rome was left the chief figure in the ancient seat of the Cæsars. The prophecy of Rev. 13:2 had said of the relation of the old imperial power to the Papacy, "The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." The seat was given, and now imperial Rome was to give to papal Rome the definite recognition of its supreme power and "great authority."

Papal Supremacy Officially Recognized

In a.d. 533 the emperor Justinian promulgated a letter, having the force of an imperial decree, recognizing the absolute headship of the Bishop of Rome over the churches. It declared:

From this decree (for such it really was) the Roman authorities date the official recognition of the supremacy of the Papacy. Some have taken a later decree by Emperor Phocas (a.d. 606) as a starting point. But Dr. Croly says:

The Sword of Empire Cleaves the Way

The "great authority" had been recognized. But at this time heretical Arian powers compassed the papal seat about. The Arian Vandals were persecuting Catholics in Africa, Corsica, and Sardinia, and an Arian Gothic king ruled Italy from Ravenna, his capital. The imperial arms, however,[Pg 134] were at the service of orthodoxy. In 533-534 Justinian's famous general, Belisarius, uprooted the Vandals. The war for the faith and the empire was carried into Italy also, against the Arian Goths. In 536 Belisarius, unopposed, entered Rome at the invitation of the Pope. But the next year the Goths rallied all their forces to retake the city. It was a crisis in the struggle for Italy. "If a single post had given way," says Gibbon, "the Romans, and Rome itself, were irrecoverably lost." The Goths withdrew, defeated, in 538; and this defeat, says Hodgkin, dug "the grave of the Gothic monarchy in Italy."

THE POPE ENTERING ST. PETER'S FROM THE VATICAN
The famous statue of St. Peter may be seen on the right.

Though the conflict went on for years before the Goths were rooted up, this defeat of 538 was a crucial hour in their history. Finlay says:

Roughly speaking, the Middle Ages and the age of papal supremacy and power were the same.

A New Order of Popes

THE VATICAN
A bird's-eye view from the dome of St. Peter's.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.

Not only was there this telling stroke by the imperial sword in 538, helping to clear the way before the Papacy, but at this same time the first of a new order of popes was placed upon the papal throne by the imperial arms. Pope Silverius, accused of sympathy with the Goths, was deposed by Belisarius in 537. The emperor intervened, and the question of the validity of his deposition was held up by the emperor until 538. In that year, as Schaff says:

[Pg 136]

THE FAMOUS SACRED STAIRWAY IN ROME
Here Luther, climbing the stairway on his knees, heard the message, "The just shall live by faith."

With him begins a new order. Though personally he was humiliated by the emperor's demands, and the Papacy itself was brought into a state of subjection that it had not known even under heretical Gothic kings, yet this very arbitrary use of the papal prerogative by Justinian, strengthened the idea that the Pope of Rome was the supreme authority in[Pg 137] religion, to speak for the universal church. In Bemont and Monod's textbook on "Medieval Europe," page 120, we read:

A Persecuting Power

Following Vigilius came Pelagius I (556-560), who ascended the throne by "the military aid of Narses," then the imperial general in Italy. And Pelagius, who had been set in the papal see by imperial power, began to demand that the sword of the empire should be used against bishops or members in the church who did not give way to the authority of the Pope. His letters on this subject "are an unqualified defense of the principles of persecution." (See "Dictionary of Christian Biography," by Smith and Wace, art. "Pope Pelagius.")

The prophecy declared that the Papacy would be given special supremacy during a period of 1260 years.

In a.d. 533 came the memorable imperial declaration recognizing that supremacy, and in a.d. 538 came the stroke with the sword of Rome, cleaving the way; and there began the new order of popes—"men of the state, and then rulers of the state."

Thus decisive events clearly mark the beginning of the prophetic period of the 1260 years. And just 1260 years from the decree of 533, in recognition of the papal supremacy, came a decree, in 1793, aimed against that supremacy; and just 1260 years from that stroke with the sword at Rome in behalf of the Papacy, came a stroke with the sword at Rome against the Papacy.[Pg 138]

STORMING OF THE BASTILLE PRISON IN PARIS
An event in the French Revolution which marked the ending of the old autocratic order.

[Pg 139]

TAKING THE POPE PRISONER
This was accomplished by Berthier, the French general, in 1798.

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA

THE END OF THE 1260 YEARS

As the generation in which the papal power rose to supremacy was a turning-point in the history of the world, so, too, was the generation in which the 1260 years of its supremacy came to an end.

This measuring line of prophecy does more than run from date to date. It connects two great crises in human history, the events of the first tending to establish the papal rule over men, the events of the second signalizing a breaking of those bands.

A Crisis in History

Papal supremacy came at that time of which Finlay says, "The changes of centuries passed in rapid succession before the eyes of one generation." The measuring line of 1260 years runs on through the centuries till, lo, its end touches another time of crisis,—Europe in the convulsions of the[Pg 140] French Revolution, when again changes, ordinarily requiring centuries, were wrought out before the eyes of men within the space of a few years. Lamartine wrote of that time:

And the events of these times proclaimed the prophetic period of papal supremacy ended at last.

Thus, in a.d. 533 came the notable decree of the Papacy's powerful supporter, recognizing its supremacy; and then the decisive stroke by the sword at Rome in a.d. 538, cleaving the way for the new order of popes—the rulers of state.

Exactly 1260 years later, in 1793, came the notable decree of the Papacy's once powerful supporter, France,—"the eldest son of the church,"—aiming to abolish church and religion, followed by a decisive stroke with the sword at Rome against the Papacy, in 1798.

Significant Events of the French Revolution

Of the decree of 1793, W.H. Hutton says:—

The frenzy of the days of the Terror presented the spectacle of outraged humanity, goaded to desperation by centuries of oppression in the name of religion and divine right, rising up and madly breaking every restraint. Because in the minds of the people the Papacy stood for religion, they blindly struck at religion itself, and at God, in whose name the papal church had done its cruel work through the centuries.

In the prophecy of Rev. 11:3-13 these events of the wild days of the French Revolution are specifically referred to as coming at the close of the prophetic period of the 1260 years. The prophetic picture was so clear that over a hundred years before the time, Jurieu, an eminent French student of prophecy, wrote that he could "not doubt that 'tis France," the[Pg 141] chief supporter of the Papacy, that would give the shock as of an earthquake to the great spiritual Babylonian city. He wrote of France, one of the ten parts of divided Rome:

And so it came to pass. Far beyond France the movement reached. Canon Trevor says of the wave of revolt against absolutism that passed over Europe:

The decree of the French Convention in 1793 was followed by the stroke with the sword at Rome in 1798. The full history is told in fewest words by a Roman Catholic writer, Rev. Joseph Rickaby, of the Jesuit Society:

These events of the French Revolution marked the ending of the prophetic period of papal supremacy. A "deadly wound" had been given the Papacy. And the blow with the sword at Rome was struck in 1798, just 1260 years from the year 538, when the sword of empire struck that decisive blow against the Goths at Rome, and prepared the way for the new order of popes, the kingly rulers of church and state.

Of the condition of the Papacy at this time Canon Trevor says:[Pg 142]

"No wonder that half Europe," the Jesuit writer says, "thought Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the Papacy was dead." But he adds that "since then the Papacy has been lifted to a pinnacle of spiritual power" unreached before.

The stroke dealt the Papacy by the French Revolution was not to be the ending of it, by any means, according to the prophecy. These events proclaimed the ending of the prophetic period of special supremacy. Another prophecy distinctly indicates that following the deadly blow there would come a revival of the Papacy's influence, just as the Catholic writer describes it. The prophet John, speaking of this same power, says:

"I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.... And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" Rev. 13:3, 4.

We see the healing process still going on, with evidences multiplying that the world is more and more wondering after the papal power.

A New Era of Liberty and Enlightenment

With the ending of the 1260 years of papal supremacy, a new order was ushered in. The Papacy had stood for absolutism in state as well as church. Now the power of absolutism was broken. "Absolute monarchy," Edmund Burke said at the time, "breathed its last without a struggle." There came the dawn of an era of greater religious liberty and enlightenment, that has spread blessings over all lands.[Pg 143]

The prophecy had said of the Papacy, that the saints and the times and laws of the Most High were to be "given into his hand" for 1260 years. As foretold in Christ's prophecy (Matt. 24:22), these days of the tribulation of God's saints were "shortened." The power of the Reformation weakened the oppressing hand, even before the prophetic period ran out. And when the full 1260 years closed, the world saw the grip of that papal hand yet further loosened, and God's providence at work preparing the way for a world-wide proclamation of His gospel, bearing witness against the perversions of the papal apostasy, and restoring to men the Word and laws of the Most High.

The record of history witnesses that this time prophecy of the 1260 years of papal supremacy was exactly fulfilled. The Lord speaks in prophecy that men may know that He is the living God. In these time prophecies of His Word, He gives assurance not only that this troubled world has not escaped from the hand of its Maker, but that its times are in His hand also; and that when the time of His divine purpose fully comes, He will surely cut His work short in righteousness, and end the reign of sin on earth.

As the prophetic period of Dan. 7:25 meets its fulfilment in the history of the Papacy, even so, we shall see, the work of the Roman Church answers to the further specifications regarding the doings of this "little horn" of Daniel's prophecy.[Pg 144]

THE TRIPLE CROWN
The Pope's Tiara, from a photograph taken in the Vatican at Rome.

[Pg 145]

HUGUENOTS IN PRISON FOR THEIR FAITH
"Others had trial ... of bonds and imprisonment." Heb. 11:36.

THE WORK OF THE "LITTLE HORN" POWER

The prophetic picture of the rise and work of the "little horn" finds its exact counterpart in the history of the Roman Papacy:

The Place.—The little horn was seen by the prophet rising in the field of the Roman Empire. That was the very place where the great kingdom of the Papacy appeared, taking the name of Roman.

The Time.—The rise of the ecclesiastical kingdom of the little-horn power in the prophecy followed the breaking up of the Roman Empire into the ten kingdoms. Just so the ecclesiastical kingdom of the Roman Papacy rises to view in history immediately following the division of the empire.

The Period of Supremacy.—The prophecy allotted 1260 years to the full supremacy of this power. History responds that from the beginning of the papal supremacy, in the days of Justinian, a period of 1260 years brings us into the stirring events of the last decade of the eighteenth century, that gave to the Papacy a deadly wound.[Pg 146]

THE LOVE OF POWER       THE POWER OF LOVE
"He shall speak great words against the Most High." Dan. 7:25.

[Pg 147]

One further set of specifications remains for study:

The Work.—Of the nature and work of the power represented by the little horn, the prophecy declares:

"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 time." Dan. 7:25.

Do we find in the record that the Church of Rome has fulfilled these specifications also? The Scripture prophecy is absolutely a word-photograph of the workings of the papal church. Look at the main features:

Every count in the indictment may be clearly proved, and that by testimony from Roman Catholic sources

"He Shall Speak Great Words Against the Most High"

As Daniel observed the little-horn power, he heard it speaking "very great things." The angel declared that these great swelling words were really against the Most High. And what could be more against the honor of the Most High than that to mortal man should be ascribed the titles and attributes of divinity? Here are some of the "great words:"

This ruling has been actually applied through the ages. Says Elliott:

[Pg 148]

CHRISTIANS IN PRISON BENEATH THE COLOSSEUM AWAITING MARTYRDOM
"And shall wear out the saints of the Most High." Dan. 7:25.

[Pg 149]

These are no merely extravagant adulations of the Dark Ages, to be repudiated by the moderns; these terms express the unchanging doctrinal claims of the Roman Church, that put man in the place of God. The modern Pope Leo XIII, in an encyclical letter dated June 20, 1894, repeated the claim:

Thus does the Papacy "speak great words against the Most High."

"And Shall Wear Out the Saints of the Most High"

All through the Dark Ages we catch glimpses of the ruthless hand of Rome laid upon simple believers in God's Holy Word; but plans for wholesale wearing out of the saints of God were devised as the Waldenses and others rose to a widespread work of witnessing, heralds of the dawn of the coming Reformation,—

Pope Innocent III gave orders concerning them as follows:

As the truth spread, so also the papal church redoubled its efforts by sword and flame. The historian Lecky says:

Motley, in his "Rise of the Dutch Republic" (part 3, chap. 2), tells how Philip II of Spain—who declared that he would "never consent to be the sovereign of heretics"—sent the Duke of Alva to take over the Netherlands:

[Pg 151]

Roman Catholic writers admit that the papal church has sought to exterminate what it calls heresy, by the power of the sword.

The Western Watchman (St. Louis), Dec. 24, 1908, says:

Prof. Alfred Baudrillart, rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris, says:

She has done it—the Church of Rome has worn out the saints of the Most High. The prophet in vision saw an ecclesiastical kingly power rise among the kingdoms of the divided Roman Empire. Its look was more stout than its fellows, and the prophet heard it speaking "very great things," and saw it wearing out the saints of the Most High through the long centuries.[Pg 152]

THE SHAME OF RELIGIOUS WARS
Christ viewing the battle fields of history, where millions of His followers have been slain in His name.

[Pg 153]

"Guilty!" is the clear verdict of history, against the Church of Rome on these two counts of the prophetic indictment.

"And Think to Change Times and Laws"

The power that was to speak great words against the Most High, and to wear out the saints of the Most High, was further—in its self-exalting opposition to God—to assume to lay hands upon times and laws, evidently the times and the laws of the Most High; for to say that such a power would lay hands on the laws of men, changing or setting aside human legislation, would signify less than the preceding counts. This third specification states a climax in the indictment—the self-exalting, persecuting power was to lay hands upon the very law of the Most High. It is clearly the same power that the apostle Paul said would rise to dominion after his time: "Then shall be revealed the lawless one." 2 Thess. 2:8, A.R.V.

God's Law Unchangeable

Just as the laws of a government express its character, so the law of God is a reflection of the divine character. "The law of the Lord is perfect." Ps. 19:7. "Wherefore the law is holy," said the apostle, "and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12.

Jesus declared, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:8. And He maintained the unchangeable, enduring integrity of that law: "Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5:18.

But in Daniel's prophecy is foretold the rise of this power that was to think to change the times and the laws of the Most High.[Pg 154]

Here, again, the evidence points straight to the Church of Rome; for it is a fact that the Papacy has laid violent hands on the law of God—upon the precept, too, that deals with sacred time—and has thought to change it.

In a volume to be seen in the British Museum, dated 1545, the following comment on Dan. 7:25 is attributed to Philipp Melanchthon, the Reformer, associate of Luther (reproduced with the old English spelling):

This is exactly what the power represented by the little horn was to assume to do. The commandment of God is plain:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11.

A Change in Practice

But in general practice there has been a change—the first day is commonly observed instead of the seventh day, which the Lord declares he blessed and made holy. The Roman Catholic Church points exultingly to the fact that this change, so universally allowed today, has come about solely through church tradition without Scriptural authority. For instance, one Catholic writer says:

Every one who studies the question must recognize the fact that there is no change authorized in Scripture. As Canon Eyton, of the Church of England, says:

Dr. Heylyn, of the Church of England, wrote:

Authorities, both Protestant and Catholic, freely acknowledge that there is no divine authority for Sunday keeping. There has been a change in practice and teaching, but with no Scriptural authority.

What the Papacy Claims

The prophecy of Daniel 7 forewarned all that the ecclesiastical power that was to rise upon the division of the Roman Empire would think to change the times and the laws of the Most High. The Papacy steps forward and claims boldly that the church has power to set aside Scripture, to institute[Pg 156] holy times, and even to change the day made holy and commanded by the Almighty as the day of rest for His people.

In a Catholic work, "An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine," by Dr. Henry Turberville, page 61, we read:

It is the doctrine taught in the standard catechisms of the Roman Church:

Thus the Papacy proclaims itself the power that has thought to change the precepts of the Most High.

On every count, the Roman Church is the counterpart of the little horn of Daniel 7. Before our eyes—in the common practice of Christendom—the commandment of God regarding sacred time is made void by the traditions of men.

The prophecy indicated that there would come a call for a reformation in this matter. Speaking of the warfare against the saints and the times and laws of the Most High, to be waged by the little-horn power, the angel said:

"They shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25.[Pg 157]

In other words, when the 1260 years should expire, we should expect, according to the prophecy, to see a breaking of the Papacy's persecuting power over believers, a spreading abroad of the Holy Scriptures, and a work of reformation that would lift up the truths of God's Word, and call believers to keep once again the holy time and the holy law of the Most High.

The prophecy of Daniel 7 is one of God's special messages for all men in these last days, picturing the rise and history of the Papacy, and warning all against accepting its perversions of God's truth or recognizing its attempted change in the law of the Most High. Thank God for the "sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." We are to follow the Lord and obey him, not this power that has risen up in opposition to him.

The angel's interpretation in this chapter does not leave the apostasy triumphant:

"The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end."

Then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of the Most High, "and all dominions shall serve and obey Him."

CHRIST AND THE SCRIBES
"In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9.

[Pg 159]

CREATION
"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth,... and rested the seventh day." Ex. 20:11.

THE BIBLE SABBATH

"He answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13.

The scribes had come to Jesus with the complaint, "Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?" Jesus answered them with another question, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?"

They had thought that Christ was introducing novelties, preaching new things, contrary to established church custom and practice. He showed them that He really stood for the old and established things of God's Word, and that their own religious customs, however old, were really the novelties, without divine authority. He said,

"In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." And finally He added the words quoted above, "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."

Let the principles be applied to the question of Sabbath observance. Sometimes in our day those who preach the[Pg 160] word of God regarding the abiding holiness of the seventh-day Sabbath are accused of preaching new doctrines, contrary to the traditions and customs of the church. But really, the observance of Sunday, the first day, is the innovation; the seventh-day Sabbath is of ancient foundation.

Is the Seventh-day Sabbath a Plant of Our Heavenly Father's Planting?

Which of these two institutions has our heavenly Father planted? It is possible to ascertain to a surety; for every plant of His planting, every doctrine of His truth, will be found rooted in the Holy Scriptures. 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.

The Old Testament Record

From the Beginning.—When the Creator made the earth and man upon it, He made the seventh day of the weekly cycle His holy Sabbath.

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.... And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. 2:1-3.

To sanctify is "to set apart," and so the day made holy and blessed by God was set apart for man. Then it was, as Jesus said, that "the Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27. Here the Sabbath institution was planted at the beginning of the world.

At the Exodus.—The people of Israel, in their bondage in Egypt, had fallen away from the knowledge of God and become corrupted by the idolatrous worship of Egypt, Hence, as the Lord called them out to be His people, He tested their loyalty to His law by observing how they regarded His holy Sabbath:

"Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no." Ex. 16:4.[Pg 161]

So through the forty years the Lord sent the manna for them to gather on the six working days, withholding it on the Sabbath. (This scripture shows also that the Sabbath was a part of God's law before He spoke it from Sinai.)

HOREB, THE SACRED MOUNT
A modern view of the summit of Mt. Sinai.

At Sinai.—When the time came that the Lord would speak His holy law from heaven, the eternal foundation of His moral government, the Sabbath precept was enshrined in the heart of it:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11.[Pg 162]

Through Israel's History.—Sabbath keeping was the great mark of loyalty to God. When Israel fell into idolatry, they "observed times" (see 2 Kings 21:6),—doubtless such heathen festivals to the sun god and other deities as were common among the idolatrous nations. These observances of other days meant Sabbath breaking. "Neither shall ye ... observe times.... Ye shall keep My Sabbaths." Lev. 19:26-30. The Lord had promised concerning Jerusalem:

"If ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David,... and this city shall remain forever." Jer. 17:24, 25.

The divine pleading was slighted, and Jerusalem's fall and the Babylonian captivity came as the result of the Israelites' disregard of God's holy day.

Thus throughout the inspired record of the Old Testament the seventh-day Sabbath appears as a plant of the heavenly Father's own planting.

The New Testament Record

The Example and Teaching of Jesus.—It was Christ's "custom" to worship on the seventh day. Luke 4:16.

Jesus, who Himself made the Sabbath at creation (John 1:3), taught that it was "made for man,"—for the human race,—and declared, "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27, 28. It is, therefore, "the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

He did on the Sabbath only that which was "lawful," or according to the law of God's holy day. Matt. 12:12.

He kept His Father's commandments throughout His earthly life. John 15:10.

And giving instruction regarding events to take place many years after His ascension, He showed that He recognized[Pg 163] the continued existence of the Sabbath in the command, "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20.

CHRIST HEALING THE MAN WITH A WITHERED HAND
"It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Matt. 12:12.

Among New Testament Disciples.—The women, after the crucifixion, "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

Inspiration says that the apostle Paul's custom was to preach the gospel publicly Sabbath after Sabbath. Acts 13:14; 16:13; 17:1, 2; 18:4. When the Gentiles of Antioch heard the gospel preached by the apostle one Sabbath, they "besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." Acts 13:42.

Throughout the New Testament, written years after Christ's ascension, the Holy Spirit, speaking of the seventh day, calls it "the Sabbath" upwards of fifty times. "Sabbath" means[Pg 164] rest; therefore when the Holy Spirit, in the Christian age, calls the seventh day the rest day, it must infallibly be the day of rest for Christians, the Christian Sabbath.

In the Levitical or sacrificial ordinances of the sanctuary services there were annual sabbaths and feasts, associated with meats and drinks and ceremonial observances. But in appointing these the Lord specifically distinguished between them and the one and only weekly Sabbath, which was from the beginning. "These are the feasts of the Lord," He said, "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." Lev. 23:37, 38.

The annual festivals and sabbaths, like all the ordinances of the Levitical service, were shadows of things to come, and found their fulfilment in the great sacrifice of Calvary. Col. 2:16, 17.

But the Sabbath of the Lord was made blessed and holy by God at the creation, before sin had entered the world, before any sacrificial or shadowy service was instituted to point to a coming Redeemer. It is a fundamental and primary institution, a part of the moral order of God's government for man, the same as the obligations set forth in each of the other commandments.

And Inspiration declares the eternal perpetuity of the blessed Sabbath day in the future home of the saved, when the prophet describes the felicity of the redeemed, as from month to month, and "from one Sabbath to another," all flesh shall come to worship before the Lord. Isa. 66:23.

Thus we find the seventh-day Sabbath a plant of the heavenly Father's planting, rooted deep in all Holy Scripture, and abiding eternally in the world to come.

Is the First-day Rest an Institution of God's Planting?

In the beginning, the first day was employed by God in the work of creation. Gen. 1:1-5.

Throughout all the Old Testament history it was one of "the six working days." Eze. 46:1.[Pg 165]

It was the day of Christ's resurrection; but Inspiration says specifically that "the Sabbath was past" when that "first day of the week" came. Mark 16:1, 2. Inspiration called this first day merely by the ordinary secular name in common business use, with never a suggestion of attaching any sacredness to the day. For some of the disciples it was a day of journeying, in which the risen Christ joined them. Luke 24:13-29. Later He appeared to the other disciples in Jerusalem, gathered not in meeting, but at supper in their common dwelling house. Mark 16:14.

The only religious meeting recorded as occurring on the first day of the week was that held at Troas. (See Acts 20:6-13.) The context shows that it was an evening meeting, after the Sabbath,—Saturday night, as we would call it, for the Bible reckoning is from evening to evening. It was the last time the believers were ever to see the apostle's face, and as they lingered after the close of the Sabbath, he held an all-night farewell meeting, breaking bread with the believers, and leaving at daybreak Sunday morning for the eighteen- or twenty-mile journey afoot, across country to Assos. And while he spent the first day traveling afoot, his companions were journeying by boat.

Conybeare and Howson (of the Church of England), in that standard work, "Life and Epistles of St. Paul," tell the plain fact of the inspired record, save that manifestly they should not have applied the title "Jewish" to God's Sabbath; for it was not the Sabbath of the Jews, but "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God:"

Describing the road between Troas and Assos, they add:

Once again the "first day of the week" is mentioned, in 1 Cor. 16:2. But that scripture says no word of any sacredness[Pg 166] of the day or of any religious observance of it. The apostle was gathering a fund for the poor at Jerusalem, and asked every believer to "lay by" something every first day of the week, so that the money would be ready when he came. As Dean Stanley (Church of England) comments:

And Neander's Church History says:

To meet the emergency of need in Judea, these believers were asked to look over their business affairs at the beginning of each week, until Paul should come, laying aside a gift as God had prospered them.

No Sunday Sacredness in the New Testament

This is the record—not one suggestion in all the New Testament of Sunday sacredness, to say nothing of precept or commandment of the Lord. The late R.W. Dale, D.D., a leading Congregationalist of England, wrote:

That religious classic, Smith and Cheetham's "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," says that the "notion of a formal substitution" of the first day for the seventh,

Dr. E.F. Hiscox, author of "The Baptist Manual," says:

Such declarations by well-known scholars might be multiplied, but it is not necessary. The record is open—any one may see it. There is not a word in the Holy Scripture of any first-day sacredness. The Sunday institution is not a plant of our heavenly Father's planting.

How the Change Came About

There has been no change of the Sabbath by divine authority. Men may choose to rest on any other day, but that cannot make such a day God's rest day, His holy Sabbath. One cannot change one's birthday by celebrating another day as such. It is a fact of history that on a certain day of the month one was born. That fact cannot be changed by choosing to celebrate another day as the birthday. Just so it is a fact of divine history that God rested on a given day of the week, and on no other. That made the seventh day His rest day.

It is different from other days in character also, for He blessed it and made it holy. To deny the difference between common days and the holy day is to say that when the great Creator blesses and makes holy, it is a vain performance. That cannot be. It would take away all hope of holiness or salvation for men. The blessing is upon the day, as every soul finds who keeps it by faith.

When men choose to set apart another day than that blessed and sanctified of God, it is plainly a setting up of the humanly appointed time against the divinely appointed time. It is exalting man's sabbath against God's Sabbath. It is man exalting himself "above all that is called God." 2 Thess. 2:4.

This was what made the Roman Papacy. The apostle Paul wrote that in his day the spirit of lawlessness was already working. He said it would lead to a "falling away" from the truth of God, and the full exaltation of the man of sin. 2 Thessalonians 2. The falling away came. As Dr. Killen (Presbyterian), of Ireland, says in the preface to his "Ancient Church:"[Pg 168]

THE SABBATH FROM EDEN TO EDEN
Blessed and sanctified in Eden. Gen. 2:3. Christ the Lord of the Sabbath. Mark 2:28. Written by God in His law. Ex. 20:8-11. To be observed in the new earth. Isa. 66:23.

