{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_18503/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_18503","id":"gutenberg_18503","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18503","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Prophecies","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Josephine Paolucci\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOUR DAY\n\nIn the Light of Prophecy\n\n[Illustration: JESUS WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM\n\n\"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things\nwhich belong unto thy peace!\" Luke 19:42.]\n\n\n\n\nOUR DAY\n\nIn the Light of Prophecy\n\n\nBy W.A. SPICER\n\n\n \"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our\n learning, that we through patience and comfort of the\n Scriptures might have hope.\" Rom. 15:4.\n\n\nSOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION\nNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE\nFORT WORTH, TEXAS ATLANTA, GEORGIA\n\nCopyrighted, 1917, by\nREVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION\n\nCopyrighted in London, England\nAll Rights Reserved\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE BOOK THAT SPEAKS TO OUR DAY 13\n\nTHE WITNESS OF THE CENTURIES 25\n\nPROPHETIC OUTLINE OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY 39\n\nTHE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 51\n\nSIGNS OF THE APPROACHING END 65\n\nTHE LISBON EARTHQUAKE OF 1755 79\n\nTHE DARK DAY OF 1780 85\n\nTHE FALLING STARS OF 1833 93\n\nTHE MEANING OF PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS 105\n\nTHE HISTORIC PROPHECY OF DANIEL 7 117\n\nTHE 1260 YEARS OF DANIEL'S PROPHECY 131\n\nDAWN OF A NEW ERA 139\n\nTHE WORK OF THE \"LITTLE HORN\" POWER 145\n\nTHE BIBLE SABBATH 159\n\nGLIMPSES OF SABBATH KEEPING AFTER NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 173\n\nTHE LAW OF GOD 183\n\nJUSTIFICATION BY FAITH 191\n\nBAPTISM 199\n\nTHE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 8 205\n\nTHE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY IN TYPE AND ANTITYPE 213\n\nA GREAT PROPHETIC PERIOD 219\n\nTHE PROPHECY FULFILLED 229\n\nA WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT 239\n\nTHE JUDGMENT-HOUR MESSAGE 247\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF EVIL 257\n\nSPIRITUALISM: ANCIENT AND MODERN 265\n\nLIFE ONLY IN CHRIST 275\n\nTHE END OF THE WICKED 287\n\nANGELS: THEIR MINISTRY 295\n\nTHE TIME OF THE END 303\n\nTHE EASTERN QUESTION 321\n\nARMAGEDDON 337\n\nTHE MILLENNIUM 351\n\nTHE HOME OF THE SAVED 361\n\n\n\n\nFULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nJESUS WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM _Frontispiece_\n\nTHE GOOD SHEPHERD 12\n\nHEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT 16\n\nCHRIST'S WEAPON OF DEFENSE--THE WORD OF GOD 19\n\nON THE WAY TO EMMAUS 24\n\nTHE GREAT IMAGE 38\n\nBABYLON IN HER GLORY 40\n\nTHE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL 42\n\nTHE ASCENSION OF CHRIST 50\n\nCHRIST COMING IN GLORY 58\n\nCHRIST ANSWERING HIS DISCIPLES' QUESTIONS 64\n\nTHE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY THE ROMANS UNDER TITUS, A.D. 70 68\n\nTHE CATACOMBS NEAR ROME 72\n\nLISBON FROM ACROSS THE BAY 78\n\nMIDDAY AT SEA, MAY 19, 1780 84\n\nTHE GREAT METEORIC SHOWER, NOV. 13, 1833 92\n\nTHE SIGN OF FIRE 98\n\nSATAN OFFERS GOLD, AND THE WORLD STAMPEDES TO ITS\nDESTRUCTION 104\n\nA FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT 108\n\nTHE SUNSET HOUR 114\n\nPHILIP AND THE EUNUCH 116\n\nROME ON THE TIBER 124\n\nTHE INVASION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE BY THE HUNS 128\n\nRAISING THE SIEGE OF ROME, A.D. 538 130\n\nSTORMING OF THE BASTILLE PRISON IN PARIS 138\n\nTHE TRIPLE CROWN 144\n\nTHE LOVE OF POWER--THE POWER OF LOVE 146\n\nCHRISTIANS IN PRISON BENEATH THE COLOSSEUM AWAITING\nMARTYRDOM 148\n\nTHE SHAME OF RELIGIOUS WARS 152\n\nCHRIST AND THE SCRIBES 158\n\nTHE SABBATH FROM EDEN TO EDEN 168\n\nCHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES IN THE CORN-FIELDS 172\n\nWALDENSES HUNTED BY THE ARMIES OF ROME 176\n\nTHE GIFT OF GOD 190\n\nTHE BAPTISM OF CHRIST 198\n\nSYMBOLS OF MEDO-PERSIA AND GRECIA 204\n\nTHE CAMP OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS 210\n\nOUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST 212\n\nARTAXERXES SENDING THE JEWS TO REBUILD\nJERUSALEM, B.C. 457 218\n\nREBUILDING JERUSALEM 224\n\nTHE ANOINTING OF JESUS AT HIS BAPTISM 228\n\nTHE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST 232\n\nTHE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE 238\n\nA CHRISTIAN MOTHER EXHORTING HER DAUGHTER TO\nMARTYRDOM 246\n\nLUCIFER PLOTTING AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD 256\n\nTHE REDEMPTION PRICE 260\n\nSAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR 264\n\nTHE SALEM WITCHCRAFT 270\n\n\"HE IS RISEN\" 274\n\nLOT FLEEING FROM SODOM 286\n\nPETER DELIVERED FROM PRISON 294\n\nJACOB'S DREAM IN BETHEL 298\n\nMODERN INVENTIONS FULFILLING PROPHECY 302\n\nTHE HOE DOUBLE OCTUPLE PRESS 316\n\nFORTIFICATIONS ON THE BOSPORUS 320\n\nMODERN JERUSALEM 329\n\nTHE GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON 336\n\nUNITED STATES BATTLESHIP \"NEVADA\" 340\n\nMOSES VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND 360\n\nTHE SAINTS' ETERNAL HOME 366\n\nTHE MASTER AT THE DOOR 369\n\n\n[Illustration: \"FOUNDED UPON A ROCK\"\n\n\"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.\" Ps.\n119:105.]\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nThese are eventful times. With history-making changes passing rapidly\nbefore men's eyes, the questions press upon thoughtful minds in all\nlands, What do these things mean? What next in the program of\nworld-shaping events?\n\nLike a great searchlight shining across the centuries, the sure Word of\nProphecy focuses its bright beams upon Our Day. In this light we see\nclearly the trend of events, and may understand what comes next in the\nprogram of history fulfilling prophecy.\n\nIn the Volume of the Book the living God speaks to Our Day of events of\nthe past that have a lesson for the present, and of things to come.\nDivine prophecy fulfilled before men's eyes is God's challenge to\nunbelief. The Word of Holy Writ has been the guiding light through all\nthe ages. It is the lamp to our feet today.\n\n \"Steadfast, serene, unmovable, the same,\n Year after year,...\n Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame;\n Shines on that inextinguishable light.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE GOOD SHEPHERD\n\n\"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.\" John 1:14.]\n\n[Illustration: \"PEACE BE TO THIS HOUSE\"\n\n\"If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and\nwill sup with him, and he with Me.\" Rev. 3:20.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK THAT SPEAKS TO OUR DAY\n\n\nMan may write a true book, but only God, the source of life, can write a\nliving book. \"The word of God ... liveth and abideth forever.\" 1 Peter\n1:23. The Bible is the living word of God. We look at the volume; we\nhold it in our hands. It is like other books in form and printer's art.\nBut the voice of God speaks from these pages, and the word spoken is\nalive. It is able to do in the heart that receives it what can be done\nonly by divine power.\n\n\nThe Book That Talks\n\nFar in the heart of Africa a missionary read to the people in their own\nlanguage from the translated Word of God. \"See!\" they cried; \"see! the\nbook talks! The white man has a book that talks!\" With that simplicity\nof speech so common to children of nature, they had exactly described\nit. This is a book that talks. What the wise man says of its counsels\nthrough parents to children, is true of all the book: \"When thou goest,\nit shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when\nthou awakest, it shall talk with thee.\" Prov. 6:22.\n\nHere is companionship, faithful and true, a blessed guide and guardian\nand friend.\n\n \"Holy Bible! book divine!\n Precious treasure, thou art mine!\"\n\n\nGod Its Author\n\nThe sixty-six books of Holy Scripture were written by many penmen, over\na space of fifteen centuries; yet it is one book, and one voice speaks\nthrough all its pages. Spurgeon once said of his experience with this\nbook:\n\n \"When I see it, I seem to hear a voice springing up from it,\n saying, 'I am the book of God; man, read me. I am God's\n writing; open my leaf, for I was penned by God; read it, for He\n is my author.'\"\n\nThis book declares of itself: \"All scripture is given by inspiration of\nGod.\" 2 Tim. 3:16. \"The prophecy came not in old time by the will of\nman: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.\" 2\nPeter 1:21. As the rugged verse of the old hymn puts it:\n\n \"Let all the heathen writers join\n To form one perfect book:\n Great God, if once compared with Thine,\n How mean their writings look!\n\n \"Not the most perfect rules they gave\n Could show one sin forgiven,\n Nor lead a step beyond the grave;\n But Thine conducts to heaven.\"\n\nIt is the voice of the Almighty. Very different it is from the sacred\nbooks of the non-Christian religions. In those writings it is man\nspeaking about God; in the Holy Scriptures it is God speaking to man.\nThe difference is as great as heaven is higher than earth. Here it is\nnot man groping in the darkness after God. In this book of God's\nrevelation we see the divine arm reaching down to save the lost, and\nhear the voice of the loving Father calling to His children, every one\nand everywhere. \"Incline your ear,\" He calls; \"hear, and your soul shall\nlive.\" Isa. 55:3.\n\n\nThe Word That Creates\n\nWe must have something more than instruction; we must have a word of\npower that is able to tell of sins forgiven, and to conduct us beyond\nthe grave to heaven. One of the greatest of China's sages, Mencius,\nsaid, \"Instruction can impart information, but not the power to\nexecute.\" That touches the crucial point. We must have instruction that\ncan come with power divine to execute. We have it only in God's words.\nChrist said: \"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth\nnothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are\nlife.\" John 6:63.\n\nThe words of God are living words. When God spoke in the beginning, \"Let\nthere be light,\" lo, the light sprang out of the darkness. There was\npower in the word spoken to bring forth. \"Let the earth bring forth\ngrass,\" was the word of the Lord: and the earth was carpeted with its\nfirst rich greensward. So through all the work of creation, the creative\npower was in the word spoken.\n\n\"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them\nby the breath of His mouth.\" \"He spake, and it was done; He commanded,\nand it stood fast.\" Ps. 33:6, 9.\n\nEven so, when this word speaks instruction to man, there is creative\npower in the word, if received, to work mightily in the soul that is\ndead in trespasses and sins. Man must be born again, be re-created. That\nwe know; for Christ says, \"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man\nbe born again [\"from above,\" margin], he cannot see the kingdom of God.\"\nJohn 3:3.\n\nAnd the word of God--the Bible from heaven--received by faith, is the\nagency by which this new birth \"from above\" is wrought. This is the\ndeclaration of our text: \"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but\nof incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.\"\n1 Peter 1:23.\n\n[Illustration: HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT\n\n\"Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.\" Matt. 8:8.]\n\n\nThe Word That Works Within\n\nNot only does the word of God give the new birth, making the believer a\nnew man,--the past forgiven and a new heart within,--but the word that\nre-creates abides in the believing heart that studies it and clings to\nit, to work in the life with actual power that is not of the man\nhimself. To the Thessalonians, who had \"turned to God from idols to\nserve the living and true God,\" the apostle wrote:\n\n\"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye\nreceived the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the\nword of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually\nworketh also in you that believe.\" 1 Thess. 2:13.\n\nThe word itself works within, and works effectually. There is nothing\nmechanical about it. The mere letter profits nothing. The Bible on the\ncenter table, unstudied and unloved, has no magic power. But God\npromises to abide by His Spirit of power in the heart that listens to\nHis voice and trembles at His word. Jesus Himself tells us the secret of\nthis power of the word to work in the believing heart:\n\n\"If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him,\nand we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.\" John 14:23.\n\nNo wonder, then, that believing and receiving the word brings divine\npower into the life, making it possible for transformations of character\nto be wrought, for victories to be won and obedience rendered to every\ncommand of God.\n\nSimply believing God's word touches the current of everlasting power,\neven as the trolley arm of the electric car reaches up and touches the\ncurrent of power flowing through the wire overhead. The faith that\ntakes the living word brings the power divine into the heart to move all\nthe spiritual mechanism of life's service.\n\n\nThe Word Our Safety and Defense\n\nWhen Christ came to live as our example in the flesh, and to give His\nlife a sacrifice for sin, He, the divine Son of God, made Himself like\nunto His brethren. \"I can of Mine own self do nothing,\" He said. John\n5:30. Tempted and tried, He found His defense in the Holy Scriptures.\nWhen Satan came to tempt Him to sin, the Saviour said, \"It is written.\"\nHe clung to the sure defense. Again the tempter came. He was met with\nthe word, \"It is written again.\" The third time it was the same weapon\nof defense, \"It is written.\" Matt. 4:1-11.\n\nChrist found safety only in the Scriptures of truth. So the Bible is the\nChristian's shield against the enemy's attacks. As Jesus studied the\nScriptures and kept the words ever in His heart for a defense against\ntemptation, so must every Christian study and meditate upon God's Holy\nWord if its counsels and precepts are to be his defense in the moment of\nsudden temptation to sin. \"Thy word have I hid in mine heart,\" said the\npsalmist, \"that I might not sin against Thee.\" Ps. 119:11. It was the\nonly way for Christ, our Pattern; it is the only way for us.\n\n\nThe Bread of Life\n\nThe word of God is the daily food for the soul. \"It is written, Man\nshall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of\nthe mouth of God.\" Matt. 4:4.\n\nWho has not, in hurried times, missed a meal, working on through the\nday, never thinking of the prolonged fast? But after a time there came a\nsense of weakening force, a lack of physical power. What was the\ntrouble? At once the reason was evident--one had not taken food, and\nthe system was calling for a renewal of its forces. Just so the\nspiritual life must needs be fed by the word of God.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST'S WEAPON OF DEFENSE--THE WORD OF GOD\n\n\"Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord\nthy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.\" Matt. 4:10.]\n\nDo we at times feel a sense of weakening of the spiritual power, a\nletting down of the vital forces of the soul? Ah, in the hurry of life\nwe have neglected to feed upon the living bread. We can no more sustain\nspiritual vigor and health without feeding daily upon God's Holy Word\nthan we can maintain physical power without eating our daily bread. Eat\nof the life-giving word. The taste for it grows with the partaking.\n\nThere is life in \"every word.\" The psalmist found the Lord's testimonies\n\"sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb,\" or, as the marginal reading\nhas it, than \"the dropping of honeycombs.\" Ps. 19:10. We get the picture\nof the honeycomb inverted, the cell caps broken open, the sweetness\ndripping down. Just so every word of the Lord is a cell full of\nsweetness and life for the soul that feasts upon the Holy Scriptures.\n\n\nThe Source of All Doctrine\n\nThe Bible is the complete and perfect rule of faith and doctrine. Here\nevery doctrine of salvation is found. Inspiration has declared it in the\nwords of the apostle Paul to Timothy:\n\n\"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to\nmake thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.\nAll Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for\ndoctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:\nthat the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good\nworks.\" 2 Tim. 3:15-17.\n\nThe divine command is, \"Study.\" For every generation there has been a\nmessage borne by this living word, making call to reformation of life,\nor giving warning and comfort. \"The Bible is not a collection of truths\nformulated in propositions,\" said Dr. Samuel Harris, of Yale, \"but\nGod's majestic march through history, redeeming men from sin.\"\n\nIn every age God has been ruling and overruling, witnessing by His\nSpirit through the living word. The experiences recorded of past ages\nhave their special lesson for the present time:\n\n\"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,\nthat we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.\"\nRom. 15:4.\n\n\"Let vs therfore all with feruent desyre,\" as the Old English of 1549\nspelled the exhortation of Erasmus, \"thyrste after these spirituall\nsprynges.... Let vs kisse these swete wordes of Christ with a pure\naffeccion. Let vs be newe transformed into them, for soche are oure\nmaners as oure studies be.\"\n\n\nThe Book for All Mankind\n\nIt speaks in every tongue to the human heart. Its power to transform has\nbeen shown through all the centuries in every clime and among every\nrace. One of the Gospels was put into the Chiluba tongue of Central\nAfrica. After a time a Garenganze chief came to Dan Crawford, the\nmissionary, changed from the spirit of a fierce, wicked barbarian to\nthat of a teachable child. Explaining his conversion, the chief said: \"I\nwas startled to find that Christ could speak Chiluba. I heard him speak\nto me out of the printed page, and what he said was, 'Follow me!'\"\n\nOf the Bible's universal speech to all mankind, Dr. Henry van Dyke has\nsaid:\n\n \"Born in the East, and clothed in Oriental form and imagery,\n the Bible walks the ways of all the world with familiar feet,\n and enters land after land to find its own everywhere. It has\n learned to speak in hundreds of languages to the heart of man.\n It comes into the palace to tell the monarch that he is the\n servant of the Most High, and into the cottage to assure the\n peasant that he is the son of God. Children listen to its\n stories with wonder and delight, and wise men ponder them as\n parables of life. It has a word of peace for the time of\n peril, a word of comfort for the day of calamity, a word of\n light for the hour of darkness. Its oracles are repeated in the\n assembly of the people, and its counsels whispered in the ear\n of the lonely. The wise and the proud tremble at its warnings,\n but to the wounded and penitent it has a mother's voice....\n\n \"Its great words grow richer, as pearls do when they are worn\n near the heart. No man is poor or desolate who has this\n treasure for his own. When the landscape darkens and the\n trembling pilgrim comes to the valley named the Shadow, he is\n not afraid to enter; he takes the rod and staff of Scripture in\n his hand; he says to friend and comrade, 'Good-by, we shall\n meet again,' and comforted by that support, he goes toward the\n lonely pass as one who climbs through darkness into\n light.\"--_The Century Magazine._\n\n[Illustration: RAISING JARIUS'S DAUGHTER\n\n\"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.\" John 1:4.]\n\nIn the days of His life on earth, Jesus was a welcome guest in humble\nhomes in Judea and Galilee. \"The common people heard Him gladly.\" His\npresence brought peace and comfort to the home. He is no longer with us\nin bodily presence; but He is the same Saviour still--\"Jesus Christ the\nsame yesterday, and today, and forever.\" Heb. 13:8. By His Spirit,\nthrough the living word of Holy Scripture, He enters the home where\nfaith receives Him, and speaks again the gracious salutation, \"Peace be\nto this house.\"\n\n\nChrist the Central Theme\n\nAll the Bible bears witness of Christ as the Saviour of the world. He\nHimself said of the Scriptures, \"They are they which testify of Me.\"\nJohn 5:39. \"To Him give all the prophets witness.\" Acts 10:43. We see\nHim as the coming Messiah in promise and prophecy, in type and shadow.\nHis is the divine, living personality standing out in every book that\nmakes up the Sacred Volume. As we read with loving heart, the Author\nseems near in every page.\n\n \"Reading, methinks I bend\n Before the cross\n Where died my King, my Friend.\n The whole world's loss\n For love of Him is gain.\"\n\nAnd having beheld Him giving His life as the divine sacrifice, and\nrising in triumph over death to be our great High Priest in the heavenly\ntemple, as we read these Sacred Scriptures yet again, in every book,\nfrom Genesis to Revelation, we see Him as the coming King of kings,\ncoming to take His children to the eternal home of the saved. The whole\nbook is a bright window through which we gaze on coming glory.\n\n \"And yet again I stand\n Where the seer stood,\n Gazing across the strand,\n Beyond the flood:\n The gates of pearl afar,\n The streets of gold,\n The bright and morning Star\n Mine eyes behold.\"\n\n\"The Word of God ... liveth and abideth forever.\" 1 Peter 1:23. \"Heaven\nand earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.\" Matt.\n24:35.\n\n[Illustration: ON THE WAY TO EMMAUS\n\n\"Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all\nthe Scriptures the things concerning Himself.\" Luke 24:27.]\n\n[Illustration: THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM\n\n\"I am God,... declaring ... from ancient times the things that are not\nyet done.\" Isa. 46:9, 10.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE WITNESS OF THE CENTURIES\n\n\nThe Sure Word of Prophecy\n\n\"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye\ntake heed.\" 2 Peter 1:19.\n\nThe prophetic scriptures afford infallible evidence that the voice of\nthe living God speaks in Holy Writ. One of the distinguishing marks of\ndivinity is the power that foretells and records the course of history\nlong ages before the events come to pass.\n\n\nGod's Challenge\n\nGod's challenge to false religious systems in olden time was this:\n\n\"Declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come\nhereafter, that we may know that ye are gods.\" Isa. 41:22, 23.\n\nAnd all the gods of the nations were silent; for they are no gods. The\nLord alone, the one who speaks by the Holy Scriptures, is able to tell\nthe end from the beginning.\n\n\"I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the\nbeginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,\nsaying, My counsel shall stand.\" Isa. 46:9, 10.\n\nBy this means God has borne witness of Himself through the ages, that it\nmight be known that the Most High rules above all the kingdoms of men,\nand that men might recognize His purpose to put an end to sin and bring\neternal salvation to His people. \"I have spoken it,\" He declares, \"I\nwill also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.\"\n\nThe fulfilment of the word of prophecy in history is a fascinating\nstory. To the Lord, the future is an open book, even as the present. The\nword is spoken, telling of the event to come; it is written on the\nparchment scroll by the prophet's pen. Time passes; centuries come and\ngo. Then, when the hour of the prophecy arrives, lo, there appears the\nfulfilment. And it is seen in matters pertaining to individuals, as well\nas in the affairs of cities and empires.\n\n\nThe Word Fulfilled after Long Waiting\n\nIn the dream divinely given to the lad Joseph, it was plainly foretold\nthat his brothers would one day come as suppliants before him. His\nfather rebuked him for telling the dream, saying, \"Shall I and thy\nmother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the\nearth?\" Gen. 37:10. The brothers sold the lad into slavery, to be well\nrid of him. Yet twenty years later, all unconscious of his identity,\nthese same brethren presented themselves before the prime minister of\nEgypt, and \"fell before him on the ground.\" Gen. 44:14.\n\nAgain: the wicked stronghold of Jericho had been utterly destroyed.\nJoshua declared:\n\n\"Cursed be the man ... that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he\nshall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest\nson shall he set up the gates of it.\" Joshua 6:26.\n\nThe hands of angels had thrown down its walls, and its ruin was to stand\nas a memorial. More than five hundred years later, when the apostate\nAhab was ruling, and Israel and Judah had departed from the Lord, Hiel\nthe Bethelite set out to rebuild Jericho. \"He laid the foundation\nthereof in Abiram his first-born.\"\n\nBut accident and death may come at any time. The work on the walls went\non, no one thinking of the neglected Scriptures with their warning of\nlong ago. So the full account runs:\n\n\"He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the\ngates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the\nLord, which He spake by Joshua the son of Nun.\" 1 Kings 16:34.\n\nThe fate of some of the mightiest cities the world ever saw has borne\ntestimony through the centuries to the fulfilment of the prophetic word.\n\n\nThe Witness of Nineveh\n\nNineveh was founded by Nimrod. He built not only his capital here by the\nTigris, but other towns round about, conceiving first of all the idea of\ngrouping the capital and its suburbs into one great city, the \"Greater\nNineveh,\" as we would say in these days of Greater London and Greater\nNew York. At the dawn of history Nineveh was \"a great city.\" Gen. 10:11,\n12. In Jonah's day it was an \"exceeding great city.\"[A] Sennacherib, of\nthe Bible story, was its beautifier. Rawlinson says:\n\n \"The great palace which he raised at Nineveh surpassed in size\n and splendor all earlier edifices.\"--_\"Second Monarchy,\" chap.\n 9._\n\nA description is preserved on the clay cylinder in the king's own words:\n\n \"For the wonderment of multitudes of men\n I raised its head--'the palace which has no rival'\n I called its name.