[Pg 169]

In his "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine," Cardinal Newman (Roman Catholic) tells how rites and ceremonies were borrowed from paganism:

Thus along with other adaptations came "the venerable day of the sun" (Sunday). It was by gradual process that it supplanted the Sabbath. Sir William Domville wrote:

This law of Constantine's was as follows:

Commenting on this law, Prof. Hutton Webster, of the University of Nebraska, says:

Dean Stanley (Church of England) writes:

Thus the Sunday institution comes in, marked by its pagan origin, and adapted to ecclesiastical purposes by the church of the "falling away" that grew into the Roman Papacy. To quote again from the Baptist author, Dr. Hiscox:

No wonder that with the coming of the latter days, and the proclamation of the message of preparation for Christ's second coming, there should come a call to Christians to follow Christ and Holy Scripture in keeping God's holy Sabbath.

Again the voice of Jesus is heard in protest against traditions that make void the commandment of God.

"Every plant," He says, "which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13.[Pg 171]

CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES IN THE CORN-FIELDS
"The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. 12:8.

[Pg 173]

RETURNING FROM THE SAVIOUR'S TOMB
"They returned,... and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

GLIMPSES OF SABBATH KEEPING AFTER NEW TESTAMENT TIMES

Not at once did the innovation of Sunday observance set aside the Sabbath of the Lord in the practice of even the general church. And through history, when the general church had fallen away, we catch glimpses here and there of faithful witnesses to God's holy Sabbath truth.

First Centuries

An old English writer, Professor Brerewood, of Gresham College, London, put in shortest phrase what many writers say:

Fourth Century

Canon 29, of the Council of Laodicea (a.d. 364), shows that the ecclesiastical system was laboring to put an end to Sabbath keeping:[Pg 174]

Fifth Century

Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History shows Rome evidently leading in the effort to abolish any recognition whatever of the Sabbath:

Seventh Century

There were true Sabbath keepers in Rome itself, teaching the truth of God among the people, and bringing upon themselves the denunciation of Pope Gregory the Great, who wrote "to his most beloved sons the Roman citizens:"

Eleventh Century

The Pope's legates at Constantinople (a.d. 1054) were called to discuss with Nicetas, "one of the most learned men at that time in the East," says Bower, whose position was "that the Sabbath ought to be kept holy, and that priests should be allowed to marry."—"History of the Popes," Vol. II, p. 358.

The people of north Scotland, the ancient Culdee church founded by Columba and his followers, far removed from direct papal influence, was still keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in the eleventh century. Of this church Andrew Lang says in his "History of Scotland:"

[Pg 175]

Skene, in his classic work, "Celtic Scotland," says of these Sabbath keepers:

Margaret, of England, married Malcolm the Great, the Scottish king, in 1069. An ardent Catholic, Queen Margaret at once set about Romanizing the Celtic church. She called in the church leaders, and held long discussions with them. At last, with the help and authority of her royal husband, and quoting the instructions of "the blessed Pope Gregory," she succeeded in turning the ancient Culdee church in Scotland away from the Sabbath. (See "Life of St. Margaret," by Turgot, her confessor.)

Twelfth to Fourteenth Century

Among the numerous sects of southern Europe and the Alpine valleys, that were pursued and persecuted by Rome, were at least some who saw and obeyed the Sabbath truth. Thus, of one of these bodies, the historian Goldastus says:

Fifteenth Century

Sabbath keepers in Norway drew the condemnation of a church council held in 1435:

Sixteenth Century

With the setting free of the Word of God by the Reformation, and the protest against the doctrine of papal tradition, multitudes saw that the Sunday institution was not of divine origin; while not a few went farther, recognizing the claims of God's Sabbath. Moravia was a refuge, in those early Reformation days, for many believers in the Reformed doctrines, and among these were Sabbath-keeping Christians:[Pg 176]

WALDENSES HUNTED BY THE ARMIES OF ROME
"Destitute, afflicted, tormented;... they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." Heb. 11:37, 38.

[Pg 177]

In this century also, Sabbath keepers appeared in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In 1554 King Gustavus Vasa, of Sweden, addressed a letter of remonstrance "to the common people in Finland," because so many were turning to keep the seventh day.

Seventeenth Century

There was much discussion in England over the authority for Sunday observance. When other church festivals were ignored, as Easter, King Charles I wanted to know why Sunday should be kept. He wrote:

It was during this time that the idea first obtained of enforcing Sunday obligation by the fourth commandment and calling it the Sabbath. It was argued that any "one day in seven" was what the commandment meant. Of this argument, John Milton, the statesman-poet, wrote:

Again Milton wrote, in a manuscript which his publishers at the time feared to print:

While kings and poets and ecclesiastics discussed, here and there believers began to follow the plain Word of God and Christ's example in Sabbath keeping.

"Loved Not Their Lives unto the Death"

In 1618 John Traske and his wife, of London, were condemned for keeping the Sabbath of the Lord, the man being whipped from Westminster to the old Fleet Prison, near Ludgate Circus. Both were imprisoned. Mr. Traske recanted under the pressure, after a year, but Mrs. Traske, a gifted school-teacher, was given grace to hold out for sixteen years,—for a time in Maiden Lane prison, and then in the Gate House, by Westminster,—dying in prison for the word of the Lord. An estimable woman she was, says one old chronicler, save for this "whimsy" of hers, that she would keep the seventh day. All that she asked of men, on her prison deathbed, was that she might be buried "in the fields."

By 1661 Sabbath keepers in London had further increased. In that year John James was minister to a considerable congregation, meeting in East London, off the Whitechapel Road. As part of the stern proceedings against dissenting sects after the restoration of the monarchy, he was arrested and condemned to death on "Tyburn Tree." His wife knelt at the feet of King Charles II as he came out of St. James's Palace one day, and pleaded for her husband's life; but the king scornfully rejected her plea, and said that the man should hang. Bogue says:[Pg 179]

Nothing daunted, the number of Sabbath keepers increased. In a letter by Edward Stennet (between 1668 and 1670), it is stated.

Francis Bampfield was formerly an influential minister of the Church of England, and prebendary of Exeter Cathedral, but later pastor of a Sabbath-keeping congregation meeting in the Pinners Hall, off Broad Street, near the Bank of England. Calamy said of him:

He was arrested while in the pulpit preaching, and in 1683 died of hardships in Newgate prison, for the Sabbath of the Lord. An old writer says that his body was followed to burial by "a very great company of factious and schismatical people;" in other words, dissenters from the state church.

Thomas Bampfield, his brother, Speaker of the House of Parliament at one time, under Cromwell, published a book in defense of the Sabbath of the Lord. In fact, many published the truth in this manner, and doctors of divinity and even bishops wrote replies.

"Sabbatarian Baptists," these English witnesses to God's Sabbath were first called in those times, and then "Seventh Day Baptists." In 1664 Stephen Mumford, from one of these London congregations, was sent over to New England. He settled in Rhode Island, where the Baptist pioneer of religious liberty, Roger Williams, had founded his colony. In 1671 the first Sabbatarian church in America was formed in Rhode Island. Evidently this movement created a stir; for the report[Pg 180] went over to England that the Rhode Island colony did not keep the "Sabbath"—meaning Sunday. Roger Williams wrote to his friends in England denying the report, but calling attention to the fact that there was no Scripture for "abolishing the seventh day," and adding:

Through the following century numbers of Seventh Day Baptist churches were founded in America.[F]

Sabbath keepers were springing up also on the continent of Europe, in Bohemia, Moravia, Transylvania, and Russia, where here and there Bible believers saw that tradition had made void one of the commandments of God. Then, as the events at the end of the long period of papal supremacy had moved Bible students to the earnest study of the prophecies, and as the predicted signs of the near approach of Christ's coming began to appear, there arose the great advent awakening in the earlier decades of the nineteenth century.

The prophecies regarding the work of the Papacy in seeking to change the law of God began to be understood, and it was seen that the last message of the everlasting gospel was a call to turn from human traditions to the New Testament standard—"the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. Then began the great movement for Sabbath reform and the proclamation of Christ's second coming, which has given rise to the Seventh-day Adventist people,[Pg 181] with a work spreading through all lands, leading thousands every year to keep the Lord's blessed Sabbath day.

Soon Christ is to be revealed in righteousness and judgment. One burden of God's message for the last days is:

"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." Isa. 56:1, 2.

Through all the dark centuries, the Lord had somewhere a little remnant keeping the light of the Sabbath truth glowing. They, too, overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, loving not their lives unto the death. Now, with the clear light shining from the open Book, it is for Christians everywhere to turn from tradition to the way of God's commandments and the example of Jesus Christ.

"Closing Sabbath! Ah, how soon
Have thy sacred moments passed!"

[Pg 182]

THE LAW OF GOD

I

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything: 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.

III

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

IV

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

V

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI

Thou shalt not kill.

VII

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII

Thou shalt not steal.

IX

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

X

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

[Pg 183]

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT
"Whosoever shall do and teach them ... shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:19.

THE LAW OF GOD

It is a common saying, "The majesty of the law." It means that the character and genius of a government are embodied and expressed in its laws. The words of Inspiration declare to us the majesty of the law of the Most High.

The Character of God's Law

The infinite perfection of the divine character is reflected in it.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. 19:7.

As God is holiness and justice and goodness, so also is His law.

"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12.

Its Office

The law of God gives knowledge of the righteousness of its great Author.[Pg 184]

"Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Isa. 51:7.

It marks every departure from righteousness as sin.

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.

It is not a code merely for the regulation of outward conduct. It is the moral law—the primal standard of righteousness established by the Creator for His creatures. There is not an impulse of the inmost soul that is not reached by it. It is the word which, living and powerful, is "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12.

Face to face with this holy law, we hear in it the voice of God saying, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." Every soul must confess its guilt before the searching power of God's law. All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. "Guilty!" we confess. Left alone with our guilt, there could be no ray of hope.

Thank God, we are not left alone; help is laid upon One mighty to save.

God's Law from the Beginning

The law of God existed from the beginning. When Adam sinned, he transgressed this holy law; for "sin is the transgression of the law." God's law was not committed to writing until the days of Moses, when the Lord began to make [Pg 185]His written revelations to the children of men. But from Adam to Moses the precepts of the law of God were teaching righteousness and convicting of sin.

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (for until the law [the giving of it at Sinai] sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses.)" Rom. 5:12-14.

The declaration of this scripture is: Without the law there can be no sin. But sin and death were from Adam to Moses, in whose day the law was spoken on Sinai; therefore the law of God was in force from the beginning. Its precepts were witnessed to by every preacher of righteousness raised up by God in the days before the deluge and in the patriarchal age following. Of Abraham the Lord says,

"Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." Gen. 26:5.

The Lord called His people out of Egypt, that they might keep his law. His message to Pharaoh was, "Let my people go, that they may serve Me." Ex. 9:1. He delivered them from bondage by His mighty arm, and cleft the Red Sea to lead them forth to obedience, as the psalmist said,

"He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness:... that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws." Ps. 105:43-45.

In Egyptian bondage the children of Abraham must have lost much of the purity of God's truth; yet the Lord held them under obligation to know His law—the Sabbath precept particularly—before they came to Sinai, or ever He had proclaimed the law in their hearing. He tested them in the matter by the giving of the manna, as He said,

"That I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no." Ex. 16:4.

From the beginning, God's holy law demanded the loyal obedience of every human being.[Pg 186]

Proclaimed Anew at Sinai

The Lord had delivered the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage that they might serve Him and make His ways known to the nations. This was according to the promise made to Abraham. To them was committed the written revelation of God, and through them was to come in the fulness of time the promised Messiah.

MOSES BREAKING THE TABLES OF THE LAW
"He wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:13.

While the Lord at this time "made known His ways unto Moses," and there was begun the written revelation which[Pg 187] grew into "the volume of the book," the Holy Scriptures, one portion of revelation was not left for the prophet of God to speak or for the inspired pen to write. The Lord proclaimed His holy law with His own voice, and gave to men a copy "written with the finger of God." Moses said of this:

"The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:12, 13.

This display of majesty and glory indescribable was designed to teach how sacred and holy is the law, and to cause men to fear to transgress its precepts. Ex. 20:20.

It was not for themselves alone that the law was committed to Israel. They were to teach the truth to others. As the New Testament says, it was greatly to their advantage that "unto them were committed the oracles of God." Rom. 3:2. But they "received the lively oracles to give unto us." Through obedience to the divine law, they were to be a light to the nations.

"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them?" Deut. 4:6, 7.

An interesting comment upon these words is supplied by a speech of Phalerius, librarian to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. Urging the king by all means to secure copies of the sacred books of the Jews for his great library in Alexandria, Phalerius said:

Unfaithful as the Jewish people oftentimes were, yet through their testimony and the dealings of God with them, the fame of the living oracles was spread abroad among the ancient nations.

One God—One Moral Standard

"There is one Lawgiver." James 4:12. He is ever the same, and His law is the standard of righteousness for all mankind. There was not one moral standard before Christ and another after. Christ's death upon the cross because man had broken the law, is the divine testimony to all the universe that God's law can never be set aside nor its force suspended. Jesus opened His public teaching with the declaration:

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:17-19.

The moral law of ten commandments is one code, every precept equally sacred and equally binding:

"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." James 2:10-12.

The law of God still speaks with all the force of that voice from Sinai, and it speaks to every soul on earth:[Pg 189]

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3:19.

Thus the law of God convicts all men of sin, and would drive every one to Christ for pardon and for the divine gift of the grace and power of obedience.

The ceremonial law—the precepts and ordinances commanded for the sacrificial system—ceased with the sacrifice of Calvary, as all these ceremonial observances pointed forward to the cross. There can be no confounding of the moral law and the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law of types and shadows showed in itself that a primary or higher law—the moral law—had been violated, making necessary a divine sacrifice if transgressors were to be saved from death and restored to obedience.

The Standard in the Judgment

The law of God's moral government, which is the rule of life for every creature, must necessarily be the standard in the great judgment day. The Scripture states the sum of all human obligation and responsibility in the words:

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:13, 14.

Every son and daughter of Adam's lost race is judgment bound, to answer before the bar of God the demands of the perfect law. Divine justice cannot abate one jot or tittle of the requirements of the holy law, nor by any means clear the guilty. But divine mercy has provided the way by which God can "be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."[Pg 190]

THE GIFT OF GOD
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:16.

[Pg 191]

CHILDLIKE FAITH
"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:3.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

"How should man be just [righteous] with God?" asked the patriarch Job. It has been the vital question ever since Adam sinned, and lost his righteousness and forfeited his life. The answer of Scripture is:—

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom 5:1 "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8, 9.

In the beginning, life and righteousness were the gift of God to man. Only the Creator could bestow the gift at the first; when lost, only creative power can restore it.

Man Cannot Justify Himself

The law of God declares all men sinners. Not only did Adam's posterity inherit of necessity a sinful nature, but every soul of man has wrought sin as the fruit of that nature.[Pg 192]

"As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12.

"There is no difference," Jew or Gentile, bond or free, they are in the same lost condition; "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 10:12; 3:23.

The sinner finds himself a transgressor, condemned to death by a holy law. He turns to it with the thought, "I will do what it says, and become righteous and win life." But he cannot undo the fact that he has sinned. A holy law can only cry, "Guilty! guilty!" to one who has transgressed it. The law declares righteousness; it cannot give it. As the Scripture says:

"We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:19, 20.

The guilt exists. No deeds that man can do can undo it or cover it from a righteous law. Not only that, but as soon as the law declares what righteousness is, the sinner finds that its demands are altogether beyond the power of his flesh to meet. It calls for a kind of work that fallen human nature cannot so much as approach. Paul cried out, when struggling under conviction, "We know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom. 7:14.

The carnal cannot bring forth the spiritual. But the law demands a spiritual work of righteousness. It is impossible for the carnal mind to undertake it. The Scripture says:

"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:7, 8.

But the awakened sinner is yet in the flesh. He finds the law thundering his guilt and condemning him to death. He cannot wash away the past, nor hide it; he cannot obey God's[Pg 193] law with a carnal mind, and that is all the mind he has. He is lost, and helpless of himself, but longs for a way of escape. Paul's cry in the same position is the cry of the despairing heart that has not found the Saviour, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:24. Thank God, there is an answer to that cry, for every sinner.

The Free Gift of Christ

Following that despairing cry of human helplessness, "Who shall deliver me?" there came the believer's shout of praise, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He is the deliverer; for He "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us." Rom. 7:25; Gal. 1:4.

The way of escape and salvation is the gift of God's love. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

No sinner has need to plead that God may be willing to forgive him; the Lord's infinite love that gave His Son to die, is pleading with the sinner to believe and accept salvation.

In order to be the sinner's Saviour, the divine Son of God must take man's place before the broken law. He came in human flesh, with all its weakness. "I can of Mine own self," He said, "do nothing." He trusted the Father, and lived a life of perfect righteousness in human flesh. He who knew no sin, bore man's sin in His body on the cross. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." For man's[Pg 194] sin He died, "that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." In Him was met the penalty of the law. But it was a sinless sacrifice. He "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." Heb. 9:14. Therefore death could not hold Him. He rose in the power of an endless life to be man's advocate and priest and savior, ministering His grace and righteousness and life to every one who will receive them.

The righteousness that He wrought out for man in human flesh He longs to put into every human heart. As in His own flesh in Judea He walked and lived the life of righteousness, so now, by the Holy Spirit, He walks in human lives today. That means forgiveness, and deliverance from the power of the flesh, and a new life of power, and righteousness and justification wrought within by the divine indwelling Saviour. How may we receive Him with all this great salvation?—By faith; by believing His promises; "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Eph. 3:17.

Christ in all His fulness abiding within,—this is the wonder and mystery of the gospel, "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." It means an ever-present, ever-living Saviour, able to save to the uttermost.

What abundance of grace is received with His indwelling presence!

Forgiveness.—"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

Deliverance from the Flesh.—The cleansing by Christ's indwelling power means that the old life of self is subdued. "Our old man is crucified with Him." Rom. 6:6. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.... And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. 8:9, 10.

A New Heart.—"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." Eze. 36:26.[Pg 195]

A New Life.—"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph. 4:23, 24. It is in blessed fact Christ Jesus living the life in the believer by faith, as the apostle Paul says:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

Righteousness and Justification.—"This is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jer. 23:6. Well does the King James Version print the blessed name in capital letters. It is the great name of salvation to every believer. By faith we receive Him, and by faith His righteousness is imputed unto us. His life of obedience covers all the believer's surrendered life, past and continuous, and in God's sight the life of the believer in Jesus is justified from all sin. It is the triumph of Him who was not only "delivered for our offenses," but was also "raised again for our justification:"

"Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. 5:18, 19.

Christ died and rose again to bring this experience to sinners who have struggled helplessly under condemnation. As Christ Jesus with all His righteousness is received by faith, "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1.

Praise the Lord! It is all of Christ, and not of any works that we have done. Therefore it is as sure as the oath and promise of God. We can lose the experience only as we let[Pg 196] Christ go out of the life by unbelief. God forbid that we should do this; and help us to be quick to repent and again lay hold of Him by faith if ever we find we have let Him go and have lost the covering of His righteousness.

THE LAST PRAYER
"That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

Christ's righteousness is, of necessity, the righteousness demanded by the law of God. He lives that law in the believer. This is what justification is. "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Rom. 2:13. Justification by faith makes the man a doer of the law by faith, Christ living every one of its sacred precepts in the believer's life. This is what He died to accomplish, to bring the righteousness of the law to the sinner who could never attain to it himself.[Pg 197]

"What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:3, 4.

Christ writes God's law in the new heart: "I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Heb. 8:10. It is the rule of His own righteousness. For before He came into the world to work out perfect righteousness for us in human flesh, He said, through the psalmist, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:8.

It is a perfect righteousness and a full salvation that Christ brings into every believer's heart. In Him all fulness dwells, "and ye are complete in Him."

The wondrous plan of salvation is so deep that only "in the ages to come" will God be able to "show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Eph. 2:7. But thank God, even here below sinners saved by grace may "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge."

THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST
"Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. 3:15.

[Pg 199]

THE FORD OF JORDAN
"John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there." John 3:23.

BAPTISM

THE MEMORIAL OF THE RESURRECTION

Baptism is the divinely appointed memorial of the resurrection of Christ. The great fact of the gospel is that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4), to be our great High Priest and Saviour.

Baptism is a profession of faith in the Saviour, who went into the grave for us, and rose again to life. It is the great object-lesson to teach the truth that the sinner must die to sin and the world, and have a resurrection by the power of divine grace to a new life of obedience. The ordinance is the sign of an actual experience, the means by which the believer confesses the work of grace in the soul.

The Scriptures teach the essential conditions necessary to baptism:[Pg 200]

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Mark 16:15, 16.

"What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." Acts 8:36, 37.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Acts 2:38.

Thus it is seen that instruction in the gospel, belief in Christ, and repentance are conditions to precede baptism.

Baptism for Believers

The experience of which baptism is the sign is thus stated:

"We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Rom. 6:4.

"As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Gal. 3:27.

"Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." Col. 2:12.

In this ordinance, commanded of God, the believer is following the example of Christ, who, when baptized by John in Jordan, said, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

The Form of Baptism

The Scriptural form of baptism is shown in these texts:

"Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water." Matt. 3:16.[Pg 201]

"They went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." Acts 8:38.

"Buried with Him by baptism.... For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." Rom. 6:4, 5.

While the outward form of a religious service, without the spirit and the experience which the form professes, must ever be unacceptable to God, yet when the Lord prescribes a form, it is imperative that His instruction should be followed. The form of the ordinance as commanded by God emphasizes the divine meaning of the service.

Scriptural baptism is a burial "in the likeness" of Christ's burial, as the lifting up of the believer from the watery grave is a likeness of the resurrection of Christ. Of the meaning of the word "baptism," Luther wrote:

Calvin, after arguing that the form is an indifferent matter, says:

Of the practice in primitive times, Neander, the church historian, says:

The perversion of the ordinance into sprinkling, and that in infancy, takes away the divinely ordained object-lesson; and in the case of the infant must of necessity substitute mere ceremonialism for experience, for the child of unaccountable years can have had no experience of believing and repenting, which are the necessary conditions to fulfil the meaning of baptism. The change in the ordinance, like[Pg 202] most of the changes that came about in the days of the "falling away" from the primitive faith and practice, was by gradual process.

Dean Stanley, in his "Christian Institutions," page 24, says that it is not till the third century that "we find one case of the baptism of infants." Of the change from immersion to sprinkling, he says:

The common practice as late as the twelfth century is thus described by a Roman Catholic cardinal of that time, named Pullus:

Dean Stanley, of Westminster, one of the first scholars of the Church of England, wrote:

The facts are undeniable, and emphasize the importance of reformation and return in practice to the plain instructions of the Word of God. As the record shows, it was not the spirit of the New Testament church that made this change in the divine ordinance; rather it is the spirit of the church of the "falling away," against which the Lord warns all believers, "because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant."

SYMBOLS OF MEDO-PERSIA AND GRECIA
"The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia." Dan. 8:20, 21.

[Pg 205]

COINS OF THE MEDO-PERSIAN AND GRECIAN EMPIRES
The ram, symbol of Persia; and the goat, symbol of Grecia.

THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 8

A HISTORIC OUTLINE AND A VITAL QUESTION

Another view of the history of empires and kingdoms was brought before the prophet Daniel in the vision of the eighth chapter. In this vision a great prophetic period is given, the end of which reaches to the latter days, touching events of our own times that are of direct interest and importance to every one today.

The vision was given in the third year of Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon. Again, as in moving panorama, there passed before the prophet's vision the scenes of history. Earthly kingdoms were represented under the symbols of beasts.

We shall find the prophecy and the history corresponding in every detail, revealing the overruling hand of God, who knows the end from the beginning, and whose living Word of truth bears its witness through all the ages.

The opening scene of this vision, given by the river Ulai, in Persia, is thus described:[Pg 206]

Prophecy.—"Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great." Verses 3, 4.

In the angel's interpretation of the vision Daniel was told: "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia." Verse 20. "The higher came up last."

The two horns represented the dual character of the empire: first the Medes in ascendancy, then the Persians rising to yet greater power. "So that no beast might stand before him," says the prophecy.

History.—Xenophon says of Cyrus the Persian:

The line of Medo-Persian conquest was "westward, and northward, and southward," just as the prophet saw the ram pushing its way. As one pen wrote in the days of Persia's supremacy:

But the ram pushing westward stirred up an antagonist that was eventually to overcome him. The prophet continues:

Prophecy.—"As I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns,... and ran[Pg 207] unto him in the fury of his power.... And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." Verses 5-7.

The angel's interpretation continued: "The rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." Verse 21.

History.—This "first king" of united Grecia was Alexander the Great.

Under Alexander, the Grecian goat ran upon the Persian ram "in the fury of his power." At Arbela, wrote Arrian, the Macedonians charged "with great fury." None was able to deliver the Persian ram. "Wherever you fly," wrote Alexander to the retreating Darius, "thither I will surely pursue you." (See "Anabasis of Alexander the Great," by Arrian, book 2, chap. 14.) Medo-Persia fell before Grecia, as this sure word of prophecy had foretold two hundred years before Alexander's day.

Grecia's expansion and its later history were next unfolded before the prophet's vision:

Prophecy.—"Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven." Verse 8.

Of the ram (Persia) it was said it became "great;" of the goat (Grecia); that it became "very great."

History.—Justin, the Roman, wrote of Alexander:

[Pg 208]

But the unerring prophecy had said that "when he was strong, the great horn was broken." Suddenly the youthful conqueror was cut down by death, just as he was preparing to celebrate at Babylon a "convention of the whole universe,"

The ancient pagan writers, in telling the story, make use of language very similar to that used by divine prophecy in foretelling it. Following Alexander's death the empire was divided "toward the four winds of heaven." Myers says:

As the prophet watched these four kingdoms of divided Greece, he beheld another power coming into the field of his vision through one of the four kingdoms, and extending its authority more than any before it:

Prophecy.—"Out of one of them [one of the four kingdoms] came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land." Verse 9.

History.—Medo-Persia was "great," Grecia was "very great," but this power was to be "exceeding great." Rome followed Grecia. Polybius, the Roman, says:

One of the odes of Horace tells how the name of Rome grew to might:

Lucan's lines measured its exceeding greatness from the other points of the compass:

"The empire of the Romans filled the world," says Gibbon. It was "exceeding great," according to the prophecy. In the vision the little horn that grew so great came into the prophet's view as proceeding out of one of the four horns that he had been watching. Rome rose to unquestioned supremacy out of its conquest of Macedonia, one of the four notable kingdoms into which Grecia was divided. It spread forth toward the south, and toward the east, and "toward the pleasant land," Palestine becoming a province of the empire in the century before Christ. And it was a Roman force that destroyed Jerusalem and devastated the pleasant land.

Thus the "sure word of prophecy," with exactness in detail, carries the history through the centuries to the last great universal monarchy, Rome.

But this prophecy does not deal so much with the earlier history of Rome as with the developments of later times. It was the same in the prophetic outline of Daniel 7. After briefly identifying Rome as the last universal monarchy, the vision of the seventh chapter dealt with the rise of papal Rome, described its exaltation of itself against God, and its warfare against the truth and the saints of God. And here again, in the eighth chapter, the same persecuting power is seen developing, exalting itself, and persecuting the saints of God. The prophecy says that "it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered." Dan. 8:12. The papal history, as given in the study on Daniel 7, need not be repeated here.[Pg 210]

THE CAMP OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS
"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:14.

[Pg 211]

As the prophet watched the work of this lawless power, his heart must have cried out to know how long it was to be allowed to prosper in its evil way; for next he heard the voice of a holy one asking the question for him,

"How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" Dan. 8:13.

The answer was,

"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Verse 14.

In symbolic prophecy a day stands for a year. Eze. 4:6. This is a long period, therefore, of 2300 years. It reaches to the latter days; for the angel said of it, "At the time of the end shall be the vision." Dan. 8:17.

The question was, "How long?" or literally, "Until when?" and the answer was, "Until two thousand and three hundred days." Then what was to come to deal with the great apostasy?—"Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The cleansing of the sanctuary, therefore, must have something to do with meeting the great apostasy, lifting up God's truth that has been trampled underfoot, and cutting short the reign of evil. The cleansing of the sanctuary, with all that is involved in it, must be God's answer to this lawless power.

Error may prosper for a time; but the just balances of the sanctuary will at last pronounce righteous judgment, and the prosperity of evil will be cut short. "I was envious ... when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," said the psalmist, "until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." Ps. 73:3, 17.

What, then, is involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary, the time of which is marked by the long prophetic period? It is for us to understand; for it is a work pertaining to the latter days.[Pg 212]

OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST
"We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." Heb. 8:1.

[Pg 213]

THE INTERIOR OF THE SANCTUARY
"A figure for time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices." Heb. 9:9.

THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY IN TYPE AND ANTITYPE

The Bible teaching concerning the sanctuary of the Levitical service shows clearly that the cleansing of the sanctuary is God's answer to error and apostasy.

The priestly service of the earthly sanctuary, or temple, in the days of Israel, was typical of the work of Christ, our High Priest, in the heavenly temple. The earthly priests served after "the example and shadow of heavenly things." Heb. 8:5. And of Christ's ministry in the heavenly temple we are told:

"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8:1, 2.

In the earthly service, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the closing work of the high priest, marking the end of the[Pg 214] yearly round of mediatory ministry. The cleansing of the sanctuary in the time of the end must, therefore, according to the sure teaching of the type, be the closing ministry of our great High Priest in the heavenly temple, before He lays aside His priestly work to come in glory.

The Service of the Earthly Tabernacle

There were two distinct phases in the priestly ministry of the tabernacle in Israel. The sanctuary was built with two apartments, the holy place and the most holy.

In the holy place were the candlestick with its seven lights, the table with its ever-renewed "bread of the presence," and the altar of incense, on which sweet incense, symbol of Christ's continual intercession, was burned morning and night.

Within the inner veil was the most holy place, where was the ark containing the tables of the law, written with the finger of God. The cover of the ark was the golden mercy-seat, above which, at either end, stood two cherubim of gold, their wings meeting on high, their faces looking ever toward the mercy-seat. It was a type of the throne of God—the angels about the throne, the law the foundation of His government, the mercy-seat typifying the interposition of mercy and pardon for the sinner; and above it the visible glory of the Lord, the Shekinah.

"There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony." Ex. 25:22.

Of the service in the first apartment it is stated:

"When these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God." Heb. 9:6.

"Day by day the sacrificial victims were slain at the altar before the outer veil, and the blood was 'brought into the sanctuary' by the priest." This was an acknowledgment of transgression of God's law, meriting death, and a confession of faith in the Lamb of God who was to suffer death in[Pg 215] the sinner's stead, and whose atoning blood would plead for him before the righteous law.

Thus day by day, either by the sprinkling of the blood "before the Lord" or by eating a portion of the flesh of the burnt offering in the holy place, the ministry of the priests transferred the sin in type to the sanctuary, and the sinner was pardoned.

For a full year, lacking one day, the ministry was in the first apartment, or holy place only. But on that last day of the yearly round of service—"the tenth day of the seventh month"—the high priest entered the second apartment, or most holy place.

"Into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people." Heb. 9:7.

In this service the high priest sprinkled the blood upon the mercy-seat and in the holy place, "because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel." The sanctuary was to be reconciled or cleansed from all the sins registered there in type through the blood of the offerings brought day by day during the year.

As the high priest came out, bearing the sins, he transferred them all to the head of the scapegoat, which was sent away into the wilderness; and thus "all their iniquities" were borne away from the camp into the wilderness, and the sanctuary was cleansed. See Leviticus 16.

This was a solemn time of judgment in Israel. Every man's life came in review that day. Was every sin confessed? Whosoever was not found right with God, when that service was performed, was cut off from having a part with God's people.

"It is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people." Lev. 23:28, 29.[Pg 216]

It was indeed an annual day of judgment in Israel. And all this was an "example and shadow of heavenly things." Heb. 8:5.

Christ's Closing Work in Heaven

Therefore the last phase of Christ's ministry as our high priest in the sanctuary of God above, must be a work of judgment, a review of the heavenly record, corresponding to the final ministry in the second apartment of the earthly tabernacle, when that sanctuary was cleansed.

THE MEMORIAL OF HIS SACRIFICE
"As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." 1 Cor. 11:26.

Daniel the prophet was shown in vision this change in the ministry of our High Priest, namely, from the first to the second apartment of the heavenly temple. He describes the wondrous scene, as God's living throne, with its wheels flaming with glory, moved into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, for the closing work of Christ's ministry:[Pg 217]

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down ["placed," R.V.], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:9, 10.

This scene, as the next verse shows, opens while still on earth the apostasy is exalting itself. But during this same time a solemn judgment work is going forward in heaven above, the finishing of which will give God's answer to the apostasy, and bring the second coming of Christ in glory to end the reign of sin. It is the cleansing of the sanctuary,—the time when in reality and not in type every case registered in the sanctuary comes in final review before God. When that work closes, according to the type, whosoever is not found right with God will be cut off from having any part with His redeemed people.

Then the priestly ministry of Christ will close, and the destiny of every soul will be fixed for all eternity. To that time must apply the words spoken by Jesus:

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: ... and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly." Rev. 22:11, 12.

But now the Saviour, from His place of ministry on high, speaks to all the encouraging exhortation and assurance:

"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." Rev. 3:5.

To let men on earth know when this judgment work, the cleansing of the sanctuary, began in heaven, the prophetic period of 2300 years was given. It is of most solemn importance that we know when that period begins and ends.[Pg 218]

ARTAXERXES SENDING THE JEWS TO REBUILD JERUSALEM, B.C. 457
"From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." Dan. 9:25.

[Pg 219]

NEHEMIAH, THE KING'S CUPBEARER
"Send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it." Neh. 2:5.

A GREAT PROPHETIC PERIOD

THE 2300 YEARS OF DANIEL 8:14

The commission to the angel Gabriel was, "Make this man to understand the vision" (Dan. 8:16); therefore in the angel's explanation of the vision of Daniel 8, we must assuredly find the interpretation of the prophetic period of 2300 years, the close of which marks the opening of the judgment work in heaven, or the cleansing of the sanctuary.

The eighth chapter closes, however, with no reference to the beginning of this period of time, a most important measuring line of prophecy. The angel had explained the symbols representing Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, and had dwelt upon the antichristian work of the apostasy that was to develop; but he left the time of the prophetic period unexplained, save to say that it was "true," and that it would be "for many days"—far in the future. Here the angel stopped, for Daniel fainted. In spirit the prophet had been gazing upon the warfare of the great apostasy against God's truth through the ages, and evidently it took all strength from him. Daniel closes the account of this vision with the words, "I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Verse 27.[Pg 220]

THE 2300 DAYS

But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A.D., the remaining 1810 years of the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then special light began to shine upon the whole sanctuary subject, and Christ's mediatorial or priestly work in it.

Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic period,—the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.][Pg 221]

But the angel had been commanded, "Make this man to understand the vision;" and soon after, as recorded in the next chapter,—possibly within a year,[G]—Gabriel appeared to the prophet with the words:

"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.... Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Dan. 9:22, 23.

Thereupon the angel began to deal with the matter of time in the prophecy, the very feature of the vision of the eighth chapter that he had not yet made Daniel understand. Therefore the vision of the 2300 years must be the topic.

The Starting-Point

First of all, the angel said that a short period was to be cut off from the long period, and allotted to the Jewish people; this short period was to reach to the coming of the promised Messiah and the filling up of the measure of Jerusalem's transgressions. The angel's own words are:

"Seventy weeks [490 days, prophetic time, or 490 literal years] are determined [cut off, as the word means] upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal[Pg 222] up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Verse 24.

This 490-year period "cut off" was to cover the history of the people of Jerusalem until that city had filled out the measure of its transgression. The only prophetic period from which this 490 years can properly be said to be "cut off" is, assuredly, the longer period of 2300 years, which stretches far onward to "the time of the end." The 490 years and the 2300 years, then, must begin at the same time.

It was the time period that the angel Gabriel was yet to explain; and he begins the explanation by showing that the first 490 years of it would reach to the days of the Messiah. Then he gives the event that marks the beginning of the 490 years, which event must necessarily mark the beginning of the 2300 years as well.

This is what he was commissioned to make Daniel "understand" when first the vision of the 2300 years was given. Now he tells him to "understand" it:

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Dan. 9:25, 26.

The date of the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is the date, therefore, from which the great prophetic measuring line runs; the first 490 years of it to reach to the time and work of the Messiah, at the first advent, the full 2300 years running on to mark the time when the judgment hour in heaven opens. Once the starting-point is fixed, all the events of the long period must follow exactly as scheduled in the time-table of divine prophecy.[Pg 223]

Date of the Commencement to Restore Jerusalem

There were several commands issued concerning the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonish captivity. Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes Longimanus each issued such a decree. Which one answers to the language of the prophecy as "the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem"?

THE JEWS MOURNING OVER THE RUINS OF JERUSALEM
"I went out by night,... and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down." Neh. 2:13.

The decree of Artaxerxes was most comprehensive (Ezra 7), authorizing the full restoration of the civil and religious administration of Jerusalem and Judea. And Inspiration specifically sums up all the decrees as completed only in that of Artaxerxes, which thus constituted "the commandment:"

"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." Ezra 6:14.[Pg 224]

REBUILDING JERUSALEM
"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." Ezra 6:14.

[Pg 225]

According to this scripture, the full "going forth of the commandment to restore and to build," dates from this decree of Artaxerxes. And this decree went forth "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king." Ezra 7:7.

What year was this seventh year of Artaxerxes—a date so important to fix to a certainty?

The great chronological standard for the kings of the ancient empires is the canon, or historical rule, of Ptolemy. Ptolemy was a Greek historian, geographer, and astronomer, who lived in the temple of Serapis, near Alexandria, Egypt. From ancient records he prepared a chronological table of the kings of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome (carrying the Roman list to his own time, which was the second century after Christ). Along with his list of kings and the years of their succession, Ptolemy compiled a record of ancient observations of eclipses. In such and such a year of a king, for instance, on a given day of the month, an eclipse of the sun or moon would be recorded. Astronomers have worked out these observations, and verified them. The learned Dr. William Hales said:

Thus, says James B. Lindsay, an English chronologist, "a foundation is laid for chronology sure as the stars." So the sun and the stars, the divinely appointed timekeepers, bear their witness to the accuracy of the historical record.

We thank God for this, as we desire to know if we may depend upon Ptolemy's canon to help us fix to a certainty the seventh year of Artaxerxes.

According to Ptolemy, Artaxerxes succeeded to the throne in the two hundred and eighty-fourth year of the canon. In modern reckoning, this two hundred and eighty-fourth year runs from Dec. 17, 465 b.c., to Dec. 17, 464 b.c. The canon does not tell at what part of the year a king succeeded to the[Pg 226] throne; it only deals with whole years. The question is, to be exact, Did Artaxerxes come to the throne in December, 465 b.c., or at some time in the year 464 b.c.? At what season of the year did the king take the throne? Some historians, dealing with the matter roughly, date the succession from the year 465. But in dealing with divine prophecy, we require certainty upon which to base the reckoning of the seventh year of Artaxerxes, from which date the prophetic period runs.

And in God's providence we do have certainty. Of all the kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, in Ptolemy's long list, there is but one concerning whose succession the Scriptures give us the very time of the year—and that one is Artaxerxes. The one case in which we need to know to a certainty the season of the year, in order to fix an important date in prophecy, is the one case in which Inspiration gives exactly the particulars. Who cannot see the hand of God in this?

The combined record of Neh. 1:1; 2:1 and Ezra 7:7-9,[H] shows that Artaxerxes came to the throne between the fifth month of the Jewish year and the ninth month,—roughly, between August and December,—or in the autumn. The Bible gives one part of the record, and Ptolemy's canon gives[Pg 227] another part; and by the combined record we know that Artaxerxes came to the throne late in the year 464 b.c., and thus the seventh year of his reign would be 457 b.c. This is the date fixed by other sources of reliable chronology also, Sir Isaac Newton having worked out several lines of evidence from ancient authorities, in each case reaching the year 464 b.c. as the first of Artaxerxes, which makes the seventh to be 457 b.c.

In the seventh year of Artaxerxes the commandment went forth to restore and to build Jerusalem, and this event fixes the beginning of the 2300 years, as also of the 490 years cut off from it upon the Jewish people.

That year, 457 b.c., therefore, is a date of profound importance. It stands like the golden milestone in the ancient Forum at Rome, from which ran out all the measurements of distance to the ends of the empire. From this date, 457 b.c., run out the golden threads of time prophecy that touch events in the earthly life and the heavenly ministry of Jesus that are of deepest eternal interest to all mankind today.

THE ANOINTING OF JESUS AT HIS BAPTISM
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." Acts 10:38. (See Matt. 3:16.)

[Pg 229]

DANIEL'S PRAYER ANSWERED
"I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." Dan. 9:22.

THE PROPHECY FULFILLED

EVENTS OF THE "SEVENTY WEEKS" AND END OF THE 2300 YEARS

The angel explained to Daniel the events of the seventy weeks allotted to Jerusalem and its people "to finish the transgression." Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (69 weeks) of the seventy were to reach to the Messiah. The angel's words were:

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression.... Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks [69 weeks, or 483 days]." Dan. 9:24, 25.[Pg 230]

The sixty-nine weeks, symbolic time, are 483 years, which were to reach from the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince.

The Time of the Messiah's Coming

The commandment of Artaxerxes to restore and build Jerusalem, as we have seen, went forth in 457 b.c. Reckoning from that date, 483 full years bring us to A.D. 27, when, according to the prophecy, the Messiah should appear.

Messiah means "anointed." The anointing of Jesus, and His manifestation as the Anointed One, was at His baptism:

"Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3:16, 17.

Thus Jesus was anointed as the Messiah (see Acts 10:38), and John proclaimed: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29.

When did this baptism and anointing take place? The Gospel of Luke supplies the historical facts for fixing the year:

"In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea," etc. Luke 3:1-3.

Tiberius followed Augustus, who died in A.D. 14. But before the latter's death, Tiberius was associated with him on the throne. Some modern historians date this appointment of Tiberius as Cæsar from A.D. 13; but the "History of Rome," by Dion Cassius, a Roman senator, born in the second century, shows, under events of A.D. 12, that Augustus recognized Tiberius as holding the imperial dignity at that time. (Book 56, chap. 26.) Again, Dr. Philip Schaff says:

[Pg 231]

These coins from Syria bear certain witness that the first year of Tiberius should be counted from A.D. 12. Therefore "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar" would be A.D. 27, just 483 years from the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem. The prophecy of the sixty-nine weeks was fulfilled—the Messiah had come.

Confirming the Covenant

But "one week" of the seventy remained—seven years. Of the Messiah's work during this time the angel said:

"He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." Dan. 9:27.

Christ's death upon the cross made "the sacrifice and the oblation to cease," so far as their appointed force was concerned. After three years and a half of ministry, "in the midst" of this seven-year period, the prophetic week, the Messiah was lifted up on Calvary. For centuries the sure word of prophecy had pointed to this supreme hour in the working out of the plan of salvation. When the time was fulfilled, the promise of God was fulfilled also, and the divine Sacrifice was offered.

With the offering of the great Sacrifice, all the typical offerings ceased to have significance. The veil of the temple was rent when the Lamb of God expired upon the cross,—sign to all that He had caused "the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."[Pg 232]

THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST
"In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." Dan. 9:27.

[Pg 233]

THE RENT VEIL
"The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." Mark 15:38.

The Messiah was to "confirm the covenant with many for one week," filling out the seventy weeks allotted in God's merciful patience especially to the people of the Jews. Three and a half years of Christ's personal ministry on earth had[Pg 234] been devoted to the chosen people. Now, after His ascension, He was still, in the persons of His disciples, to press the gospel of the new covenant especially upon the Jewish people—"to the Jew first," and "beginning at Jerusalem."

PETER PREACHING IN THE HOUSE OF CORNELIUS
"They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." Acts 8:4.

This last seven-year period, beginning in A.D. 27, ended in A.D. 34. By that time the opposition of the Jews was becoming exceedingly bitter. As a people they were rejecting again the divine invitation extended by the risen Christ through His witnesses. About A.D. 34 Stephen was martyred. The same council that, against all evidence, had rejected the Messiah, again rejected the appeal of the Holy Ghost shining visibly on Stephen's countenance.[Pg 235]

The believers in Jerusalem were driven out by persecution; and "they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." Acts 8:4. The Gentiles gave heed in Samaria, and the Ethiopian received the gospel on the road to Gaza. The gospel message had fairly passed the boundaries of Jerusalem and was on its way to the "uttermost parts of the earth."

Though the seventy weeks cut off upon the Jewish people and upon the holy city had ended, to the world's end the gospel of Christ's salvation is for that people as well as for all other nations.

The Ending of the 2300 Years

It must not be forgotten that the angel was explaining to Daniel the vision and prophecy of the long prophetic period that was to reach to the cleansing of the sanctuary at the time of the end.

These events of the first seventy weeks of that period were "to seal up the vision and prophecy." Dan. 9:24. The shedding of the blood of the divine Sacrifice "to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness," set Heaven's seal to the vision. As surely as the great Offering had been made, so surely the cleansing of the sanctuary would be accomplished by the ministry of our High Priest in heaven.

And the exact fulfilment of the time schedule for this first portion of the prophetic period, set seal to the declaration that when the full 2300 years should run out, the closing ministry of Christ would surely begin in the heavenly sanctuary.

From 457 b.c., when the commandment of Artaxerxes to restore Jerusalem went forth, the measuring line of the 2300 years reaches to the year A.D. 1844. In that year the time of the prophecy came. Then the cleansing of the sanctuary was to begin.

The prophet John, in the Revelation, beheld the opening of this last phase of the ministry of Christ in the most holy[Pg 236] place of the temple of God. "The temple of God was opened in heaven," he says, "and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." Rev. 11:19. The prophet heard voices saying, "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged." Verse 18.

Again we must quote Daniel's description of the opening of this ministry in the most holy place of the heavenly temple. He saw thrones of judgment set up. He saw the moving throne of the Almighty, with its wheels of naming glory, take its position for the final work of our High Priest in the holy of holies above:

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down [placed], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:9, 10.

This was the scene enacted in the heavenly temple when the year 1844 brought the judgment hour. Then began in heaven the work of the investigative judgment, or the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, during which the case of every individual will come in review before God.

When that work of investigation is finished, the ministry of Christ for sin will end, human probation will close, and our Lord will quickly come as King of kings and Lord of lords, to gather His redeemed, while all sinners will be destroyed by "the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess. 2:8.

In the vision of Daniel 8, as the great apostasy was seen warring against God's truth, the question was asked, "How long shall be the vision,... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" The answer was, in effect, In 1844 the cleansing of the sanctuary will begin in[Pg 237] heaven,—the hour of God's judgment, that will give God's answer to sin and apostasy.

We are living in the great antitypical day of atonement, for which all heaven has been waiting. The end is at hand. And while that work is proceeding in heaven above, the Lord proclaims a special message on earth, lifting up again truths long trodden underfoot, and calling men to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12.

[Pg 239]

THE GOSPEL COMMISSION
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15.

A WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT

FORETOLD IN THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 14

While the work of the judgment hour, or period,—the cleansing of the sanctuary,—is proceeding in the heavenly temple above, the Lord sends to the world a special message of preparation for the coming of the Lord.

It would not be the divine way to let this solemn judgment in heaven come unheralded to men. Daniel's prophecy had fixed the time of its beginning; and the question asked in the prophet's hearing, "How long shall be the vision ... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" suggested that when the time came, the truths of God that had been trodden underfoot through the ages would be lifted up and proclaimed anew to all the world.

With the coming of the judgment hour, in the year 1844, there arose just such a work, a definite gospel movement, that has ever since been carrying the message for the hour to the ends of the earth.[Pg 240]

The Way Prepared for the Rise of the Movement

But there was a preliminary work to be done, to prepare the way for the definite advent movement and message.

In the days of Israel of old, as the time for the cleansing of the sanctuary drew near, the people were forewarned of the approach of the solemn hour. The day of atonement—"the tenth day of the seventh month"—was a typical hour of judgment. All the people were to prepare their hearts for that great day.

To this end, the Lord appointed the first day of the seventh month a day of sounding of the trumpets. Lev. 23:24. The silver trumpets, pealing forth on that day, proclaimed to all that the day of atonement was near at hand, when every case would be brought in review before the mercy-seat by the ministry of the high priest in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary.

True to the type, as the year 1844 drew near, when the great antitypical day of atonement was to open and the closing work of Christ to begin in the most holy place of the heavenly temple, the trumpet call of the approaching judgment hour was set pealing through all Christendom.

Events of the closing years of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the nineteenth, had stirred up Bible students to give greater attention to the study of the prophetic scriptures. It was seen that signs of the latter days were appearing, and that every line of historic prophecy pointed to the near approach of Christ's second coming.

Here and there students of the Word saw that the 2300-year period of Dan. 8:14, as explained in the ninth chapter, would end soon; and some arrived at the correct date, and looked to the year 1844 as the time when the judgment hour would come.

Witnesses were raised up in Europe—in Holland, Germany, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries. Joseph Wolff, the missionary to the Levant, preached in Greece, Palestine,[Pg 241] Turkey, Afghanistan, and other regions the coming of the judgment hour. William Miller and many associates preached the message throughout America.

Writing in the days just before 1844, Mourant Brock, a clergyman of the Church of England, said:

Not all who joined in the awakening cry at this time explained the prophecies alike, or emphasized the definite year 1844 as the beginning of the hour of God's judgment; though in America, Europe, and Asia the clear message of the ending of the prophetic time in 1844 was proclaimed with power by many voices. And as the time came, the world was ringing with the call to prepare to meet the judgment hour, even as the hosts of Israel were called by trumpet peals to prepare for the typical day of atonement.

The nature of the event to come at the end of the 2300 years was not understood by these early heralds of the advent hope. The general expectation was that the judgment hour meant the end of the world and the coming of the Lord. Though the word of prophecy indicated clearly that there was a special work to be done on earth while the judgment hour was proceeding in heaven, this was not clear to Bible students at the time. So when the prophetic period ended and the Lord did not come, believers in the prophetic truths were disappointed and unbelievers scoffed. But the call to prepare for the judgment hour was the message due to the world at that time, and the awakening cry was raised on every continent.

In the days of the Saviour's first advent, the disciples and the populace had proclaimed the triumphal entry of[Pg 242] Christ into Jerusalem. They were at once disappointed; instead of enthroning Him as king, they witnessed His crucifixion. But in proclaiming the coming of Zion's King to Jerusalem, they were fulfilling the prophecy that had been uttered, and were giving the message for that day, notwithstanding their mistaken view as to the events that would follow.

Just so the trumpet call of the coming judgment hour was the message for the days of 1844; and the message was given, attended by the power of God. When the hour was at hand, the providence of God raised up faithful witnesses to proclaim it.

All this was preparatory to the rise of the definite advent movement of the prophecy, when the hour of God's judgment should begin.

The Closing Work

In vision, on the Isle of Patmos, the prophet John was given a view of the closing work of the gospel on earth, while the closing ministry of Christ was proceeding in heaven above. The prophet wrote:

"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:6, 7.

The message further warned against following the ways of the great apostasy; and in the vision the prophet was shown people in all lands taking their stand at the call of the message. The angel described them in these words:

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Verse 12.[Pg 243]

Much as pictures appear to us when thrown in succession upon a screen, these scenes must have passed before the vision of the prophet. He saw the coming of the hour, the rise of the movement, and its extension into all lands; he heard the message sounding, and saw the kind of people doing the work—a people keeping "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

PAUL WRITING TO TIMOTHY FROM ROME
"There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord ... shall give me at that day: and ... unto all them also that love His appearing." 2 Tim. 4:8.

Centuries had passed, after this word was written in the Book, when the flight of time at last brought the hour of the prophecy—the year 1844. That very year witnessed the rise of the definite advent movement which is still proclaiming the very message of the prophecy to the world.

It was in the year 1844, in New England, that a little group of believers in the blessed hope of Christ's soon coming, saw clearly, from their study of the Bible, that the New Testament platform of "the commandments of God, and the faith[Pg 244] of Jesus," emphasized in this prophecy of the judgment hour, meant the keeping of the fourth commandment as well as the other nine. Thereupon they began to keep and to teach the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week, made holy and blessed and commanded by God.

One member of this group of commandment-keeping Adventists was Frederick Wheeler, from whose dictation the following statement was prepared, fixing exactly the facts as to the time:

They were but a little band, those believers in New Hampshire, but the time of the prophecy had come, and with the coming of the hour there was the nucleus of the movement forming, believers in the near coming of the Lord, preaching the message of the prophecy, "The hour of His judgment is come," and keeping "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

From that small beginning has grown the movement that Seventh-day Adventists stand for, spreading through all the world today.