\"--_Taylor Cylinder, \"Records of the Past.\"\n Vol. XII, part 1_.\n\nAt the preaching of Jonah the city had repented; but in later years\npride of conquest and luxury and wealth were filling it with blood. The\nprophet Nahum warned it of certain doom, appealing to those who had any\nfear of God to turn to Him. The message was:\n\n[Illustration: THE SITE OF NINEVEH\n\n\"How is she become a desolation!\" Zeph. 2:15.]\n\n\"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth\nthem that trust in Him.\" Nahum 1:7.\n\nSome, no doubt, heeded the warning and turned to God for refuge. But the\ncity's life of sin ran on. Then the prophet Zephaniah spoke the word,\njust as the stroke was to fall:\n\n\"Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She\nobeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in\nthe Lord; she drew not near to her God.\" Zeph. 3:1, 2.\n\nProphecies uttered against the mighty city had declared:\n\n\"He will make an utter end of the place thereof.\" \"The palace shall be\ndissolved [\"molten,\" margin].\" \"She is empty, and void, and waste.\"\nNahum 1:8; 2:6, 10. \"How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts\nto lie down in!\" Zeph. 2:15.\n\nThe Medes and the Babylonians overthrew Nineveh. The king immolated\nhimself in his burning (\"molten\") palace. Nineveh became a desolation.\nDescribing a battle that took place there in the seventh century of our\nera, between the Romans and the Persians, the historian Gibbon bears\ntestimony to the fact that it has indeed become \"empty, and void, and\nwaste:\"\n\n \"Eastward of the Tigris, at the end of the bridge of Mosul, the\n great Nineveh had formerly been erected: the city, and even the\n ruins of the city, had long since disappeared; the vacant place\n afforded a spacious field for the operations of the two\n armies.\"--_\"The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman\n Empire,\" chap. 46, par. 24._\n\nAnd to this day, the site of Nineveh is pointed out across the river\nfrom Mosul, only mounds of ruins, these almost obliterated by the\ndrifting sands of centuries. The word spoken is fulfilled, though at the\ntime it was spoken it little seemed to proud and prosperous Nineveh that\nsuch a fate could ever be hers.\n\n \"Before me rise the walls\n Of the Titanic city,--brazen gates,\n Towers, temples, palaces enormous piled,--\n Imperial Nineveh, the earthly queen!\n In all her golden pomp I see her now,\n Her swarming streets, her splendid festivals.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"Again I look,--and lo!...\n Her walls are gone, her palaces are dust,--\n The desert is around her, and within\n Like shadows have the mighty passed away.\"\n\nFrom Nineveh's mounds we seem to hear a voice that says: \"All flesh is\nas grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass\nwithereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord\nendureth forever.\" 1 Peter 1:24, 25.\n\n\nThe Burden of Tyre\n\n[Illustration: TYRE BY THE SEA\n\n\"They shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers.\" Eze.\n26:4.]\n\nTyre was the greatest maritime city of antiquity. Its inhabitants, the\nPhoenicians, traded in the ports of all the known world. Ezekiel\ndescribes the heart of the seas as its borders. \"Thy builders have\nperfected thy beauty,\" he says. He tells how all countries traded in its\nmarts and contributed to its wealth. And then, obeying the word of the\nLord, the prophet bears a message of rebuke and warning,--\"the burden of\nTyre,\"--and pronounces the coming judgment:\n\n\"Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will\ncause many nations to come up against thee.... And they shall destroy\nthe walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her\ndust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place\nfor the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it,\nsaith the Lord God.\" Eze. 26:3-5.\n\nThe accounts of travelers bear witness that the prophecy has been\nfulfilled. As to the site of the island city of Ezekiel's day, Bruce,\nnearly a century ago, said that he found it a \"rock whereon fishers dry\ntheir nets.\" (See \"Keith on the Prophecies,\" p. 329.)\n\nIn more recent times, Dr. W.M. Thomson found the whole region of Tyre\nsuggestive only of departed glory:\n\n \"There is nothing here, certainly, of that which led Joshua to\n call it 'the strong city' more than three thousand years ago\n (Joshua 19:29),--nothing of that mighty metropolis which\n baffled the proud Nebuchadnezzar and all his power for thirteen\n years, until 'every head' in his army 'was made bald, and every\n shoulder was peeled,' in the hard service against Tyrus (Eze.\n 29:18),--nothing in this wretched roadstead and empty harbor to\n remind one of the times when merry mariners did sing in her\n markets--no visible trace of those towering ramparts which so\n long resisted the utmost efforts of the great Alexander. All\n have vanished utterly like a troubled dream, and Tyre has sunk\n under the burden of prophecy.... As she is now, and has long\n been, Tyre is God's witness; but great, powerful, and populous,\n she would be the infidel's boast. This, however, she cannot be.\n Tyre will never rise from her dust to falsify the voice of\n prophecy.\n\n \"Dim is her glory, gone her fame,\n Her boasted wealth has fled;\n On her proud rock, alas! her shame,\n The fisher's net is spread.\n The Tyrian harp has slumbered long,\n And Tyria's mirth is low;\n The timbrel, dulcimer, and song\n Are hushed, or wake to woe.\"\n\n --_\"The Land and the Book,\" Vol. II, pp. 626, 627._\n\n\nThe Desolation of Babylon\n\nYet another city of ancient times there was, the mightiest of them all,\nwhose fate was a subject of prophecy, and whose history bears special\ntestimony for us today; for, more than any other, the Lord used that\ncity as a symbol of the pride of life and the exaltation of the selfish\nheart against God.\n\nLet us study briefly the desolations pronounced upon Babylon of old.\n\n[Illustration: BABYLON IN THE DUST\n\n\"Babylon shall become heaps,... without an inhabitant.\" Jer. 51:37.]\n\nWhile Babylon was still the mightiest city of the world, with the period\nof greatest glory yet before it, the Lord revealed its ignoble end. By\nthe prophet Isaiah He declared:\n\n\"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency,\nshall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be\ninhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation:\nneither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds\nmake their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there;\nand their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall\ndwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the\nislands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their\npleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not\nbe prolonged.\" Isa. 13:19-22.\n\nNever could a more doleful future have been pictured for a city full of\nsplendor, the metropolis of the world. About one hundred and\nseventy-five years after this word was written on the parchment scroll,\nthe Medes and Persians were at the gates of Babylon. Her time had come,\nand Chaldea's rule was ended.\n\n \"Fallen is the golden city! in the dust,\n Spoiled of her crown, dismantled of her state.\n She that hath made the Strength of Towers her trust,\n Weeps by her dead, supremely desolate!\n\n \"She that beheld the nations at her gate\n Thronging in homage, shall be called no more\n 'Lady of Kingdoms!'--Who shall mourn her fate?\n Her guilt is full, her march of triumph o'er.\"\n\nBut still, under Medo-Persia, and later under the Greeks, the city\nitself was populous and prosperous and beautiful. The skeptic of the\ntime may have pointed to it as evidence that here, at least, the Hebrew\nprophet had missed the mark.\n\nApollonius, the sage of Tyana, who lived in the days of Nero and the\napostles, has left an account of Babylon as he saw it, as late as the\nfirst century of our era. Still the Euphrates swept beneath its walls,\ndividing the city into halves, with great palaces on either side. He\nsays:\n\n \"The palaces are roofed with bronze, and a glitter goes off\n from them; but the chambers of the women and of the men and the\n porticoes are adorned partly with silver, and partly with\n golden tapestries or curtains, and partly with solid gold in\n the form of pictures.\"\n\nAnd of the king's judgment hall he reported:\n\n \"The roof had been carried up in the form of a dome, to\n resemble in a manner the heavens, and that it was roofed with\n sapphire, a stone that is very blue and like heaven to the eye;\n and there were images of the gods, which they worship, fixed\n aloft, and looking like golden figures shining out of the\n ether.\"--_Philostratus, \"Life of Apollonius,\" book 1, chap.\n 25._\n\nEvidently Babylon was still \"the land of graven images,\" and the\ndesolation foretold by the prophet had not yet befallen its palaces. But\nthat prophetic word, written eight hundred years before, was still upon\nthe scroll of the Book, the sure Word of God, who sees the end from the\nbeginning.\n\n[Illustration: EGYPT'S GLORY DEPARTED\n\n\"The idols of Egypt shall be moved.\" Isa. 19:1.]\n\nThe view given us by Apollonius is perhaps the last glimpse we have of\nBabylon's passing glory. Even then for centuries the walls had been a\nquarry from which stones were drawn for Babylon's rival, Seleucia, on\nthe Tigris. And Strabo, the Greek geographer, who also wrote in the\nfirst century, had described Babylon as \"in great part deserted,\"\nadding,\n\n \"No one would hesitate to apply to it what one of the comic\n writers said of Megalopolitae, in Arcadia, 'The great city is a\n great desert.'\"--_\"Geography,\" book 16, chap. 1._\n\nAlready pagan writers had begun to describe its condition in the terms\nof the prophecy uttered so long before. And now what is its state? The\ndoom foretold has fallen heavy upon the city, upon its palaces, and\n\"upon the graven images of Babylon.\" For a century and more, travelers'\naccounts have frequently borne witness to the exact fulfilment of the\nprophecy in the remarkable desolations of that city, once mistress of\nthe world.\n\n\"Babylon shall become heaps,\" said the prophecy, \"and owls shall dwell\nthere.\" This is what Mr. Layard, the English archeologist, found on his\nvisit in 1845:\n\n \"Shapeless heaps of rubbish cover for many an acre the face of\n the land.... On all sides, fragments of glass, marble, pottery,\n and inscribed brick are mingled with that peculiar nitrous and\n blanched soil, which, bred from the remains of ancient\n habitations, checks or destroys vegetation, and renders the\n site of Babylon a naked and a hideous waste. Owls [which are of\n a large gray kind, and often found in flocks of nearly a\n hundred] start from the scanty thickets, and the foul jackal\n skulks through the furrows.\"--_\"Discoveries Among the Ruins of\n Nineveh and Babylon,\" chap. 21, p. 413._\n\nThe prophecy said, \"Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there.\" The\nwords might be construed to mean that the famous site would never become\nthe place of a Bedouin village. But it is literally true, say travelers,\nthat the Arabs avoid the place even for the temporary pitching of their\ntents. They consider the spot under a curse. They call the ruins\n_Mudjelibe_, \"the Overturned.\" (See \"Encyclopedia of Islam,\" art.\n\"Babil.\")\n\nAs late as 1913, Missionary W.C. Ising visited the site where Professor\nKoldeway was excavating the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace. He wrote:\n\n \"Involuntarily one is reminded of the prophecy in the\n thirteenth of Isaiah and many other places, which, in course of\n time, have been fulfilled to the letter. No one is living on\n the site of ancient Babylon, and whatever Arabs are employed by\n the excavators have built their mud huts in the bed of the\n ancient river, which at the present time is shifted half a mile\n farther west.\"--_European Division Quarterly, Fourth Quarter,\n 1913._\n\n\nEgypt and Edom\n\nThe massive ruins by the Nile bear witness to prophecy fulfilled. When\nEgypt rivaled Babylon, the word was spoken: \"It shall be the basest of\nthe kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations.\"\nEze. 29:15. It was not utterly to pass, as Babylon, but to continue in\ninferior state. Thus it came to pass. Once populous Edom, famed for\nwisdom and counsel, now lies desolate, according to the word: \"Edom\nshall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished.\"\nJer. 49:17.\n\n\nThe Testimony of History\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF EDOM\n\n\"Edom shall be a desolate wilderness.\" Joel 3:19.]\n\nThus the centuries bear testimony to the fulfilment of the prophetic\nword. The panorama of all human history moves before us in these\nwritings of the prophets. Flinging their \"colossal shadows\" across the\npages of Holy Writ, as Farrar says, we see--\n\n \"The giant forms of empires on their way\n To ruin.\"\n\nIt is no human book that thus from primitive times forecasts the march\nof history through the ages.\n\nThe Lord not only spoke the word in warning and entreaty for those to\nwhom it first came, but it is written in the Scriptures of truth as a\ntestimony to all time, that the Bible is the word of God, and that all\nHis purposes revealed therein and all the promises of the blessed Book\nare certain and sure. The prophets who bore messages from God to\nNineveh, and Babylon, and Tyre, spoke messages also for our day.\n\nFulfilled prophecy is the testimony of the centuries to the living God.\nThe evidence of prophecy and its fulfilment is God's challenge and\nappeal to men to acknowledge Him as the true God and the Holy Scriptures\nas His word from heaven.\n\n\"I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went\nforth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they\ncame to pass. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an\niron sinew, and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared\nit to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee.... Thou hast heard,\nsee all this; and will not ye declare it?\" Isa. 48:3-6.\n\nSurely no one can look at the evidence in history of the fulfilment of\nprophecy without seeing that of a truth the One who spoke these words\nknew the end from the beginning; and finding the living God in the sure\nword of prophecy, one must be prepared to listen to His voice in all the\nScriptures, when it speaks of sin and the way of salvation through Jesus\nChrist.\n\nFurther, the prophetic word also has much to say of events yet future,\nof the course of history in modern times. It behooves us to give heed to\nwhat that word speaks concerning our own times and the events that are\nto take place upon the earth before the end. The apostle Peter exhorts\nus to the study in these words:\n\n\"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye\ntake heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day\ndawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.\" 2 Peter 1:19.\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT IMAGE\n\n\"He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to\npass.\" Dan. 2:29.]\n\n[Illustration: DANIEL INTERPRETING NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM\n\n\"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great Image.\" Dan. 2:31.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[A] \"In the book of Jonah,\" says _Records of the Past_, \"Nineveh is\nstated to have been an exceeding great city of three days' journey; and\nthat being the case, the explanation that Calah on the south and\nKhorsabad on the north were included seems very probable. The distance\nbetween these two extreme points is about thirty miles, which, at ten\nmiles a day, would take the time required.\"--_Vol. XII, part 1, January\nand February, 1913_.\n\n\n\n\nPROPHETIC OUTLINE OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY\n\nTHE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 2\n\n\n\"There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to\nthe king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.\"\n\nIn a dream by night the Lord gave to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a\nclear historical outline of the course of world empire to the end of\ntime and the coming of the eternal kingdom.\n\nThe king was a thoughtful monarch; and having reached the height of his\npower, he was one night meditating upon \"what should come to pass\nhereafter.\" Not for his sake alone, but for the enlightenment and\ninstruction of men in all time, the Lord answered the wondering question\nof the king's meditation by giving him the dream. \"He that revealeth\nsecrets,\" said Daniel the prophet, \"maketh known to thee what shall come\nto pass.\"\n\n[Illustration: BABYLON IN HER GLORY\n\n\"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees'\nexcellency.\" Isa. 13:19.]\n\nAnd that we may know at the beginning that there is nothing fanciful and\nuncertain about this great historic outline reaching to the end of the\nworld, we note first the assurance with which the prophet closed his\ninterpretation: \"The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof\nsure.\"\n\nThe details of the dream had been taken from the king's mind, while\nconviction as to the wondrous import of it remained. This was in God's\nprovidence, to show the folly of the worldly-wise men of Babylon, and to\nbring before the king the prophet of the Lord with a divine message. The\nprophet Daniel, under the inspiration of God, brought his dream again to\nthe king's mind:\n\n\"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose\nbrightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was\nterrible.\n\n\"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver,\nhis belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of\niron and part of clay.\n\n\"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote\nthe image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to\npieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the\ngold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer\nthreshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was\nfound for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great\nmountain, and filled the whole earth.\"\n\nThe prophet next declared the interpretation. And now follows the\nhistory of the world in miniature.\n\n\nBabylon\n\n\"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given\nthee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the\nchildren of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the\nheaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them\nall. Thou art this head of gold.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL\n\n\"Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.\" Dan.\n5:28.]\n\nThe parts of the image, then, of various metals, from head to feet,\nrepresented successive empires, beginning with Babylon; and the kingdom\nof Babylon, represented by Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold.\n\nHistory shows how fitly the golden head symbolizes the Babylonian\nkingdom. Long before, the prophet Isaiah had described it as \"the glory\nof kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency.\" Isa. 13:19. And\nnow, in Nebuchadnezzar's day, it was the golden age of the Babylonian\nkingdom. No such gorgeous city as its capital ever before stood on\nearth. And Nebuchadnezzar was the great leader of its conquests, and the\nbeautifier and builder of its walls and palaces. \"For the astonishment\nof men I have built this house,\" one tablet reads; and hundreds repeat\nthe story.\n\n \"Those portals\n for the astonishment of multitudes of people\n with beauty I adorned.\n In order that the battle storm\n to Imgur-Bel\n the wall of Babylon might\n not reach;\n what no king before me\n had done.\"--_East India House Inscription._\n\nThus Nebuchadnezzar's records of stone today repeat the proud boast\nfaithfully reported in the Scripture, \"Is not this great Babylon, that I\nhave built?\" Dan. 4:30. To the king it seemed that such a city could\nnever fall. One inscription reads:\n\n \"Thus I completely made strong the defenses of Babylon. May it\n last forever.\"--_Rawlinson, \"Fourth Monarchy,\" Appendix A._\n\n\nMedo-Persia\n\nBut the prophet Daniel, proceeding with the divine interpretation,\ninterrupted all such proud thoughts with the declaration, \"After thee\nshall arise another kingdom inferior to thee.\"\n\nNow the look was forward into the future. And the word came to pass.\nBabylon's decline was swift after Nebuchadnezzar's death. Daniel the\nprophet himself lived to interpret the handwriting on the wall at\nBelshazzar's feast:\n\n\"God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.... Thou art weighed in\nthe balances and art found wanting.... Thy kingdom is divided, and given\nto the Medes and Persians.\" Dan. 5:26-28.\n\nThe breast and arms of silver, in the great image, represented the\nMedo-Persian kingdom, which followed the Babylonian, \"inferior\" to it in\nbrilliancy and grandeur, as silver is inferior to gold. Medo-Persia,\nhowever, enlarged the borders of the world empire; and the names of\nCyrus and Darius are written among the mightiest conquerors of history.\n\nBut the prophet does not stop to dwell upon the grandeur of fleeting\nearthly kingdoms. The interpretation hastens on to reach the setting up\nof a kingdom that shall not pass away. Following Medo-Persia, a third\npower was to rise,\n\n\nGrecia\n\n\"And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the\nearth.\"\n\nThe \"third kingdom\" after Babylon was Grecia, which overthrew the empire\nof the Medes and Persians. And Grecia's dominion fulfilled the\nspecifications of the prophecy, which indicated a yet wider expansion of\nempire. Its sway was to be over \"all the earth,\" said Daniel the\nprophet, foretelling its history. Arrian, the Greek historian, writing\nafterward, said that Alexander of Greece seemed truly \"lord of all the\nearth;\" and he adds:\n\n \"I am persuaded there was no nation, city, nor people then in\n being whither his name did not reach; for which reason,\n whatever origin he might boast of, or claim to himself, there\n seems to me to have been some divine hand presiding both over\n his birth and actions.\"--_\"History of the Expedition of\n Alexander the Great,\" book 7, chap. 30._\n\nThe sides of brass in the great image represented Grecia, the brazen\nmetal itself being a fitting symbol of those \"brazen-mailed\" Greeks,\ncelebrated in ancient poetry and song,\n\n \"Among the foremost, armed in glittering brass.\"\n\n\nA Power Rising in the West\n\nWhile Grecia's supremacy under Alexander was disputed by none, there was\na power rising in the West that was soon to enter the lists for the\nprize of world dominion.\n\nSome of the ancient writers say that at the time of his death Alexander\nhad in mind to push westward to strike down the growing power of the\ncity of Rome, of which he had heard. Plutarch says that this man\nAlexander,\n\n \"who shot like a star, with incredible swiftness, from the\n rising to the setting sun, was meditating to bring the luster\n of his arms into Italy.... He had heard of the Roman power in\n Italy.\"--_\"Morals,\" chap. on \"Fortune of the Romans,\" par. 13._\n\nLucan, the ancient Roman poet, repeats the thought:\n\n \"Driven headlong on by Fate's resistless force,\n Through Asia's realms he took his dreadful course:\n His ruthless sword laid human nature waste,\n And desolation followed where he passed....\n\n \"Ev'n to the utmost west he would have gone,\n Where Tethys' lap receives the setting sun.\"\n\n --\"_Pharsalia._\"\n\nBut in the prime of his years, Alexander was cut down, and Rome had yet\nmore time in which to develop its strength preparatory to the deciding\ncontest for the mastery of all the world. Sure it is that after Grecia,\nthere followed the Roman Empire, the strongest and mightiest and most\ncrushing of them all. This fourth universal empire the prophet proceeded\nto describe, as represented by the legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar's\ndream of the great image.\n\n\nRome\n\n\"The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh\nin pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these,\nshall it break in pieces and bruise.\"\n\nHow appropriately the iron of the image fits the character of the fourth\ngreat empire! Gibbon, the historian, calls it \"the iron monarchy of\nRome.\" It broke in pieces the kingdoms, subduing all, just as prophecy\nhad declared so long before. As iron is strongest of the common metals,\nso according to the prophecy--\"as iron that breaketh all these\"--this\nfourth kingdom was to be more powerful than any before it. Strabo, the\ngeographer, who lived in the days of Tiberius Caesar, said,\n\n \"The Romans have surpassed (in power) all former rulers of whom\n we have any record.\"--_\"Geography,\" book 17, chap. 3._\n\nHippolytus, bishop and martyr, who lived in Rome in the third\ncentury,--under the \"iron monarchy,\"--wrote thus of this prophecy:\n\n \"Already the iron rules; already it subdues and breaks all in\n pieces; already it brings all the unwilling into subjection;\n already we see these things ourselves.\"--_\"Treatise on Christ\n and Antichrist,\" sec. 33._\n\nHippolytus also saw clearly from the prophecy that the empire of his day\nwould be divided, and he wrote of the kingdoms that were \"yet to rise\"\nout of it. For Daniel's interpretation explained clearly the meaning of\nthe mingling of clay with the iron in the feet and toes of the great\nimage.\n\n\nThe Kingdoms of Modern Europe\n\n\"Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part\nof iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the\nstrength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry\nclay.\n\n\"And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the\nkingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.\n\n\"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle\nthemselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to\nanother, even as iron is not mixed with clay.\"\n\n\"The kingdom shall be divided.\" So declared the prophet of God. In the\nheight of its power, Rome scouted the thought that so mighty a fabric\ncould ever be broken up. Horace sang in his \"Odes,\"\n\n \"How, added to a conquered world,\n Euphrates 'bates his tide,\n And Huns, beyond our frontiers hurled,\n O'er straitened deserts ride.