It was in the year following 1844 that Joseph Bates, of Massachusetts, a retired sea captain, and a preacher of the advent hope, began to keep the Sabbath. Captain Bates wrote and published, and soon others, following his example, embraced the Bible Sabbath.

As the Scripture teaching concerning the sanctuary was studied, light came flooding in. It was seen that the great prophetic period of Daniel 8, which ended in 1844, marked the opening of Christ's ministry in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, the work of the judgment hour in heaven; and there, plainly revealed in Revelation 14, was a special[Pg 245] gospel message to be carried to all the world while the judgment hour still continued.

The little company that began to keep the commandments of God as Adventist believers in 1844, did not understand that they were beginning the definite movement foretold by the prophecy. They only determined to turn from traditions that had made void God's law, and to obey the law of the Most High, whose servants they were.

But in the light of the Scripture prophecy and of events, we can see clearly the hand of God leading that little baud into the right pathway when the year of 1844 came; and the work there begun has grown into the world-wide movement of today.

Nearly two thousand years before, it had been written in the "sure word of prophecy" that when the hour of God's judgment came, a people keeping God's commandments would arise and spread forth into all the world with the last gospel message. The long prophetic period of Daniel 8 had fixed the year 1844 as the time when the judgment hour would begin and when the people of the prophecy must appear.

When the year came, that people appeared, keeping "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." When the hour struck, the work began. This advent movement was born of God in fulfilment of prophecy. And the mission of the movement is to lift up again the standard of truths obscured by tradition and trodden underfoot, and to call all men to the New Testament platform of the "commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," where every believing soul may find safe refuge in these closing moments of the judgment hour in the courts above.[Pg 246]

A CHRISTIAN MOTHER EXHORTING HER DAUGHTER TO MARTYRDOM
"Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.

[Pg 247]

THE TWO BEASTS OF REVELATION 13
"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." Rev. 14:7.

THE JUDGMENT-HOUR MESSAGE

THE GOSPEL FOR OUR DAY

The gospel message for this time of the judgment hour is set forth in the vision of Revelation 14:

"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out[Pg 248] without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:6-12.

When this message has been heralded to all nations, according to prophecy the end will come, for the next scene brought before the prophet's vision was the coming of Christ to reap the harvest of the earth:

"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Verse 14.

The outline of the message given here reveals certain main features:

1. A Gospel Message

It is not a new or another gospel. There is but one gospel. This message is "the everlasting gospel" in terms that meet the situation in the time of the judgment hour. The advent movement carries the blessed message of full salvation from sin by faith in Jesus Christ.

2. A Solemn Warning

The message is God's final answer to the age-long perversions of His truth. Even the warnings uttered vibrate with the saving grace and winning power of God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the vision of Daniel 8, the prophet was shown the working of apostasy in the latter times, as it "cast down the truth to the ground" and "practiced and prospered." But in answer to the question, "How long?" the great prophetic period of the 2300 years was given, at the end of which (in 1844) the judgment work in heaven was to begin. When that[Pg 249] work is finished, Christ's glorious appearing will end the reign of sin and error.

And while the closing judgment work is proceeding in heaven, this message of the judgment hour lifts up on earth the standard of truths trodden underfoot, and the Lord utters His last warning against sin and apostasy. It is a terrible word that He speaks. Bengelius described it as—

The Lord is in earnest with men in this hour when the judgment, now passing on the dead, must also soon seal the eternal destiny of all the living. Hence the message challenges every soul to a decision.

Looking forward to the time when this message should be due, John Wesley wrote:—

These warnings are part of the "everlasting gospel." Whosoever, therefore, preaches the full gospel of Christ in these last days must sound this solemn call.

3. A Call to Loyalty to God

"Fear God," is the call, "Worship Him." In the preceding vision of the thirteenth chapter, the Lord had shown the prophet the work of an ecclesiastical power, symbolized by a leopardlike beast, that was to speak great things, and that was to persecute believers through long centuries, warring against God's truth and His sanctuary. "All the world wondered after the beast." The prophet said,

"All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb." Rev. 13:8.

While worldly influence and the voice of popular religion exalt this ecclesiastical power and give glory to it, the gospel message calls all men to worship God.[Pg 250]

"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark,[I] ... the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God."

The issue, it is clear, involves the question of authority. Shall God be recognized as supreme? or shall this ecclesiastical power, whose rise and work were foretold in the prophecy, be recognized as the great authority?

The Work of the Papal Power

Any comparison between this leopard beast of Revelation 13 and the "little horn" of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, shows plainly that the same power is represented in each. The same voice is heard "speaking great things," the same persecuting spirit is shown, the same warfare against God's truth. It is the Roman Papacy, in its exaltation of human authority above the divine, that "lawless one" of Paul's prophecy, setting itself forth as God in the temple of God, treading underfoot the word and the law of the Most High, as foretold by Daniel:[Pg 251]

"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." Dan. 7:25.

Against the recognition of the assumed authority of this power, the gospel message of Revelation 14 sounds its solemn warning: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark."

The Image to the Papacy

What is this image? Plainly an image to the Papacy must be some religious authority or federation not organically of the Papacy itself, but adopting papal principles and seeking to enforce these principles by civil power, just as the Papacy has ever done, where possible. This development in likeness of the Papacy was shown the prophet in the latter part of the vision of Revelation 13. He saw the image formed, and in vision witnessed its determined efforts to enforce upon men the mark, or sign, of the Papacy:

"He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.... And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast." Rev. 13:12-17.

The Mark, or Sign, of Papal Authority

The Roman Papacy sets forth the Sunday institution as the mark of the authority of the church to substitute ecclesiastical tradition and custom for the Word of God. Thus, Monsignor Ségur, in "Plain Talks about the Protestantism of Today," says:

It was to this change in the Sabbath by tradition, contrary to the plain command of God to keep holy the seventh[Pg 252] day, that the famous Council of Trent appealed when it gave Rome's answer to the Reformation cry of "The Bible and the Bible only." The council had long debated the ground of its answer. The historian says:

Ever since this memorable council, the Sunday institution has been held forth as the mark of the power of the church to command religious observances. Thus, again, Keenan's "Doctrinal Catechism" says:

The prophecy of Daniel declared that this power would "think" to change the times and laws of the Most High; and the change of the Sabbath commandment is set forth as the mark of the church's authority above the written law of the Most High.

Most remarkable of all, Protestant organizations are defending the unscriptural observance of the humanly established first-day sabbath in contradiction to the law of God, which declares that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." And these organizations, in denial of the Protestant principle of religious liberty, are seeking power to enforce Sunday observance by civil law. But this is to make a very image to the Roman Papacy—a church using the power of the state to enforce religious observance.[Pg 253]

It was all foretold in the prophetic word. The prophet was shown (Rev. 13:11-17) this likeness or image to the Papacy—ecclesiastical organizations not of the Papacy itself, but following papal principles in this matter—seeking to compel men to receive the mark of the papal apostasy.

Against the workings of both the Papacy and this image to the Papacy, the last message of the "everlasting gospel" lifts its warning cry:

"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God."

It is the time of the judgment hour, when God was to lift up the standard of truths long trodden underfoot. In the heavenly sanctuary Christ's closing judgment work is going forward, preparatory to His coming in consuming glory to end the reign of sin. On earth the Lord is sending the last gospel message to men, warning against sin and error, and calling all men to worship God, and to keep "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

The Sign of Jehovah's Authority

God also has His sign, or mark, of authority. He bases His claims to supreme authority upon the fact of His creative power. As Creator, His is the authority and the power.

"The Lord is the true God.... He hath made the earth by His power." Jer. 10:10-12.

And the divinely established memorial of this creative power is the holy Sabbath. The Sabbath is the mark, or sign, of the true God:

"Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. 20:20.

On one side is the mark, or sign, of apostasy from God; on the other the mark, or sign, of loyalty to God. Which mark will men receive, as the issue is pressed upon every soul[Pg 254] for decision? On which side shall we stand? Under whose banner shall we be found when the judgment hour closes?

PILATE'S FATAL DECISION IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL
"Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" Matt. 27:22.

The test that came to Pilate comes anew to men as Christ's message presses for acceptance. "What shall I do then with Jesus?" asked the Roman governor—and yielded to popular clamor. His fatal decision in the time of testing warns us to decide for Christ and for the word of his salvation now, in this hour of God's judgment.

The message of Rev. 14:6-14 is going to all the world now. Every year thousands of new voices join in telling it. Printing presses are printing it in many languages. Schools and colleges in every continent are educating thousands of Seventh-day Adventist youth, keeping before them, as the highest aim of life, the hastening of the advent message to the world. Sanitariums in many lands, while training medical missionary evangelists, are at the same time ministering to the sick,[Pg 255] and teaching the principles of Bible health and temperance. The movement necessarily emphasizes every principle of "the everlasting gospel," while pressing upon all the solemn issue that loyalty to Christ now means to turn from unscriptural tradition and custom to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. However ancient the custom of observing Sunday, it is but an innovation, setting aside the Word of God and the example of Jesus Christ. As St. Cyprian said: "Usage without truth is only an antiquated error." The clear light of Holy Scripture now calls the believer away from the path of error to the way of light.

In times past Christian believers have been unwittingly following the lead of the Papacy in this matter. The Lord holds no man accountable for light that he did not have. Reformation is a progressive work. Of the past we may say with Paul:

"The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness." Acts 17:30, 31.

Now, with this "hour of God's judgment" already come, the entire covering of papal tradition is to be torn aside, and when Jesus comes in glory, in every land will be found believers having the faith and keeping the commandments of God.

All this was shown to John on the Isle of Patmos,—the coming of the judgment hour, the rise of the advent movement, and the heralding of the last message to the nations.

What John saw in vision nearly two thousand years ago, we see fulfilling before our eyes today. But it is not enough to see it; we must have a part in it, be a part of it.[Pg 256]

LUCIFER PLOTTING AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD
"I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;... I will be like the Most High." Isa. 14:13, 14

[Pg 257]

SATAN ENTERS THE GARDEN OF EDEN
"The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23.

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL

The Beginning of the Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan

The great controversy between good and evil, that has been waged on earth ever since man's fall, had its origin in heaven. Certain angels rebelled against God and His government.

"There was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Rev. 12:7-9.

Thus came the forces of evil into this world, which have been working through all the ages to draw men from allegiance to God, and to infuse into human hearts the same spirit of disobedience which wrought the ruin of Satan and his angels.[Pg 258]

The Cause of the Downfall

Christ stated the principle: "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt. 6:23.

The principle finds its utmost application in the great reversal, by which Lucifer, the light bearer in heaven, became Satan, the adversary, the prince of darkness.

CHRIST AND NICODEMUS
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.

In the pride and self-exaltation of Tyre, of old, the Lord saw manifested the spirit of the god of this world; so, in declaring His message of rebuke to the prince of Tyre, the Lord describes the cause and history of Satan's fall:

"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God.... Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,[Pg 259] till iniquity was found in thee.... Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Eze. 28:13-17.

Likewise, in the swelling pride of Babylon the Lord recognized the spirit of the leader of the rebellious angels. In one of the messages to Babylon is this reference to the vaulting ambition of Lucifer in heaven:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer ["day-star," margin], son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Isa. 14:12-14.

Lucifer, his powers now perverted to evil, deceived many of the angels, persuading them to join him in rebellion against the government of God; with the result that Satan and all his host were cast out. Christ said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Luke 10:18.

The Earth as the Battle Ground

Then the great controversy which began in heaven was transferred to this earth, and now centers around man. For "that old serpent," the leader of the fallen angels, deceived man, and persuaded him to distrust God and to choose his own way in preference to God's way. Thus came sin and death into the world. And Satan, who had overcome man at the forbidden tree, became by his own usurpation and by man's perfidy, "the prince of this world."

But Christ gave himself to save man, to deliver him from the bondage of sin, and to restore him to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The same mighty power that overcame Satan and his angels in heaven is able to overcome his power in human hearts and lives. The controversy is still between Christ and Satan, and man's salvation or destruction is the aim of the contending forces.[Pg 260]

THE REDEMPTION PRICE
"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:14.

[Pg 261]

There is no neutral ground. Every soul must choose as to which side he will yield allegiance. In this choice lies his eternal destiny.

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:16.

Therefore the Lord pleads with men, "Choose life." Every soul that chooses life has the promise of it, for Christ "is able ... to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." Heb. 7:25.

The Judgment upon Satan

From the time of Satan's rebellion it was assured, by the very omnipotence of God, that there would come a last judgment when evil would be destroyed from the universe. This execution of judgment upon the fallen angels is thus referred to by Jude:

"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Verse 6.

The evil spirits themselves know that this day is coming. When Christ was about to cast certain of them out of one who was possessed, they cried out, "Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Matt. 8:29.

Though the judgment of that last day was originally set for Satan and his angels, unrepentant men will have a part in it, because they have joined Satan in his lawless rebellion. To the wicked it will be said:

"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

Satan sees that the day is hastening; and the shorter the time in which to work, the greater his fury in seeking to draw souls to perdition.[Pg 262]

The warning comes to us in these last days:

"Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Rev. 12:12.

Christ's second coming ends the reign of Satan in this world. The wicked are slain by the consuming glory of Christ's coming (2 Thess. 2:8); and the righteous are taken to heaven, beyond the reach of Satan's arts (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). The archenemy and his angels are thus left upon an earth devoid of human beings. Here he is chained for a thousand years, in this pit of desolation (Rev. 20:2, 5), his only companions the angels who fell with him, his only occupation the contemplation of the ruin he has wrought and the destruction that still awaits him.

By the second resurrection—that of the wicked dead, after the thousand years—Satan is again set free to ply his arts upon his subjects. As the holy city comes down out of heaven from God, with all the saints, Satan gathers his angels and all the forces of the lost of all the ages, to make an assault upon the city. The result was shown to the prophet in vision:

"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceiveth them was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:9, 10.

That is the fate awaiting the author of sin. In the account of Satan's pride and self-exaltation, uttered by the prophet in the message to Tyre, there occurs also this prophecy of the utter destruction that awaits him, when he shall bring his forces against the city of God in that last conflict:

"I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." Eze. 28:18, 19.[Pg 263]

This is the final victory of Christ over evil, in the great controversy that began in heaven. Satan exalted himself—and lost. Christ humbled Himself, even unto the death—and won the eternal triumph.

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:14.

JESUS BY THE SEA
"O Galilee, sweet Galilee, What mem'ries rise at thought of thee!"

[Pg 264]

SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR
"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,... should not a people seek unto their God?" Isa. 8:19.

[Pg 265]

SATAN'S FIRST LIE
"Ye shall not surely die." Gen. 3:4.

SPIRITUALISM: ANCIENT AND MODERN

The essential claim of Spiritualism is its assertion of power to hold communication with the spirits of the dead; or rather, it claims to have demonstrated that really there is no death.

The late Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace, the English scientist, said of Spiritualism:—

First Declaration of the Doctrine

In the very first book of the Bible is a similar claim: "Ye shall not surely die." Gen. 3:4.

But this declaration, while recorded in the Scriptures, is not the word of God. The Lord had declared to man that disobedience would bring death. But Satan, as the tempter in Eden, caused the woman to doubt the word of God: "The[Pg 266] serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." And the woman believed the tempter rather than God, and so sinned against the Creator.

Having tempted man to disobedience, so bringing death into the world, what more natural, in the course of deception, than to endeavor to persuade the human family that, after all, there is no death; that what appears so is only an introduction to fuller life and activity? "Ye shall not surely die."

PHARAOH'S SORCERERS COUNTERFEITING THE WORK OF GOD
"Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments." Ex. 7:11.

As mankind departed from right and lost the knowledge of God, dead heroes were deified as gods, and much of the pagan worship consisted in sacrifices to the spirits of the dead, supposed to be living still and concerned with affairs in the land of the living. When Israel fell away from God and joined the Moabites in the worship of Baal-peor, the record says of the nature of the service:

"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils." Ps. 106:28, 37.[Pg 267]

Instead of dealing with the spirits of the dead, the idolatrous worshipers were really putting themselves in direct touch with the agencies of Satan, the fallen angels.

Divine Warnings

This explains the severity of the divine warnings against the ancient practice of necromancy, or mediumship. The Lord said:

"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God." Lev. 19:31.

DEMONISM IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST
"He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." Mark 5:8.

"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with[Pg 268] familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." Deut. 18:9-12.

The ancient séance, where the living sought unto the dead for knowledge, was denounced by the prophet Isaiah:

"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?" Isa. 8:19, A.R.V.

"To the law and to the testimony!" the prophet cries. To seek unto the dead for knowledge is to turn from the law and the testimony, and to take the counsel of the direct agencies of Satan, the great deceiver.

Modern Spiritualism

What Spiritualism is may best be understood by the prophetic warnings concerning the revival of this great deception in the last days. The apostle spoke of these days as a time when seducing spirits would lead many away from the faith:

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. 4:1.

This deceptive working is an indication of the nearness of Christ's second coming:

"Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." 2 Thess. 2:9, A.R.V.

True to the sure word, now that the last days have come, there has arisen the movement of modern Spiritualism, with its signs and wonders, purporting to be wrought by the spirits of the dead. Professor Wallace says:

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It was in Hydeville, N.Y., in the family of Mr. Fox, that the modern cult originated, it being found that by mysterious but clear sounds of knocking, unseen intelligences were able to communicate answers to questions asked. The rapidity of the spread of the great deception was remarkable. One of the Fox sisters, Mrs. A. Leah Underhill, wrote:

Many at the time thought, as have many since, that the "rappings" with which the manifestations began were caused by some trickery on the part of the Fox sisters, but men of unimpeachable standing and intelligence certified to the contrary. Horace Greeley, famous editor of the New York Tribune, wrote in his paper that the sisters had visited him in his home and courted the fullest investigation as to "the alleged manifestations from the spirit world." As the result of his observations, he wrote:

It was no mere sleight of hand that launched this cult upon the world as the last days came. Beyond all the physical manifestations, the religious idea in Spiritualism has leavened the religious thought of millions. No one can deny that the basic idea is the one that the serpent promulgated in Eden, "Ye shall not surely die."

Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, another of the Fox sisters, says of the discovery of 1848:

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THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT
One of the historical settings of Spiritualism. A poor woman accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft.

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Now the Scriptures teach plainly what these agencies in Spiritualism are not, and what they are.

What They Are Not

They are not the spirits of the dead communicating messages to the living.

In one of the earliest written portions of Holy Scripture, the Lord declared plainly that the dead have no knowledge of the living:

"He passeth: Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:20, 21.

The dead have no part in any communications with the living on earth:

"Neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:6

What They Are

Already we have told what they are in quoting the warnings of prophecy concerning the special deceptions of Satan in the last days.

"The working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." 2 Thess. 2:9.

"Seducing spirits." 1 Tim. 4:1.

And as they were shown to the prophet John in a vision of the very end, he declared:

"They are the spirits of devils, working miracles." Rev. 16:14.

These are the agencies through which come the supernatural manifestations of Spiritualism. It is a terrible deception that leads men and women to seek to satanic agencies, supposing that they are communicating with the spirits of their dead friends. Satan and his angels can readily simulate the personality of the dead, and so deceive those who disobey God in seeking to the dead for knowledge.[Pg 272]

The Climax of Deception

That the marvels of Spiritualism would increase as the end nears, was plainly taught by our Saviour in describing the workings of Satan just before the second advent. He left us the warning:

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:23, 24.

Evidently, then, by the miracle-working power that he possesses, Satan will work mighty deceptions through both human and supernatural agencies. And the crowning deception will be his own manifestation as the Promised One, simulating Christ's second coming. But the power and glory that will fill all earth and the heavens at Christ's coming, cannot be copied by Satan, with all his miracle-working skill. That is why it is so important that we understand the Bible teaching as to the nature and manner of Christ's second advent. The doctrine of the silent, secret, mystical coming is all abroad in the world, the teaching exactly calculated to prepare the way for Satan's purposes of deception. Therefore Christ forewarns us:

"Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:25-27.

The teachings of ancient theosophy and spiritualism—the mysticism of the East—have been permeating Christendom in recent years. Mme. Jean Delaire, writing in a London review, said some years ago:

This flood of ancient spiritualism from the East has come about according to Isaiah's prophecy of things that were to "come to pass in the latter days:"

"Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines." Isa. 2:6, A.R.V.

In 1909 one of the leading representatives of theosophical thought, Mrs. Annie Besant, of India, toured America with the message of a coming messiah. She announced:

The leaven of the spiritualistic philosophy has been working its way through Christendom during this generation. We see clearly that the evil one is preparing the way for his final work of deception.

HOME OF THE FOX FAMILY, HYDESVILLE, N.Y.
Spiritualism originated in this house March 31, 1848.

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"HE IS RISEN"
"Because I live, ye shall live also." John 14:19.
COPYRIGHT, STANDARD PUB. CO.

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MARY MEETS HER RISEN LORD
"He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25.

LIFE ONLY IN CHRIST

MAN'S NATURE AND STATE IN DEATH

A wide-open door for Spiritualism is afforded by the teaching that man has life in himself—immortality by nature; and that death is not really death, but another form of life.

The Scriptures close this door of false hope, teaching us that man is mortal, that death is really death, and that immortality is the gift of God through Christ by the resurrection from the dead.

Clearly and definitely the Bible teaches that God only has immortality, styling Him "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.

This scripture disposes of every idea that man is immortal by nature, and opens the way for a consideration of the Scripture teaching concerning man's nature, his state in death, and the promise of life and immortality in Christ.[Pg 276]

Man by Nature Mortal

The word "mortal," as used in that ancient question by Eliphaz, describes man's nature:

"Shall mortal man be more just than God?" Job 4:17.

In the creation, life was conditional upon the creature's relation to Christ the Creator, in whom all things consist:

"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life." John 1:3,4.

He was, and is, as the psalmist says, "the fountain of life." Cut off from vital connection with Him, there could be no continuance of life. The Lord warned Adam that his life was conditional upon obedience. "In the day that thou eatest thereof," He said of the forbidden tree, "thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17. It was a declaration that man was not immortal, but was dependent upon God for life.

When by unbelief and sin man rejected God, the sentence—death eternal—must have been executed had not the plan of salvation intervened. But as the stroke of divine justice was falling upon the sinner, the Son of God interposed Himself and received the blow. "He was bruised for our iniquities." In the divine plan, the great sacrifice for man was as sure then as when, later, it was actually made on Calvary. Christ was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

And there Adam, the sinner, now with a fallen human nature, which would be perpetuated in his descendants in all subsequent time, was granted an extension of life, every moment of which, whether for him or for his posterity, was the purchase of Christ by His own death, in order that in this time of probation man might find forgiveness of sin and assurance of life to come. Adam was not created immortal, but was placed on probation, and had he continued faithful, the gift of immortality must have been given him at some later time, after he had passed the test. As the original plan is carried out through Christ, "the second Adam," the gift of immortality is bestowed finally upon all who pass[Pg 277] the test of the judgment and are found in Christ, in whom alone is life.

Having fallen, Adam, now possessed of a sinful nature, must die. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. It was impossible that sin or sinners should be immortalized in God's universe. So, inasmuch as the tree of life in Eden had been made the channel of continuance of life to man, the Lord said:

"Now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden." Gen. 3:22, 23.

This negatives the idea that there could ever be an immortal sinner, who should mar God's creation forever. Sin works out nothing but death. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. Fallen himself, Adam could bequeath to his posterity only a fallen, mortal nature. So began the sad history summed up in the text:

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12.

Mortality Universal

Mortality is written upon all creation. Ages ago the wise man wrote, "There is one event unto all: ... they go to the dead." Eccl. 9:3. Human hearts everywhere and in all time have cried out against the remorselessness of the great enemy. "Do people die with you?" was the question met by Livingstone in the untraveled wilds of Africa. "Have you no charm against death?" The Greek as well as the barbarian confessed to the helplessness of man before the great enemy. Centuries before Christ, Sophocles the Athenian wrote:

What unspeakable pathos in the cry of humanity's helplessness before death, the great enemy! But when Adam went out of Eden, it was with the assurance of life from the dead through the promised Seed, if faithful. It is the message of the one gospel for all time—everlasting life in Christ.

JESUS RAISING THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN
"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

As there is none other name under heaven by which men can be saved, so there is no other way of everlasting life or immortality, save in Christ Jesus our Lord.[Pg 279]

When Immortality is Bestowed

Christ said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25.

He has turned death, that would have been eternal, into a little time of sleep, from which he will awaken the believer. In the resurrection of the last day immortality is bestowed, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 15:52-54.

Not until the resurrection, "at the last trump," is immortality conferred upon the redeemed. Note that it is not something immortal putting on immortality; but this "mortal" puts on immortality. Mark this: there is no life after death, save by the resurrection. "If there be no resurrection of the dead,... then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:13-18.

This resurrection, as stated by the apostle Paul, is not at death, but in the last day, when Christ shall come, and all His children that are in their graves shall hear His voice. Jesus says:[Pg 280]

"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40.

That is why the coming of Christ has been the "blessed hope" of all the ages.

Man's State in Death

Between death and the resurrection, the dead sleep. Jesus declares that death is a sleep. Lazarus was dead, but Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." John 11:11. It is the language of Inspiration throughout. The patriarch Job said:

"Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more [the heavens will be rolled back as a scroll at Christ's coming], they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:10-12.

This hope of the resurrection at the last day was no indistinct hope to the believer in God's promises. The patriarch continued:

"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands." Verses 14, 15.

Job tells us of the place of his waiting for the Life-giver's call: "If I wait, the grave is mine house." Job 17:13. It is thence that Christ will call His own when He comes. "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." John 5:28, 29.

Death is an unconscious sleep. It must of necessity be so; for death is the opposite of life. Therefore there is no consciousness of the passing of time to those who sleep in the grave. It is as if the eyes closed in death one instant, and the next instant, to the believer's consciousness, he awakens to hear the animating voice of Jesus calling him to glad immortality, and to see the angels catching up his loved ones to meet Jesus in the air.[Pg 281]

These scriptures, out of many, will suffice to show that man is not conscious in death:

"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:4.

"The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.... Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.

Death is a sleep, which will continue until the resurrection. Then the Lord will bring forth from the dust the same person who was laid away in death.