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"The Goths beyond the sea may plot,\n The warlike Basques may plan;\n Friend, never heed them! vex thee not;\n For this our mortal span\n Of little wants.\"\n\n --_Book 2, Marris's Translation._\n\nBut the words were written on the ancient parchment in the days of\nBabylon, \"The kingdom shall be divided;\" and true to the word of the\nprophet, the Roman Empire fell apart with the mixture of nations and\npeoples that swept into it. The elements did not hold together, even as\nthe mixture of iron and clay in the image did not cleave together.\nBroken up by the invasions of fresh nations from the north, the Western\nEmpire was divided into lesser kingdoms, out of which have grown the\nmodern nations of western Europe.\n\nNot one word in the outline of the prophecy thus far has failed of\nfulfilment. These modern kingdoms growing out of divided Rome have never\nbeen reunited. \"They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men,\" said\nthe prophecy. Nearly all the reigning houses of Europe today are related\nby intermarriage; the prophecy said it would be so; but \"they shall not\ncleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.\" So we see\nit. No statesman, no master of legions, has been able to join these\nnations together again in one great empire. Charles V had the thought in\nmind, some think. Napoleon dreamed of doing it. But it was not to be.\nNevermore was there to be one universal monarchy.\n\nWe may know that as surely as the course of world empire has followed\nthe exact outline of the prophecy put on the inspired record in the days\nof Babylon of old, just so surely the specifications of the closing\nportion of the outline will be fulfilled.\n\nThe fourth great kingdom was to be divided. Rome was the fourth empire:\nit was divided. The kingdoms of the divided empire are acting their part\nbefore our eyes today.\n\n\nThe Next Great Event\n\nAnd what next? That is the question for us. Now the prophetic outline\nthat began with ancient Babylon touches the things of our own day. The\nword spoken before Nebuchadnezzar so long ago is now spoken especially\nto us:\n\n\"In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,\nwhich shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to\nother people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these\nkingdoms, and it shall stand forever.\n\n\"Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain\nwithout hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the\nclay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the\nking what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and\nthe interpretation thereof sure.\"\n\n\"In the days of these kings,\"--these kingdoms of our own time,--the next\ngreat world-changing event is to be the coming of Christ to begin the\nsetting up of his everlasting kingdom. That is the grand climax toward\nwhich all the course of history has been tending. At last the end is to\ncome.\n\n \"Down in the feet of iron and of clay,\n Weak and divided, soon to pass away;\n What will the next great, glorious drama be?--\n Christ and His coming, and eternity.\"\n\nAs the stone, cut out of the mountain \"without hands,\" smote the image,\nso that all its parts, representative of earthly dominion, were ground\nto dust and blown away, so Christ's coming kingdom, set up \"without\nhands,\" by no human power, but by the power of the eternal God, will end\nall earthly dominion and bring the utter destruction of sin and sinners\nout of the earth.\n\n\"The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.\"\n\nThen may all eyes well be turned toward the next great step foretold in\nthe prophetic outline--the coming of Christ's glorious everlasting\nkingdom, which shall not pass away.\n\n \"Look for the waymarks as you journey on,\n Look for the waymarks, passing one by one,\n Down through the ages, past the kingdoms four,--\n Where are we standing? Look the waymarks o'er.\"\n\n[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY MISSIONARY W.C. ISING\n\nRuins of the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, in which was the hall of\nBelshazzar's Feast.]\n\n[Illustration: THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST\n\n\"This same Jesus ... shall so come in like manner.\" Acts 1:11.\n\nCOPYRIGHT STANDARD PUB. CO.]\n\n[Illustration: THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM\n\n\"Behold, thy King cometh,... lowly, and riding upon an ass.\" Zech.\n9:9.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST\n\n\n\"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin\nunto salvation.\" Heb. 9:28.\n\nToo often the second coming of Christ is looked upon simply as a\ndoctrine. It is, however, more than a doctrine merely to be believed; it\nis an impending event, something that is to take place on earth, and the\nmost stupendous, all-transcendent event for the world since Christ came\nthe first time to die on Calvary for the sins of men.\n\nThis second coming of Christ, like His first coming, has been the theme\nof divine prophecy from the beginning. This was emphasized by the\napostle Peter in his second recorded sermon. He pressed upon the people\nof Jerusalem the fact that the things \"which God before had showed by\nthe mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer\" (Acts 3:18),\nhad been fulfilled to the letter before their eyes. Not a word had\nfailed. Just so, he said, all that the prophets had spoken of His second\ncoming would be fulfilled:\n\n\"He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom\nthe heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things,\nwhich God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the\nworld began.\" Acts 3:20, 21.\n\n\nThe Promise of His Coming\n\nAs iniquity began to abound, God sent a message to the antediluvian\nworld, declaring that Christ's coming in glory would end the reign of\nsin:\n\n\"Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold,\nthe Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment\nupon all.\" Jude 14, 15.\n\nThe promise of Christ's coming was the \"blessed hope\" in the patriarchal\nage. In Job's dark hour of trial his heart clung to the promise, and he\nwas kept from despair:\n\n\"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter\nday upon the earth: ... whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall\nbehold, and not another.\" Job 19:25-27.\n\nThe psalmist sang of it:\n\n\"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour\nbefore Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.\" Ps. 50:3.\n\nAnd the prophets of later times were unceasingly moved upon to talk of\nthe glory of that coming, of events preceding it, and of the preparation\nfor it.\n\n\"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold\ntheir peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not\nsilence.\" \"Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world,\nSay ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold,\nHis reward is with Him, and His work before Him.\" Isa. 62:6, 11.\n\nThe message of His coming is to be heralded to the ends of the earth;\nfor it is \"good tidings of great joy\" to every one who will receive it.\n\nOn that last night with His disciples before the crucifixion, when His\nheart was sorrowful even unto death, as the burden of all our\niniquities was about to be laid upon Him, Christ's love for His own made\nprecious to Him the thought of His second coming to gather them home at\nlast, safe from all sin and trouble; and He said:\n\n\"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.\nIn My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have\ntold you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a\nplace for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that\nwhere I am, there ye may be also.\" John 14:1-3.\n\nIn that assurance the heart finds rest. O the preciousness of the\npromise, \"I will come again\"! \"I am coming for you,\" is the cheering\nmessage. \"Yes, Lord,\" we reply, \"we will wait, and watch, and be ready,\nby Thy grace.\"\n\n\nThe Manner of His Coming\n\nChrist's second coming is to be visible to all the world. There is to be\nnothing secret or mystical about it. The revelator says:\n\n\"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.\" Rev. 1:7.\n\nChrist Himself described the scene to His disciples as it will appear to\nthe eyes of all:\n\n\"As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the\nwest; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.\" Matt. 24:27. \"Then\nshall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and\nglory.\" Mark 13:26.\n\nThe day of the Lord--the close of probation, the initial outpouring of\nthe judgments of God--will come \"as a thief in the night,\" but Christ's\npersonal appearing will be visible to all. The heavens will open, the\nearth quake, the trump of God resound, and such glory as mortal eye has\nnever seen will burst upon the world when He comes as King of kings and\nLord of lords.\n\n \"He comes not an infant in Bethlehem born,\n He comes not to lie in a manger;\n He comes not again to be treated with scorn,\n He comes not a shelterless stranger;\n He comes not to Gethsemane,\n To weep and sweat blood in the garden;\n He comes not to die on the tree,\n To purchase for rebels a pardon.\n Oh, no; glory, bright glory,\n Environs Him now.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE TRANSFIGURATION A TYPE OF HIS COMING\n\n\"Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him.\"\nMatt. 17:3.]\n\n\n\"This Same Jesus\"\n\nThe Lord would have His children understand that this One who comes in\npower and glory is the same Saviour of men who once walked by blue\nGalilee. As the disciples were watching their Saviour, and ours,\nascending bodily into heaven from Olivet, until \"a cloud received Him\nout of their sight,\" suddenly two angels stood by them, who said:\n\n\"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus,\nwhich is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as\nye have seen Him go into heaven.\" Acts 1:9, 11.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST SET AT NAUGHT BY THE ROMANS\n\n\"Behold your King!\" John 19:14.]\n\n\"This same Jesus\"! It was the loving Friend and Elder Brother, Son of\nman as well as Son of God, who was passing from their sight. He will\ncome back the \"same Jesus,\" though in glory indescribable, having \"all\nthe holy angels with Him.\"\n\nThe prophet Habakkuk thus described Christ's glorious appearing, as it\nwas represented to him in vision:\n\n \"His glory covered the heavens,\n And the earth was full of His praise.\n And His brightness was as the light;\n He had rays coming forth from His hand;\n And there was the hiding of His power.\"\n\n Hab. 3:3, 4, A.R.V.\n\nSurely it is the \"same Jesus,\" and the mark of the cruel nails is the\nshining badge of His power to save.\n\n \"I shall know Him\n By the print of the nails in His hands.\"\n\nAs the redeemed see Him who was crucified for them coming in glory, they\nwill cry, \"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save\nus: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and\nrejoice in His salvation.\" Isa. 25:9.\n\nBut that day will be a day of darkness as well as of light. The unready,\nthe unrepentant, will realize too late that in rejecting Christ's pardon\nand love and sacrifice, they have rejected the only means by which they\nmight have been prepared to meet the coming King, before whose face no\nsin can endure. \"Every eye shall see Him,\" the apostle says, and he\ndescribes the terror of that day to the unprepared:\n\n\"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the\nchief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free\nman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and\nsaid to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face\nof Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for\nthe great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?\"\nRev. 6:15-17.\n\nThe scenes of that great day are so beyond human comprehension that it\nis difficult to realize that such a time is actually before us.\n\n \"Then, O my Lord, prepare\n My soul for that great day.\"\n\n\nThe Purpose of His Coming\n\nThe Scriptures make very clear the purpose of Christ's second coming and\nthe events of that great day. It has been the hope of the children of\nGod through all the ages. The apostle Paul calls it the \"blessed hope.\"\n\n\"The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,\nteaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live\nsoberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that\nblessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our\nSaviour Jesus Christ.\" Titus 2:11-13.\n\nThe saints of God have fallen asleep in death with their faith reaching\nforward to Christ's glorious appearing. So the veteran apostle fell,\nwith eyes upon \"that day.\"\n\n\"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.\nI have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the\nfaith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,\nwhich the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not\nto me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.\" 2 Tim.\n4:6-8.\n\nChrist's second coming is the grand climax of the plan of salvation. Not\ntill then are the children of God ushered into the eternal kingdom. Then\nthe crowns of life are bestowed, and the saved all go together through\nthe gates into the city--patriarch and prophet, apostle and reformer,\nand the child of God of this last generation. Of the ancient worthies it\nis written:\n\n\"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not\nthe promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they\nwithout us should not be made perfect.\" Heb. 11:39, 40.\n\nWhat a glorious day it will be when the ransomed of all the ages, march\nin together through the gates into the city!\n\nIt is to take His children to their eternal home that Christ comes the\nsecond time. This was His promise to the disciples:\n\n\"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for\nyou, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am,\nthere ye may be also.\" John 14:2, 3.\n\nNot in detail, but in their general order, let us follow the events of\nthat great day.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST COMING IN GLORY\n\n\"The Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with\nHim.\" Matt. 25:31.]\n\n\nThe Prelude to His Coming\n\nas the revelator saw it and heard it in a vision of the last day:\n\n\"There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne,\nsaying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings;\nand there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon\nthe earth,... and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon\ncame in remembrance before God.\" Rev. 16:17-19.\n\n\"The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every\nmountain and island were moved out of their places.\" Rev. 6:14.\n\n\nHis Glorious Appearing\n\nThen bursts upon the world the glory of our Saviour's coming:\n\n\"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall\nall the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man\ncoming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall\nsend His angels with a great sound of a trumpet.\" Matt. 24:30, 31.\n\n\"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like\nunto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand\na sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a\nloud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap:\nfor the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is\nripe.\" Rev. 14:14, 15.\n\n\nThe Resurrection of the Just, and the Translation of the Living\nRighteous\n\nThe time to reap has come, and the wheat is gathered at last into the\ngarner of the Lord:\n\n\"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in\nthe twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall\nsound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be\nchanged.\" 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.\n\n\"He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they\nshall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of\nheaven to the other.\" Matt. 24:31.\n\n\"This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive\nand remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are\nasleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,\nwith the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead\nin Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be\ncaught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:\nand so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another\nwith these words.\" 1 Thess. 4:15-18.\n\n[Illustration: THE EMPTY TOMB\n\n\"Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His\ncoming.\" 1 Cor. 15:23.]\n\nThe righteous dead are raised to life as the trump of God sounds and the\nvoice of the Archangel calls to His sleeping saints, and the living\nrighteous are transformed from mortality to immortality. Then all\ntogether, with the escort of the angels, they follow the Saviour to the\nheavenly mansions that He has prepared in the city of God.\n\n\nThe Destruction of the Wicked\n\nBefore the glorious majesty of the coming King no sin can endure; for\ntrue it is that \"our God is a consuming fire\"--now, in the day of His\nmercy, consuming sin out of the heart that by faith approaches the\nthrone of grace, but in that day consuming the unrepentant sinner with\nhis sin.\n\n \"Where will the sinner hide in that day, in that day?\n Where will the sinner hide in that day?\n It will be in vain to call,\n 'Ye mountains on us fall!'\n For His hand will find out all in that day.\"\n\nIt is the great day long foretold by seer and prophet.\n\nAgain let us read the description of what it will mean to the unsaved to\nsee Christ coming in glory; for the terror of that day must warn us now\nto keep within the refuge of the Saviour's loving grace:\n\n\"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the\nchief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free\nman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and\nsaid to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face\nof Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for\nthe great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?\"\nRev. 6:15-17.\n\nThe same glory that transforms the righteous is a consuming fire to\nthose who have rejected Christ's salvation:\n\n\"Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with\nthe spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His\ncoming.\" 2 Thess. 2:8.\n\n\"When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty\nangels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and\nthat obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished\nwith everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the\nglory of His power.\" 2 Thess. 1:7-9.\n\n\nThe Climax of Human History\n\nThus the second coming of Christ brings the resurrection and translation\nof the righteous, the death of the wicked, and the end of the world. The\nresurrection of the wicked does not then take place, but only that of\nthe just; save for some of the wicked dead who had a special part in\nwarring against Christ,--\"they also which pierced Him\" (Rev. 1:7). These\nare raised to see His coming, necessarily to fall again before the\nconsuming glory of His presence.\n\nThe righteous are taken to reign with Christ in the heavenly city for a\nthousand years, and during the same period the earth lies in desolation\nand chaos, uninhabited by man, a dark abyss, the dreary prison house of\nSatan. Of the two resurrections, first of the just and then of the\nunjust, we are told:\n\n\"They [the righteous] lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.\nBut the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were\nfinished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that\nhath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no\npower.\" Rev. 20:4-6.\n\nIt is at the end of the thousand years that the resurrection of the\nwicked takes place. Then the city of God descends, \"the holy city, New\nJerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,\" and the wicked come\nforth to condemnation and the second death, from which there is no\nwaking.\n\n\n\"Now is the Accepted Time\"\n\nNow is the day of salvation, when by Christ's grace we may prepare for\nthat great day. To be found among His redeemed ones in that day will be\nof infinitely greater worth than anything this world can give, of\npleasure, or possessions, or honor. Nothing will count then but the\nblessed hope.\n\nSelina, Countess of Huntingdon, found the personal Saviour in the days\nof the Methodist revival in England. All her wealth and all her social\ninfluence were devoted to Christ, even though titled friends took\numbrage at her close association with the poor and the humble who gave\nheed to the message of the hour, and pressed into the kingdom. She wrote\nof her joy in being numbered with the children of God:\n\n \"I love to meet among them now,\n Before Thy gracious throne to bow,\n Though weakest of them all;\n Nor can I bear the piercing thought,\n To have my worthless name left out,\n When Thou for them shalt call.\n\n \"Prevent, prevent it by Thy grace.\n Be Thou, dear Lord, my hiding place\n In that expected day.\n Thy pardoning voice, O let me hear,\n To still each unbelieving fear,\n Nor let me fall, I pray.\"\n\nOne night, at a royal ball, the Prince of Wales asked a titled lady\nwhere the Countess of Huntingdon was. \"Oh, I suppose she is praying with\nsome of her beggars somewhere!\" was the flippant answer. \"Ah,\" said the\ncrown prince, \"in the last day I think I should be glad to hold the hem\nof Lady Huntingdon's mantle.\" True it is that the greatest gift of grace\nnow, as it will be then, is to be numbered among the obedient children\nof God.\n\n \"Let me among Thy saints be found,\n Whene'er the Archangel's trump shall sound,\n To see Thy smiling face;\n Then joyfully Thy praise I'll sing,\n While heaven's resounding mansions ring\n With shouts of endless grace.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST ANSWERING HIS DISCIPLES' QUESTIONS\n\n\"When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming,\nand of the end of the world?\" Matt. 24:3.]\n\n[Illustration: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE FORETOLD\n\n\"There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be\nthrown down.\" Matt. 24:2.]\n\n\n\n\nSIGNS OF THE APPROACHING END\n\nOUR SAVIOUR'S GREAT PROPHECY\n\n\nPart I\n\nChrist had spoken of the coming desolation of the sacred temple at\nJerusalem. The disciples were astonished. \"Master, see,\" said one, \"what\nmanner of stones and what buildings are here!\" The Saviour replied:\n\n\"Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone\nupon another, that shall not be thrown down\" Mark 13:2.\n\n\n\"What Shall be the Sign?\"\n\nAs soon as they were alone on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city,\nthe disciples came to Jesus, saying:\n\n\"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy\ncoming, and of the end of the world?\" Matt. 24:3.\n\nReplying to this question, the Saviour spoke first of the fall of\nJerusalem; He foretold in a sentence the experiences of His church\nthrough dark ages to follow; then He described the events of the latter\ndays, the signs showing His second advent near at hand; and, finally, He\npictured the scenes of His own glorious appearing in the clouds of\nheaven. The fullest record of the discourse is found in the\ntwenty-fourth chapter of Matthew.\n\n\nA Striking Parallel\n\nThe first portion of the prophetic discourse (verses 4-14) deals with\ngeneral conditions that were to prevail both in the last days of the\nJewish state, and on a yet larger scale in the course of history leading\nto the last days of the world. There was so close a parallel between\nthese times that Christ, in one description, answered both questions\nasked, When shall these things come upon Jerusalem? and, What shall be\nthe signs of the end of the world?\n\nThe prophetic word foretold the rise of false Christs, the coming of\nwars, famines, and earthquakes in \"divers places.\" The believers saw\nthese things fulfilled in that generation before Jerusalem fell; but as\nwe read the prophecy, we see the wider application and yet larger\nfulfilment through the course of history since that day, these\ncalamities increasing in the earth as the end draws near. Before the end\nof the Jewish state, the believers carried the gospel to all the known\nworld of their day. (See Col. 1:23.) In these latter days we are seeing\nthe yet wider proclamation of the gospel, as foretold in the fourteenth\nverse, \"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world\nfor a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.\"\n\n\nThe Last Days of Jerusalem\n\nWe may note briefly some of the events of Jerusalem's last days. Christ\nhad forewarned the believers:\n\n\"Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name,\nsaying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.\"\n\nHaving rejected the true Christ, the nation was open to deception by the\nfalse. We catch just a glimpse of the fulfilment in the book of Acts; in\nsecular history the full story is told. Ridpath says:\n\n \"Never was a people so turbulent, so excited with expectation\n of a deliverer who should restore the ancient kingdom, so fired\n with bigotry and fanaticism, as were the wretched Jews of this\n period. One Christ came after another. Revolt was succeeded by\n revolt, instigated by some pseudo-prophet or pretended\n king.\"--_\"History of the World,\" Vol. I, p. 849 (Part III,\n chap. 19)._\n\nDuring the Saviour's life and ministry a divine hand had to a great\nextent held the elements of violence in check, but as the light was\nrejected more and more, the spirit of evil came to hold sway\nunrestrained. Dr. Mears well describes the changed conditions in these\nwords:\n\n \"The narrative of the evangelists presents a tranquil scene, a\n succession of attractive pictures, in striking contrast to the\n bloody and tumultuous events which crowd each other in the\n pages of Josephus.\"--_\"From Exile to Overthrow,\" pp. 256, 257._\n\nThus the events led rapidly on toward the day of Jerusalem's fall, so\nlong foretold by the prophets.\n\n\nThe Sign to the Believers\n\nThe disciples had asked for a sign, and Christ gave them a token by\nwhich they might know when the time to flee from Jerusalem had come.