Some have said that this Bible doctrine of the sleep of the dead until the resurrection is a gloomy one. Popular tradition thinks of the blessed dead as going at once to heaven, which, say some, is a beautiful thought. But they forget that the same teaching consigns their unbelieving friends to immediate torment—and that, too, while awaiting the judgment of the last day.

No; the Bible teaching is the cheering doctrine, the "blessed hope." All the faithful of all the ages are going into the kingdom together. This blessed truth appeals to the spirit that loves to wait and share joys and good things with loved ones. Of the faithful of past ages the apostle says:

"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40.

They are waiting, that all together the saved may enter in. And the time of waiting is but an instant to those who "sleep in Jesus."

David was a man of God, but the apostle Peter, speaking by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, declared to the people of the city of David: "He is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.... For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:29-34. They without us have not been made perfect. They are all awaiting[Pg 282] that glad day toward which the apostle Paul turned the last look of his mortal vision:

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:7, 8.

What joy in that day to march in through the gates into the eternal city, with Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Paul, and all the faithful, and the loved ones of our own home circles, and dear comrades in service, every one clothed with immortality, the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Redeemer! Horatius Bonar's hymn sings the joyful hope as the loved are laid away to "sleep in Jesus:"

In a word, the Scripture teaches that God alone has immortality, that man is mortal, that death is a sleep, that life after death comes only by the resurrection of the last day, that the righteous are then given immortality. Further, the Scripture teaches that later there will be a resurrection of the unjust, not unto life, but unto death, the second death, from which there is no release.

Every doctrine of Scripture and of the gospel is in accord with this Bible teaching as to man's nature and his state in death. But the traditional view of the natural immortality of the soul and of life in death, nullifies the Bible doctrines of life only in Christ, and the resurrection, and the judgment, and the giving of rewards at Christ's coming, and the final judgment upon the wicked and its execution.[Pg 283]

A Few Questions Briefly Considered

1. The "Living Soul"

Says one, "Did not the Lord put into man an immortal soul?"

No; the Scripture says:

"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7.

The soul was not put into the man, but when the life-giving breath was breathed into his nostrils, the man himself became a living soul, a living being. The ordinary version (King James) gives "a living soul" in the margin of Gen. 1:30, showing that the same expression is used of all the animal creation in the Hebrew text. The famous Methodist commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, says on this phrase, "living soul:"

2. Are "Soul" and "Spirit" Deathless?

"Are not the soul and spirit said to be deathless?" questions another.

No. One writer says of the Scriptural use of the words "soul" and "spirit:"

On the contrary, the Lord declares, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:20. It means that the person who sins shall die; for the words "soul," "mind," "heart," and "spirit" are used to express life or the seat of the affections or of the intellect. One may commend his soul to God, or his[Pg 284] spirit to God (really his life into the keeping of God), until the great day of the resurrection. The word "soul" is used of all animal life in New Testament usage, as well as in the Old; as, "Every living soul died in the sea." Rev. 16:3.

3. The Thief on the Cross

"Did not Christ promise the thief on the cross that he would be with Him that day in Paradise?"

No; for Paradise is where God's throne is, and the tree of life, and the city of God, the capital of Christ's kingdom; and three days later Christ had not yet ascended to the Father. "Touch Me not," He said to Mary after His resurrection; "for I am not yet ascended to My Father." John 20:17. The dying thief, therefore, was not with Him in Paradise three days before.

Nor did the thief's question suggest such a thought. His faith grasped Christ's resurrection, the resurrection of His children, and the coming kingdom; and that day on the cross, in the moment of the deepest humiliation of the Son of God, the repentant sinner cried, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." And the Saviour replied, "Verily I say unto thee today"—this day, when the world scoffs and the darkness presses upon Me, this day I say it—"shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:42, 43.

The punctuation that makes it read, "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise," is not a part of the sacred text, and puts the Saviour's promise in contradiction with the facts of the whole narrative and the teaching of Scripture.

4. The Rich Man and Lazarus

"Then there is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus," one says, "where Lazarus and Dives are talking, though dead—Lazarus in Abraham's bosom and the rich man in torment."

But that is a parable; and no one can set the figures of a parable against the facts of positive Scripture. In parables, lessons are often taught by figurative language and imaginary[Pg 285] scenes which could never be real, though the lesson is emphasized the more forcefully.

In the parable of Judges 9, the trees are represented as holding a council and talking with one another. No one mistakes the lesson of the parable, or supposes that the trees actually talked. So in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the lesson is taught that uprightness in this life, even though under deepest poverty, will be rewarded in the future life; while uncharitable selfishness will surely bring one to ruin and destruction.

In the face of the Bible teaching, no one can turn this parable into actual narrative, representing that the saved in glory are now looking over the battlements of heaven and talking with the lost writhing before their eyes in agony amid the flames of unending torment. This is not the picture that the Scriptures give us of heaven, nor of the state of the dead, nor of the time and circumstances of the final rewards or punishments.

From an inscription on an Egyptian monument, representing the weighing of a soul after death.

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LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ... are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7.

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SATAN'S FINAL ASSAULT UPON THE KINGDOM OF GOD
"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about." Rev. 20:9

THE END OF THE WICKED

So soon as ever Lucifer introduced sin into heaven, it was certain, in the righteousness and omnipotence of God, that the day would come when sin would be blotted out of the perfect creation. Inspiration tells us that a time of final reckoning with sin was assured when Satan and a host of the angels with him lifted up the standard of mysterious rebellion against the law and harmony of heaven:

"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6.

Punishment for sin is assured. By listening to Satan's temptation, man became involved in sin. Then a divine Saviour was provided, through whom every soul might escape from the kingdom of darkness, and find salvation and life. But it is inevitable that those who refuse the way of[Pg 288] life and reject the salvation of God, must finally be involved with Satan and sin in the day when sin is visited.

By Adam's sin, all his posterity inherited a sinful, dying nature. "In Adam all die," the Scripture says. But not a soul in the last day can plead Adam's sin and the inheritance of a fallen nature as an excuse for his own transgressions. By Christ's gift of His life for us, the sinner, with all his weaknesses, may become a partaker of the divine nature, and escape the power of the fleshly nature. By virtue of Christ's death for all, all recover from the death they die in Adam—the first death. All have a resurrection, the unjust as well as the just; and then every one gives account of himself to God, according to his own life and the use he has made of the light given him of God.

The Two Resurrections

The Scriptures emphasize the fact that there are to be two resurrections. Paul, before Felix, declared his belief the same as that of all the prophets,—"that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:15.

Jesus declared it in these words:

"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

The first resurrection is that of the just, at Christ's second coming. It is written of this:

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Rev. 20:6.

After this, the righteous return with Christ to heaven, and remain there during the thousand years. The wicked living at the time of His coming are slain by the consuming glory of His presence; and they, with all the unjust of all the[Pg 289] ages, await in the grave the second resurrection, at the end of the thousand years.

"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Rev. 20:5.

At the end of the thousand years the city of God, with the saved, comes down out of heaven and settles upon the earth.

Then the wicked are raised—the second resurrection. Under Satan's leadership they march up to attack the city of God. How naturally, we infer, may Satan persuade the lost that, after all, he was right when he declared to Adam, "Ye shall not surely die." Here are all his servants of all the ages—living. Why may they not be immortal, beyond the power of God to destroy? The old battle that began in heaven is on again. Satan, the archrebel, marshals his hosts of fallen angels and the myriads of fallen men, his legions stretching wide over the earth.

"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:9.

"This is the second death," the Scripture says. Verse 14. The great day has come when the sinner receives his wages—death—and sin is destroyed.

The Punishment Everlasting

"The wages of sin is death." And the second death is everlasting. There is no resurrection from this death. The Scriptures describe it in terms that affirm utter destruction, resulting in nonexistence.

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1:9.

"Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord[Pg 290] of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

"They shall be ashes," the third verse of this chapter says. Every expression possible to language is employed to denote utter destruction, everlasting death. That means nonexistence. Sin and sinners are blotted out. The prophet Obadiah, speaking of the visitation upon the heathen—the unbelieving—in "the day of the Lord," says:

"They shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." Verse 16.

This is the utter end of sin and all sinners, and of the author of sin. Root and branch they are gone, "as though they had not been." All this is in the description of the last judgment, so fully set forth in the twentieth chapter of Revelation.

"Death and hell [hades, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Rev. 20:14. Death and the prison house of death are gone forever. Sin is wiped out of a perfect universe, and not even a trace will remain of the place of the fiery judgment.

"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. 37:10.

The fires of the last day purify the earth, which comes forth in Eden-like beauty. In the whole creation of God there is no sin, no sinner, but all is harmonious again, as before sin entered the universe. The prophet was given a view of this glorious consummation, and the triumph of the Son of God over sin.

"Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13.[Pg 291]

Some Opinions Briefly Considered

The doctrine of the immortality, the indestructibility, of the soul is responsible for the traditional view that the wicked are kept alive in unending misery through all eternity. How different this picture from that which Holy Scripture gives of the second death! Terrible and awful it is, but it results in the utter destruction of sin and sinners, leaving a clean universe. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul came in from pagan philosophy. Herodotus, "the father of history," said:

Evidently, they passed the doctrine on to the Greeks. Its origin was in the words of Satan in Eden, "Ye shall not surely die." The pagans had their nether world of spirits, or their transmigration of souls with its ceaseless round from body to body, and the Roman Catholics their purgatory with its purifying fires. From these sources and not from the Word of God, the traditional view has come into modern Christendom, representing the Lord as unable or unwilling to end sin, but keeping the sinner alive throughout eternity, to suffer torture that can bring no remedy. The Scripture teaching is far otherwise. However, there are certain Scripture phrases that emphasize the severity of the punishment of sin, which are often taken as supporting the doctrine of never-ending conscious torment.

1. "Forever and Ever."—In Rev. 20:10 it is said that the devil and his chief agencies "shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." The phrase emphasizes the surety of their utter destruction.

"Forever" means age-lasting, or life-lasting—so long as a thing exists by its nature. Thus in Ex. 21:6 the servant who loved his master and did not wish to leave his service was to have his ear pierced, "and he shall serve him forever," that is, without release as long as he lives. So the fiery judgment[Pg 292] of that last day holds the wicked until life ends; there is no release until life is consumed.

2. "Everlasting Punishment."—"These shall go away into everlasting punishment." Matt. 25:46. It is everlasting punishment, not everlasting punishing. The punishment is everlasting death—"who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9.

The truth of the utter destruction of sinners is awful enough, but it commends itself to every thought of justice and mercy; for sin must be cleansed from a perfect universe. But the unscriptural view of everlasting conscious torment that never reaches the point of full punishment, is unthinkable. Yet it is urged as a doctrine, and contended for as vital to Christianity.

The following description is taken from a book written for children, entitled "The Sight of Hell." It is printed in Dublin—for children.

What a relief to turn from this to the Bible doctrine of the "everlasting destruction" of the second death, terrible though it be!

3. "Everlasting Fire," "Eternal Fire," "Unquenchable Fire."—All these expressions are used in describing the fiery judgment upon sin and sinners. The effect of the fire is everlasting and eternal, and by a common usage in language the adjective that describes the effect is applied to the agent by which the effect is wrought.

A specific example of everlasting fire in the punishment of evil is given in Scripture. Sodom and Gomorrah, those wicked[Pg 293] "cities of the plain," were destroyed by a rain of fire from heaven. These cities, Inspiration says, "are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7. The fire was everlasting, eternal, in its effects. The cities of the plain were everlastingly consumed. But the fire went out when the destruction was complete. Unquenchable fire is fire that cannot be quenched. It consumes utterly, until nothing is left; then it goes out of its own accord.

4. "Where Their Worm Dieth Not."—Jesus warned of the certain destruction of sin and sinners in the fire of Gehenna; for this is the word translated "hell" in Mark 9:43.

Hades, which is often translated "hell," is the grave, not the place of punishment. Gehenna, here used of the place of punishment, was the name of the valley where the refuse of Jerusalem was cast for burning. The map of Jerusalem, in any ordinary Bible with maps, shows just outside the southern wall a gorge marked "Valley of Hinnom" (Gehenna). It was here that the people, in the olden times, had sacrificed their children to Moloch.

Here the fires consumed the refuse, and the fire and worms utterly destroyed the carcasses of beasts flung into the place of destruction. It was regarded as a place accursed, and the smoldering fires became symbolical of the fires of the judgment.

The use of this illustration, instead of arguing that the wicked are never destroyed but always live, conveys the opposite idea. What went into the fires of Gehenna was utterly consumed, nothing being left. This was used by Christ as a figure illustrative of the utter destruction of the unrepentant sinner in the day of visitation.

This must suffice. The positive teaching of Holy Scripture is that sin and sinners will be blotted out of existence. There will be a clean universe again when the great controversy between Christ and Satan is ended.[Pg 294]

PETER DELIVERED FROM PRISON
"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Ps. 34:7.

[Pg 295]

DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS
"My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me." Dan. 6:22.

ANGELS: THEIR MINISTRY

The one verse of Scripture which, perhaps, most comprehensively sums up the ministry of the angels of God, is this:

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.

This scripture shows us how truly all heaven is engaged in working for the salvation of this poor world, which has wandered from the fold of God. It will surely be a time of rejoicing among all the angelic host when Christ, the Good Shepherd, brings back this lost world, cleansed from sin, once more to the fold of God's perfect creation.

The angels rejoiced when this world was created. The Lord said to Job:[Pg 296]

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?... when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:4-7.

Before ever this world was created, or man upon it, the angels had been created by the eternal Son, in whom all things consist. For angels are not redeemed men, neither will the redeemed in the world to come ever become angels. Angels are a different order of beings from men, a higher order in creation. We read:

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor." Heb. 2:6, 7.

In the life to come, by the wondrous power of Christ's transforming grace, redeemed men are to be made equal to the angels, as Christ stated:

"Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Luke 20:36.

This lifting of sinful man to an equality with the angels, at least in the possession of life and immortality, is an illustration of the gospel principle, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5:20. But the declaration of equality with angels is a denial of identity with angels. Angels existed before man, and redeemed man will still be man, distinct from the angelic order, though the associate of angels in the service of God.

Attendants at the Throne of God

When the prophet Isaiah was given a view of the heavenly temple, he saw different orders of angels attending the throne of God:

"I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.[Pg 297] And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." Isa. 6:1-3.

Ezekiel beheld them in glory, attending the moving throne of the Almighty. "The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." Eze. 1:14.

Daniel beheld the angelic host gathered in the most holy place of the temple above, as the time came for the opening of the work of the investigative judgment, the cleansing of the sanctuary. Seeing the throne of God set for this final work of Christ's ministry, the prophet says:

"Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:10.

God's Messengers

The word "angel" means messenger. To and fro these angelic messengers have gone in the service of their Creator. A view of their ever-watchful service is given in the words of the psalmist:

"Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." Ps. 103:20.

Bearers of Tidings

They visited Abraham's tent with warning of Sodom's overthrow. Genesis 18.

They visited Lot in the city, and urged him to get his family out. Genesis 19.

As Jacob, in fear but repentance, was about to meet Esau, whom he had deceived, "the angels of God met him." Genesis 32. "This is God's host," he said, and he knew that the God of Abraham and Isaac, and his God, also, had not forsaken him.

At a discouraging time in the history of Israel, an angel appeared to Gideon, bringing the message, "The Lord is with thee," and calling him to the work of delivering his people. Judges 6.[Pg 298]

JACOB'S DREAM IN BETHEL
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.

[Pg 299]

As Daniel's prayer reached heaven, even while he still prayed, the angel Gabriel "being caused to fly swiftly," touched him, and said:

"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee." Dan. 9:21-23.

So close is the communication between heaven and earth.

The gladdest tidings ever brought from heaven to earth since the promise of the Deliverer to Adam in Eden, were brought by angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem. First, one angel appeared, saying:

"I bring you good tidings of great joy.... For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

Such tidings to earth could never be the mission of one lone angel, when all heaven longed to cry the news to a lost world.

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:13, 14.

Unseen in Halls of Government

One incident related in the book of Daniel draws aside the curtain, and shows how angels doubtless often have worked unseen in kingly courts or halls of legislation. Daniel had prayed for three weeks for light in certain matters that the angel Gabriel had begun to unfold to him. When at last the angel came, overpowering the prophet with the glory of his presence, it was with a statement, first, of the reason for the delay in responding to his prayer. The angel said:

"From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days:[Pg 300] but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days." Dan. 10:12-14.

Messengers of Deliverance

The story of deliverance wrought by angels is too long to tell. One need only think of the angels' taking slow-moving Lot by the arms and setting him out of Sodom (Genesis 19); of the angel finding Elijah under a bush in the desert, and first baking a cake for the hungry man before speaking the word to his discouraged heart (1 Kings 19); of Elisha praying that the young man's eyes might be opened to see that there were more angels with them round about than all the Syrians encamped against them:

"The Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2 Kings 6:17.

An angel shut the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their den. Daniel 6. An angel smote off Peter's irons in the prison at Jerusalem, opened the doors, and led him forth. Acts 12. Amid the angry waves sweeping over the foundering ship in the Adriatic, Paul the apostle bade the despairing crew be of good courage, "for there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not." Acts 27:23, 24.

All through the ages, the angels of God have been standing by. Daniel, and Peter, and Paul are dead; but the angels still live. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.

Guardian Angels

That means that every child of God is under the guardianship of the angels. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Ps. 34:7.[Pg 301]

Thank God, we are never left alone. Every child of God has a guardian angel commissioned by the loving Father to watch over him. Christ said:

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." Matt. 18:10.

This does not mean that trials never will come, or troubles. In the midst of the trial, the angel of the Lord will stand by to strengthen and to bring help from the God of all comfort. It was in the midst of the fiery furnace that the "form of the Fourth" appeared, walking with the three Hebrew children—Jesus Himself treading the fiery way with them. And when Jesus, in the days of His flesh, was sinking under the crushing burden in Gethsemane, "there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him." Luke 22:43.

Our Saviour, who knows the comforting power of angel ministry, is the Captain of the heavenly host, and has commissioned them all as ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation.

When He comes in glory for His people, Christ will have "all the holy angels with Him." As the voice of Jesus awakens His sleeping saints and they rise immortal from the opened graves, "He shall send His angels,... and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:31.

The angels who have watched over the heirs of salvation through all the ages, know where they are, and they know how to gather them, with their loved ones, to meet the Lord.

The angels who rejoiced when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, who mourned when man fell, who have all along been working with Christ, their leader, to rescue the lost, will yet rejoice when the Lord brings home His own. What a day will that be in heaven![Pg 302]

MODERN INVENTIONS FULFILLING PROPHECY
"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.

[Pg 303]

CAREY IN INDIA TRANSLATING THE BIBLE
"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." Acts 19:20.

THE TIME OF THE END

"Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.

Thus the words of the angel, spoken nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, announced the opening of a new era of enlightenment when the latter days should come.

The Time

At the end of the long period of predicted tribulation of the church—the twelve hundred and sixty years of Daniel's prophecy—the world entered upon this era of "the time of the end."

"They shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.... And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed." Dan. 11:33-35.[Pg 304]

In practically every outline of prophecy touching this time, the events of the last days are represented as following the end of the prophetic period of tribulation. Christ's prophecy of Matthew 24 so declares. Our Saviour showed that this period of tribulation, would be shortened, "for the elect's sake," and that "immediately after the tribulation of those days" the signs of the end would begin to appear.

Thus, while the full period of the twelve hundred and sixty years ended amid the scenes of the French Revolution, which gave the papal power a deadly wound in the last decade of the eighteenth century, the shortening of the days of tribulation had begun even earlier to spread increasing knowledge and enlightenment over the earth.

The Prophecy Unsealed

The angel's words to Daniel were,

"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.

"The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Verse 9.

This means that as the time of the end came, men would be impelled to search diligently for light in the prophetic word. Events taking place in fulfilment of the prophecy would be recognized, and with the coming of the time there would come the opening up, or unsealing, of the prophetic scriptures, with their message for men in the last days.

As the time drew near, Bible students were led more and more to search the word of prophecy. Sir Isaac Newton, called "the greatest of philosophers," wrote of prophetic study:

[Pg 305]

Again, this man who had delved so deeply into the laws of nature, but who bowed his heart in childlike faith to listen to the voice of Inspiration, declared his hope that the time of the end was near at hand in his day (he died in 1727). Of this prophecy of the unsealing of the book he wrote:

True to the word of the angel, the events of the ending of the twelve hundred and sixty years of papal supremacy, amid the scenes of the French Revolution, drew the attention of Bible students everywhere. It was seen that prophecy was being fulfilled before men's eyes. It gave great impetus to the study of the prophetic scriptures. The great historic prophecies began to be opened up—unsealed—to the understanding. An English historian of that period, John Adolphus, though writing a secular history, remarks upon this awakening interest in prophetic study:

From those tunes of fulfilling prophecy, there arose a distinct movement, reviving the teaching of the doctrine of[Pg 306] Christ's second coming, and directly preparing the way for the advent movement that was to come with the days of 1844, when yet fuller light was to break forth from the unsealed prophecies of the book of Daniel. Of the angel that symbolizes the special gospel work for these last days, it is written, "He had in his hand a little book open." Rev. 10:2. The "time of the end" came, and with it has come the opening of the sealed book. The "sure word of prophecy" speaks its message full and clear to the ears of all mankind today.

Increase of Knowledge

"Many shall run to and fro," the prophecy said, "and knowledge shall be increased." It is knowledge of the prophecy and of the things of God that is primarily the topic; but the era that we are discussing has been one of general enlightenment and extension of knowledge.[J] "The entrance of Thy words giveth light," says the psalmist: and when the Reformation of the sixteenth century broke the bands of age-long superstition and error, and set free the Word of God, the way was preparing for the coming of this wonderful era of the diffusion of general knowledge.

The era of reform movement was an era of world exploration and discovery. Diaz had founded the south African cape, and Columbus had given to future generations the New World. The result was voyage after voyage of discovery, and then awakening, colonization, and expansion.

The famous and learned Francis Bacon, who died in 1626, felt in his day that the time spoken of by Daniel's prophecy was drawing near. He wrote:[Pg 307]

When the time indicated in the prophecy fully came, with the last decade of the eighteenth century, there was witnessed the upspringing of movements that have wrought mightily for the enlightenment and evangelization of the world. As the events of the French Revolution announced the closing of the long era of papal supremacy, so also another series of events at the same time announced the opening of the era of increasing knowledge. Speaking of these developments, Lorimer, a Scottish writer, said:

Another writer, Dr. D.L. Leonard, historian of the century of missions, says:

The time of the prophecy had come, and the hand of providence was bringing into being agencies that have spread light and knowledge over all lands.

The organization of foreign missionary enterprise was quickly accompanied by the establishment of Bible societies for a systematic work of translating and world-wide distribution of the Scriptures. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. Students of the prophetic word felt at the time that these agencies were coming in fulfilment of the prophecy. One writer of those times said:

Now the Word of God, in whole or in part, is speaking in more than five hundred languages, and it is estimated that these tongues, at least in their spoken form, can make the divine message comprehensible to ninety-five per cent of the inhabitants of the earth.

The work of modern missions, that had its birth as the time of the end came, is one of the great world factors today.[Pg 309] Nearly thirty million dollars a year are given for Protestant missions, and a force of more than twenty thousand foreign missionaries is in the field, not counting the many thousands of native missionaries and helpers. Truly the time of the end is proving to be an era of increasing light and knowledge.

The Opening of All Lands

As the time came for knowledge to be increased, it was necessary that all lands should be open to receive the enlightening agencies. Thus, as the time of the end came, we see distinctly the hand of Providence swinging open the doors into all countries. It has been an era of world survey and development. Particularly is this true of the last sixty or seventy years. It was in 1844 that the time referred to in the prophecy came for the special advent movement, bearing the judgment-hour message to the world. The range of the movement is thus described in the prophecy:

"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Rev. 14:6.

This was a declaration that as the time came for the closing gospel work to be done, the doors of access to every nation and tongue and people would be thrown open. In 1844, or but a few years before, much of the world was closed to missionary endeavor; but as the prophecy indicates, the years following have witnessed the swift and systematic opening of all lands to the gospel message.

It was in 1842 that five treaty ports in China were opened to commerce and to missions,—advance steps in the opening of all China to the gospel. In 1844 Turkey was prevailed upon to recognize the right of Moslems to become Christians, reversing all Moslem tradition. In 1844 Allen Gardiner established the South American Mission. In 1845 Livingstone's determination was formed to open up the African interior.[Pg 310]

Dr. A.T. Pierson, speaking of the wonderful way in which Providence opened the doors of access in those times, wrote as follows:

INTO THE HEART OF AFRICA
The Victoria Falls railroad bridge over the Zambezi.

God's providence has laid under tribute every force and every resource for the opening of all lands—missionary endeavor, love of adventure, commercial enterprise, and scientific interest. Railways have been built through regions that were undiscovered seventy years ago, and among the passengers traveling now over the iron trail are men and women of tribes unknown fifty years ago. But the gospel message was[Pg 311] to go to every tribe and tongue before the end; and wonderfully Providence has been opening the doors throughout all this "time of the end," and particularly in our generation.

Material Agencies for the Work

The prophecy represents not only a world-wide work, but a quick work in proclaiming the gospel message in the last days. The movement is symbolized in the Revelation by an angel flying in the midst of heaven, from land to land. And as to the closing work, when the end is near at hand, the Scripture says:

"He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Rom. 9:28.

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." This is the hope for a quickly finished work in all the earth in our time. Yet the Lord lays hold of material things for service; and wonderfully the hand of Providence has wrought in bringing into existence material agencies for a quick work in carrying the gospel to the world—such agencies as no generation before ours ever had.

Consider the marvelous facilities for world-travel. They are the product of this time of the end. "Many shall run to and fro," said the prophecy. Some interpreters have restricted the Hebrew phrase to a "searching" to and fro for knowledge. Even this would include a literal running to and fro; for the light of increasing knowledge was to be diffused over all the earth. But the best authority on the Hebrew declares for the plain meaning of our English translation: "Many shall run to and fro." In two recent works, Dr. C.H.H. Wright, the English scholar, says of this text:

[Pg 312]

At the time when the first foreign missionary movement was being launched in America, Robert Fulton's steamship, the "Clermont," was making its first trip on the Hudson.

HIEROGLYPHICS
The "Ox Song" of the Egyptian threshing-floor.

In 1838 the first ships to cross the Atlantic under steam power alone—the "Sirius" and the "Great Western"—came into New York from Liverpool, a few hours apart, forerunners of the fleets that furrow all the seas today, making quick pathways for the gospel messengers to all lands. Verily, they are a gift of God's providence to this generation, when all the world is to hear the gospel message.