\nHere Luke's Gospel gives the fullest record:\n\n\"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the\ndesolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the\nmountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let\nnot them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the\ndays of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.\"\nLuke 21:20-22.\n\n[Illustration: THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY THE ROMANS UNDER TITUS,\nA.D. 70\n\n\"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the\ndesolation thereof is nigh.\" Luke 21:20.]\n\nThe unbelieving in Jerusalem and Judea could not conceive that their\ncity, so long protected and favored of God, could be destroyed. Not even\nthe appearance of the Roman armies could shake their blind\nself-confidence. But at the first sight of the encircling armies, the\nChristians knew that the time for flight was at hand. But how to flee\nwas the question, with the compassing lines drawn close about the city.\nMoreover, the Zealots, the furious war party in power, would be little\nlikely to allow any number to pass out to the Roman forces.\n\nJust here God's providence made a way of escape. Cestius, the Roman\ncommander, after having partially undermined one of the temple walls,\nsuddenly decided to defer pushing the attack. \"He retired from the\ncity,\" says Josephus, \"without any reason in the world.\" (See \"Wars,\"\nbook 2, chap. 19.) And the Zealots flew out after the retiring Romans,\nfuriously attacking the rear guards.\n\nThen those watching Christians knew that the time for quick flight had\ncome, according to Christ's prophecy uttered many years before. They\nfled out of the city and out of the country round about.\n\nThrough all the years, Christ's prophecy had exhorted them, \"Pray ye\nthat your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.\"\nMatt. 24:20. The prayer was answered, for it was in the autumn and on a\nweek day that the flight was made.[B] Watching for the sign, and\ninstantly obeying, they were delivered.\n\nThus it was that when the Romans returned later to the siege, never to\ngive up till the city fell, none of the Christians were overwhelmed in\nits destruction. Even so are we to watch the signs of our own times,\nthat we may escape those things that are coming upon the earth, and be\nready to \"stand before the Son of man.\"\n\n\nThe Prophetic Word Fulfilled\n\nChrist had declared that the temple, the pride of the nation, would be\nutterly destroyed. In the last siege, the Roman commander tried to spare\nthe magnificent pile. When the Jews made it their chief fortress,\nbecause of its massive strength, Titus remonstrated with them, saying:\n\n \"If you will but change the place whereon you fight, no Roman\n shall either come near your sanctuary, or offer any affront to\n it; nay, I will endeavor to preserve you your holy house,\n whether you will or not.\"--_Josephus, \"Wars of the Jews,\" book\n 6, chap. 2._\n\nBut the prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. The people seemed\npossessed with fury. The hardened Roman pagans were astonished at their\nsuicidal rashness. Titus's efforts to save the temple failed, and it\nwent down in ruin, as Christ had foretold.\n\n[Illustration: A PANEL FROM THE ARCH OF TITUS\n\nShowing the golden candlestick and other sacred vessels of the temple\nbeing carried in triumph through the streets of Rome.]\n\nThe disciples of Christ had called His attention to the immense blocks\nof stone that composed the temple walls. \"See, what manner of stones,\"\none said. When Titus examined these same stones, after the fall of the\ncity, he is said to have declared:\n\n \"We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war, and\n it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these\n fortifications.\"[C]--_Id., book 6, chap. 9._\n\nRather, we would say, in the light of Scripture teaching, the\ndestruction that came upon the city was but the fruit of its own way.\nGod's guardian care had long protected the city of David. When His\nprotection was finally thrust aside and the people put themselves in the\npower of the great destroyer, divine justice could no longer save the\ncity from the judgments that were bound to fall upon persistent\ntransgression against light.\n\nThe lesson is one of those written \"for our admonition upon whom the\nends of the world are come.\" Jerusalem, in that generation of great\nlight and high privilege, fell because it knew not the time of its\nvisitation. Still Christ's sad lament bears its warning to the ears of\nmen: \"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the\nthings which belong unto thy peace!\" Luke 19:42.\n\n\nPart II\n\nHaving foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and given to the believers\nsigns by which they might find deliverance in the day of its overthrow,\nChrist yet more fully answered the second part of the disciples'\nquestion, \"What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the\nworld?\" Matt. 24:3.\n\n[Illustration: THE CATACOMBS NEAR ROME\n\nIn these underground passages persecuted Christians found a hiding\nplace, held their services, and buried their dead.]\n\n\nThe Period of Tribulation\n\nQuickly He passed to the events of the latter days. But first He\nsketched, in a few words, the tribulations through which His church was\nto pass during the intervening centuries. Daniel the prophet had written\nof this experience, foretelling the long period during which the papal\npower was to \"wear out the saints of the Most High.\" Dan. 7:25. Of these\ntimes, Christ said in His prophetic discourse:\n\n\"Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of\nthe world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days\nshould be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's\nsake those days shall be shortened.\" Matt. 24:21, 22.\n\nIt is evident that Christ referred to the time of tribulation foretold\nby Daniel, not to the trials attending the flight of the Christians from\nJerusalem, for their flight was a deliverance of the elect from trial.\nHowever much the weak may have suffered temporarily in fleeing from\ntheir homes, the great suffering of that time came upon the unbelieving,\nwho had no shelter.\n\nThis prophecy given by our Saviour presents the picture of a\nlong-continued persecution of His own elect, and foretells the\nshortening of the allotted time. God was to intervene in some special\nway to save His people. And it was even so. The elect did suffer all\nthrough the centuries of intolerance, until the rise of the Reformation\nand the spreading abroad of God's Word broke the power of\necclesiasticism, thus shortening the days of bitter tribulation.\n\n\nThe End Drawing Near\n\nAccording to Daniel's further prophecy, the period of trial and\npersecution was to reach \"even to the time of the end.\" Dan. 11:35.\nNaturally, then, we should look for the signs of the latter days to\nbegin to appear following these days of tribulation. And so we find the\nnext words of Christ's discourse introducing the topic of His second\ncoming. From now on the prophetic outline deals with events leading\ndown to the end of the age.\n\nFirst the Saviour utters a warning against false ideas concerning His\nsecond coming. That no theories of a secret coming or of a mystic coming\nmight deceive the unwary, He says in plain words:\n\n\"If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it\nnot. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall\nshow great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they\nshall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore\nif they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth:\nbehold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the\nlightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so\nshall also the coming of the Son of man be.\" Matt. 24:23-27.\n\nToday we see the need of this warning. Some of the most subtle\ndeceptions are found in the teaching that Christ has already come,\nsecretly, or that He comes in the chamber of death, or in the\nspiritualistic seance. Against all these errors we are forewarned, as\nwell as against any agencies that may come showing marvelous signs and\nwonders. The close of human probation, the coming of the day of God,\nwill be as a thief in the night; and Christ's coming itself will\novertake the unwatchful all unprepared. Nevertheless, when He comes,\n\"every eye shall see Him,\" and all the glory of heaven will burst upon a\nquaking world.\n\n\nSigns in the Heavens and the Earth\n\nNow the Saviour's outline of prophecy presents the signs which were to\nshow when the coming of the Lord was near. Referring again to the days\nof tribulation foretold by the prophet Daniel, Christ says:\n\n\"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be\ndarkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall\nfall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and\nthen shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.\" Matt. 24:29,\n30.\n\nIn Luke's record of the same prophetic discourse, additional signs are\ngiven, describing conditions in the earth as Christ's coming draws near.\nHis account reads:\n\n\"There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and\nupon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the\nwaves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after\nthose things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven\nshall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a\ncloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to\npass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth\nnigh.\" Luke 21:25-28.\n\nYet again, the prophet John, in the Revelation, foretells these signs in\nthe sun and moon and stars, as they were presented to him in a vision of\nthe last days. But his record shows that this series of signs was to be\npreceded by a great earthquake. He describes the order of events as\nfollows:\n\n\"I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great\nearthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon\nbecame as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a\nfig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty\nwind.\" Rev. 6:12, 13.\n\nIn these scriptures four great signs of Christ's approaching advent are\nlisted for our study, as follows:\n\n 1. The great earthquake.\n 2. The darkening of the sun and moon.\n 3. The falling of the stars.\n 4. Distress of nations, and other signs.\n\n\nThe Time When the Signs Begin\n\nChrist's prophecy points out approximately the time when the first of\nthe signs that He gave, the darkening of the sun, should\nappear,--\"immediately after the tribulation of those days.\" And the\n\"great earthquake\" of John's vision was to precede this sign in the\nheavens.\n\nThe Reformation of the sixteenth century began to cut short the days of\ntribulation; but some countries shut out the liberalizing influences of\nthe Word of God, and there the persecution continued.\n\nEven as late as near the end of the seventeenth century, in 1685, France\nrevoked the Edict of Nantes, that had granted toleration, and\npersecution raged as of old. The church was driven again to the desert.\nSpeaking of the early decades of the eighteenth century, Kurtz says:\n\n \"In France the persecution of the Huguenots continued.... The\n 'pastors of the desert' performed their duties at the risk of\n their lives.\"--_\"Church History,\" Vol. III, p. 88._\n\nThere was severe persecution of the Moravians in Austria, in these\ntimes, many of the persecuted finding refuge in Saxony. It was in 1722\nthat Christian David led the first band of Moravian refugees to settle\non the estates of Count Zinzendorf, who organized through them the great\npioneer movement of modern missions.\n\nBut by the middle of the century, the era of enlightenment and the force\nof world opinion, in the good providence of God, had so permeated the\nCatholic states of Europe that general violent persecution had ceased.\nOne incident will suffice as evidence of this.\n\nThe scene was in France, where alone, of all the Catholic states, there\nwere any great numbers of Protestants. In 1762 a Huguenot of Toulouse,\nunjustly charged with crime, was put to torture and to death, under the\npressure of the old persecuting spirit. Many Huguenots thought the\npersecutions of former times were reviving, and prepared to flee to\nSwitzerland. But Voltaire took up the matter, and so wrought upon public\nopinion that the Paris parliament reviewed the case, and the king paid\nthe man's family a large indemnity.\n\nThis shows that by the middle of that century the days of any general\npersecution had ceased. In the nature of the case, we may not point to\nthe exact year and say, Here the days of tribulation ended.\n\nFrom these times, then, we are to scan the record of history to learn if\nthe appointed signs began to appear. As we look, we find the events\nrecorded, following on in the order predicted:\n\n 1. The Lisbon earthquake, cf 1755.\n 2. The dark day, cf 1780.\n 3. The falling stars, cf 1833.\n 4. General conditions and movements betokening the end.\n\n\"There shall be signs,\" the Saviour said. We are to study the record of\nevents, watching to catch the signs of the approaching end as earnestly\nas the mariner watches the beacon lights when he nears the longed-for\nhaven on a dark and stormy night.\n\n[Illustration: AN ANCIENT FLOUR MILL\n\n\"Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and\nthe other left.\" Matt. 24:41.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[B] It was in the autumn that the army of Cestius closed in upon\nJerusalem. According to the careful record of Graetz, the Jewish\nhistorian, it was evidently on a Wednesday that the Roman army retired,\npursued by all the forces of the city. This was the instant for the\nflight of the Christians. Next day \"the Zealots, shouting exultant war\nsongs, returned to Jerusalem (8th October).\"--_\"History of the Jews,\"\nVol. II, p. 268._ The day before was the time for unhindered flight.\n\n[C] Apollonius, the friend and counselor of Titus, left a similar\ntestimony to the latter's conviction that there was something\nsupernatural about the forces of destruction let loose upon Jerusalem:\n\"After Titus had taken Jerusalem, and when the country all round was\nfilled with corpses, the neighboring races offered him a crown: but he\ndisclaimed any such honor to himself, saying that it was not he himself\nthat had accomplished this exploit, but that he had merely lent his arms\nto God, who had so manifested His wrath.\"--_Philostratus, \"Life of\nApollonius,\" book 6, chap. 29._\n\n\n[Illustration: LISBON FROM ACROSS THE BAY\n\nThe scene of the great earthquake and tidal wave, Nov. 1, 1755, when in\nsix minutes sixty thousand people perished.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE LISBON EARTHQUAKE OF 1755\n\n\n\"Lo, There Was a Great Earthquake\"\n\nThe first of a series of signs of the approaching end is thus described\nby the revelator:\n\n\"I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great\nearthquake.\" Rev. 6:12.\n\n[Illustration: THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE\n\n\"There shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers\nplaces.\" Matt. 24:7.]\n\nThe verses immediately preceding this scripture plainly describe the\ndays of persecution of the saints of God, and the era of protest and\nreform that cut short that time of tribulation. Then this first sign\nappears. This is in harmony with Christ's statement that the signs of\nHis second coming should begin to appear following the tribulation of\nthose days.\n\nJust about the close of the days of tribulation occurred the Lisbon\nearthquake, as it is called, though its effects reached far beyond\nPortugal. Prof. W.H. Hobbs, geologist, says of it:\n\n \"Among the earth movements which in historic times have\n affected the kingdom of Portugal, that of Nov. 1, 1755, takes\n first rank, as it does, also, in some respects, among all\n recorded earthquakes.... In six minutes sixty thousand people\n perished.\"--_\"Earthquakes,\" pp. 142, 143._\n\n\"Lo, there was a great earthquake,\" the revelator said. It was indeed \"a\ngreat earthquake,\" and great was its influence. In all the world, men's\nhearts were mightily stirred. James Parton, an English author, says of\nit:\n\n \"The Lisbon earthquake of Nov. 1, 1755, appears to have put\n both the theologians and philosophers on the defensive.... At\n twenty minutes to ten that morning, Lisbon was firm and\n magnificent, on one of the most picturesque and commanding\n sites in the world,--a city of superb approach, placed\n precisely where every circumstance had concurred to say to the\n founders, Build here! In six minutes the city was in ruins....\n Half the world felt the convulsion.... For many weeks, as we\n see in the letters and memoirs of that time, people in distant\n parts of Europe went to bed in alarm, relieved in the morning\n to find that they had escaped the fate of Lisbon one night\n more.\"--_\"Life of Voltaire,\" Vol. II, pp. 208, 209._\n\n\nThe World Set to Thinking\n\nThis earthquake set men to thinking of the great day of God. Voltaire,\nthe French philosopher, was \"profoundly moved\" by it, we are told. \"It\nwas the last judgment for that region,\" he wrote; \"nothing was wanting\nto it except the trumpet.\" More than a month afterward, while still the\nperturbations of the earth were continuing, this skeptic wrote a poem\nupon the problem presented, voicing the sentiment:\n\n \"My heart oppress'd demands\n Aid of the God who formed me with his hands.\n Sons of the God supreme to suffer all\n Fated alike, we on our Father call....\n Sad is the present if no future state,\n No blissful retribution mortals wait,\n If fate's decrees the thinking being doom\n To lose existence in the silent tomb.\n _All may be well_; that hope can man sustain.\n _All now is well_; 'tis an illusion vain.\n The sages held me forth delusive light,\n Divine instructions only can be right.\n Humbly I sigh, submissive suffer pain,\n Nor more the ways of Providence arraign.\"\n\n --\"_Poem on the Destruction of Lisbon,_\"\n _Smollet's translation; Works, Vol. XXXIII, ed. 1761._\n\nJust at the time, plans were under way for the opening of a theater at\nLausanne for the special performance of some of Voltaire's rationalistic\ndramas. But the enterprise was deferred. One writer says:\n\n \"The earthquake had made all men thoughtful. They mistrusted\n their love of the drama, and filled the churches\n instead.\"--_Tallentyre, \"Life of Voltaire,\" p. 319._\n\nSo, in an age of rationalism and unbelief, men's thoughts were turned\ntoward God, and human helplessness and earth's instability were\nrecognized.\n\n\nExtent of the Lisbon Earthquake\n\nAs to the extent of the earthquake, a writer of the period shows that it\nwas felt in Sweden and in Africa and in the West Indies, adding:\n\n \"The effects were distributed over very nearly four millions of\n square English miles of the earth's surface, and greatly\n surpassed anything of the kind ever recorded in\n history.\"--_\"History and Philosophy of Earthquakes\" (London,\n 1757), p. 333._\n\nThe commander of an English ship, lying off Lisbon at the time, thus\ndescribed the scene in a letter to the ship's owners:\n\n \"Almost all the palaces and large churches were rent down, or\n part fallen, and scarce one house of this vast city is left\n habitable. Everybody that was not crushed to death ran out into\n the large places, and those near the river ran down to save\n themselves by boats, or any other floating convenience,\n running, crying, and calling to the ships for assistance; but\n whilst the multitude were gathered near the riverside, the\n water rose to such a height that it overflowed the lower part\n of the city, which so terrified the miserable and already\n dismayed inhabitants, who ran to and fro with dreadful cries,\n which we heard plainly on board, that it made them believe the\n dissolution of the world was at hand; every one falling on his\n knees and entreating the Almighty for His assistance.... By two\n o'clock the ships' boats began to ply, and took multitudes on\n board.... The fear, the sorrow, the cries and lamentations of\n the poor inhabitants are unexpressible; every one begging\n pardon, and embracing each other, crying, Forgive me, friend,\n brother, sister! Oh! what will become of us! neither water nor\n land will protect us, and the third element, fire, seems now\n to threaten our total destruction! as in effect it happened.\n The conflagration lasted a whole week.\"--_Thomas Hunter,\n \"Historical Account of Earthquakes\" (Liverpool, 1756), pp.\n 72-74._\n\n\nRecognized as a Sign\n\nLooking down through the ages, the prophet of the Revelation saw the\ncoming of the latter days, when signs of the approaching end were to\nbegin to appear. Just there he beheld \"a great earthquake.\" The terrible\nevent was noted by inspiration as a sign of the coming of the final\njudgment. Earthquakes there had been before, and increasing earthquakes\nwere to follow after,--\"earthquakes in divers places,\"--as Christ\nforetold, speaking of the signs of His second coming. But as befitted\nthis first of the series of signs of the approaching end, a conviction\nfrom God seemed to come into the hearts of men in that generation, that\nthis was indeed a token to remind the world of a coming day of doom.\n\nIn the year of the disaster, an English poet, John Biddolf, published a\nbook of verse, pointing some of the lessons of the hour, from which we\nquote a few descriptive stanzas:\n\n \"Calm was the sky; the sun serenely bright\n Shot o'er the sea long dazzling streams of light.\n Through orange groves soft breathing breezes play'd\n And gathered sweets like bees where'er they stray'd.\n In fair relievo stood the lofty town,\n Set off by radiant lights and shadows brown.\n\n \"Ill-fated city! there were revels kept;\n Devoid of fear, they ate, they drank, they slept.\n No friendly voice like that of ancient Rome\n Was sent to give them warning of their doom:\n No airy warriors to each other clung,\n Such as 'tis said o'er destin'd Sion hung,\n But like a nightly thief their dreadful fate\n Unlooked for came and undermined their state....\n\n \"Lo, what a sudden change! On ruin's brink\n The proud turn humble, and the thoughtless think.\n Dark, gloomy sadness overclouds the gay,\n And hypocrites for once sincerely pray....\n But let it not be thought their horrid deeds\n Had pulled this dreadful judgment on their heads,\n Or that for crimes too horrible to tell,\n Like guilty Sodom, thunderstruck they fell....\n\n \"Who can with curious eyes this globe survey,\n And not behold it tottering with decay?\n All things created, God's designs fulfil,\n And natural causes work His destined will.\n And that eternal Word, which cannot lie,\n To mortals hath revealed in prophecy\n That in these latter days such signs should come,\n Preludes and prologues to the general doom.\n But not the Son of man can tell that day;\n Then, lest it find you sleeping, watch and pray.\"\n\nThus this first of the predicted latter-day signs bore its message to\nmen. Its immediate scene was set in the Old World, but its warning was\nworld-wide. The next sign foretold was to appear in the New World, but\nlike the Lisbon earthquake, its message of warning was for all men.\n\n[Illustration: THE FLOOD\n\n\"So shall also the coming of the Son of man be.\" Matt. 24:39.]\n\n[Illustration: MIDDAY AT SEA MAY 19, 1780\n\n\"Between one and two he was obliged to light a large candle to steer\nby.\" See p. 89.]\n\n[Illustration: SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS\n\n\"Can ye not discern the signs of the times?\" Matt. 16:3.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE DARK DAY OF 1780\n\n\n\"The Sun Shall be Darkened\"\n\nWe recall that in the vision of latter-day signs given to the prophet\nJohn, he saw the \"great earthquake\" followed by a sign in the heavens:\n\n\"The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as\nblood.\" Rev. 6:12.\n\nOf this event our Saviour spoke, in giving the signs of His second\ncoming which were to begin to appear following the cutting short of the\ndays of persecution. We repeat His words:\n\n\"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be\ndarkened, and the moon shall not give her light.\" Matt. 24:29.\n\n\nThe Prophecy Fulfilled\n\nTrue to the order of the prophecy, following the great earthquake of\n1755 in Europe, there came, in America, the second sign of the\napproaching end, the wonderful darkening of the sun, known in history as\n\"The Dark Day.\"\n\nThis sign appeared at the time indicated in the prophecy, \"immediately\nafter the tribulation of those days;\" or as Mark has it, \"in those days,\nafter that tribulation.\" On May 19, 1780, the sun was darkened, and the\nfollowing night the moon did not give her light. Whatever explanation\nmen may have to offer as to the cause of the phenomenon, the fact\nremains that when the time of the prophecy came, the sign appeared.\n\nThe first volume of the \"Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and\nSciences,\" published in Boston in 1785, contains a paper entitled, \"An\nAccount of a Very Uncommon Darkness in the States of New England, May\n19, 1780. By Samuel Williams, A.M., Hollis Professor of Mathematics and\nPhilosophy in the University at Cambridge [Massachusetts].\"\n\nOf the extent, duration, and degree of darkness on that occasion, this\nscientific observer said:\n\n \"The extent of this darkness was very remarkable.... From the\n accounts that have been received, it seems to have extended all\n over the New England States. It was observed as far east as\n Falmouth [Portland, Maine]. To the westward, we hear of its\n reaching to the furthest parts of Connecticut, and Albany. To\n the southward, it was observed all along the seacoasts. And to\n the north as far as our settlements extend....\n\n \"With regard to its duration, it continued in this place at\n least fourteen hours: but it is probable this was not exactly\n the same in different parts of the country. The appearance and\n effects were such as tended to make the prospect extremely dull\n and gloomy. Candles were lighted up in the houses; the birds\n having sung their evening songs, disappeared, and became\n silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all\n around as at break of day; objects could not be distinguished\n but at a very little distance; and everything bore the\n appearance and gloom of night.