CUNEIFORM WRITING
An account of the capture of Babylon, b.c. 538. From the cylinder of Cyrus.

In 1825 Stephenson built his first railway passenger locomotive, which may still be seen in the Darlington railway station, in England. It was the beginning of the great revolution in land travel. The late Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace, scientist, wrote:

MANUSCRIPT WRITING
The process by which the books of the great library of Alexandria, Egypt, were made.

For nearly six thousand years men had traveled in the old way. Why should these revolutionary changes in travel by sea and land come abruptly just at this time?—Because the time foretold in the prophecy was at hand, when the last gospel message was to be carried quickly to all the world—"to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." We see the hand of the living God opening the doors into all lands, and His wonderful providence laying at the feet of this generation agencies for quickly covering the whole earth.[Pg 314]

GUTENBERG'S FIRST TYPES
Reproduced from the first edition of the famous forty-two-line Latin Bible, printed by Gutenberg.

Later came the electric telegraph, for the quick transmission of news. It was in 1837 that Cooke and Wheatstone in England, and Morse in the United States, made their application for patents on the electric telegraph. It was in 1844 that the first long-distance system was successfully demonstrated—when the historic message was sent from Baltimore to Washington, "What hath God wrought!" Now news of events fulfilling prophecy, and news of progress and conditions in all lands, are daily spread before the world by this agency of our wonderful time.

THE GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS
On which was produced the first printed Bible, in 1456 A.D.

[Pg 315]

THE FRANKLIN PRESS
Operated by two men, it has a maximum speed of 250 impressions per hour.

As the closing events take place, the Lord has in His providence so ordered it that no one need be ignorant of the signs of the times fulfilling before the eyes of men.

Here is an incident illustrating the way in which the electric telegraph may multiply and spread abroad the witness borne to the truth of God in some obscure corner of the earth:[Pg 316]

THE HOE DOUBLE OCTUPLE PRESS

[Pg 317]

Some years ago a young man in Europe—a Seventh-day Adventist—was giving answer for his faith. His conscience would not allow him to do ordinary labor on God's holy Sabbath. He had declared to the court that the oath of loyalty which had been required of him forbade his breaking the Sabbath. "How is that?" asked the judge. The young man replied:

This witness was borne in a little courtroom, before a small group of men; but the press dispatches took it up, and the description of the scene and report of the words spoken were carried by electric telegraph to the press of at least four continents, and millions read the testimony of the young man to the faith that was in him.

In the days to come, with great events taking place and solemn issues calling upon men to make decision for God and His truth, how quickly, in some great crisis, all the world may be warned, and the last individual decisions be made for eternity!

Modern Printing

The invention of the printer's art had come just in time to give wings to Reformation truth. Luther said of it:

While improvements in the art were made through the centuries, it was a slow process, even up to the opening of our generation. During our day, however, inventions have revolutionized the printing process.[Pg 319]

In this, as in other things, the methods have been speeded up to meet the necessities of this time of rapid accomplishment. The printing press is one of the chief of the marvelous enlightening agencies of this time of the end. By it the printed pages of truth are set falling over the earth "like the leaves of autumn."

Time fails us to speak of all the wonderful material developments of our day, when knowledge has been increased, and when men are not only searching to and fro, but literally running to and fro. The whole earth is brought within the range of human knowledge, and the light of saving truth is streaming out toward every dark place where the children of men dwell.

Nearly twenty-five hundred years ago it was written upon the prophetic page,

"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

There the word stood on the scroll of prophecy through more than two millenniums. Then, as the time of the end came, lo, the book of prophecy was unsealed, and the new era of increasing knowledge began to spread in wondrous blessing over the earth.

So surely, also, the prophecies of the last events will be accomplished. In the occurrences taking place before our eyes, we see that God is indeed finishing His work in the earth, and cutting it short in righteousness.[Pg 320]

FORTIFICATIONS ON THE BOSPORUS
The strategic waterway involved in the Eastern Question.

[Pg 321]

THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA IN CONSTANTINOPLE
The most famous of all Mohammedan temples.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.

THE EASTERN QUESTION

MODERN HISTORY IN THE LIGHT OF ANCIENT PROPHECY

Not alone of the history of ancient nations does the "sure word of prophecy" bear witness. Political events of our own and coming days are described.

The nations of the latter day are pictured as preparing war, gathering their forces for the great Armageddon, the battle of the day of God.

As a signal of the last great struggle, the fall, or "drying up," of the power ruling the territory watered by the river Euphrates is foretold. Rev. 16:12. The Euphrates in all modern history has been suggestive of the dominions of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. And Armageddon, designated as the meeting place of armies in the last clash of nations, is in Palestine, which, through all modern times, has been in possession of the Turkish power.

The index finger of prophecy points, therefore, to this region of the eastern Mediterranean as the pivotal point in the closing history of nations; and with Turkey's fate is wrapped up the fate of all the nations of the world.[Pg 322]

All this adds deepest and most solemn import to the study of what is known as the Eastern Question, a question that has been to the fore in international politics much of the time throughout this generation. Wars have been fought over it, cabinets have wrestled with it, and still it holds its place in the first rank of living issues of today.

As every one knows, the Eastern Question involves the dominion or supremacy in the Near East. This region was a pivotal point in the struggles of the nations in ancient times—the meeting place of East and West. Maspero, historian of ancient empires, says of it:

It is not strange, therefore, that one of the great outlines of historic prophecy should deal with events centering around this pivotal region. The prophecy of Daniel 11 does so, outlining the course of history from ancient times to the final solution of the Eastern Question amid the scenes of the end.

Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires

The prophetic outline of Daniel 11 begins with Persia, in the third year of Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon. (See Dan. 10:1.) The angel of God appeared to Daniel, and in the longest and most detailed single prophecy in all the Bible, told the story of events connected with this region of the Near East for the centuries to come, until the end. Putting the word of prophecy and the record of history side by side, we see how exactly history has fulfilled prophecy; and we may know certainly that the brief portion of the prophecy yet unfulfilled will surely come to pass.[Pg 323]

Persia

Prophecy.—"Now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia." Dan. 11:2

History.—The three kings following Cyrus were (1) Cambyses, (2) Smerdis, (3) Darius; the fourth, Xerxes, was "far richer than they all." He had the treasures of his father, Darius, who was called the "merchant" or "hoarder" by his own people, and Xerxes gathered stores of wealth in addition. When Xerxes was on his way to invade Grecia, a Lydian named Pythius entertained the whole Persian army with feasts, and offered to aid in bearing the expense of the campaign. Xerxes asked who this man of such wealth was. He was answered:

"Richer than they all," Xerxes, "through his riches," was able, as the prophecy had foretold, to "stir up all against the realm of Grecia." Forty-nine nations marched under his banners to the attack. The Greek poet, Æschylus, who himself fought against the Persians, wrote of Xerxes' mighty host,

Xerxes boasted that he was leading "the whole race of mankind to the destruction of Greece." But his invasion ended in the total rout of his forces by land and by sea. It was an advertisement to the world that Persia's might was[Pg 324] broken. The prophecy treats it so, and deals no further with Persian history.

Æschylus at the time celebrated the passing of Persia's prestige in the lines,—

The next great world change was to be the rise of Grecia to dominion. So, although a number of kings followed Xerxes in Persia, the prophecy passes from his disastrous invasion directly to the coming of Grecia under its "mighty king," Alexander the Great.

Grecia

Prophecy.—"A mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity." Dan. 11:3, 4.

History.—Alexander the Great stood up and ruled with great dominion, over a kingdom stretching from India to Grecia, with kings yet farther west sending embassies to Babylon to make submission. But in the height of his power, as the prophecy suggests, he was suddenly cut down by death. All his posterity perished, and out of the struggles of his generals for supremacy came (301 b.c.) the division of the empire toward "the four winds," as the prophecy had declared so long before. Rawlinson, the historian, says:[Pg 325]

The Kings of the North and South

Next, a rearrangement of these powers is noted; and it is this that gives us the key to the study of the closing portion of the long prophetic outline dealing with events of our own day. The narrative continues:

Prophecy.—"The king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes ... shall be strong above him;... his dominion shall be a great dominion." Verse 5.

History.—The history testifies that the king of the south (Egypt, under Ptolemy) was strong; but one of the four princes was "strong above him." Seleucus, of Syria and the east, pushed his dominion northward, subduing most of Asia Minor, and extending his boundary into Thrace, on the European side, beyond the Dardanelles. Henceforward, as Mahaffy says,

Thus Seleucus took the territory of the north, and the Syrian power became king of the north, its empire extending from Thrace, in Europe, through Asia Minor to Syria and the Euphrates. The seat of empire was removed from the east, and Antioch, in northern Syria, "once the third city of the world," became the famous capital.

The prophecy next foretold in remarkable detail the contests between these two strong powers, the king of the north (Syria and Asia Minor) and the king of the south (Egypt). The conflict raged back and forth till the coming of the Romans. The Holy Land was the frequent meeting place of the contending armies. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes it:[Pg 326]

We shall not follow the details of this contest as foretold in the prophecy, nor yet the outline of events after the coming of the Roman power ended the rivalry between Syria and Egypt. It is necessary only that we fix the events and geographic terms of this early portion of the prophecy. Then we shall have the key to the closing portion, dealing with events of the last days, when the king of the north again appears.

The Modern King of the North

In the last verses of the chapter we find the king of the north a chief actor in this same region, "at the time of the end." Verse 40. And we are told that when this power comes to its end, it is the signal that the great day of God is at hand. (See Dan. 12:1.)

It becomes a vital question, therefore, what power in these last days is the king of the north, whose end is the signal of the swift ending of the world. Inspiration gives the basis for the answer. The king of the north in the early portion of the prophecy was the power that ruled in Syria and Asia Minor, from the Euphrates to the shores of the Dardanelles. The king of the north, then, of the later portion of the prophecy, must be the power that has been ruling in this same region during the time of the end.

What power has held dominion over this territory in modern times?—The Turkish or Ottoman Empire. At this time Turkey holds almost the identical dominion of the ancient king of the north—from the Euphrates to the sea, and northward over Asia Minor and the shores of the Dardanelles.

Then today Turkey is certainly the king of the north, according to the prophecy of Daniel 11.

Of the later history of the king of the north and his end and the events following it, the prophecy says:[Pg 327]

"Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 11:44, 45; 12:1.

CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE
The capital of the Turkish government.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N, Y.

The opening verse of this scripture describes exactly the history of Turkey in modern times. Turkey's disquietude has come because of tidings out of the east and out of the north. In both these directions there has been a pushing back of the Turkish frontier, particularly in the north. Again[Pg 328] and again, during this time of the end, Turkey has gone forth with fury to resist these encroachments and prevent the loss of territory.

The prophecy indicates that in some of these struggles the king of the north will yet transfer his capital:

"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain."

Removal to Jerusalem

This prophecy can mean nothing else than that the king of the north will eventually set up his headquarters in Jerusalem; for Jerusalem is "the holy mountain" of the Scriptures. Zech. 8:3.

It is a wise counsel that says, "Tread lightly in the details of unfulfilled prophecy." Just how events are to turn, by what route or processes the steps are to be taken, it is useless to conjecture. But there the prophecy stands. Every word of the early portion of the prophetic outline has been fulfilled to the letter in the history of the ancient empires battling century after century over this region. Every word spoken of the final scenes will as certainly be fulfilled.

In view of this prophecy,—that Jerusalem is yet to be made the headquarters of the king of the north,—it becomes highly significant that the Mohammedans regard Jerusalem as a sacred city. According to Mohammedan tradition, Jerusalem is to play a leading part in the closing history of that people. Hughes, in his "Dictionary of Islam," article "Jerusalem," summarizes the teaching:

Speaking of Jerusalem, an old Arab commentator on the Koran, Mukaddasi (A.D. 985), said:

[Pg 329]

MODERN JERUSALEM
"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." Dan. 11:45.

[Pg 330]

Thus Moslem doctrinal teaching and tradition both point out Jerusalem as the rallying place of Moslems before the end. Again and again in recent years, as the pressure has threatened the Turkish hold on Constantinople, the thoughts of Moslems have turned toward Jerusalem as a possible capital. A few years ago a Seventh-day Adventist missionary in Constantinople wrote to his home board:

THE MOSQUE OF OMAR
Situated in Jerusalem, on Mt. Moriah, the site of Solomon's Temple.

Wherever the capital may first be set up following the forsaking of Constantinople,—and Turkish authorities, we are[Pg 331] told, have discussed a number of possible locations in Asia Minor,—there stands the ancient prophecy as to the eventual seat of the king of the north,

"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain."

Following that, what comes? The prophecy declares,

"Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

What Comes When Turkey Falls

The fury of his goings forth "utterly to make away many," the moving of his capital from one place to another, avail nothing in the end. "He shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

The suggestion of the prophecy is that this power has hitherto been helped to stand. Here again every suggestion of the prophetic language finds its response in history. Through these later years of the time of the end the Ottoman Empire has been helped to stand, by either one power or another, or by some combination of powers. The late Lord Salisbury, while premier of Britain, thus stated the reasons for this policy of helping Turkey:

The veteran premier stated the fear of modern statesmen that Turkey's fall would involve all civilization in a calamitous conflict. The prophecy pictures just such a catastrophe, in these words:[Pg 332]

"He shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time."

What modern statesmen have seen impending and have sought to ward off, the ancient prophecy says will surely come to pass when the king of the north comes to his end,—a time of trouble for the nations such as never was.

In the New Testament

In the prophecy of Revelation 16, the last great clash of the nations is represented as following the fall of the power that rules the territory drained by the Euphrates. Describing the last events in human history, under the pouring out of the vials of judgment upon the world, the prophet says:

"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared." Rev. 16:12.

The water of the Euphrates represents the people or power ruling by it. When anciently the Assyrians dwelt by that river and were about to invade Israel, the prophet said, "The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria." Isa. 8:7. The waters of the Euphrates meant the Assyrian power.

Just so in this prophecy, the river stands for the people. As the Nile stood for Egypt, and the Tiber for Rome, so in all modern times the Euphrates has stood for Turkey. The "drying up" of the Euphrates must mean the ending of the Turkish power. And in the verses immediately following, Revelation pictures the gathering of the nations of the whole world to Armageddon—"the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Following Turkey's end comes the final clash of nations. The earth quakes, the cities of the nations fall, and the last judgments of God come upon a warring world.[Pg 333]

Here, as in Daniel 12, is pictured a time of trouble for the nations such as never was, and the end of the world, when the power ruling in Syria, by the Euphrates, comes to its end.

The Approaching End

For years statesmen and observers have discussed the approaching dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Travelers in Turkey have reported that thoughtful Turkish people held the conviction that the crisis of their nation was near at hand. Years ago Mr. Charles MacFarlane wrote:

A later Turkish traveler, Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt, says:

Thus native tradition and human forebodings have contemplated the break-up of the Turkish power, as the course of the years has witnessed the shrinkage of its territory and the ever-increasing difficulty of its position.

Now and then there has been a renewal of Turkey's vigor and prestige; then again its situation has been rendered yet more precarious. It has been a buffer between the clashing interests of the great powers. Speaking of Turkey's difficult position in this respect, the London Fortnightly Review, May, 1915, expressed a common view thus:[Pg 334]

The storm clouds hang ever low over the Near East; while above all the din of wars and rumors of wars, the voice of divine prophecy declares that when this power comes to its end, the closing events in human history will quickly follow.

CONSTANTINOPLE THE KEY CITY OF THE WORLD
The cross on which the peace of the world has been crucified.

The solemn truth rings in our ears like a trumpet peal; the age-long Eastern Question is hastening on to its final solution, and its solution brings the end of the world.

In the light of the "sure word of prophecy" the developments of our day in the East become more than matters of grave political concern to statesmen and observers of affairs generally; they are matters of deepest personal, eternal interest to every soul. In watching the trend of international affairs, we are watching the doing of the last things among the nations.[Pg 335]

As these things are seen coming to pass exactly as the prophecy foretold, we recognize them as God's call to men in the last generation to turn to Him and prepare their hearts to meet the coming Lord. Let no one think to wait until he sees Turkey come to its end before making his peace with God. The end of this power, as described in Revelation 16, comes during the falling of the seven last plagues. And the last verse of the preceding chapter shows that Christ's ministry for sinners in the heavenly temple has ended before the plagues begin to fall. Human probation will already have closed. The solemn decree will then have been issued in heaven:

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly." Rev. 22:11, 12.

"Now is the accepted time," calls the Spirit; "now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. We have not to make ourselves ready. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. Our part is to believe and confess; His part is to forgive and cleanse and make us ready for the coming kingdom.

The Sinner's Plea

THE GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
The whole world involved in the last great clash of nations. "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come." Rev. 11:18.

[Pg 337]

THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON AND MT. MEGIDDO
"He gathered them together into a place called ... Armageddon." Rev. 16:16.

ARMAGEDDON

THE FINAL CLASH OF EARTHLY EMPIRES

The sure word of prophecy that foretold the rise and fall of ancient empires, and outlined the general course of world history through the ages, describes also the last great struggle of the nations.

The proverb says, "Peace is the dream of the wise, but war is the history of man." And divine prophecy assures us that the history of this present world will end amid scenes of conflict.

Many in our time have come to think that civilization must reach a better way of composing the rivalries of the nations.[Pg 338] The prophecy forewarns us otherwise. In fact, the prophetic word points to the talk of peace and safety amid preparations for war, as a distinct sign of the latter days.

"In the last days," Isaiah says, "many people shall go and say:"

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Isa. 2:2-4.

This is what "many people" were to be saying. But the real conditions in the last days are described as exactly the opposite. The prophet Joel describes the real spirit of the world in these times:

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles [the nations]: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong." Joel 3:9, 10.

The context shows that the prophet is speaking of the last times, when "the day of the Lord is near." Verse 14.

The Prophecy Fulfilling

This is what we have seen in our time, as never before in the history of man,—the product of the plowshare and the pruning hook being turned into instruments of war.

About twenty-five years ago the late Marquis of Salisbury, speaking as a man grown gray in the service of the state, asked a London audience the question, "What is the great change that marks this time as different from the times when most of us were young men?" The aged statesman answered his own question, saying that it was the arming of the nations, the swift race upon which the powers had then recently entered, to increase their naval and military armaments. It is a sign of our times, answering to the prophetic forecast.[Pg 339]

Throughout the present generation the thoughtful have watched with grave forebodings the preparations of the nations for war. Queen Alexandra, of Britain, once said of it:

As the race of armaments went forward on a scale never before thought of, statesmen and writers began to make use of the word "Armageddon" to describe the conflict that they saw was inevitable. Years ago the London Contemporary Review said:

In June, 1909, Lord Rosebery, in a speech before a press convention in London, commented gravely upon the significance of the feverish haste with which the nations were arming themselves, "as if for some great Armageddon, and that in a time of the profoundest peace."

To quote from a popular American magazine, of the same year:

Thus, everywhere, observers saw that the rivalry of interests among the nations was leading to a conflict so overwhelmingly vast that only the Scriptural word "Armageddon," with its appeal to the imagination, seemed adequately suggestive of its proportions.

Every passing year added to the intensity of feeling and the antagonism of interests. In 1911 the London Nineteenth Century and After said:[Pg 340]

UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP "NEVADA"
Photograph taken from the Manhattan Bridge. New York.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD. N.Y.

[Pg 341]

"Never was national and racial feeling stronger upon earth than it is now. Never was preparation for war so tremendous and so sustained. Never was striking power so swift and so terribly formidable.... The shadow of conflict and of displacement greater than any which mankind has known since Attila and his Huns were stayed at Châlons, is visibly impending over the world. Almost can the ear of imagination hear the gathering of the legions for the fiery trial of peoples, a sound vast as the trumpet of the Lord of hosts."—Quoted in the Literary Digest, May 6, 1911.

COMRADES AFTER THE BATTLE
Soldiers bringing in two wounded captives. PHOTO BY CENTRAL PHOTO SERVICE. N.Y.

What the ancient prophecy foretold—the preparing of war in the last days, the waking up and arming of the nations—we have seen fulfilling before our eyes in this generation.

Satanic Agencies at Work

In prophecies of the gathering of the nations for the last great struggle, Inspiration draws aside the veil, and allows us to see the agencies that have been stirring up the world[Pg 342] for the war. As the prophet John was shown in vision the scenes of the last days, he saw the invisible powers of Satan, "the spirits of devils," going forth "unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16:14.

Earnest-minded statesmen have lamented their helplessness to combat the forces and influences pressing the world on toward conflict. In one of his last speeches as premier of Great Britain, the late Marquis of Salisbury was defending yet further calls for army and navy appropriations. He said:

What those forces were, the aged statesman did not recognize, but the prophecy tells us. The prophet was shown the evil spirits from Satan going forth everywhere as the end nears, to stir up the whole world to the last great conflict.

Sir Edward Grey, British foreign secretary, described these agencies very accurately. Speaking in the House of Commons, Nov. 27, 1911, he said:

It is all coming to pass exactly as the sure word of prophecy foretold.

The conviction that great and decisive events are at hand has taken possession of many hearts in all the world. When the European war broke out in 1914, on a scale unprecedented in human history, it was no wonder that the question sprang to many lips, "Is it Armageddon?"

The question was not lightly asked. The committee of the Church Missionary Society (Church of England), one of the greatest missionary organizations in the world, sent a message to its missionaries in all lands at the outbreak of the[Pg 343] war. In this message was a call to prepare for the coming of the Lord:

Timely as this call was, it was evident, from the prophetic scriptures, that the conflict then opening could not be the Armageddon of the Apocalypse, for the prelude to that final clash of nations is an event yet in the future—the downfall of a nation whose part in the closing scenes is clearly described in the prophecy of the coming Armageddon.

The end of the power which rules over the territory through which the river Euphrates flows, is the prelude to Armageddon. The prophecy says:

"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared." Rev. 16:12.

Next follows the gathering of "the whole world" to "the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Verse 14.

Through all modern times Turkey has been identified with the Euphrates. The region of Syria and Asia Minor, long held by Turkey, has been the historic meeting place of the East and the West. In the London Fortnightly Review, May, 1915, Mr. J.B. Firth wrote:

The fall of the Turkish power in this Euphrates region will, in some manner, prepare the way for "the kings of the East" to come up to the final conflict.[Pg 344]

The Awakening of the East

The same spirit that has been stirring up the West in preparation for the contest has been working in the East also. Year after year observers have pointed out the great changes taking place in Asia. September, 1909, the London Contemporary Review said:

A writer in the May, 1913, issue of the London Nineteenth Century and After, reviewing the situation at the close of the Balkan War, said:

With all the nations stirred up by the spirit agencies of the god of this world, the prophet next saw the armies of earth gathering to the last great battle. The prophecy continues:

"And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev. 16:16.

Armageddon means the hill, or mount, of Megiddo, which overlooks the plain of Esdraelon, the historic battle ground of northern Palestine. Carmack says of it:

[Pg 345]

Thus Armageddon, as the "military key of Syria," marks Palestine and the Near East as the great international storm center in the final conflict.

The Political Storm Center

In vision, nearly two thousand years ago, the prophet saw the forces of the last days gathering around this pivotal region. Today observers recognize the eastern Mediterranean as indeed the pivotal point around which international interests involving East and West naturally revolve.

Some years ago, in discussing railway development in Asia and Africa, and the great highways of sea transportation, the London Fortnightly Review said:

Again, the Manchester Guardian, emphasizing the importance attaching to this strategic center, said during the great war:

Other nations have recognized the strategic value of a territory so situated. Thus political considerations make this region pointed out by the prophecy a center of conflicting interests. Hogarth, in his book, "The Near East," calls it "the time-honored storm center of the eastern Mediterranean."

The Religious Storm Center

To the conflict of political interests is added the rivalry of religious sentiment. Commenting on the religious associations of Palestine in relation to the international political situation, the London Spectator some years ago stated the matter thus:

History records the fact that rivalry over the care of the traditional holy places helped to precipitate one European war—that of the Crimea.

In the study of the Eastern Question, we have seen that the prophecy of Daniel 11 marks Jerusalem as still a storm center in the closing scenes. A British consul in Jerusalem, in the days following the Crimean War, set forth suggestively his view of one of the factors in the Eastern Question. He wrote:

Foretold in Prophecy

By every consideration—political, racial, and religious—the Near East supplies all the elements for involving the whole world when once the sweeping displacements begin which the prophecy foretold, and for which statesmen in our day have sought to prepare.[Pg 347]

Long ages ago the prophet of God, in vision on the Isle of Patmos, was shown the clash of interests and the gathering of the nations around this historic center. Before our eyes today we see events tending to give to this region the very character assigned to it by the prophecy. It was written in the sure word of prophecy in order that, as the events foretold are seen approaching, men may believe and turn to God, and find salvation from the things coming upon the earth.

Into the prophecy of this sixteenth chapter of Revelation, describing the gathering of forces to Armageddon, our Saviour interjects the warning and the appeal:

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." Verse 15.

The last earthly events that the prophecy is dealing with—the pouring out of the seven last plagues, and the clash of Armageddon—come after probation closes. The close of probation, the passing of the ministry of Christ in the heavenly temple, will come as a thief, unannounced. Our only safety is in yielding heart and life to him now for cleansing, and accepting from his hand the garments of his own righteousness, freely offered to every one.

What Comes with Armageddon

Whatever ambitions or aims may be the impelling motives when the gathering to the great conflict comes, one thing is certain: Armageddon is to bring triumph and world dominion to no earthly power. As the nations gather, the Lord intervenes from heaven, and the history of the kingdoms of this world is closed at last. The prophet tells the sequel to Armageddon:

"He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and[Pg 348] there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." Rev. 16:16-21.

The fall of the Turkish power is the prelude to the gathering of the nations to the battle of Armageddon. And Armageddon is the prelude to the end of the world and Christ's glorious coming as King of kings and Lord of lords. The armies gathered to battle for supremacy find themselves suddenly arrayed against the armies of heaven. Another prophecy describes the scene when Christ is revealed:

"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:15-17.

Again, as the great searchlight of divine prophecy lights up the way before us, we see by the course of present-day events that the end is drawing very near. By what sudden turn of affairs the last things to be done in history may be set in motion, none can foresee. The Saviour admonishes every soul, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Matt. 24:44.