\" (See pages 234-246.)\n\nWhittier has commemorated it in the poem, \"Abraham Davenport:\"\n\n \"'Twas on a May day of the far old year\n Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell\n Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring,\n Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,\n A horror of great darkness....\n\n \"Birds ceased to sing, and all the barnyard fowls\n Roosted; the cattle at the pasture bars\n Lowed, and looked homeward; bats on leathern wings\n Flitted abroad; the sounds of labor died;\n Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp\n To hear the doom blast of the trumpet shatter\n The black sky.\"\n\nThe words of the poet are substantiated by the plain prose of the\ndictionary maker. In the department explanatory of \"Noted Names,\"\nWebster's Unabridged Dictionary (edition 1883) says:\n\n \"_The Dark Day_, May 19, 1780--so called on account of a\n remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New\n England.... The obscuration began about ten o'clock in the\n morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but\n with difference of degree and duration in different places....\n The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.\"\n\n\nCause Unknown\n\nAt the time, some explained the darkness as being due to smoke from\nforest fires, others to the exceptional rise of vapors and atmospheric\ndust in the warm spring following the melting of unusually heavy winter\nsnows. But forest fires were not of extraordinary occurrence in these\nregions, and many a springtime since has seen the melting of heavy\nwinter snows and the rise of vapors; yet May 19, 1780, still stands\nunique in the annals of modern times as \"the dark day.\" However\nobservers and writers disagreed as to the nature of the mantle of\ndarkness that was drawn over New England that day, they were _one_ in\nrecognizing the extraordinary character of the event.\n\nThe facts are fully covered by the statement in the dictionary, \"The\ntrue cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.\"\n\nWhat we do know is that the Saviour's prophecy declared, \"Immediately\nafter the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the\nmoon shall not give her light.\" And when the time for it came, the sign\nappeared.\n\n\nContemporary Records\n\nThough the comparatively small-sized newspapers of the day were crowded\nwith news of the progress of the Revolutionary War, then raging, no\nlittle space was given to reports and discussions of this remarkable\ndarkening of the sun.\n\nA correspondent of the Boston _Gazette and Country Journal_ (of May 29,\n1780) reported observations made at Ipswich Hamlet, Mass., \"by several\ngentlemen of liberal education:\"\n\n \"About eleven o'clock the darkness was such as to demand our\n attention, and put us upon making observations. At half past\n eleven, in a room with three windows, twenty-four panes each,\n all open toward the southeast and south, large print could not\n be read by persons of good eyes.\n\n \"About twelve o'clock, the windows being still open, a candle\n cast a shade so well defined on the wall, as that profiles were\n taken with as much ease as they could have been in the night.\n\n \"About one o'clock a glint of light which had continued to this\n time in the east, shut in, and the darkness was greater than it\n had been for any time before.... We dined about two, the\n windows all open, and two candles burning on the table.\n\n \"In the time of the greatest darkness some of the ... fowls\n went to their roost. Cocks crowed in answer to one another as\n they commonly do in the night. Woodcocks, which are night\n birds, whistled as they do _only_ in the dark. Frogs peeped. In\n short, there was the appearance of midnight at noonday.\n\n \"About three o'clock the light in the west increased, the\n motion of the clouds [became] more quick, their color higher\n and more brassy than at any time before. There appeared to be\n quick flashes or coruscations, not unlike the aurora\n borealis.... About half past four our company, which had passed\n an unexpected night very cheerfully together, broke up.\"\n\nOf the night following, this gentleman (then at Salem) wrote:\n\n \"Perhaps it never was darker since the children of Israel left\n the house of bondage. This gross darkness held till about one\n o'clock, although the moon had fulled but the day before.\"\n\nThe Boston _Independent Chronicle_ of June 8 quoted from Thomas's\n_Massachusetts Spy_:\n\n \"During the whole time a sickly, melancholy gloom overcast the\n face of nature. Nor was the darkness of the night less uncommon\n and terrifying than that of the day; notwithstanding there was\n almost a full moon, no object was discernible, but by the help\n of some artificial light, which when seen from the neighboring\n houses and other places at a distance, appeared through a kind\n of Egyptian darkness, which seemed almost impervious to the\n rays.\n\n \"This unusual phenomenon excited the fears and apprehensions of\n many people. Some considered it as a portentous omen of the\n wrath of Heaven in vengeance denounced against the land, others\n as the immediate harbinger of the last day, when 'the sun shall\n be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.'\"\n\nNot only over the land, but out at sea also, the unnatural darkness of\nthe day and night of May 19, 1780, was observed. In the _Independent\nChronicle_ of June 15, 1780, a correspondent, telling of interviews with\nvarious observers, said:\n\n \"I have also seen a very sensible captain of a vessel, who was\n that morning about forty leagues southeast of Boston. He says\n the cloud which appeared at the west was the blackest he ever\n saw. About eleven o'clock there was a little rain, and it grew\n dark. Between one and two he was obliged to light a large\n candle to steer by.... Between nine and ten at night, he\n ordered his men to take in some of the sails, but it was so\n dark that they could not find the way from one mast to the\n other.\"\n\n\nThoughts Turned to the Judgment\n\nThis writer commented as follows concerning the feelings awakened by the\nevent:\n\n \"Various have been the sentiments of people concerning the\n designs of Providence in spreading the unusual darkness over\n us. Some suppose it portentous of the last scene. I wish it may\n have some good effect on the minds of the wicked, and that they\n may be excited to prepare for that solemn day.\"\n\nThe _Independent Chronicle_ of June 22, 1780, printed a letter from Dr.\nSamuel Stearns, who had been appealed to because of his knowledge \"in\nphilosophy and astronomy.\" First, he disposed of one suggestion that had\nbeen made:\n\n \"That the darkness was not caused by an eclipse is manifest by\n the various positions of the planets of our system at that\n time; for the moon was more than one hundred and fifty degrees\n from the sun all that day.\"\n\nThen, in the rather heavy language of the science of that period, this\nwriter told how the action of the sun's heat was continually projecting\ninto the atmosphere particles of earthy matter; and in his opinion it\nwas some \"vast collection of such particles that caused the late\nuncommon darkness.\" But as to the real accounting for the phenomenon he\nwrote:\n\n \"The primary cause must be imputed to Him that walketh through\n the circuit of heaven, who stretcheth out the heaven like a\n curtain, who maketh the clouds His chariot, who walketh upon\n the wings of the wind. It was He, at whose voice the stormy\n winds are obedient, that commanded these exhalations to be\n collected and condensed together, that with them He might\n darken both the day and the night; which darkness was, perhaps,\n not only a token of His indignation against the crying\n iniquities and abominations of the people, but an omen of some\n future destruction.\"\n\nThus men's minds were exercised by this sign \"in the sun, and in the\nmoon.\"\n\nThe early records of New York City tell of the interest excited there,\nthough evidently the darkness was not so marked as it was farther north.\n\n\nIn the Connecticut Legislature\n\nPresident Timothy Dwight, of Yale College, a contemporary, left the\nfollowing account of one of the historic incidents of the day:\n\n \"The legislature of Connecticut was then in session at\n Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed that the day of\n judgment was at hand. The house of representatives, being\n unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to\n adjourn the council [a second legislative body called the\n Governor's Council] was under consideration. When the opinion\n of Colonel Davenport was asked, he answered, 'I am against an\n adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching or it is\n not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it\n is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that\n candles may be brought.'\"--_Barber, \"Connecticut Historical\n Collections,\" p. 403._\n\nIt was this striking incident that Whittier described with the poet's\npen:\n\n \"Meanwhile in the old Statehouse, dim as ghosts,\n Sat the lawgivers of Connecticut,\n Trembling beneath their legislative robes.\n 'It is the Lord's great day! Let us adjourn,'\n Some said; and then, as with one accord,\n All eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport.\n He rose, slow cleaving with his steady voice\n The intolerable hush. 'This well may be\n The day of judgment which the world awaits;\n But be it so or not, I only know\n My present duty, and my Lord's command\n To occupy till He come. So at the post\n Where He hath set me in His providence\n I choose, for one, to meet Him face to face,--\n No faithless servant, frightened from my task,\n But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls;\n And therefore, with all reverence, I would say,\n Let God do His work, we will see to ours.\n Bring in the candles.'\"\n\nThus, in a manner that arrested the attention of men and put awe and\nsolemnity into their hearts, with thoughts of the coming of the great\nday of God, the first of the predicted signs in the heavens was\nrevealed.\n\nAt a later time, when students of the Bible seemed moved upon\nsimultaneously, in both Europe and America, to give attention to the\ndoctrine of Christ's second coming, it was more generally understood\nthat these signs had come in fulfilment of prophecy.\n\nAs we look to the past, we see how truly the tokens of the coming King\nbegan to appear as the church of Christ emerged fully from the long,\ndark period of tribulation. A new era was dawning, in which the Lord was\nto fill the earth with light before His second appearing, according to\nHis word to Daniel the prophet:\n\n\"Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time\nof the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be\nincreased.\" Dan. 12:4.\n\nAt last the time of the end was at hand, and the signs of the latter\ndays had begun to appear in the earth and in the heavens. The Lord was\npreparing to send to all the world the closing gospel message of\nChrist's soon coming in glory.\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT METEORIC SHOWER NOVEMBER 13, 1833\n\n\"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her\nuntimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.\" Rev. 6:13.]\n\n[Illustration: A STAR HERALDS HIS FIRST ADVENT\n\n\"We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.\" Matt.\n2:2.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FALLING STARS OF 1833\n\n\n\"The Stars Shall Fall from Heaven\"\n\nA great impetus was given to the study of divine prophecy by the events\nof the closing years of the eighteenth century. Observers had seen the\npapal power receive a \"deadly wound\" in the events and effects of the\nFrench Revolution; and it was understood that the world was entering a\nnew era of enlightenment and liberty.\n\nBible students began to see more clearly the lesson of the great\noutlines of historic prophecy, and hearts were stirred with the\nevidences that the coming of the Lord was drawing near. In Europe and\nAmerica, in the early decades of the nineteenth century, there was the\nbeginning of a revival of the study and preaching of the advent idea.\n\n\nAnother Sign in the Heavens\n\nJust here appeared another great sign in the heavens, foretold by the\nword of prophecy. Of the sign that was to follow the darkening of the\nsun and moon, Christ's prophecy says:\n\n\"The stars shall fall from heaven.\" Matt. 24:29.\n\nThe prophet John beheld the spectacle in a vision of the last days, and\ndescribed it in these words:\n\n\"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her\nuntimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.\" Rev. 6:13.\n\nOn Nov. 13, 1833, came the wondrous celestial exhibition of falling\nstars, which is listed as one of the most remarkable phenomena of the\nastronomical story.\n\nMeteoric displays, swarms of shooting stars, have been observed at\nvarious times all through the ages; but this phenomenon, coming in the\norder given by the prophecy, that is, following the darkening of the\nsun, constituted the sublime display answering to the pen-picture of the\nApocalypse,--as if all the stars of heaven were falling to the earth.\n\nThe essential thing about a sign is that it shall be seen, that the\ncircumstances of its appearance shall fasten attention. Not in America\nalone, but equally in all the civilized world, as a topic of study, this\nsign in the heavens commanded the attention of men.\n\nAn English scientist, Rev. Thomas Milner, F.R.G.S., wrote:\n\n \"The attention of astronomers in Europe, and all over the\n world, was, as may be imagined, strongly roused by intelligence\n of this celestial display on the Western continent.\"--_\"The\n Gallery of Nature\" (London, 1852), p. 141._\n\nThis writer called it \"by far the most splendid display on\nrecord.\"--_Id., p. 139._\n\nAnother English astronomical writer of more recent date says:\n\n \"Once for all, then, as the result of the star fall of 1833,\n the study of luminous meteors became an integral part of\n astronomy.\"--_Clerke, \"History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth\n Century,\" p. 329._\n\nThis same work describes the extent of the display as follows:\n\n \"On the night of Nov. 12-13, 1833, a tempest of falling stars\n broke over the earth. North America bore the brunt of its\n pelting. From the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax, until daylight\n with some difficulty put an end to the display, the sky was\n scored in every direction with shining tracks and illuminated\n with majestic fireballs.\"--_Page 328._\n\n\nThe Spectacle Described\n\nThe closest scientific observations were made by Prof. Denison Olmsted,\nprofessor of astronomy at Yale, who wrote in the _American Journal of\nScience_:\n\n \"The morning of Nov. 13, 1833, was rendered memorable by an\n exhibition of the phenomenon called shooting stars, which was\n probably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one\n hitherto recorded.... Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever\n occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was\n viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of\n spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another\n class. For some time after the occurrence, the 'meteoric\n phenomenon' was the principal topic of conversation in every\n circle.\"--_Volume XXV (1834), pp. 363, 364._\n\nProf. Simon Newcomb, the astronomer, declares this phenomenal exhibition\nof falling stars \"the most remarkable one ever observed.\" (See\n\"Astronomy for Everybody,\" p. 280.)\n\nThis was not merely a display of an unusual number of falling stars,\nsuch as Humboldt observed in South America in 1799, or such as we find\nrecorded of other times before and since. It was a \"shower\" of falling\nstars, just such a spectacle as one must picture from the words of the\nprophecy, \"And the stars of heaven fell.\"\n\nThe French astronomer Flammarion says of the density of the shower:\n\n \"The Boston observer, Olmsted, compared them, at the moment of\n maximum, to half the number of flakes which we perceive in the\n air during an ordinary shower of snow.\"--_\"Popular Astronomy,\"\n p. 536._\n\nThis affords us a better idea of the scene than the estimate of 34,640\nstars an hour, which was made by Professor Olmsted after the rain of the\nstars had greatly abated, so that he was able to make an attempt at\ncounting.\n\nDr. Humphreys, president of St. John's College, Annapolis, said of the\nappearance at the Maryland capital:\n\n \"In the words of most, they fell _like flakes of\n snow_.\"--_American Journal of Science, Vol. XXV (1834), p.\n 372._\n\nNothing less than this could have presented the counterpart of the\nprophetic picture.\n\nThoughtful hearts were solemnized by the unwonted spectacle. Prof.\nAlexander Twining, civil engineer, \"late tutor in Yale College,\" giving\nhis views as to the nature of the flaming visitants from space, wrote:\n\n \"Had they held on their course unabated for three seconds\n longer, half a continent must, to all appearance, have been\n involved in unheard-of calamity. But that almighty Being who\n made the world, and knew its dangers, gave it also its\n armature--endowing the atmospheric medium around it with\n protecting, no less than with life-sustaining, properties....\n\n \"Considered as one of the rare and wonderful displays of the\n Creator's preserving care, as well as the terrible magnitude\n and power of His agencies, it is not meet that such occurrences\n as those of November 13 should leave no more solid and\n permanent effect upon the human mind than the impression of a\n splendid scene.\"--_American Journal of Science, Vol. XXVI\n (1834), p. 351._\n\nMultitudes felt that the great Creator had spoken to men in this notable\nwonder of His heavens. Again and again in the records and reminiscences\nof that time, testimony is borne to the fact that observers were\nimpressed with the likeness of the scene to that described in the divine\nprophecy as one of the signs of the end of the world.\n\n\nThe Prophetic Picture Reproduced\n\nThe New York _Journal of Commerce_ emphasized the exactness of detail\nwith which the prophecy described the scene as it appeared in 1833. This\nis the apocalyptic picture, as the ancient prophet saw it in vision:\n\n\"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her\nuntimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.\" Rev. 6:13.\n\nA correspondent of the _Journal of Commerce_ draws the picture as it was\nseen nearly eighteen centuries later, the likeness to the prophetic\ndescription being emphasized in every line:\n\n \"No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event like\n that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago\n foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of\n understanding stars falling to mean falling stars.\"--_New York\n Journal of Commerce, Nov. 14, 1833._\n\nIn this connection was noted by the same writer the special\nappropriateness of the prophet's figure of the fig tree casting the\ngreen figs in a mighty wind:\n\n \"Here is the exactness of the prophet. The falling stars did\n not come as if from _several_ trees shaken, but from _one_.\n Those which appeared in the east fell toward the east: those\n which appeared in the north fell toward the north; those which\n appeared in the west fell toward the west; and those which\n appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the\n park) fell toward the south; and they fell not as ripe fruit\n falls; far from it; but they _flew_, they were _cast_, like the\n unripe fig, which at first refuses to leave the branch; and\n when it does break its hold, flies swiftly, straight off,\n descending; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track\n of others, as they are thrown with more or less force.\"\n\nProfessor Olmsted's long and carefully elaborated account in the\n_American Journal of Science_, gave a report from a correspondent in\nBowling Green, Mo., as follows:\n\n \"Though there was no moon, when we first observed them; their\n brilliancy was so great that we could, at times, read\n common-sized print without much difficulty, and the light which\n they afforded was much whiter than that of the moon, in the\n clearest and coldest night, when the ground is covered with\n snow. The air itself, the face of the earth as far as we could\n behold it, all the surrounding objects, and the very\n countenances of men, wore the aspect and hue of death,\n occasioned by the continued, pallid glare of these countless\n meteors, which in all their grandeur flamed 'lawless through\n the sky.'\n\n \"There was a grand and indescribable gloom on all around, an\n awe-inspiring sublimity on all above; while--\n\n \"'The sanguine flood\n Rolled a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven,\n And nature's self did seem to totter on the brink of time!'\n\n \"... There was scarcely a space in the firmament which was not\n filled at every instant with these falling stars, nor on it\n could you in general perceive any particular difference in\n appearance; still at times they seemed to shower down in\n groups--calling to mind the fig tree, casting her untimely figs\n when shaken by a mighty wind.\"--_Volume XXV (1834), p. 382._\n\n[Illustration: THE SIGN OF FIRE\n\n\"As this sign of fire in the watchtower was a signal to God's people\nanciently to flee from the coming danger (see Jer. 6:1), so the signs\nappearing now in the heavens and in the earth are God's signals of\nwarning to the people of our day.\"]\n\n\nA Sign to All the World\n\nIt was not in North America alone, but in all the civilized world, that\nthe attention of men was called to the prophetic word by the discussions\nof this event. Thus the English scientific writer, Thomas Milner,\nwriting for the British public, spoke as follows of the profound\nimpression made:\n\n \"In many districts, the mass of the population were\n terror-struck, and the more enlightened were awed at\n contemplating so vivid a picture of the apocalyptic image--that\n of the stars of heaven falling to the earth, even as a fig tree\n casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty\n wind.\"--_\"The Gallery of Nature\" (London, 1852), p. 140._\n\nSo the sign in the heavens made its solemn appeal to all the world. It\nbrought to the multitudes who saw it, thoughts of God and the last great\nday. An observer living at the time in Georgia, wrote, \"Everybody felt\nthat it was the judgment, and that the end of the world had come.\"\nAnother, in Kentucky, wrote, \"In every direction I could hear men,\nwomen, and children screaming, 'The judgment day is come!'\"\n\nRather, it was a signal that the hour of God's judgment was drawing\nnear. The signs so long foretold were appearing, one by one, to register\ntheir enduring mark on the record of fulfilling prophecy.\n\nImmediately following these times, there began an awakening concerning\nthe vital Bible doctrine of the second coming of Christ, which has grown\ninto the definite advent movement that is carrying the gospel message of\npreparation for the coming of the Lord to every nation and tongue and\npeople.\n\n\nThe Sign of 1833 Emphasized by Other Displays\n\nWe have mentioned the fact that Humboldt had observed an extraordinary\nfall of meteorites in South America, thirty-three years, before, in\n1799. And he reported at the time that the oldest inhabitants there had\na recollection of a similar display in 1766.\n\nFrom these reports, scientists deduced the theory that these showers\nwere to be expected every thirty-three years. Hence in 1866 they were\nwatching for a repetition of the 1833 display.\n\nThat there was a measure of truth in the deduction was made evident by\nan unusual fall of meteorites Nov. 14, 1866. This time Europe was the\nscene of the display. But the event was not to be compared with that of\n1833. This appears plain from the account of observations made by Sir\nRobert Ball and Lord Rosse, the British astronomers.\n\nSir Robert Ball says that when the meteorites began to fall, he and Lord\nRosse went out upon the wall of the observatory housing Lord Rosse's\ngreat reflecting telescope:\n\n \"There, for the next two or three hours, we witnessed a\n spectacle which can never fade from my memory. The shooting\n stars gradually increased in number until sometimes several\n were seen at once.\"--_\"Story of the Heavens,\" p. 380._\n\nGrand as the spectacle was, it was but a reminder, apparently, of the\nstar shower of 1833, when not \"several\" meteorites fell at a time, nor\nmany, merely, but, as it appeared, \"the stars of heaven fell unto the\nearth.\"\n\nHowever, the spectacle of 1866, which was observed over a great part of\nthe Old World,[D] served to direct renewed attention to the incomparable\nevent of 1833, as well as to the prophetic descriptions of the \"wonders\nin the heavens\" (Joel 2:30) which were to appear as the end drew near.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST'S PROMISE TO RETURN\n\n\"I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.\" John 14:3.]\n\nTextbooks and astronomical works thereupon began to count it as fully\nestablished that every thirty-three years the displays would be\nrepeated. It was confidently predicted that 1899 would witness a\nrepetition, possibly on the scale of 1833.\n\nProfessor Langley's \"New Astronomy\" (published in 1888) said:\n\n \"The great November shower, which is coming once more in this\n century, and which every reader may hope to see toward 1899, is\n of particular interest to us as the first whose movements were\n subject to analysis.\"\n\nChambers's Astronomy, published in 1889, said:\n\n \"The meteors of November 13 may be expected to reappear with\n great brilliancy in 1899.\"---_Volume I, p. 635._\n\nBut the November date passed in 1899, and the years have passed; and the\nwondrous scene of 1833 has not been repeated. Clerke's \"History of\nAstronomy in the Nineteenth Century\" says:\n\n \"We can no longer count upon the Leonids [as the meteorites of\n 1833 were called, because they seemed to fall from a point in\n the constellation of Leo]. Their glory, for scenic purposes, is\n departed.\"--_Page 338._\n\n\nThe Lord's Signal to Watch\n\nThus the wisest astronomical predictions made shortly before 1899, based\nupon the apparently recurrent regularity of the phenomenon, failed; but\nthe predictions of the sure word of prophecy, set down on the sacred\nrecord eighteen centuries before, were fulfilled to the letter.