It is for this time of waiting, especially, that Christ spoke the parable of the ten virgins who waited for the bridegroom. All sincerely wanted to meet him; all expected to be ready. But when the cry was raised, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh;[Pg 349] go ye out to meet him!" only five were ready. The others lacked the oil that was to give them light. We know what the oil represents—the genuine heart experience of the grace and love of Christ.

THE TEN VIRGINS
"They that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut." Matt. 25:10.

Those overtaken unready, hastened away to get oil. "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut." Matt. 25:10. Those that were ready went in; those that were getting ready were too late. How came some to be ready?—They were ready all the time; they kept ready. This lesson is for us now. Our only safety is in being ready every day, keeping sins forgiven, the life surrendered to God.[Pg 350]

THE MILLENNIUM

[Pg 351]

CHRIST COMING FOR HIS OWN
"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years," Rev. 20:4.

THE MILLENNIUM

The word "millennium" means "a thousand years." This definite period is referred to specifically in but one chapter of the Bible, the twentieth of Revelation; and in that chapter it is spoken of repeatedly. We find it to be:

The period during which the saints reign with Christ in judgment.

The period during which Satan is bound.

The measure of time between the two resurrections, that of the just and that of the unjust.

An examination of the scriptures bearing upon the millennium will show:

1. The events that mark its beginning.

2. The events that occur during the thousand years.

3. The events that come at the end of the period.

We shall find it clearly taught in these scriptures:

That the millennium begins at the second coming of Christ.[Pg 352]

That the reign of the saints with Him in judgment is not on this earth, but in heaven.

That this earth, void of human inhabitants, is Satan's prison house during the thousand years.

That at the end of the thousand years the judgment determined is executed upon Satan and all the wicked.

That this earth, purified by the fires of the last judgment, and renewed, becomes the eternal home of the saved.

1. Events at the Beginning of the Thousand Years

The key to the time is furnished by the declaration that the millennium begins with—

The Resurrection of the Just

Speaking of the risen saints, the Scripture says:

"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead [the wicked] lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." Rev. 20:4-6.

There are to be two resurrections. The apostle Paul said that this was the teaching of all Scripture: "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:15. The first resurrection, that of the just, marks the beginning of the thousand years.

Christ's Second Coming

When is this first resurrection, in the order of events in this "day of the Lord"? It is at the second advent of Christ. One scripture, out of many, will suffice to state it:

"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thess. 4:16.

As the Saviour comes in glory, with all the holy angels, the graves are opened, and His voice awakens His children who sleep in the dust.[Pg 353]

"He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:31.

The time of Christ's second coming, therefore, is the beginning of the millennium.

The Righteous Taken to Heaven

The living righteous are translated, and, together with the risen saints, are taken to heaven, as the apostle says:

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:17.

This was the Saviour's promise:

"In My Father's house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2, 3.

The Destruction of the Wicked

At Christ's second coming the wicked are slain. The unbelieving left without shelter in that day, cannot endure the presence of such glory as will burst upon the world:

"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.

The Binding of Satan

With the saints in heaven, beyond the reach of Satan's wiles, and with the wicked dead, not to live again till the thousand years are finished, Satan is "bound"—confined by divine power to this earth, which becomes his prison house, there being neither saint nor sinner upon whom to ply his arts of deception. No prisoner was ever more effectually chained. The symbolical language of the prophet pictures the scene:

"I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And[Pg 354] he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." Rev. 20:1-3.

These are the events that mark the beginning of the thousand years: Christ's second coming, the resurrection of the just, the ascent of all the redeemed to the city of God, the death of the wicked, and, in consequence, the binding of Satan.

2. Events During the Thousand Years

In Heaven

Scene after scene of glory is spread before us in the visions the prophets were given of the redeemed in the city of God. The prophet John says:

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.... Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple." Rev. 7:9-15.

They "serve" in the temple of the Lord, the prophet says; while the poet sings:

One service in which the saved have part during the thousand years is the work of judgment that still remains, preparatory to the final visitation of sin and the destruction of Satan and all his works. The prophet saw this work going[Pg 355] forward in the heavenly courts, the redeemed associated with Christ in the service:

"I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Rev. 20:4.

It was to this work of judging the wicked and the evil angels, that the apostle Paul referred in the counsel to the Corinthians: "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?... Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" 1 Cor. 6:2, 3.

On Earth

While in heaven above the saved are with Christ and the holy angels before the throne, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, it is to be remembered that on earth all is desolation and emptiness. The wicked have been slain by the glory of Christ's coming. By the quaking of the earth the cities of the nations have fallen in ruin, islands have been removed, and mountains cast into the depths of the sea. The condition of the earth during this time of desolation is thus described by the prophet:

"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger." Jer. 4:23-26.

"Without form, and void," said the prophet. This is the same phrase that is used in the opening verses of Genesis to describe the chaotic state of the earth in the beginning. At the beginning of creation week the earth was in a state of[Pg 356] emptiness and chaos—an "abyss," as it is called in the Greek translation of Genesis. Again, during this thousand-year period, the earth is an "abyss," or a desolate waste. "Abyss" is the meaning of the word translated "bottomless pit" in the text telling of the binding of Satan by the mighty angel of God:

"He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit." Rev. 20:2, 3. The Revised Version says, "And cast him into the abyss."

Confined to this pit or abyss of desolation, as a prisoner in a prison house, with none to tempt, the author of sin has a thousand years in which to view the ruin that sin has wrought in the earth that once left its Maker's hand beautiful and perfect, unmarred by any curse.

3. Events at the End of the Thousand Years

At the end of the millennium, this earth becomes the scene of events that close the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

The Descent of the Holy City

The judgment work in heaven having been accomplished, the hour has come for the execution of the judgment upon sin and sinners. The holy city comes down out of heaven. The prophet saw its descent in vision:

"I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven." Rev. 21:2.

The Loosing of Satan

"When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations." Rev. 20:7, 8.

With all the wicked destroyed by the glory of Christ's second coming, Satan had been effectually bound; but now, as the city descends, the voice of Christ calls forth the wicked dead, and Satan is thus loosed, and assumes control again of those who have chosen him as their master.[Pg 357]

It is the time of which the Scripture speaks: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Verse 5. The prophet saw the hosts of the lost called forth. "The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [the "grave," margin] delivered up the dead which were in them." Verse 13.

Thus Satan's subjects come forth to the last judgment. The resurrection of the wicked of all the ages is the loosing of Satan. Here again is his kingdom, and again he plies his deceptions and takes up anew his fight against God. How very natural that Satan should persuade the wicked that he has raised them to life, that his word in the beginning was true, "Ye shall not surely die"! If they are immortal, why may they not yet prevail against God? Satan rallies his angels and the hosts of the wicked, in numbers "as the sand of the sea," to make an attack upon the city of God.

"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city." Verse 9.

The Wicked Before the Bar of God

But as the hosts of evil compass the city, they are halted by the glory and majesty of the Redeemer's presence, enthroned as eternal victor over sin. Just here must apply the prophet's words:[Pg 358]

"I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20:11, 12.

THE HOLY CITY DESCENDS
"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men." Rev 21:3.

During the thousand years the records in heaven have been reviewed, and the degrees of guilt established. Now the judgment is to be pronounced and executed. But first the record of the books and the eternal righteousness of God's holy law are flashed by divine power upon the consciences of all the lost—"their conscience also bearing witness" (Rom. 2:15) that they are without excuse.

The Destruction of Sin

Sin is now to be blotted from the universe of God; and those who have chosen to be identified with sin perish with[Pg 359] it. All that Infinite Love can do has been done in the gift of Christ to save men from the transgression of the holy law of God. That salvation rejected, there is nothing remaining that heaven can offer. There is no further sacrifice that can be made. "There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Heb. 10:26.

Then follows the last scene in the conflict with evil:

"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire.... And death and hell [the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Rev. 20:9-14.

The second death ends sin and the author of sin, and death itself. The controversy is ended. Christ's death has purged sin from the universe of God.

The Earth Purified and Made New

The fires that consume the wicked melt the earth and purify it from all trace of the curse. It is the day of which Peter wrote:

"Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." But after this cleansing of every element of this sin-cursed earth, the promise of God will be fulfilled in the earth made new, as the eternal home of the saved. As Peter says, after telling of the day of burning, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:12, 13.

MOSES VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5.

[Pg 361]

THE SPIES' RETURN
"The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land." Num. 14:7.

THE HOME OF THE SAVED

The Land of Peace

The Bible opens with a new heaven and a new earth, perfect from the Creator's hand; with man sinless and having access to the tree of life in the midst of the Eden paradise, out of which flowed a river that spread its life-giving waters through the earth.

The Bible closes with a new heaven and a new earth; with man upright and sinless, having right to the tree of life growing in the midst of Eden; with the river of life flowing out from the garden of God, clear as crystal.

Between the two scenes spreads out the panorama of six thousand years of conflict with sin. It is a story of the fall of man, of the loss of his Eden home, of the curse that marred the earth, of sin and sorrow and death overspreading all.[Pg 362]

The Restorer

But from the hour when the shadow of sin fell upon the earth, there has been a light shining in the darkness. Amid the ruin that sin had wrought, there appeared the great Restorer.

The inspired record gives a word-picture of Jesus taking man's place to win back the lost dominion:

"Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus." Heb. 2:5-9.

Just where Adam fell and lost his dominion over the earth, we see Jesus, the second Adam, taking man's place and winning back the lost inheritance. That is why the picture of the new earth and man's sinless state depicted in the first two chapters of the Bible is repeated in the last two chapters with even greater fulness of glory. God's original plan and purpose will be carried out, and this earth, renewed, will be the eternal home of sinless men and women, redeemed by grace.

Sin will be found not to have frustrated, but only to have delayed, the purpose of God. And what is six thousand years in working out the divine plan? In our brief span we may divide human history into ancient, medieval, and modern; but in heaven's life a thousand years are but as "a watch in the night;" and these six watches are to heaven but as one night of grief and of loving ministry in rescuing the lost.

It has cost all that heaven had to give. But the infinite Gift was made, and all heaven has wrought at the work. Of the angels it is written, "Are they not all ministering spirits,[Pg 363] sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.

Bringing Back the Lost Dominion

Of all the worlds that shine in the heavens, declaring the glory of God, this earth is the one that was lost. Its light went out in darkness. It wandered from the fold of God's perfect creation.

Then the divine Shepherd came to find it and bring it back. And the angels that rejoiced when they saw this earth created,—"when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,"—will again rejoice as the Lord brings back His own,—this earth, redeemed from the curse, shining in the bright universe again with the perfection of the glory of God.

Christ not only redeems lost men, but He is to redeem this lost earth. "The Son of man," He said, "is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.

By sinning, man lost not only his righteousness and his life, but his dominion as well. Originally man had dominion "over all the earth." Gen. 1:26. As the psalmist says, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands." Ps. 8:6. He was prince and ruler of the earth. But when he yielded to Satan's temptation, he yielded up that dominion to the enemy, thus placing himself in the power of his foe. Satan thus became the "prince of this world," exercising the dominion wrested from man.

But through Christ, this dominion is to be restored. The prophet of old said:

"Thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." Micah 4:8.

The Hope of the Promise

The promise of the gospel of salvation is the promise not only of life eternal through faith, but of an eternal inheritance[Pg 364] in the earth made new, the fulfilment of the Creator's plan when He made this world to be the home of man. This was the star of hope that shone before Adam and Eve as they stepped forth from Eden into a dying world. It was the promise to Abraham, "the promise, that he should be the heir of the world." Rom. 4:13.

It was not the promise of the world in its present state. For the Lord gave Abraham "none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." Acts 7:5. Abraham himself did not look for the promise to be fulfilled in this sinful earth, but in the earth made new, redeemed from sin. The Scripture says of his hope:

"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country: ... for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. 11:9, 10.

It was in the new earth and the New Jerusalem that Abraham, the father of the faithful, expected to receive the eternal inheritance promised to him and to his seed. And there all the faithful will find their inheritance.

"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29.

The psalmist said, "The meek shall inherit the earth." Ps. 37:11. Christ repeated it: "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5.

The New Earth and the New Jerusalem

Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord described the re-creation of this earth to be the home of the saved:

"Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." Isa. 65:17-19.[Pg 365]

It is not of old Jerusalem that the prophet is speaking, but of the New Jerusalem, which John saw coming down, with the saints, from God out of heaven. He saw it descending upon the earth at the end of the thousand years, and saw the wicked come forth from their graves to judgment. Then he saw the fires of the last day falling upon the lost, consuming sin and sinners, and purifying the earth itself from every trace of the curse. It is the day of which Peter wrote, "Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." But he adds, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:12, 13.

Out from the dissolved elements of the earth and the atmospheric heavens the Creator's power again calls forth new heavens and a new earth, the old creation cleansed and renewed in the perfection of the original Eden paradise. It is coming; for John saw it in vision. "I saw," he says, "a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." Rev. 21:1.

He saw the city which had come down from heaven—those mansions that Christ is now gone to prepare—the New Jerusalem, the holy capital of the eternal kingdom of the saints, where Christ's own throne is set.

"I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Rev. 21:3-5.

It passes comprehension; but it is true. And the life of the saved in their eternal inheritance will be just as real as is life upon this present earth.[Pg 366]

THE SAINTS' ETERNAL HOME
"I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." Rev. 21:1.

[Pg 367]

"They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord." Isa. 65:21, 25.

The whole earth will be as the Eden paradise planted by God in the beginning. And from week to week and from month to month the saved will gather to worship before the glorious throne in the holy city.

"As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:22, 23.

The Glories of the Saints' Eternal Home

As the first two chapters of the Bible tell of earth's original perfection, so the last two chapters constitute one psalm of ecstasy over the indescribable glories of the earth made new, with its city of light, the walls of jasper, the gates of pearl, the river of life flowing from the throne of the Lamb, clear as crystal, with the widespreading tree of life on either side of the river. And supreme above all, Jesus Himself, "the King in His beauty," without whom there would be no glory even in that city foursquare; "for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

Next to the loveliness and grace of Christ our Saviour, the glories of this world to come have inspired the sweetest hymns of hope for longing hearts. How often has the spirit been lifted above earth's trials as we have sung,

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

Through the ages, the children of the promise have been journeying toward the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and they have confessed themselves pilgrims and strangers in this present world. As they have followed the way of righteousness,—oftentimes a thorny path,—it has been with the shining city ever before their vision. As they have fallen in death, it has been with closing eyes fixed upon "that day" when Christ shall come to take His people to the New Jerusalem preparing above

Now earth's course is nearly run. It is but a little way to the holy city, where the water of life flows clear as crystal from the midst of the throne. The water of life is really there; for the Lord showed it to the prophet John in vision, that he might tell us that he saw it. "I John saw the holy city," he says, "and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal." Rev. 21:2; 22:1.[Pg 369]

THE MASTER AT THE DOOR
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev 3:20.

[Pg 370]

Christ invites every one to share the eternal inheritance, giving assurance of His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. He is knocking at the door of every heart, asking admittance, in order that He may take away all sin, and prepare the soul for the heavenly home.

And the glories of the holy city invite us to come:

"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

EVENTIDE
Home to the fold.

[Pg 371]

INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORITIES

Abraham, parable of rich man and Lazarus, 284

"Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," on change of Sabbath, 156

Adolphus, on study of prophecy, 305

Advent message, Bates as advocate of, 244

Advent movement, extent of, Brock on, 241

Advent movement of 1844, 240

Æschylus, on Medo-Persia, 121

Æschylus, on Xerxes' host, 323

Alexander, conquests of, Plutarch on, 121, 122

Alexander, dominion of, Rawlinson on, 324, 325

Alexander, empire of, Appian on, 122

Alexander, first king of Greece, 207

Alexander, greatness of, Arrian on, 44

Alexander, Justin on, 207

Alexander, Lucan on, 45

Alexandra, Queen, on preparations for war, 339

Alexandria, library at, sacred books of Jews in, 187

Angels attending throne of God, 296

Angels, God's messengers, 297

Angels, guardian, 300

Angels in kingly courts, 299

Angels, messengers of deliverance, 300

Angels, their ministry, 295-301

Antitypical day of atonement, 237, 240, 241

Apollonius, description of Babylon by, 33

Apostasy in last days, Daniel 8, 248

Appearing of Christ, 59

Appian, on Alexander's empire, 122

Arian kingdoms plucked up, 129

Arian powers uprooted by Belisarius, 134

Armageddon, "Contemporary Review" on, 339

Armageddon, "Everybody's Magazine" on, 339

Armageddon, final clash of empires, 337-349

Armageddon, foretold in prophecy, 346, 347

Armageddon, Lord Rosebery on, 339

Armageddon, or Mt. Megiddo, Carmack, on 344

Armageddon, prelude to, 343

Armageddon, sequel of, 347, 348

Arming of the nations, 106, 107

Arrian, on Alexander's greatness, 44

Artaxerxes, date of decree to rebuild Jerusalem, 223

Artaxerxes, date of reign of, 225-227

"Astronomy," Chambers, on falling stars, 101

Atonement, antitypical day of, 237, 240, 241

Avebury, Lord, on war, 112


Babylon, description of, by Apollonius, 33, 34

Babylon, desolation of, 31-35

Babylon, desolation of, Layard on, 35

Babylon, "Encyclopedia of Islam" on, 35

Babylon in prophecy and history, 119, 120

Babylon, prophecy concerning, 39-41

Babylon, prophecy of, confirmed by history, 41-43

Babylon, Strabo on, 34

Bacon, Francis, on increase of knowledge, 306, 307

Ball, Sir Robert, on falling stars, 100

Bampfield, died in prison for Sabbath keeping, 179

Baptism, conditions necessary to, 199, 200

Baptism for believers, 200

Baptism, form of, 200-203

Baptism, manner of, Dean Stanley on, 202

Baptism, manner of, Neander on, 201

Baptism, manner of, Pullus on, 202

"Baptism," meaning of word, Calvin on, 201

"Baptism," meaning of word, Luther on, 201

Baptism, memorial of resurrection, 199-203

Baptism of infants, Dean Stanley on, 202

Baptism of Jesus, time of, 230, 231

Baptists, Sabbatarian, 179

Baptists, Seventh Day, in America, 179, 180

Barnes, Dr. Albert, on division of Grecia, 122

Bates, as a Sabbath keeper, 244

Baudrillart, on papal persecution, 151

Beast, the fourth, of Daniel 7, 126-129

Beasts, empires represented by, 118

Belisarius, Arian powers uprooted by, 134

Bellarmine, on great words of little horn, 147

Bemont and Monod, "Medieval Europe", 137

Bengelius, on judgment-hour warning, 249

Berosus, on exploits of Nebuchadnezzar, 120

[Pg 372]Berthier enters Rome, Rickaby on, 141

Besant, Mrs. Annie, on spiritualism of the East, 273

Bible, agency in the new birth, 15, 17

Bible and tradition, 251, 252

Bible, Christ the central theme of, 23

Bible, Dr. Harris on, 20, 21

Bible, Erasmus on, 21

Bible for all mankind, 21

Bible, given to the world, Faber on, 308

Bible, God its author, 14

Bible, language of, Van Dyke on, 21, 22

Bible, our safety and defense, 18

Bible societies, organization of, 308

Bible, source of all doctrine, 20

Bible, speaks to our day, 13

Bible, Spurgeon on authorship of, 14

Bible, Spurgeon's experience with, 14

Bible, the book that talks, 13

Bible, the bread of life, 18

Bible, the Christian's shield, 18

Bible, the living word, 15

Bible, the word that creates, 15

Bible, the word that works within, 17

Biddolf, on lessons from Lisbon earthquake, 82

Bishop of Rome as head of church, Justinian on, 133

Blunt, on doom of Turks, 333

Bogue, on persecution for Sabbath keeping, 178, 179

Bonar's hymn, on state of dead, 282

Bower, on Sabbath observance, 174

Bread of life, Bible as the, 18

Brerewood, on Sabbath in first centuries, 173

Britten, Mrs. Emma, on Spiritualism, 269

Brock, on extent of the advent movement, 241

Bruce, on desolation of Tyre, 31

Bury, on achievements of Justinian, 132


Calamy, on Bampfield as a Sabbatarian, 179

Calvin, on meaning of word "baptism", 201

Canon, Ptolemy's, Lindsay on, 225

Carmack, on Armageddon, or Mt. Megiddo, 344

Chambers, Dr., on Sabbath in England, 177

Chambers, on falling stars, 101

Change of Sabbath, 153-167

Charles I, on Sabbath observance, 177

China open to the gospel, 309

Christ and Satan, controversy between, 257-263

Christ, central theme of Bible, 23

Christ, closing work of, in heaven, 216

Christ, death of, 231

Christ, glorious appearing of, 59

Christ, lost dominion redeemed by, 363

Christ, second coming of, 51-63, 352

Christ, the restorer, 362

Christian work of Countess of Huntingdon, 63

Christs, false, 74

"Church Missionary Review," on war a sign of end, 343

Clarke, Dr. Adam, on "living soul", 283

Cleansing of the sanctuary, 211, 213-217

Clerke, on glory of falling stars, 101, 102

Clerke, on star shower of 1833, 94, 95

Coming of Christ at the door, 115

Coming of Christ, beginning of signs of, 75-77

Coming of Christ, love of pleasure a sign of, 109

Coming of Christ, manner of, 53-55

Coming of Christ, political unrest a sign of, 106

Coming of Christ, prelude to, 59

Coming of Christ, promise of, 52

Coming of Christ, purpose of, 56, 57

Coming of Christ, signs of, 74, 75

Coming of Christ, signs of, in industrial world, 110

Coming of Christ, signs of, in Matthew 24, 65, 66, 112, 113

Coming of Christ, signs of, in the social world, 109

Coming of Christ, signs of, upon the earth, 105

Coming of Christ, the Saviour's prophecy of, 65-77

Coming of Christ, to be as in days of Noah, 109

Coming of Christ, world evangelization a sign of, 112

Commandments, the ten, 182

Comte, M., on passion for pleasure, 109

Connecticut Legislature, Dark Day in, 90

Conroy, on temporal sovereignty of popes, 129

Constantine, Sunday law of, 16

"Contemporary Review," on Armageddon, 339

"Contemporary Review," on awakening of East, 344

Controversy between Christ and Satan, 257

Controversy, earth the battle-ground of, 259

Conybeare and Howson, on the Sabbath, 165

Cottrell, R.F., poem by, 171

Countess of Huntingdon, Christian work of, 63

Covenant, confirming of the, 231

Creative power of the Word, 15

Croly, on Justinian as founder of papal supremacy, 133

Cuneiform writing, 312

Cyrus, conquests of, Rawlinson on, 121

[Pg 373]Cyrus, Xenophon on, 206

Dale, on non-sacredness of Sunday, 166

Daniel, book of, unsealed, 304

Daniel 2, prophecy of, 39-49

Daniel 7, prophecy of, 117-129

Daniel 8, prophecy of, 205-211

Daniel, prophecy of 1260 years, 131, 132

Daniel, vision of great beasts, 118

Dark Day, Boston "Gazette" on, 88

Dark Day, cause of unknown, 87

Dark Day, contemporary records of, 88, 89

Dark Day, Dr. Samuel Stearns on, 89, 90

Dark Day, effect on Connecticut Legislature, 90

Dark Day, "Independent Chronicle" on, 88, 89

Dark Day in New England, Williams on, 86

Dark Day, prophecy of, fulfilled, 85

Dark Day, Timothy Dwight on, 90

Dark Day, Webster on, 87

Dark Day, Whittier on, 86, 87, 90, 91

Darkening of the sun, 85

Dead, not agencies of Spiritualism, 271

Dead, sleep of, 280-282

Dead, righteous, raised to life, 60

Death, man's state in, 275, 280-282

Delaire, Mme. Jean, on Theosophy and Spiritualism, 272, 273

Desolation of Babylon, 31

Destruction of the wicked, 61, 353

"Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," on Change of Sabbath, 166

Discontent, F.T. Martin on growth of, 112

Doctrinal Catechism, on change of Sabbath, 156

Doctrinal Catechism, on power of church, 252

Doctrine, Bible the source of, 20

Dominion, bring back the lost, 363

Dream of Nebuchadnezzar, 39, 40

Dwight, on Dark Day, 90


Earth, cleansed and renewed, 364-367

Earth, purified, 359

East, awakening of, 344

East, "Nineteenth Century and After," on new spirit in, 344

Eastern Question, Jerusalem heart of, Finn on, 346

Eastern Question, Maspero on, 322

Eastern Question, relation to end of world, 334

Eastern Question, the, 321-335

Eighteen forty-four, Advent movement in, 240-244

Elliott, on great words of little horn, 147

Elven, Cornelius, poem by, 335

Empires, four great universal, 117-129

Encyclopedia Britannica, on Palestine as battle field, 325, 326

Encyclopedia of Islam, on Babylon, 35

End of the wicked, 287-293

End, time of the, 303-317

Erasmus, on the Bible, 21

Eternal fire, 292, 293

Euphrates dried up, 332

Europe, kingdoms of modern, 46-48

Everlasting fire, 292

Everlasting punishment, 289-293

"Everybody's Magazine," on Armageddon, 339

Evil, origin of, 257-263

Executive judgment, 261-263


Faber, G.S., on Bible given to the world, 308

Faith, justification by, 191-197

Falling stars, 93

Falling stars, sign to world, 99

False Christs, 74

Farrar, on prophecy fulfilled, 35, 36

Ferraris, on titles assumed by Pope, 149

Fig tree, parable of, 115

Finlay, on beginning of history of Middle Ages, 134, 135

Finlay, on rapid changes in sixth century, 132

Fire, everlasting, 292, 293

Fire, lake of, 290

Fire, unquenchable, 292, 293

First angel's message, 239

First day rest, 164-166

Firth, on fall of Ottoman power, 343

Flammarion, on density of star shower, 95

"Forever and ever," meaning of, 291, 292

"Fortnightly Review," on Turkey's position, 333, 334

Fox family, origin of modern Spiritualism, 269

France, decree of, to abolish religion, 140

French Revolution, Lamartine on, 140

French Revolution, significant events of, 140


"Gazette and Country Journal" on dark day, 88

Gehenna, a valley near Jerusalem, 293

Gentiles, gospel carried to, 234, 235

Gibbon, on power of Rome, 46

Gibbon, on Roman Empire, 209

Gibbon, on site of Nineveh, 29

Gibbon, on struggle for Italy, 134

God's challenge to false religious systems, 25

Goldastus, on Sabbath keepers in Alpine valleys, 175

Gospel, agencies for work of, 311

Gospel, China, opened to the, 309

[Pg 374]Gospel, doors open to, in all world, 309

Gospel for our day, the, 247, 248

Gospel message, solemn warning in, 248, 249

Gospel, open doors for, Dr. Pierson on, 310

Gospel, printing press an agency of, 318

Gospel, telegraph used in carrying, 318

Gospel, the everlasting, 248

Gospel to the Gentiles, 234, 235

Goths, defeat of, 134

Great controversy, earth the battle ground of, 259

Grecia, Alexander first king of, 207

Grecia, conquests of, under Alexander, 121, 122

Grecia, division of, Dr. Albert Barnes on, 122

Grecia, prophecy and history of, 206, 207, 121, 324

Grecia, prophecy concerning, in Daniel, 244

Greece, division of, 208

Greeley, Spiritualism tested by, 269

Grey, Sir Edward, on Satanic agencies, 342

Guardian angels, 300

Gutenberg's first types, 314


Hales, on authenticity of Ptolemy's canon, 225

Harris, on the Bible, 20-21

Hastings, on Valley of Hinnom, 293

"Hearst's Magazine," on growth of discontent, 112

Heresies, papal order against, 150

Herodotus, on doctrine of immortality, 291

Herodotus, on Pythius, the Lydian, 323

Hieroglyphics, the "Ox Song", 312

Hinnom, Valley of, 293

Hippolytus, on power of Rome, 46

Hippolytus, on prophecy of Rome fulfilled, 126

Hiscox, on change of Sabbath, 166, 167

Hiscox, on Sunday mark of paganism, 170

History, prophecy confirmed by, 35-37

Hobbs, Professor, on Lisbon earthquake, 79

Holtzman, on Bible and tradition, 252

Home of the saved, 361-370

Horace, ode on Rome, 47

Horace, on might of Rome, 208

Hughes, on Jerusalem's part in closing history, 328

Huguenots, persecution of, Kurtz on, 76

Humboldt, on other displays of falling stars, 99

Humphreys, on appearance of falling stars, 96

Hutton, on abolition of religion in France, 140

Hymn on state of dead, by Horatius Bonar, 282


Image of Daniel 2, 118

Image to the Papacy, 251

Immortality, doctrine of, 291

Immortality, doctrine of, Herodotus on, 291

Immortality, God only has, 282

Immortality of the soul, 275-285

Immortality, the gift of God, 275, 282

Immortality, when bestowed, 279

Increase of knowledge, 306-317

"Independent Chronicle," on Dark Day, 88, 89

Infant baptism, Dean Stanley on, 202

Ising, visit of, to site of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, 35

Italy, struggle for, Gibbon on, 134


Jerusalem, Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild, 223-225

Jerusalem, date of decree to restore, 223

Jerusalem, destruction of temple at, 70

Jerusalem, headquarters of king of the North, 328

Jerusalem, heart of Eastern Question, Finn on, 346

Jerusalem, last days of, 66

Jerusalem, last gathering place, Mukaddasi on, 328

Jerusalem, Moslems turn toward, 330

Jerusalem, part of, in closing history, Hughes on, 328

Jerusalem, signs of approaching doom of, 67-69

Jessup on falling stars, 100

Jesus, the restorer, 362

Jesus, time of baptism of, 230

Jews, fanaticism of, Ridpath on, 67

Joseph, prophecy fulfilled to, 26

Josephus, on destruction of temple, 70

Judgment, Christ's work in sanctuary, 216, 217

Judgment hour, many witnesses proclaim, 240, 241

Judgment-hour message, 247-255

Judgment-hour message, a call to loyalty, 249

Judgment-hour message, John Wesley on, 249

Judgment-hour warning, Bengelius on, 249

Judgment, law of God the standard in, 189

Judgment, message of, in 1844, 239

Judgment, the hour of God's, 237

Judgment, time of the investigative, 235-237

Judgment upon Satan, 261-263

Jurieu, on fall of the Papacy, 140, 141

Justification and righteousness, 195

Justification by faith, 191

Justification not by works, 192

Justification, what it is, 196, 197

Justinian, achievements of, Bury on, 132

[Pg 375]Justinian as source of papal power, Croly on, 133

Justinian, decree of, in a.d. 533, 133

Justin, on Alexander, 207


Keyser, on Sabbath keeping in Norway, 175

Killen, on change of Sabbath, 169

Kingdom of God, when to be set up, 48

Kingdoms of modern Europe, 46

King of the North, the modern, 326

King of the North, removal of, to Jerusalem, 328

Kings of the North and South, 325

Knowledge, increase of, 306

Knowledge, increase of, Francis Bacon on, 306, 307

Knowledge, increase of, Lorimer on, 307

Kurtz, on persecution of Huguenots, 76


Lake of fire, the, 290

Lamartine, on French Revolution, 140

Langley, on falling stars, 101

Lang, on Sabbath in Scotland, 174

Laodicea, Council of, on Sabbath keeping, 173, 174

Lawgiver, only one, 188

Law of God changed by Papacy, Melanchthon on, 154

Law of God, character of, 183

Law of God, existed from the beginning, 184, 185

Law of God, given anew at Sinai, 186

Law of God, given with his own voice, 187

Law of God, office of, 183, 184

Law of God, relation of, to justification, 191, 193

Law of God, standard in the judgment, 189

Law of God, standard of righteousness, 188

Law of God, the, 182-189

Law of God unchangeable, 153

Layard, on the desolation of Babylon, 35

Lazarus, parable of rich man and, 284, 285

Lecky, on papal persecution, 150

Leo XIII, encyclical letter of, 149

Leonard, Dr., on missionary activity, 307

"Library of Christian Doctrine," on change of Sabbath, 154, 155

Life only in Christ, 275-285

Lindsay, on Ptolemy's Canon, 225

Lisbon earthquake, extent of, 81

Lisbon earthquake, James Parton on, 80

Lisbon earthquake, lessons from, John Biddolf on, 82

Lisbon earthquake, Professor Hobbs on, 79

Lisbon earthquake recognized as a sign, 82

Lisbon earthquake, Voltaire on, 80

Lisbon earthquake, world set to thinking by, 80

Little horn, 208

Little horn and fourth kingdom, 126, 127

Little horn, great words of, Bellarmine on, 147

Little horn, great words of, Elliott on, 147

Little horn in prophecy and history, 127

Little horn, period of supremacy of, 145

Little horn, time of rise of, 145

Little horn, work of, 145-147

Lorimer, on increase of knowledge, 307

Lucan, on Alexander, 45

Lucan, on greatness of Rome, 209

Lucifer, the light-bearer, 258

Luther, on meaning of word "baptism", 201

Luther, on use of printing art, 318


MacFarlane, on approaching end of Turks, 333

Mahaffy, on kingdoms of north and south, 325

Man, nature of, and state in death, 275-285

Manner of Christ's coming, 53

Manning, Cardinal, on power of Rome, 125

Mark, or sign, of papal authority, 251-253

Mark, or sign, use of, Potter on, 250

Martin, on growth of discontent, 112

Maspero, on Eastern Question, 322

Matthew 24, prophecy of, 65-77

Mears, Dr., on conditions after Christ, 67

"Medieval Europe," Bemont and Monod, 137

Medo-Persia, Æschylus on, 121

Medo-Persia in prophecy and history, 120, 121, 206

Medo-Persia, prophecy of, Daniel 2, 43, 44

Megiddo, or Armageddon, Carmack on, 344

Melanchthon, on change of law by Papacy, 154

Message of the judgment hour, 247-255

Messengers of deliverance, angels as, 300

Messiah, covenant confirmed by, 231-235

Messiah, time of baptism of, 230

Michael, standing up of, 327

Middle Ages, beginning of history of, Finlay on, 134, 135

Millennium, beginning of, 351, 352

Millennium, diagram of, 350

Millennium, events at beginning of, 352

Millennium, events at end of, 356

[Pg 376]Millennium, events in heaven during, 354

Millennium, events on earth during, 355

Millennium, the, 351-359

Milner, on falling stars, 94

Milton, on Sabbath observance, 177, 178

Missionary activity, Dr. Leonard on, 307

Missionary developments of century, 113

Missionary movement, a sign of Christ's coming, 112

Missionary movement, increased activity of, 113

Missions, open doors for, 309

Missions, Pierson on open doors for, 310

Monarchies, the four universal, 118

Monod, Bemont and, "Medieval Europe", 137

Mortal, the natural state of man, 276

Mortality, universal, 277

Moslems, Jerusalem as capital for, 330

Motley, on persecution in Netherlands, 150

Mukaddasi, on Jerusalem as last gathering place of nations, 328

Myers, on history of Greece, 208


Nations, anger of, 107

Neander, on first-day collections, 166

Neander, on manner of baptism, 201

Nebuchadnezzar, dream of, 39-41

Nebuchadnezzar, exploits of, Berosus on, 120

Nebuchadnezzar, palace of, Ising on, 35

Nebuchadnezzar, stone records of, 43

Necromancy, divine warnings against, 267

Netherlands, persecution in, Motley on, 150

New birth, Bible an agency of, 15

Newcomb, on falling stars, 95

New earth, the, 364-370

New Jerusalem, descent of, 356

New Jerusalem, the, 364-367

Newman, Cardinal, on rites borrowed from paganism, 169

Newton, Sir Isaac, on prophetic study, 304, 305

"Nineteenth Century and After," on new spirit in East, 344

"Nineteenth Century and After," on preparation for war, 339, 341

Nineveh, Rawlinson on, 27

Nineveh, site of, Gibbon on, 29

Nineveh, the witness of, 27


Olmsted, on brilliancy of falling stars, 97

Olmsted, on shooting stars, 95

Origin of evil, 257-263

Ottoman empire, 326

Ottoman power, fall of, Firth on, 343

Our day, gospel for, 247


Paganism, rites borrowed from, Cardinal Newman on 169

Palestine as battle field, Encyclopedia Britannica on, 325, 326

Palestine as great center, "Fortnightly Review" on, 345

Palestine, as political storm center, 345

Palestine, as religious storm center, "Spectator" on, 345

Papacy, a persecuting power, 137

Papacy, change of times and laws by, 153

Papacy, claims of, 155, 156

Papacy, counterpart of little horn, 145, 147

Papacy, end of supremacy of, 139

Papacy, extinction of, Canon Trevor on, 141, 142

Papacy, fall of, Jurieu on, 140, 141

Papacy, France strikes against, 140

Papacy, great words of, Elliott on, 147

Papacy, image to the, 251

Papacy, law changed by, Melanchthon on, 154

Papacy, orders of, to destroy heresy, 150

Papacy, persecution by, Lecky on, 150

Papacy plucked up Arian kingdoms, 129

Papacy, power of, Leo XIII on, 149

Papacy shall wear out saints, 149

Papacy, sign of authority of, 156

Papacy, supremacy of, 129

Papacy, supremacy of acknowledged, 132, 133

Papacy, time of its supremacy, 131, 132

Papal authority, mark of, 251

Papal claims in encyclical letter of Leo XIII, 149

Papal persecution, Baudrillart on, 151

Papal persecution, Lecky on, 150

Papal persecutions, "Western Watchman" on, 151

Papal power, Sunday the mark of, 252

Papal power, work of the, 250

Papal supremacy, beginning of, 132

Papal supremacy, end of, 139

Papal supremacy officially recognized, 133

Parable of the fig tree, 115

Parable of the rich man and Lazarus, 284, 285

Parable of the ten virgins, 348, 349

Parton, on Lisbon earthquake, 80

Peace and safety, 107

Peace prophecies, 338

Persecution after Christ's death, 235

Persecution for Sabbath observance, 178

Persecution in Netherlands, Motley on, 150

Persecution in time of the end 73

Persecution, papal, Baudrillart, on 151

Persecution, papal, Lecky on 150

Persecution, signs of end follow, 73-75

[Pg 377]Persecution under Papacy, 149-153

Persecutions, papal, "Western Watchman" on, 151

Persia, rise and fall of, 322-324

Phalerius, king urged by, to secure Jewish sacred books, 187, 188

Pierson, Dr., on open doors for gospel, 310

"Plain Talks," on Sunday observance, 251

Pleasure, passion for, M. Comte on, 109

Pleasure, passion for, sign of Christ's coming, 109

Plutarch, on Alexander, 45

Plutarch, on Alexander's conquests, 121, 122

Political unrest, 106, 107

Polybius, on dominion of Rome, 208

Pope Gregory, on Sabbath observance, 174

Pope Innocent II, orders of, to destroy heresies, 150

Pope Leo XIII, encyclical letter of, 149

Pope Leo XIII, on power of Papacy, 149

Pope taken prisoner, Joseph Rickaby on, 141

Pope, titles assumed by, Ferraris on, 149

Pope Vigilius, date of reign of, Schaff on, 137

Popes, a new order of, 135

Popes declared saints, 137

Popes no longer declared saints, 137

Popes, temporal power of, Conroy on, 129

Potter, on use of a mark, or sign, 250

Present-day conditions, meaning of, 105-115

Press, the Mighty (poem), 317

Pride, cause of Satan's fall, 258

Prince of Tyre, 258

Printing, Gutenberg's first types, 314

Printing, Luther on art of, 318

Printing press, a gospel agency, 318

Printing press, illustrations of, 315, 316

Printing press, the mighty, 317

Prophecies of Christ's coming, 52

Prophecy, Armageddon foretold in, 346, 347

Prophecy concerning Babylon, 31-33, 40

Prophecy fulfilled, Farrar on, 36

Prophecy fulfilled to Joseph, 26

Prophecy fulfilling, Marquis of Salisbury on, 338

Prophecy of Daniel 7, 117-129

Prophecy of Daniel 8, 205-211

Prophecy of Daniel unsealed, 304

Prophecy, of increase of knowledge, 306

Prophecy of Matthew 24, 65-77

Prophecy of the judgment, Revelation 14, 239

Prophecy of Tyre, 30, 31

Prophecy of 2300 years fulfilled, 229-237

Prophecy, study of, John Adolphus on, 305

Prophecy, the sure word of, 25

Prophecy, witness of the centuries to, 25-37

Prophetic outline of world's history, 39-49

Prophetic period, a great, 219-227

Prophetic study, Sir Isaac Newton on, 304, 305

Prophetic word, testimony of history to, 35-37

Protestants, persecution of, the "Western Watchman" on, 151

Ptolemy's canon, authenticity of, Hales on, 225

Ptolemy's canon, Lindsay on, 225

Pullus, on manner of baptism, 202

Punishment, everlasting, 289, 292

Purification of the earth, 359

Pythius, the Lydian, Herodotus on, 323


Railroads, construction of, Wallace on, 313

Rawlinson, on Alexander's dominion, 324, 325

Rawlinson, on Cyrus's conquests, 121

Rawlinson, on division of Alexander's kingdom, 122

Rawlinson, on Nineveh, 27

Reformation a progressive work, 255

Religion, abolition of, by French, Hutton on, 140

Resurrection, baptism the memorial of, 199

Resurrection of the just, 59, 61, 352

Resurrection of the wicked, 62

Resurrection, the second, Satan freed at, 262

Resurrections, the two, 288, 289

Rich man and Lazarus, parable of, 284, 285

Rickaby, on Berthier entering Rome, 141

Ridpath, on fanaticism of Jews, 67

Righteousness and justification, 195-197

Righteousness, God's law the standard of, 188

Righteousness, the gift of Christ, 193, 194

Righteous taken to heaven, 353

Righteous, translation of living, 59-61

Righteous, with Christ a thousand years, 62

Roman Empire divided, 47, 127

Roman Empire, Gibbon on, 209

Roman Papacy, rise of, to supremacy, 129

Romans, power of, Strabo on, 46

Rome, Alexander's plans for conquest of, Plutarch on, 44

Rome, Bishop of, head of church, 133

Rome divided, 48

Rome, dominion of, Polybius on, 208

Rome, greatness of, Lucan on, 209

[Pg 378]Rome, in prophecy and history, 123-125, 208

Rome, might of, Horace on, 208

Rome, ode of Horace on, 47

Rome, power of, Cardinal Manning on, 125

Rome, power of, Gibbon on, 46

Rome, power of, Hippolytus on, 46

Rome, prophecy of, in Daniel 2, 45, 46

Rome, prophecy of, fulfilled, 125

Rome, prophecy of, fulfilled, Hippolytus on, 126

Rome, rise of, in West, 44

Rosebery, Lord, on Armageddon, 339

Rosse, astronomical observations by, 100

"Run to and fro," Wright on meaning of, 311


Sabbatarian Baptists, 179

Sabbath, and the first day, 164-166

Sabbath, at time of exodus, 160

Sabbath, change of, "Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine" on, 156

Sabbath, change of, "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities" on, 166

Sabbath, change of, Hiscox on, 166, 167

Sabbath, change of, "Library of Christian Doctrine" on, 154, 155

Sabbath, Conybeare and Howson on, 165

Sabbath, example and teaching of Jesus regarding, 162

Sabbath, given at Sinai, 161

Sabbath, how changed, 167

Sabbath in Alpine valleys, Goldastus on, 175

Sabbath in England, Stennet on, 179

Sabbath in Europe, Dr. Chambers on, 177

Sabbath, in time of disciples, 163

Sabbath keepers in Norway, Keyser on, 175

Sabbath keepers in Scotland, Lang on, 174

Sabbath keepers in Scotland, Skene on, 175

Sabbath keeping, action of Council of Laodicea on, 173, 174

Sabbath keeping after New Testament times, 173-181

Sabbath keeping among Moravians, 180

Sabbath keeping, Bampfield died for, 179

Sabbath keeping, persecution for, Bogue on, 178, 179

Sabbath keeping, Roger Williams on, 180

Sabbath, Killen on change of, 169

Sabbath observance, Bower on, 174

Sabbath observance, Brerewood on, 173

Sabbath observance, Charles I on, 177

Sabbath observance, John Milton on, 177, 178

Sabbath observance, Pope Gregory on, 174

Sabbath observance, Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History on, 174

Sabbath, persecution for keeping, 178

Sabbath, seventh-day, record of, 160-164

Sabbath, the sign of God's authority,253

Sabbath, the Bible,159-170

Sabbath, through Israel's history, 162

Saints, eternal home of, 361, 367

Saints, Papacy to wear out, 149

Saints, time of resurrection of, 352

Salisbury, Lord, on policy of helping Turkey, 331

Salisbury, Marquis of, on preparation for war, 342

Salisbury, Marquis of, on prophecy fulfilling, 338

Sanctuary, Christ's ministry in, 216

Sanctuary, cleansing of, 211, 213-217

Santee, L.D., poem by, 103

Satan, binding of, 353

Satan, cause of fall of, 258

Satan, end of reign of, 262

Satan, judgment upon, 261-263

Satan, the loosing of, 356

Satanic agencies at work, 341-343

Satanic agencies, Sir Edward Grey on, 342

Saved, home of the, 361-370

Schaff, on date of Tiberius's reign, 230

Schaff, on Vigilius made Pope, 135

Second coming of Christ, 51-63

Second coming of Christ, see Coming of Christ.

Ségur, on observance of Sunday by Protestants, 251

Seventh-day Adventists, origin of, 243, 244

Seventh-day Baptists in America, 179, 180

Seventh-day Sabbath, Bible record of, 160-164

Seventy weeks, events of, 229

Seventy weeks, starting point of, 221, 222

Signs in the heavens, 74

Signs of Christ's coming, 74-77

Signs of Christ's coming, given in Matthew 24, 65, 66

Signs of Christ's coming, in industrial world, 110

Signs of Christ's coming, in social world, 109

Signs of the end, 65

Signs of the end, signal to watch, 102

Signs of the last days, 73, 74

Signs upon the earth, 74, 105

Sinai, law of God given anew at, 186

Sinai, Sabbath given at, 161

Sin, the end of, 358

Sin, the origin of, 257

Sin, the wages of, 289

Skene, on Sabbath in Scotland, 175

Sleep of the dead, 280-282

Sophocles, on universal mortality, 277, 278

"Soul" and "spirit," Scriptural use of, 283

Soul, immortality of, 275

Soul, living, Dr. Clarke on, 283

[Pg 379]Soul, the "living," comments on, 283

Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, on Sabbath observance, 174

Spangenberg, on Sabbath-keeping Moravians, 180

"Spirit" and "soul," Scriptural use of, 283

Spirit, death declared to have no power over, 269

Spirits, angels as ministering, 295

Spiritualism, ancient and modern, 265-273

Spiritualism and theosophy, Mme. Jean Delaire on, 272, 273

Spiritualism, first declaration of, 265-267

Spiritualism, modern, originated in Fox family, 269

Spiritualism, modern, Prof. Wallace on, 265, 268

Spiritualism of East, taught by Mrs. Besant, 273

Spiritualism, progress of, Mrs. Underhill on, 269

Spiritualism, satanic agencies of, 271

Spiritualism tested by Greeley, 269

Spiritualism, the climax of deception, 272

Spiritualism, the dead not agencies of, 271

Spiritualism, warnings against, 267

Spurgeon, on authorship of Bible, 14

Spurgeon's experience with Bible, 14

Stanley, Dean, on baptism of infants, 202

Stanley, Dean, on collection on first day, 166

Stanley, Dean, on manner of baptism, 202

Stanley, Dean, on Sunday, day of the sun, 170

Star shower, density of, Flammarion on, 95

Stars, falling, a sign to the world, 99

Stars, falling, brilliancy of, Olmsted on, 97

Stars, falling, Chambers's Astronomy on, 101

Stars, falling, described by Jessup, 100

Stars, falling, glory of, Clerke on, 101, 102

Stars, falling, Humphreys on, 96

Stars, falling, impression made by, Milner on, 99

Stars, falling, "Journal of Commerce" on, 97

Stars, falling, nature of, Twining on, 96

Stars, falling, other displays of, Humboldt on, 99, 100

Stars, falling, Professor Langley on, 101

Stars, falling, Sir Robert Ball on, 100

Stars, falling, Thomas Milner on, 94

Stars, shooting, Olmsted on, 95

Stars, the falling, 93-102

Stearns, Dr. Samuel, on dark day, 89, 90

Stennet, on Sabbath in England, 179

Stephen, stoning of, 234

Stoning of Stephen, 234

Strabo, on desolation of Babylon, 34

Strabo, on power of Romans, 46

Sun, darkening of, 85

Sunday, day of the sun, Dean Stanley on, 170

Sunday, Dean Stanley on collection on, 166

Sunday law, Constantine's, 169

Sunday law, Constantine's, Webster on, 169, 170

Sunday, mark of paganism, Hiscox on, 170

Sunday, mark of papal power, 252

Sunday, Neander on collection on, 166

Sunday, not sacred, Dale on, 166

Sunday observance by Protestants, Ségur on, 251

Sunday observance, "Doctrinal Catechism" on, 252

Sunday previous to Constantine, 169

Sunday rest, not of God, 165

Sunday, sign of papal authority, 156


Tabernacle, service of earthly, 214

Telegraph, first demonstrated, 314

Telegraph, used in carrying gospel, 318

Temple at Jerusalem, destruction of, as predicted, 70

Ten horns of beast, Daniel 7, 127

Ten kingdoms, Daniel 2, 46-48

Ten virgins, parable of, 348, 349

Testimony of history to fulfilment of prophecy, 36

Theosophy and Spiritualism, Mme. Delaire on, 272

Thief on the cross, the, 284

This Same Jesus, 54-56

Thomson, on Tyre's departed glory, 31

Thousand years, diagram of, 350

Thousand years, end of, 289

Thousand years, righteous with Christ, 62

Thwaites, Clara, "The Last Hour," poem, 114

Tiberius Cæsar, time of reign of, 230, 231

Time of the end, 303-317

Times and laws, Papacy to think to change, 153

Tradition and the Bible, Council of Trent on, 252

Translation of the righteous, 59-61

Travel, revolution in, 313

Trent, Council of, on tradition and the Bible, 252

Trevor, Canon, on revolt against absolutism, 141

Tribulation, the period of, 73

Turkey, Lord Salisbury on helping of, 331

Turkey, position of, "Fortnightly Review" on, 333, 334

Turkish power, fall of, prelude to Armageddon, 348

Turks, doom of, Blunt on, 333

[Pg 380]Turks, end of, near, MacFarlane on, 333

Twelve hundred and sixty years, 131-137

Twelve hundred and sixty years, end of, 139

Twenty-three hundred days, diagram of, 220

Twenty-three hundred years, ending of, 235

Twenty-three hundred years of Daniel 8, 219

Twenty-three hundred years, prophecy fulfilled, 229-237

Twining, on nature of falling stars, 96

Two resurrections, the, 288, 289

Tyre, desolation of, Bruce on, 31

Tyre, glory departed, Thomson on, 31

Tyre, prophecy concerning, 30, 31


Underhill, Mrs. A.L., on progress of Spiritualism, 269

Universal empires, four great, 117

Unquenchable fire, 292, 293


Valley of Hinnom, Hastings on, 293

Van Dyke, Dr. Henry, on language of Bible, 21, 22

Veil, rending of, 231

Vigilius, Pope, date of reign, Schaff on, 135, 137

Voltaire, on Lisbon earthquake, 80


Wages of sin, 289

Wallace, Alfred Russel, on revolution in travel, 313

Wallace, Alfred Russel, on Spiritualism, 265, 268

War, god of, Lord Avebury on, 112

War, preparation for, Marquis of Salisbury on, 342

War, preparation for, "Nineteenth Century and After", 339-341

War, preparation for, Queen Alexandra on, 339

War, sign of end, "Church Missionary Review" on, 343

Webster, Noah, on dark day, 87

Webster, Prof. Hutton, on Constantine's Sunday law, 169, 170

Weeks, the seventy, starting point of, 221, 222

Wesley, John, on judgment-hour message, 249

"Western Watchman," on persecution of Protestants, 151

Whittier, on dark day, 86, 90

Wicked, before bar of God, 357

Wicked, destruction of, 61, 353

Wicked, end of, 287-293

Wicked, final destruction of, 356-359

Wicked, resurrection of, 62

Williams, on dark day in New England, 86

Williams, Roger, on Sabbath keeping, 180

Word, see Bible.

Word that creates, the, 15

Wordsworth, on dawn of Reformation, 149

World-wide movement, a, 239-245

Wright, on meaning of "run to and fro", 311


Xenophon, on Cyrus, 206

Xerxes' host, Æschylus on, 323


Years, the 1260, of Daniel's prophecy, 131-137


Zinzendorf, a Sabbath keeper, 180

Zinzendorf, Nikolaus, poem by, 227