\n\nAt the close of the days of the predicted tribulation of the church, the\nsigns began to appear--the sun was darkened, the moon withheld its\nlight, and the stars of heaven fell.\n\nThe series began at the time specified, the signs came in the order\ngiven in Christ's prophecy. The record of history bears witness that the\nprophecy was fulfilled.\n\nIt may be that on a yet more awful and universal scale these phenomena\nwill be seen again in that last shaking of the powers of heaven which is\nto attend the rolling back of the heavens as a scroll, the immediate\nprelude to Christ's glorious appearing. But Christ's prophecy, at this\npoint, was not giving a description of events at the very end of the\nworld, but signs by which it might be known when the end was drawing\nnear.\n\nAs the signs should be recognized, the Saviour intended that those who\nloved His appearing should be quickened with hope, and inspired to\nhasten to the world with the gospel message preparing the way of the\nLord. The Lord's word for His children was,\n\n\"When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your\nheads; for your redemption draweth nigh.\" Luke 21:28.\n\nLong ago these signs began to come to pass. Now may the Lord's believing\nchildren well look up and rejoice, knowing that the day of eternal\nredemption is indeed nigh at hand.\n\n\nHe Will Come for His Own\n\n In the glad time of the harvest,\n In the grand millennial year,\n When the King shall take His scepter,\n And to judge the world appear,\n Earth and sea shall yield their treasure,\n All shall stand before the throne;\n Just awards will then be given,\n When the King shall claim His own.\n\n O the rapture of His people!\n Long they've dwelt on earth's low sod,\n With their hearts e'er turning homeward,\n Rich in faith and love to God.\n They will share the life immortal,\n They will know as they are known,\n They will pass the pearly portal,\n When the King shall claim His own.\n\n Long they've toiled within the harvest,\n Sown the precious seed with tears;\n Soon they'll drop their heavy burdens\n In the glad millennial years;\n They will share the bliss of heaven,\n Nevermore to sigh or moan;\n Starry crowns will then be given,\n When the King shall claim His own.\n\n We shall greet the loved and loving,\n Who have left us lonely here;\n Every heartache will be banished\n When the Saviour shall appear;\n Never grieved with sin or sorrow,\n Never weary or alone;\n O, we long for that glad morrow\n When the King shall claim His own!\n\n --_L.D. Santee._\n\n[Illustration: SATAN OFFERS GOLD, AND THE WORLD STAMPEDES TO ITS\nDESTRUCTION\n\n\"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come\nupon you.\" James 5:1.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[D] The display was most brilliant, apparently, in Western Asia. The\nveteran missionary, Dr. H.H. Jessup, of the Presbyterian Missionary\nCollege, of Beirut, describes the scene in his \"Fifty-Three Years in\nSyria:\" \"On the morning of the fourteenth [November], at three o'clock,\nI was roused from a deep sleep by the voice of one of the young men\ncalling, 'The stars are all coming down.' ... The meteors poured down\nlike a rain of fire. Many of them were large and varicolored, and left\nbehind them a long train of fire. One immense green meteor came down\nover Lebanon, seeming as large as the moon, and exploded with a large\nnoise, leaving a green pillar of light in its train. It was vain to\nattempt to count them, and the display continued until dawn, when their\nlight was obscured by the king of day.... The Mohammedans gave the call\nto prayer from the minarets, and the common people were in\nterror.\"--_Volume I, pp. 316, 317._\n\n\n[Illustration: THE MISER\n\n\"Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.\" James 5:3.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE MEANING OF PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS\n\n\"THERE SHALL BE SIGNS ... UPON THE EARTH\"\n\n\nFrom the specific signs in the heavens, which were to herald the coming\nof the latter days and awaken the church to look for its coming Lord,\nour Saviour's prophecy passed on to designate certain general conditions\nin the world which were to continue until the great day of God comes:\n\n\"There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and\nupon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the\nwaves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after\nthose things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven\nshall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a\ncloud with power and great glory.\" Luke 21:25-27.\n\nAmong the developments here foretold, and which contribute to the\n\"distress of nations, with perplexity,\" we may list the following:\n\n[Illustration: THE ARMING OF THE NATIONS\n\n\"Prepare war,... beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning\nhooks into spears.\" Joel 3: 9, 10.]\n\n\n1. Political Unrest--the Arming of the Nations\n\nFollowing on closely with the signs in the heavens, there appears also\nthe awakening to national aspirations and rivalries in Europe, out of\nwhich has grown the arming of the nations. The beginning of the modern\nrace of armaments may be dated from those stirring and eventful years of\n1830 to 1848. We have seen the resources of the soil and the inventive\ngenius of man devoted to preparations for war on a scale never before\nthought of. The prophet Joel foretold these conditions in the last days:\n\n\"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles [\"the nations,\" R.V.]: Prepare war,\nwake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come\nup: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into\nspears: let the weak say, I am strong.... Let the heathen be\nwakened.... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision [or\n\"cutting off\"]: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of\ndecision.\" Joel 3: 9-14.\n\n[Illustration: READY FOR THE CONFLICT\n\n\"For the day of the Lord is near.\" Joel 3: 14.\n\nPHOTO FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.]\n\nAnother prophecy forewarns of the \"peace and safety\" cry that is to be\nheard as the end draws near. We are told that many people in the last\ndays will be saying that swords are to be beaten into plowshares, and\nthat the nations will cease from war (Isa. 2:3, 4); but the actual\nconditions are repeatedly described in prophecy as warlike and perilous.\nThus the revelator saw the closing days:\n\n\"The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the\ndead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward\nunto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear\nThy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the\nearth.\" Rev. 11: 18.\n\n[Illustration: A FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT\n\n\"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.\" Matt.\n24: 42.]\n\nWhat we see then among the nations proclaims the approaching end.\n\n\n2. Signs in the Social World\n\nA New Testament prophecy of the latter days says:\n\n\"In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of\ntheir own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to\nparents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers,\nfalse accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,\ntraitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of\nGod.\" 2 Tim. 3: 1-4.\n\nThe \"perilous times\" have come, when, as never before, the world is\npleasure mad.\n\n\"Unrestrained passion for pleasure,\" said M. Comte, editor of the French\n_Relevement Social_, writing just before the European war, is bringing a\nterrible train of evils into modern society. Along with it he put \"the\nhunt for money without regard for means,\" adding:\n\n \"This is the theme which manufacturers, business men, men in\n the public administration, continually harp on with ever the\n same conviction and ever the same wealth of proof.\n\n \"The note is ever the same, and the conclusion identical: _Nous\n sommes perdus!_ [We are lost!]\"--_Quoted in Record of Christian\n Work, July, 1914._\n\nMany agencies for social and temperance reform are rendering the\ngreatest human service; but for lost humanity the only hope is Christ,\nthe divine Saviour. With an urgency born of the last call, His gospel is\nsounding to a world on the verge of eternity. Yet with divine love\nlonging to save, the world sweeps on, less and less mindful of eternal\ninterests. Christ's prophecy foretold it as it is:\n\n\"As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.\nFor as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and\ndrinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe\nentered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them\nall away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.\" Matt. 24:\n37-39.\n\nWho can look out upon mankind today without the conviction that this\nscripture is being fulfilled? The drift is strong toward the world and\naway from God; but we are bidden to watch and pray, lest the coming day\nfind us unprepared.\n\n\n3. Signs in the Industrial World\n\nIndustrial conditions today add their contribution to the \"distress of\nnations, with perplexity.\" Through the word of prophecy the Lord long\nago foretold these conditions, with a warning to the careless rich, and\na warning to the laborer and the poor, not to be drawn into contention\nover the things of this world, for the Judge is at the door. The\nprophecy, it will be seen, refers specifically to latter-day conditions.\n\n[Illustration: \"AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?\"\n\nA night scene on the Thames embankment, London.]\n\n\"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come\nupon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.\nYour gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a\nwitness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have\nheaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the\nlaborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by\nfraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into\nthe ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth,\nand been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of\nslaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist\nyou.\n\n[Illustration: THE RICH YOUNG MAN\n\n\"Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure\nin heaven.\" Matt. 19: 21.]\n\n\"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold,\nthe husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath\nlong patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye\nalso patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth\nnigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned:\nbehold, the Judge standeth before the door.\" James 5: 1-9.\n\nThere is no need to argue that the issues with which the prophecy deals\nare pressing upon the world with ever-increasing perplexity. We quote\nbut two statements, by men not engaged in agitation, but calmly and\nthoughtfully setting down the signs of the times.\n\nThe late Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock) wrote a few years ago in the\n_Review of Internationalism_:\n\n \"The religion of Europe is not Christianity, but the worship of\n the god of war.... Unless something is done, the condition of\n the poor in Europe will grow worse and worse. It is no use\n shutting our eyes. Revolution may not come soon, not probably\n in our time, but come it will, and as sure as fate there will\n be an explosion such as the world has never seen.\"\n\nOf the rapid growth of discontent and its propaganda, Mr. Frederick\nTownsend Martin, of New York, wrote:\n\n \"Fifty years ago there was scarcely a voice of protest; indeed,\n there was hardly anything to protest against. Twenty-five years\n ago the protest was clear and distinct, and we understood it.\n Ten years ago the protest found expression in a dozen weekly\n publications, but today the protest is circulated not by\n hundreds or thousands of printed copies of books, pamphlets,\n magazines, and newspapers, but actually by the million.\n\n \"This propaganda of protest has its daily papers that are\n distinctive and published for that purpose, and that purpose\n only. It has its magazines and tens of thousands of weekly\n papers. Only a fool sneers at such a volume of publicity as\n that....\n\n \"The warnings that hundreds of us are uttering may be ignored.\n The squandering may go on, the vulgar bacchanalia may be\n prolonged, the poor may have to writhe under the iron heel of\n the iron lord--the dance of death may go on until society's E\n string snaps, and then the Vesuvius of the underworld will\n belch forth its lava of death and destruction.\"--_Hearst's\n Magazine, September, 1913._\n\nThus hearts grow faint \"for looking after those things which are coming\non the earth.\" But while the increasing \"distress of nations, with\nperplexity,\" abounds, the Lord sends the steadying, assuring message\nthat soon Christ will come to end the reign of sin and strife. He would\nhave His children keep the gospel light glowing, and wait patiently for\nHim.\n\n\n4. The Great Missionary Movement\n\nThe Saviour's prophecy of the signs of His second coming places the work\nof world evangelization as the culminating sign. This in itself is a\njoyful token of the approaching end, a bright signal of hope in a\nsuffering world. He said:\n\n\"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a\nwitness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.\" Matt. 24: 14.\n\nBefore the end, the light of the gospel was to shine into every dark\ncorner of the earth. True to the sure word of prophecy, when the latter\ndays began,--\"the time of the end,\"--there sprang up the great movement\nof modern missions which has been one of the leading characteristics of\nthe last century. Here are a few facts showing the missionary\ndevelopments of a single century:\n\n \"In 1800 the foreign missionary societies numbered seven. In\n 1900 they numbered over 500.\n\n \"In 1800 the income of seven societies amounted to about\n $50,000. In 1900 the income was over $15,000,000.\n\n \"In 1800 the number of native communicants enrolled in\n Protestant mission churches was 7,000. In 1900 there were\n 1,500,000 native communicants.\n\n \"In 1800 the adherents of Protestant churches in heathen lands\n were estimated at 15,000. In 1900 they numbered 3,500,000.\n\n \"In 1800 only one fifth of the human family had the Bible in\n languages they could read. In 1900 nine tenths of the people of\n the world had the Word of God in languages and dialects known\n to them.\"\n\nSince 1900 the missionary movement has remarkably increased in extent\nand activity. It is estimated that now there are about 22,000 foreign\nmissionaries in the fields, with many thousands of trained native\nevangelists and helpers.\n\nThe prophecy is fulfilling before our eyes. It is not the conversion of\nthe world that Christ's words foretold, but the evangelization of the\nworld; and when all the world has heard the gospel of the kingdom, \"then\nshall the end come.\"\n\nAnother prophecy--that of Rev. 14: 6-14--shows that the closing phase of\nthis world-wide missionary movement is to be the proclamation of the\nspecial gospel message of preparation for the coming of the Lord,\ncalling all men to worship God and keep His commandments, and warning\nthem against following the traditions of men that make void the Word of\nGod.\n\n[Illustration: THE SUNSET HOUR\n\n\"The work that centuries might have done Must crowd the hour of setting\nsun.\"]\n\nWith the coming of this generation there has come just such a message,\nin the rise and progress of the advent movement, the burden of the\nmessage being expressed in the very language of the prophecy--\"Fear God,\nand give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.\" Rev. 14:\n7. And the movement is spreading rapidly \"to every nation, and kindred,\nand tongue, and people.\" Thus in vision the prophet on Patmes heard the\nmessage given; and when its warning cry had reached all nations, he saw\nChrist coming in the clouds of heaven to reap the harvest of the earth.\n\n\n\"Even at the Doors\"\n\nOf the beginning of the special signs of the last days, Christ said:\n\n\"When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your\nheads; for your redemption draweth nigh.\" Luke 21: 28.\n\nBut of the time when these signs should all be seen fulfilled or in\nprocess of fulfilment, the Saviour said:\n\n\"Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and\nputteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when\nye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.\nVerily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these\nthings be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words\nshall not pass away.\" Matt. 24: 32-35.\n\nIn this generation we see these things. All about us the signs have\nappeared. We know, then, by the word that shall not pass away, that the\ngeneration has at last appeared that is to see the Saviour coming in\npower and great glory. \"Of that day and hour knoweth no man,\" but we may\nknow \"that it is near, even at the doors\"--the day for which the saints\nof God have hoped through all the ages.\n\n[Illustration: PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH\n\n\"Understandest thou what thou readest?\" Acts 8:30.]\n\n[Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE OF BABYLON\n\n\"The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and\nglory.\" Dan. 2:37]\n\n\n\n\nTHE HISTORIC PROPHECY OF DANIEL 7\n\nFOUR GREAT UNIVERSAL EMPIRES\n\n\nPart I\n\nSo important is it that we understand the events leading on to the end,\nthat repeatedly the \"sure word of prophecy\" outlines the course of this\nworld's history, and sets up waymarks along the highway to the\neverlasting kingdom.\n\nIn the light of prophecy we see the hand of God guiding and overruling\nthrough all history, shaping events for the carrying out of His purpose\nto end the reign of sin and to bring in the reign of eternal\nrighteousness. His prophetic word foretells events of history, that we\nmay know that He is the living God over all, and that we may understand\nthat the divine purpose will surely be fulfilled. Above a wicked world\nthere is a God in heaven, waiting only the appointed time for the\naccomplishment of His purposes.\n\n\"I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the\nbeginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,\nsaying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.... I have\nspoken it, I also will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also\ndo it.... My salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in\nZion.\" Isa. 46:9-13.\n\nIn the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, recorded in the second chapter of\nDaniel, the Lord revealed in brief but graphic outline the course of\nhistory from the days of Babylon to the end of the world. The four great\nuniversal monarchies,--Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome--were\nrepresented by the various parts of the metallic image. That prophecy\ndescribed particularly the division of the Roman Empire into the\nkingdoms of western Europe. \"In the days of these kings,\" declared the\nword of the Lord, the God of heaven was to set up His kingdom, bringing\nan end to all earthly powers.\n\nIn the seventh chapter we are taken over the same course of history, in\nDaniel's vision of the four beasts. Here also chief attention is devoted\nto the fourth great kingdom; and especially to its divided state; for\nthe events taking place at this time are of the deepest eternal interest\nto all men.\n\nIn this vision Daniel saw four universal empires represented by great\nbeasts. One after another the symbolic beasts arose, did their work, and\ngave place to the next scenes in the history. The angel clearly\nexplained to Daniel the meaning of the vision:\n\n\"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise\nout of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the\nkingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.\"\n\nOf necessity, then, it is a repetition of the story of the four\nuniversal monarchies dealt with in the second chapter, and ending with\nthe setting up of the everlasting kingdom.\n\nLet us place the view given the prophet in vision alongside the record\nof history.\n\nFirst, however, a word as to the manner in which the great beasts\nappeared to the prophet:\n\n\"I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven\nstrove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea,\ndiverse one from another.\"\n\nAgain and again, in the figurative language of Scripture, winds are used\nas the symbol for wars; and the sea, or waters, for nations or peoples.\n(See Jer. 25:31-33; Rev. 17:15.) The prophet saw the clashing of the\nnations in war, and out of these conflicts arose the kingdoms described\nin the prophecy.\n\n[Illustration: THE FIRST BEAST\n\n\"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings.\" Dan. 7:4.]\n\n\nBabylon\n\nNote the prophetic picture of the prophecy and the corresponding\nrepresentation in history.\n\n_Prophecy._--\"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld\ntill the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the\nearth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was\ngiven to it.\"\n\n_History._--As the lion is king of beasts, it was a fitting symbol of\nBabylon, \"the glory of kingdoms.\" Isa. 13:19. The eagle's wings suggest\nrapidity of movement and far-reaching conquest. The prophet Habakkuk\nsaid of it, \"Their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the\neagle.\" This was the characteristic of Babylon under the earlier kings,\nbut especially under Nebuchadnezzar. Berosus, the ancient Chaldean\nhistorian, wrote of him:\n\n \"This Babylonian king conquered Egypt, and Syria, and Phenicia,\n and Arabia; and exceeded in his exploits all that had reigned\n before him in Babylon.\" (See Flavius Josephus \"Against Apion,\"\n book 1, par. 19.)\n\n[Illustration: THE SECOND BEAST\n\n\"And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear.\" Dan. 7:5.]\n\nBut now, at the time of Daniel's vision, degeneracy had come; the empire\nwas tottering. The lion heart was gone, the eagle's wings were plucked,\nand within three years from the time the vision was given, Babylon was\noverthrown.\n\n\nMedo-Persia\n\nAs the dominion passed from Babylon to the next great power, the prophet\nsays:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"Behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it\nraised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it\nbetween the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much\nflesh.\"\n\n_History._--The Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon. Medo-Persia was a\ndual kingdom, lifting itself up on one side, first the Median branch the\nstronger, then the Persian, under Cyrus and his successors, rising\nhigher. This two-sided characteristic, noted as a distinguishing mark in\nthe prophecy, was emphasized by the ancient writers also. AEschylus, the\nGreek poet, who lived in the time of Persia, wrote:\n\n \"Asia's brave host,\n A Mede first led. The virtues of his son\n Fixed firm the empire....\n ... Cyrus third, by fortune graced,\n Adorned the throne.\"\n\n --\"_Persoe._\"\n\nThe word spoken in the vision, \"Arise, devour much flesh,\" describes the\nhistory from the time when the Persian side rose uppermost. Rawlinson\nsays, \"Cyrus proceeded with scarcely a pause on a long career of\nconquest.\"\n\nAn alliance against Persia was formed by Lydia, Egypt, and Babylon\n(Herodotus 1:77); and as these three great provinces were subdued, they\nmay well be represented by the three ribs in the mouth of the\nMedo-Persian bear.\n\n\nGrecia\n\nYet another kingdom was to follow, and strikingly the symbol pictures\nthe characteristics of the Greek conquest.\n\n_Prophecy._--\"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which\nhad upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; and the beast had also\nfour heads; and dominion was given to it.\"\n\n_History._--The third kingdom was Grecia. Under Alexander the Great, the\nGreeks swept into Asia with the quickness of the leopard's spring. And\nthe four wings on the leopard must represent astonishing fleetness.\nPlutarch speaks of the \"incredible swiftness\" of Alexander's conquests.\nAppian wrote:\n\n \"The empire of Alexander was splendid in its magnitude, in its\n armies, in the success and rapidity of its conquests, and it\n wanted little of being boundless and unexampled, yet in its\n shortness of duration it was like a brilliant flash of\n lightning. Although broken into several satrapies, even the\n parts were splendid.\"--_\"History of Rome,\" preface, par. 10._\n\n[Illustration: THE THIRD BEAST\n\n\"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard.\" Dan. 7:6.]\n\nThus the ancient Roman writer pictured the career of Grecia just as\nrepresented by the prophetic symbol--the fleetness, the great dominion\ngiven it, the division of the empire into satrapies, as suggested by the\nfour heads of the leopard. Out of the conflicts following Alexander's\ndeath, there came the fourfold headship of the empire. Rawlinson says,\n\"A quadripartite division of Alexander's domain was recognized.\" (See\n\"Sixth Monarchy,\" chap. 3.) The real situation is best represented, as\nDr. Albert Barnes says, by \"one animal with four heads,\" just as the\nprophetic symbol described it centuries before.\n\nThus the course of empire followed the outline of the \"sure word of\nprophecy\" from age to age.\n\n \"Armies were ranged in battle's dread array:\n They fought--their glory withered in its bud;\n They perished--with them ceased their tyrants' sway;\n New wars, new heroes came--their story passed away.\"\n\nThere was to be no abiding kingdom till the time came for God's glorious\nkingdom to be set up.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOURTH BEAST\n\n\"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast,\ndreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly.\" Dan. 7:7.]\n\n\nRome\n\nAs the prophet watched the moving panorama of history, foretold in\nsymbols, he said:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth\nbeast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great\niron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue\nwith the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were\nbefore it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold,\nthere came up among them another little horn, before whom there were\nthree of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this\nhorn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great\nthings.\"\n\n[Illustration: ROME ON THE TIBER\n\nThe palace of the Caesars appears high on the hill at the left.]\n\n_History._--As the iron of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream fitly\nrepresented the \"iron monarchy of Rome,\" so here the dreadful beast,\nwith its iron teeth, can be none other than Rome, which followed Grecia\nin world dominion. It was the most powerful, the most dominating, of all\nthe beasts in the prophetic series. A Roman Catholic writer, Cardinal\nManning, compresses into a paragraph the correspondence of history to\nthe likeness of the prophecy:\n\n[Illustration: BATTLE OF ZAMA, B.C. 202\n\nBy which Rome broke the power of Carthage, its rival, and \"began the\nconquest of the world.\"]\n\n \"The legions of Rome occupied the circumference of the world.\n The military roads which sprang from Rome traversed all the\n earth; the whole world was, as it were, held in peace and in\n tranquillity by the universal presence of this mighty heathen\n empire. It was 'exceedingly terrible,' according to the\n prophecies of Daniel; it was as it were of iron, beating down\n and subduing the nations.\"--_\"The Temporal Power of the Pope\"\n (London, 1862), p. 122._\n\nThus far every symbol of the prophet's vision finds its exact and clear\ncounterpart in history. A writer living in the third century, in the\ndays of imperial Rome, rejoiced to see how exactly the prophecy was\nbeing fulfilled. Hippolytus (counted a saint by the Catholic Church)\nwrote:\n\n \"Rejoice, blessed Daniel! thou hast not been in error! All\n these things have come to pass. After this again thou hast told\n us of the beast, dreadful and terrible. It has iron teeth and\n claws of brass; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped\n the residue with the feet of it. Already the iron rules;\n already it subdues and breaks all in pieces; already it brings\n all the unwilling into subjection; already we see these things\n ourselves. Now we glorify God, being instructed by\n thee.\"--_\"Treatise on Christ and Antichrist,\" sec. 33._\n\nNow the prophetic outline comes to the time of the division of the Roman\nEmpire, introducing events of deepest personal interest to us today.\n\n\nPart II\n\nThe Fourth Kingdom and the \"Little Horn\"\n\nIt was the fourth great monarchy, Imperial Rome, and the events to\nfollow it, that engaged the anxious inquiry of the prophet. He says:\n\n\"Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from\nall the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his\nnails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue\nwith his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the\nother which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that\nhad eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more\nstout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the\nsaints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and\njudgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came\nthat the saints possessed the kingdom.\"\n\nThe prophet wanted to know the truth about it; and the angel told him\nthe truth. First, the angel said:\n\n\"The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be\ndiverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall\ntread it down, and break it in pieces.\"\n\nThe fourth kingdom, as we have seen, was Rome. As Cardinal Manning said\nof the empire, \"It was 'exceeding terrible,' according to the prophecies\nof Daniel; it was as it were of iron, breaking down and subduing the\nnations.\"\n\nOf the ten horns that arose out of this fourth great empire, the angel\nsaid:\n\n\"The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and\nanother shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,\nand he shall subdue three kings.\"\n\nWe look to the history of the Roman Empire, and what do we see?--Just\nthe picture of the prophecy. We see the original Roman Empire of the\nWest divided into lesser kingdoms. We see the barbarian peoples of the\nNorth sweeping down upon the empire, breaking it up, and establishing\nwithin its boundaries the various kingdoms that are to this day\nrepresented by the kingdoms of western Europe.\n\nAnd as we watch the history at this point, we surely see \"another little\nhorn,\" another land of power, rising among the horns representing the\nkingdoms of divided Rome--a kingdom, yet a kingdom \"diverse\" from the\nothers. The work of this power riveted the attention of the prophet; and\nit is of the greatest importance that we also should watch closely to\ncatch the lesson of the divine prophecy.\n\n\nProphetic and Historic Pictures of the \"Little Horn\"\n\nThis is plainly the picture presented by the prophet, as we look again,\nobserving details more closely.\n\nThe prophet beheld the division of the Roman Empire into lesser\nkingdoms. Then, springing up among these kingdoms, he saw the\nlittle-horn power subduing three of the ten kingdoms, speaking great\nwords, and making war with the saints of God. It was to be a religious\npower, then, ruling among the kings of the earth, and asserting\nreligious dominion over the faith and consciences of men. \"The same horn\nmade war with the saints, and prevailed against them.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE INVASION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE BY THE HUNS\n\n\"We see the barbarian peoples of the North sweeping down upon the\nempire, breaking it up, and establishing within its boundaries the\nvarious kingdoms that are to this day represented by the kingdoms of\nWestern Europe.\"--_Page 127._]\n\nWe look to history, and this is what plainly appears:\n\nWe see, as described in the prophecy, a time when ten contemporaneous\nkingdoms filled the territory of the original Western Empire. Just there\nwe see an ecclesiastical kingly power rise to religious supremacy--the\nRoman Papacy. We see, through its influence, three of the ten kingdoms\noverthrown, \"plucked up by the roots\"--three Arian or heretical\nkingdoms. And as we watch the history, we find this power making \"war\nwith the saints\" and prevailing against them through long ages.\n\nA Roman Catholic writer describes it in a paragraph:\n\n \"Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western\n emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the\n Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked\n him to rule them; and thus, in this simple manner, the best\n title of all to kingly right, commenced the temporal\n sovereignty of the popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of\n Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the\n emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through\n so many ages.\"--_Rev. James P. Conroy, in American Catholic\n Quarterly Review, April, 1911._\n\nYet again we look at the picture presented in prophecy. Then we turn to\nhistory; and precisely where and when the prophet saw the \"little horn\"\ncoming up, we see the Roman Papacy rising to supremacy. We see this\necclesiastical power wielding a kingly scepter among the kingdoms of\ndivided Rome, exalting itself above them, with a look \"more stout than\nhis fellows.\" We hear it speaking great words, and we see it carrying on\nwarfare against the saints.\n\nClearly, there was no other power in history, rising at that time and in\nthat place, which suggests the slightest correspondence to the prophecy.\nIn every detail the Roman Papacy does correspond to it.\n\nThe prophetic outline has brought us to the rise of the great apostasy,\nso fully dealt with in the New Testament prophecy; but there are further\nspecifications in this prophecy of the seventh of Daniel which demand\nbrief study.\n\n[Illustration: RAISING THE SIEGE OF ROME, A.D. 538\n\nThe crushing defeat of the Goths by the armies of Justinian, who placed\nVigilius in the papal chair under the military protection of his famous\ngeneral, Belisarius.]\n\n[Illustration: ST. PETER'S AND THE VATICAN\n\nThe magnificent headquarters of the papal system.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE 1260 YEARS OF DANIEL'S PROPHECY\n\n\nCompressed into forty-four words, the age-long story of the workings of\nthe Roman Papacy is thus told by the angel who interpreted Daniel's\nvision of the little horn:\n\n\"He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out\nthe saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and\nthey shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the\ndividing of time.\" Dan. 7:25.\n\nThe spirit of this apostasy was abroad in apostolic days. \"The mystery\nof iniquity doth already work,\" said the apostle Paul. 2 Thess. 2:7. And\nthis power is to continue to work until the end, when it will be\ndestroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. Verse 8.\n\n\nA Prophetic Period\n\nBut according to the word of the angel to Daniel, there was to be a\nperiod during which, in a special sense, the Papacy was to hold\nsupremacy over the saints and the times and the laws of the Most High.\n\n\"They shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the\ndividing of time.\" In the Scriptures the word \"time,\" used in this\nmanner, means a year: \"at the end of times, even years.\" Dan. 11:13,\nmargin. Therefore a time (one year) and times (two years) and the\ndividing of time (half a year) means three years and a half. The same\nperiod is mentioned twice in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, once\n(verse 14) as \"a time, and times, and half a time,\" and again (verse 6)\nas \"a thousand two hundred and threescore days.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut in the symbolic representations of time in prophecy, a day stands\nfor a year (see Eze. 4:5, 6, and other scriptures). Thus the prophecy\nforetold a long period of 1260 years during which papal supremacy would\ncontinue.\n\nNow we may ask, When was this supremacy to begin? what would mark the\nrise of the Papacy to acknowledged supremacy? and what events mark the\nending of the 1260 years?\n\n\nA Pivotal Point in History\n\nThe answer of history to the voice of prophecy is clear.\n\nThe sixth century was a pivotal period in the history of the world. The\nbishops of Rome had been asserting the claims of that seat (or \"see\")\nabove all others. Justinian was emperor of the East. Of Justinian and\nhis time Bury says:\n\n \"He may be likened to a colossal Janus bestriding the way of\n passage between the ancient and medieval worlds.... His\n military achievements decided the course of the history of\n Italy, and affected the development of Western Europe;... and\n his ecclesiastical authority influenced the distant future of\n Christendom.\"--_\"History of the Later Roman Empire,\" Vol. I,\n pp. 351-353._\n\nOf this turning point in the world's history, Finlay says:\n\n \"The changes of centuries passed in rapid succession before the\n eyes of one generation.\"--_\"Greece under the Romans,\" p. 231._\n\nJust here we find the Papacy lifted definitely into acknowledged\nsupremacy. Imperial Rome had already left its ancient seat to the\nPapacy, the imperial throne being no longer maintained at Rome. The\nBishop of Rome was left the chief figure in the ancient seat of the\nCaesars. The prophecy of Rev. 13:2 had said of the relation of the old\nimperial power to the Papacy, \"The dragon gave him his power, and his\nseat, and great authority.\" The seat was given, and now imperial Rome\nwas to give to papal Rome the definite recognition of its supreme power\nand \"great authority.\"\n\n\nPapal Supremacy Officially Recognized\n\nIn A.D. 533 the emperor Justinian promulgated a letter, having\nthe force of an imperial decree, recognizing the absolute headship of\nthe Bishop of Rome over the churches. It declared:\n\n \"We have been sedulous to subject and unite all the priests of\n the Orient throughout its whole extent to the see of Your\n Holiness.... For we do not suffer that anything which is\n mooted, however clear and unquestionable, pertaining to the\n state of the churches, should fail to be made known to Your\n Holiness, as being the head of all the churches. For, as we\n have said before, we are zealous for the increase of the honor\n and authority of your see in all respects.\"--_Cod. Justin.,\n lib. 1, title 1, Baronii \"Annales Ecclesiastici,\" Tom. VII, an.\n 533, sec. 12 (Translation as given in \"The Petrine Claims,\" by\n R.F. Littledale, p. 293)._\n\nFrom this decree (for such it really was) the Roman authorities date the\nofficial recognition of the supremacy of the Papacy. Some have taken a\nlater decree by Emperor Phocas (A.D. 606) as a starting point.\nBut Dr. Croly says:\n\n \"The highest authorities among the civilians and annalists of\n Rome spurn the idea that Phocas was the founder of the\n supremacy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian as the only\n legitimate source, and rightly date the title from the\n memorable year 533.\"--_\"The Apocalypse of St. John,\" pp. 172,\n 173._\n\n\nThe Sword of Empire Cleaves the Way\n\nThe \"great authority\" had been recognized. But at this time heretical\nArian powers compassed the papal seat about. The Arian Vandals were\npersecuting Catholics in Africa, Corsica, and Sardinia, and an Arian\nGothic king ruled Italy from Ravenna, his capital. The imperial arms,\nhowever, were at the service of orthodoxy. In 533-534 Justinian's\nfamous general, Belisarius, uprooted the Vandals. The war for the faith\nand the empire was carried into Italy also, against the Arian Goths. In\n536 Belisarius, unopposed, entered Rome at the invitation of the Pope.\nBut the next year the Goths rallied all their forces to retake the city.\nIt was a crisis in the struggle for Italy. \"If a single post had given\nway,\" says Gibbon, \"the Romans, and Rome itself, were irrecoverably\nlost.\" The Goths withdrew, defeated, in 538; and this defeat, says\nHodgkin, dug \"the grave of the Gothic monarchy in Italy.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE POPE ENTERING ST. PETER'S FROM THE VATICAN\n\nThe famous statue of St. Peter may be seen on the right.]\n\nThough the conflict went on for years before the Goths were rooted up,\nthis defeat of 538 was a crucial hour in their history. Finlay says:\n\n \"With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, the history of the\n ancient city may be considered as terminating; and with his\n defense against Witiges [538] commences the history of the\n Middle Ages.\"--_\"Greece under the Romans,\" p 295._\n\nRoughly speaking, the Middle Ages and the age of papal supremacy and\npower were the same.\n\n\nA New Order of Popes\n\n[Illustration: THE VATICAN\n\nA bird's-eye view from the dome of St. Peter's. COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD &\nUNDERWOOD, N.Y.]\n\nNot only was there this telling stroke by the imperial sword in 538,\nhelping to clear the way before the Papacy, but at this same time the\nfirst of a new order of popes was placed upon the papal throne by the\nimperial arms. Pope Silverius, accused of sympathy with the Goths, was\ndeposed by Belisarius in 537. The emperor intervened, and the question\nof the validity of his deposition was held up by the emperor until 538.\nIn that year, as Schaff says:\n\n \"Vigilius, a pliant creature of Theodora, ascended the papal\n chair under the military protection of Belisarius\n (538-554).\"--_\"History of the Christian Church,\" Vol. III, p.\n 327._\n\n[Illustration: THE FAMOUS SACRED STAIRWAY IN ROME\n\nHere Luther, climbing the stairway on his knees, heard the message, \"The\njust shall live by faith.\"]\n\nWith him begins a new order. Though personally he was humiliated by the\nemperor's demands, and the Papacy itself was brought into a state of\nsubjection that it had not known even under heretical Gothic kings, yet\nthis very arbitrary use of the papal prerogative by Justinian,\nstrengthened the idea that the Pope of Rome was the supreme authority\nin religion, to speak for the universal church. In Bemont and Monod's\ntextbook on \"Medieval Europe,\" page 120, we read:\n\n \"Down to the sixth century all popes are declared saints in the\n martyrologies. Vigilius (537[E]-555) is the first of a series\n of popes who no longer bear this title, which is henceforth\n sparingly conferred. From this time on the popes, more and more\n involved in worldly events, no longer belong solely to the\n church; they are men of the state, and then rulers of the\n state.\"\n\n\nA Persecuting Power\n\nFollowing Vigilius came Pelagius I (556-560), who ascended the throne by\n\"the military aid of Narses,\" then the imperial general in Italy. And\nPelagius, who had been set in the papal see by imperial power, began to\ndemand that the sword of the empire should be used against bishops or\nmembers in the church who did not give way to the authority of the Pope.\nHis letters on this subject \"are an unqualified defense of the\nprinciples of persecution.\" (See \"Dictionary of Christian Biography,\" by\nSmith and Wace, art. \"Pope Pelagius.\")\n\nThe prophecy declared that the Papacy would be given special supremacy\nduring a period of 1260 years.\n\nIn A.D. 533 came the memorable imperial declaration recognizing\nthat supremacy, and in A.D. 538 came the stroke with the sword\nof Rome, cleaving the way; and there began the new order of popes--\"men\nof the state, and then rulers of the state.\"\n\nThus decisive events clearly mark the beginning of the prophetic period\nof the 1260 years. And just 1260 years from the decree of 533, in\nrecognition of the papal supremacy, came a decree, in 1793, aimed\nagainst that supremacy; and just 1260 years from that stroke with the\nsword at Rome in behalf of the Papacy, came a stroke with the sword at\nRome against the Papacy.\n\n[Illustration: STORMING OF THE BASTILLE PRISON IN PARIS\n\nAn event in the French Revolution which marked the ending of the old\nautocratic order.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[E] The exact date should be 538, as given in the quotation from\nSchaff's history. \"From the death of Silverius [June, 538] the Roman\nCatholic writers date the episcopacy of Vigilius.\"--_Bower, \"History of\nthe Popes,\" under year 538._\n\n\n[Illustration: TAKING THE POPE PRISONER\n\nThis was accomplished by Berthier, the French general, in 1798.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE DAWN OF A NEW ERA\n\nTHE END OF THE 1260 YEARS\n\n\nAs the generation in which the papal power rose to supremacy was a\nturning-point in the history of the world, so, too, was the generation\nin which the 1260 years of its supremacy came to an end.\n\nThis measuring line of prophecy does more than run from date to date. It\nconnects two great crises in human history, the events of the first\ntending to establish the papal rule over men, the events of the second\nsignalizing a breaking of those bands.\n\n\nA Crisis in History\n\nPapal supremacy came at that time of which Finlay says, \"The changes of\ncenturies passed in rapid succession before the eyes of one generation.\"\nThe measuring line of 1260 years runs on through the centuries till, lo,\nits end touches another time of crisis,--Europe in the convulsions of\nthe French Revolution, when again changes, ordinarily requiring\ncenturies, were wrought out before the eyes of men within the space of a\nfew years. Lamartine wrote of that time:\n\n \"These five years are five centuries for France.\"--_\"History of\n the Girondists,\" book 61, sec. 16 (Vol. III), p. 544._\n\nAnd the events of these times proclaimed the prophetic period of papal\nsupremacy ended at last.\n\nThus, in A.D. 533 came the notable decree of the Papacy's\npowerful supporter, recognizing its supremacy; and then the decisive\nstroke by the sword at Rome in A.D. 538, cleaving the way for\nthe new order of popes--the rulers of state.\n\nExactly 1260 years later, in 1793, came the notable decree of the\nPapacy's once powerful supporter, France,--\"the eldest son of the\nchurch,\"--aiming to abolish church and religion, followed by a decisive\nstroke with the sword at Rome against the Papacy, in 1798.\n\n\nSignificant Events of the French Revolution\n\nOf the decree of 1793, W.H. Hutton says:--\n\n \"On Nov. 26, 1793, the Convention, of which seventeen bishops\n and some clergy were members, decreed the abolition of all\n religion.\"--_\"Age of Revolution,\" p. 156._\n\nThe frenzy of the days of the Terror presented the spectacle of outraged\nhumanity, goaded to desperation by centuries of oppression in the name\nof religion and divine right, rising up and madly breaking every\nrestraint. Because in the minds of the people the Papacy stood for\nreligion, they blindly struck at religion itself, and at God, in whose\nname the papal church had done its cruel work through the centuries.\n\nIn the prophecy of Rev. 11:3-13 these events of the wild days of the\nFrench Revolution are specifically referred to as coming at the close of\nthe prophetic period of the 1260 years. The prophetic picture was so\nclear that over a hundred years before the time, Jurieu, an eminent\nFrench student of prophecy, wrote that he could \"not doubt that 'tis\nFrance,\" the chief supporter of the Papacy, that would give the shock\nas of an earthquake to the great spiritual Babylonian city. He wrote of\nFrance, one of the ten parts of divided Rome:\n\n \"This tenth part of the city shall fall, with respect to the\n Papacy; it shall break with Rome, and the Roman\n religion.\"--_\"The Accomplishment of the Prophecies\" (London,\n 1687), part 2, p. 265._\n\nAnd so it came to pass. Far beyond France the movement reached. Canon\nTrevor says of the wave of revolt against absolutism that passed over\nEurope:\n\n \"It is worthy of observation that only those nations which\n eschewed popery were able to resist the tide. Every throne and\n every church, without exception, that owned the supremacy of\n Rome, was prostrated in the dust.\"--_\"Rome and Its Papal\n Rulers,\" p. 436._\n\nThe decree of the French Convention in 1793 was followed by the stroke\nwith the sword at Rome in 1798. The full history is told in fewest words\nby a Roman Catholic writer, Rev. Joseph Rickaby, of the Jesuit Society:\n\n \"When, in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave\n orders that in the event of his death no successor should be\n elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be\n discontinued.\n\n \"But the Pope recovered. The peace was soon broken; Berthier\n entered Rome on the tenth of February, 1798, and proclaimed a\n republic. The aged pontiff refused to violate his oath by\n recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison in\n France. Broken with fatigue and sorrows, he died on the\n nineteenth of August, 1799, in the French fortress of Valence,\n aged eighty-two years. No wonder that half Europe thought\n Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the\n Papacy was dead.\"--_\"The Modern Papacy,\" p. 1 (Catholic Truth\n Society, London)._\n\nThese events of the French Revolution marked the ending of the prophetic\nperiod of papal supremacy. A \"deadly wound\" had been given the Papacy.\nAnd the blow with the sword at Rome was struck in 1798, just 1260 years\nfrom the year 538, when the sword of empire struck that decisive blow\nagainst the Goths at Rome, and prepared the way for the new order of\npopes, the kingly rulers of church and state.\n\nOf the condition of the Papacy at this time Canon Trevor says:\n\n \"The Papacy was extinct: not a vestige of its existence\n remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger\n was stirred in its defense. The Eternal City had no longer\n prince or pontiff; its bishop was a dying captive in foreign\n lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor\n would be allowed in his place.\"--_\"Rome and Its Papal Rulers,\"\n p. 440._\n\n\"No wonder that half Europe,\" the Jesuit writer says, \"thought\nNapoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the Papacy was\ndead.\" But he adds that \"since then the Papacy has been lifted to a\npinnacle of spiritual power\" unreached before.\n\nThe stroke dealt the Papacy by the French Revolution was not to be the\nending of it, by any means, according to the prophecy. These events\nproclaimed the ending of the prophetic period of special supremacy.\nAnother prophecy distinctly indicates that following the deadly blow\nthere would come a revival of the Papacy's influence, just as the\nCatholic writer describes it. The prophet John, speaking of this same\npower, says:\n\n\"I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly\nwound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.... And\nthey worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is\nable to make war with him?\" Rev. 13:3, 4.\n\nWe see the healing process still going on, with evidences multiplying\nthat the world is more and more wondering after the papal power.\n\n\nA New Era of Liberty and Enlightenment\n\nWith the ending of the 1260 years of papal supremacy, a new order was\nushered in. The Papacy had stood for absolutism in state as well as\nchurch. Now the power of absolutism was broken. \"Absolute monarchy,\"\nEdmund Burke said at the time, \"breathed its last without a struggle.\"\nThere came the dawn of an era of greater religious liberty and\nenlightenment, that has spread blessings over all lands.\n\nThe prophecy had said of the Papacy, that the saints and the times and\nlaws of the Most High were to be \"given into his hand\" for 1260 years.\nAs foretold in Christ's prophecy (Matt. 24:22), these days of the\ntribulation of God's saints were \"shortened.\" The power of the\nReformation weakened the oppressing hand, even before the prophetic\nperiod ran out. And when the full 1260 years closed, the world saw the\ngrip of that papal hand yet further loosened, and God's providence at\nwork preparing the way for a world-wide proclamation of His gospel,\nbearing witness against the perversions of the papal apostasy, and\nrestoring to men the Word and laws of the Most High.\n\nThe record of history witnesses that this time prophecy of the 1260\nyears of papal supremacy was exactly fulfilled. The Lord speaks in\nprophecy that men may know that He is the living God. In these time\nprophecies of His Word, He gives assurance not only that this troubled\nworld has not escaped from the hand of its Maker, but that its times are\nin His hand also; and that when the time of His divine purpose fully\ncomes, He will surely cut His work short in righteousness, and end the\nreign of sin on earth.\n\nAs the prophetic period of Dan. 7:25 meets its fulfilment in the history\nof the Papacy, even so, we shall see, the work of the Roman Church\nanswers to the further specifications regarding the doings of this\n\"little horn\" of Daniel's prophecy.\n\n[Illustration: THE TRIPLE CROWN\n\nThe Pope's Tiara, from a photograph taken in the Vatican at Rome.]\n\n[Illustration: HUGUENOTS IN PRISON FOR THEIR FAITH\n\n\"Others had trial ... of bonds and imprisonment.\" Heb. 11:36.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE WORK OF THE \"LITTLE HORN\" POWER\n\n\nThe prophetic picture of the rise and work of the \"little horn\" finds\nits exact counterpart in the history of the Roman Papacy:\n\n_The Place._--The little horn was seen by the prophet rising in the\nfield of the Roman Empire. That was the very place where the great\nkingdom of the Papacy appeared, taking the name of Roman.\n\n_The Time._--The rise of the ecclesiastical kingdom of the little-horn\npower in the prophecy followed the breaking up of the Roman Empire into\nthe ten kingdoms. Just so the ecclesiastical kingdom of the Roman Papacy\nrises to view in history immediately following the division of the\nempire.\n\n_The Period of Supremacy._--The prophecy allotted 1260 years to the full\nsupremacy of this power. History responds that from the beginning of the\npapal supremacy, in the days of Justinian, a period of 1260 years brings\nus into the stirring events of the last decade of the eighteenth\ncentury, that gave to the Papacy a deadly wound.\n\n[Illustration: THE LOVE OF POWER\n\n\"He shall speak great words against the Most High.\" Dan. 7:25.\n\nTHE POWER OF LOVE]\n\nOne further set of specifications remains for study:\n\n_The Work._--Of the nature and work of the power represented by the\nlittle horn, the prophecy declares:\n\n\"He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out\nthe saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and\nthey shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the\ndividing of time.\" Dan. 7:25.\n\nDo we find in the record that the Church of Rome has fulfilled these\nspecifications also? The Scripture prophecy is absolutely a\nword-photograph of the workings of the papal church. Look at the main\nfeatures:\n\n 1. Speaking great words against the Most High.\n 2. Wearing out the saints of the Most High.\n 3. Thinking to change the times and the laws of the Most High.\n\nEvery count in the indictment may be clearly proved, and that by\ntestimony from Roman Catholic sources\n\n\n\"He Shall Speak Great Words Against the Most High\"\n\nAs Daniel observed the little-horn power, he heard it speaking \"very\ngreat things.\" The angel declared that these great swelling words were\nreally against the Most High. And what could be more against the honor\nof the Most High than that to mortal man should be ascribed the titles\nand attributes of divinity? Here are some of the \"great words:\"\n\n \"All the names which are attributed to Christ in Scripture,\n implying His supremacy over the church, are also attributed to\n the Pope.\"--_Bellarmine, \"On the Authority of Councils,\" book\n 2, chap. 17._\n\nThis ruling has been actually applied through the ages. Says Elliott:\n\n \"Look at the Sicilian ambassadors prostrated before him [Pope\n Martin IV] with the cry, 'Lamb of God! that takest away the\n sins of the world!'\"--_\"Horae Apocalypticae,\" part 4, chap. 5,\n sec. 2._\n\n[Illustration: CHRISTIANS IN PRISON BENEATH THE COLOSSEUM AWAITING\nMARTYRDOM\n\n\"And shall wear out the saints of the Most High.\" Dan. 7:25.]\n\n \"The Pope is of so great dignity and excellence, that he is not\n merely man, but as if God, and the vicar of God (_non sit\n simplex homo, sed quasi Deus, et Dei vicarius_). The Pope alone\n is called most holy,... divine monarch, and supreme emperor,\n and king of kings.... The Pope is of so great dignity and power\n that he constitutes one and the same tribunal with Christ\n (_faciat unum et idem tribunal cum Christo_), so that\n whatsoever the Pope does seems to proceed from the mouth of God\n (_abore Dei_).\"--_\"Prompta Bibliotheca\" (Ferraris), art.\n \"Papa;\" Ferraris's Ecclesiastical Dictionary (Roman Catholic),\n art. \"The Pope.\" Quoted in Guinness's \"Romanism and the\n Reformation,\" p. 16._\n\nThese are no merely extravagant adulations of the Dark Ages, to be\nrepudiated by the moderns; these terms express the unchanging doctrinal\nclaims of the Roman Church, that put man in the place of God. The modern\nPope Leo XIII, in an encyclical letter dated June 20, 1894, repeated the\nclaim:\n\n \"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.\"--_\"The\n Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII\" (New York, Benziger\n Brothers), p. 304._\n\nThus does the Papacy \"speak great words against the Most High.\"\n\n\n\"And Shall Wear Out the Saints of the Most High\"\n\nAll through the Dark Ages we catch glimpses of the ruthless hand of Rome\nlaid upon simple believers in God's Holy Word; but plans for wholesale\nwearing out of the saints of God were devised as the Waldenses and\nothers rose to a widespread work of witnessing, heralds of the dawn of\nthe coming Reformation,--\n\n \"These who gave earliest notice,\n As the lark\n Springs from the ground the morn to gratulate;\n Who, rather, rose the day to antedate,\n By striking out a solitary spark,\n When all the world with midnight gloom was dark--\n The harbingers of good whom bitter hate\n In vain endeavored to exterminate.\"\n\n --_Wordsworth._\n\nPope Innocent III gave orders concerning them as follows:\n\n \"Therefore by this present apostolical writing, we give you a\n strict command that, by whatever means you can, you destroy all\n these heresies and expel from your diocese all who are polluted\n with them. You shall exercise the rigor of ecclesiastical power\n against them and all those who have made themselves suspected\n by associating with them. They may not appeal from your\n judgments, and, if necessary, you may cause the princes and\n people to suppress them with the sword.\"--_Quoted from Migne,\n 214, col. 71, in Thatcher and McNeal's \"Source Book for\n Medieval History,\" p. 210._\n\nAs the truth spread, so also the papal church redoubled its efforts by\nsword and flame. The historian Lecky says:\n\n \"That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any\n other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be\n questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of\n history. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are\n now so scanty that it is impossible to form a complete\n conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite\n certain that no powers of imagination can adequately realize\n their sufferings.\"--_\"History of the Rise and Influence of the\n Spirit of Rationalism in Europe,\" Vol. II, p. 32._\n\nMotley, in his \"Rise of the Dutch Republic\" (part 3, chap. 2), tells how\nPhilip II of Spain--who declared that he would \"never consent to be the\nsovereign of heretics\"--sent the Duke of Alva to take over the\nNetherlands:\n\n \"Early in the year the most sublime sentence of death was\n promulgated which has ever been pronounced since the creation\n of the world. The Roman tyrant [Nero] wished that his enemies'\n heads were all upon a single neck, that he might strike them\n off at a blow; the Inquisition assisted Philip to place the\n heads of all his Netherlands subjects upon a single neck for\n the same fell purpose. Upon February 16, 1568, a sentence of\n the Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the\n Netherlands to death as heretics. From this universal doom only\n a few persons, especially named, were excepted. A proclamation\n of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the\n Inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant\n execution, without regard to age, sex, or condition. This is\n probably the most concise death warrant that was ever framed.\n Three millions of people, men, women, and children, were\n sentenced to the scaffold in three lines.\"\n\nRoman Catholic writers admit that the papal church has sought to\nexterminate what it calls heresy, by the power of the sword.\n\nThe _Western Watchman_ (St. Louis), Dec. 24, 1908, says:\n\n \"The church has persecuted.... Protestants were persecuted in\n France and Spain with the full approval of the church\n authorities. We have always defended the persecution of the\n Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition. Wherever and whenever\n there is honest Catholicity, there will be a clear distinction\n drawn between truth and error, and Catholicity and all forms of\n error. When she thinks it good to use physical force, she will\n use it.\"\n\nProf. Alfred Baudrillart, rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris,\nsays:\n\n \"The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of\n liberty.... She has, and she loudly proclaims that she has, a\n 'horror of blood.' Nevertheless, when confronted by heresy, she\n does not content herself with persuasion; arguments of an\n intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and\n she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture.\n She creates tribunals like those of the Inquisition, she calls\n the laws of the state to her aid, if necessary she encourages a\n crusade, or a religious war, and all her 'horror of blood'\n practically culminates into urging the secular power to shed\n it, which proceeding is almost more odious--for it is less\n frank--than shedding it herself. Especially did she act thus in\n the sixteenth century with regard to Protestants. Not content\n to reform morally, to preach by example, to convert people by\n eloquent and holy missionaries, she lit in Italy, in the Low\n Countries, and above all in Spain, the funeral piles of the\n Inquisition. In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England\n under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in\n France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth and\n the first half of the seventeenth century if she did not\n actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided,\n the religious wars.\"--_\"The Catholic Church, the Renaissance\n and Protestantism\" (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co.,\n Ltd., 1908), pp. 182, 183._\n\nShe has done it--the Church of Rome has worn out the saints of the Most\nHigh. The prophet in vision saw an ecclesiastical kingly power rise\namong the kingdoms of the divided Roman Empire. Its look was more stout\nthan its fellows, and the prophet heard it speaking \"very great things,\"\nand saw it wearing out the saints of the Most High through the long\ncenturies.\n\n[Illustration: THE SHAME OF RELIGIOUS WARS\n\nChrist viewing the battle fields of history, where millions of His\nfollowers have been slain in His name.]\n\n\"Guilty!\" is the clear verdict of history, against the Church of Rome on\nthese two counts of the prophetic indictment.\n\n\n\"And Think to Change Times and Laws\"\n\nThe power that was to speak great words against the Most High, and to\nwear out the saints of the Most High, was further--in its self-exalting\nopposition to God--to assume to lay hands upon times and laws, evidently\nthe times and the laws of the Most High; for to say that such a power\nwould lay hands on the laws of men, changing or setting aside human\nlegislation, would signify less than the preceding counts. This third\nspecification states a climax in the indictment--the self-exalting,\npersecuting power was to lay hands upon the very law of the Most High.\nIt is clearly the same power that the apostle Paul said would rise to\ndominion after his time: \"Then shall be revealed the lawless one.\" 2\nThess. 2:8, A.R.V.\n\n\nGod's Law Unchangeable\n\nJust as the laws of a government express its character, so the law of\nGod is a reflection of the divine character. \"The law of the Lord is\nperfect.\" Ps. 19:7. \"Wherefore the law is holy,\" said the apostle, \"and\nthe commandment holy, and just, and good.\" Rom. 7:12.\n\nJesus declared, \"I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is\nwithin My heart.\" Ps. 40:8. And He maintained the unchangeable, enduring\nintegrity of that law: \"Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth\npass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all\nbe fulfilled.\" Matt. 5:18.\n\nBut in Daniel's prophecy is foretold the rise of this power that was to\n_think_ to change the times and the laws of the Most High.\n\nHere, again, the evidence points straight to the Church of Rome; for it\nis a fact that the Papacy has laid violent hands on the law of God--upon\nthe precept, too, that deals with sacred time--and has _thought_ to\nchange it.\n\nIn a volume to be seen in the British Museum, dated 1545, the following\ncomment on Dan. 7:25 is attributed to Philipp Melanchthon, the Reformer,\nassociate of Luther (reproduced with the old English spelling):\n\n \"He changeth the tymes and lawes that any of the sixe worke\n dayes commanded of God will make them unholy and idle dayes\n when he lyste, or of their owne holy dayes abolished make worke\n dayes agen, or when they changed ye Saterday into Sondaye....\n They have changed God's lawes and turned them into their owne\n tradicions to be kept above God's precepts.\"--_\"Exposition of\n Daniel the Prophete,\" Gathered out of Philipp Melanchthon,\n Johan Ecolampadius, etc., by George Joye, 1545, p. 119._\n\nThis is exactly what the power represented by the little horn was to\nassume to do. The commandment of God is plain:\n\n\"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor,\nand do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy\nGod: in it thou shalt not do any work.... For in six days the Lord made\nheaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the\nseventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed\nit.\" Ex. 20:8-11.\n\n\nA Change in Practice\n\nBut in general practice there has been a change--the first day is\ncommonly observed instead of the seventh day, which the Lord declares he\nblessed and made holy. The Roman Catholic Church points exultingly to\nthe fact that this change, so universally allowed today, has come about\nsolely through church tradition without Scriptural authority. For\ninstance, one Catholic writer says:\n\n \"You will tell me that Saturday was the _Jewish_ Sabbath, but\n that the _Christian_ Sabbath has been changed to Sunday.\n Changed! but by whom? Who has authority to change an express\n commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said,\n Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say,\n Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on\n the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its\n stead? This is a most important question, which I know not how\n you can answer.\n\n \"You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and\n the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the\n observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against\n the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place\n of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep\n holy the seventh day is one of the ten commandments; you\n believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you\n authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with\n your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the\n Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the\n New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly\n altered.\"--_\"Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don't You Keep\n the Holy Sabbath Day?\" (Burns and Oates London), p. 3._\n\nEvery one who studies the question must recognize the fact that there is\nno change authorized in Scripture. As Canon Eyton, of the Church of\nEngland, says:\n\n \"There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about\n abstaining from work on Sunday.... Into the rest of Sunday no\n divine law enters.\"--_\"The Ten Commandments\" (Truebner & Co.),\n London._\n\nDr. Heylyn, of the Church of England, wrote:\n\n \"Take which you will, either the Fathers or the moderns, and we\n shall find no Lord's day instituted by any apostolical mandate;\n no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the\n week.\"--_\"History of the Sabbath,\" part 2, chap. 1._\n\nAuthorities, both Protestant and Catholic, freely acknowledge that there\nis no divine authority for Sunday keeping. There has been a change in\npractice and teaching, but with no Scriptural authority.\n\n\nWhat the Papacy Claims\n\nThe prophecy of Daniel 7 forewarned all that the ecclesiastical power\nthat was to rise upon the division of the Roman Empire would _think_ to\nchange the times and the laws of the Most High. The Papacy steps forward\nand claims boldly that the church has power to set aside Scripture, to\ninstitute holy times, and even to change the day made holy and\ncommanded by the Almighty as the day of rest for His people.\n\nIn a Catholic work, \"An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,\" by Dr.\nHenry Turberville, page 61, we read:\n\n \"_Question._--By whom was the change [of the Sabbath] made?\n\n \"_Answer._--By the rulers of the church, the apostles who kept\n the Lord's day....\n\n \"_Ques._--How do you prove that the church hath power to\n establish feasts and holy days?\n\n \"_Ans._--By the very fact of changing the Sabbath to Sunday;\n this change Protestants allow; and therefore they contradict\n themselves by keeping Sunday strictly and breaking most other\n feasts commanded by the same church.\n\n \"_Ques._--How prove you that?\n\n \"_Ans._--Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the\n church's power to ordain feasts and to command them under sin;\n and by not keeping the rest commanded by her, they deny that\n she has power.\"\n\nIt is the doctrine taught in the standard catechisms of the Roman\nChurch:\n\n \"_Question._--Have you any other way of proving that the church\n has power to institute festivals of precept?\n\n \"_Answer._--Had she not such power, she could not have done\n that in which all modern religionists agree with her,--she\n could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first\n day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh\n day, a change for which there is no Scriptural\n authority.\"--_Keenan's \"Doctrinal Catechism,\" p. 174._\n\nThus the Papacy proclaims itself the power that has _thought_ to change\nthe precepts of the Most High.\n\nOn every count, the Roman Church is the counterpart of the little horn\nof Daniel 7. Before our eyes--in the common practice of Christendom--the\ncommandment of God regarding sacred time is made void by the traditions\nof men.\n\nThe prophecy indicated that there would come a call for a reformation in\nthis matter. Speaking of the warfare against the saints and the times\nand laws of the Most High, to be waged by the little-horn power, the\nangel said:\n\n\"They shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the\ndividing of time.\" Dan. 7:25.\n\nIn other words, when the 1260 years should expire, we should expect,\naccording to the prophecy, to see a breaking of the Papacy's persecuting\npower over believers, a spreading abroad of the Holy Scriptures, and a\nwork of reformation that would lift up the truths of God's Word, and\ncall believers to keep once again the holy time and the holy law of the\nMost High.\n\nThe prophecy of Daniel 7 is one of God's special messages for all men in\nthese last days, picturing the rise and history of the Papacy, and\nwarning all against accepting its perversions of God's truth or\nrecognizing its attempted change in the law of the Most High. Thank God\nfor the \"sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,\nas unto a light that shineth in a dark place.\" We are to follow the Lord\nand obey him, not this power that has risen up in opposition to him.\n\nThe angel's interpretation in this chapter does not leave the apostasy\ntriumphant:\n\n\"The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to\nconsume and to destroy it unto the end.\"\n\nThen the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of the Most\nHigh, \"and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.\"\n\n\n \"O, how shall we stand that moment of searching,\n When all our sins those books reveal?\n When from that court, each case decided,\n Shall be granted no appeal?\"\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST AND THE SCRIBES\n\n\"In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of\nmen.\" Matt. 15:9.]\n\n[Illustration: CREATION\n\n\"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth,... and rested the seventh\nday.\" Ex. 20:11.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BIBLE SABBATH\n\n\n\"He answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not\nplanted, shall be rooted up.\" Matt. 15:13.\n\nThe scribes had come to Jesus with the complaint, \"Why do Thy disciples\ntransgress the tradition of the elders?\" Jesus answered them with\nanother question, \"Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by\nyour tradition?\"\n\nThey had thought that Christ was introducing novelties, preaching new\nthings, contrary to established church custom and practice. He showed\nthem that He really stood for the old and established things of God's\nWord, and that their own religious customs, however old, were really the\nnovelties, without divine authority. He said,\n\n\"In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of\nmen.\" And finally He added the words quoted above, \"Every plant, which\nMy heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.\"\n\nLet the principles be applied to the question of Sabbath observance.\nSometimes in our day those who preach the word of God regarding the\nabiding holiness of the seventh-day Sabbath are accused of preaching new\ndoctrines, contrary to the traditions and customs of the church. But\nreally, the observance of Sunday, the first day, is the innovation; the\nseventh-day Sabbath is of ancient foundation.\n\nIs the Seventh-day Sabbath a Plant of Our Heavenly Father's Planting?\n\nWhich of these two institutions has our heavenly Father planted? It is\npossible to ascertain to a surety; for every plant of His planting,\nevery doctrine of His truth, will be found rooted in the Holy\nScriptures. 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.\n\n\nThe Old Testament Record\n\n_From the Beginning._--When the Creator made the earth and man upon it,\nHe made the seventh day of the weekly cycle His holy Sabbath.\n\n\"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of\nthem.... And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because\nthat in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.\"\nGen. 2:1-3.\n\nTo sanctify is \"to set apart,\" and so the day made holy and blessed by\nGod was set apart for man. Then it was, as Jesus said, that \"the Sabbath\nwas made for man.\" Mark 2:27. Here the Sabbath institution was planted\nat the beginning of the world.\n\n_At the Exodus._--The people of Israel, in their bondage in Egypt, had\nfallen away from the knowledge of God and become corrupted by the\nidolatrous worship of Egypt, Hence, as the Lord called them out to be\nHis people, He tested their loyalty to His law by observing how they\nregarded His holy Sabbath:\n\n\"Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven\nfor you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every\nday, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no.\"\nEx. 16:4.\n\nSo through the forty years the Lord sent the manna for them to gather on\nthe six working days, withholding it on the Sabbath. (This scripture\nshows also that the Sabbath was a part of God's law before He spoke it\nfrom Sinai.)\n\n[Illustration: HOREB, THE SACRED MOUNT\n\nA modern view of the summit of Mt. Sinai.]\n\n_At Sinai._--When the time came that the Lord would speak His holy law\nfrom heaven, the eternal foundation of His moral government, the Sabbath\nprecept was enshrined in the heart of it:\n\n\"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor,\nand do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy\nGod: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy\ndaughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy\nstranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven\nand earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:\nwherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.\" Ex.\n20:8-11.\n\n_Through Israel's History._--Sabbath keeping was the great mark of\nloyalty to God. When Israel fell into idolatry, they \"observed times\"\n(see 2 Kings 21:6),--doubtless such heathen festivals to the sun god and\nother deities as were common among the idolatrous nations. These\nobservances of other days meant Sabbath breaking. \"Neither shall ye ...\nobserve times.... Ye shall keep My Sabbaths.\" Lev. 19:26-30. The Lord\nhad promised concerning Jerusalem:\n\n\"If ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden\nthrough the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the\nSabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the\ngates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David,...\nand this city shall remain forever.\" Jer. 17:24, 25.\n\nThe divine pleading was slighted, and Jerusalem's fall and the\nBabylonian captivity came as the result of the Israelites' disregard of\nGod's holy day.\n\nThus throughout the inspired record of the Old Testament the seventh-day\nSabbath appears as a plant of the heavenly Father's own planting.\n\n\nThe New Testament Record\n\n_The Example and Teaching of Jesus._--It was Christ's \"custom\" to\nworship on the seventh day. Luke 4:16.\n\nJesus, who Himself made the Sabbath at creation (John 1:3), taught that\nit was \"made for man,\"--for the human race,--and declared, \"The Son of\nman is Lord also of the Sabbath.\" Mark 2:27, 28. It is, therefore, \"the\nLord's day.\" Rev. 1:10.\n\nHe did on the Sabbath only that which was \"lawful,\" or according to the\nlaw of God's holy day. Matt. 12:12.\n\nHe kept His Father's commandments throughout His earthly life. John\n15:10.\n\nAnd giving instruction regarding events to take place many years after\nHis ascension, He showed that He recognized the continued existence of\nthe Sabbath in the command, \"Pray ye that your flight be not in the\nwinter, neither on the Sabbath day.\" Matt. 24:20.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST HEALING THE MAN WITH A WITHERED HAND\n\n\"It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.\" Matt. 12:12.]\n\n_Among New Testament Disciples._--The women, after the crucifixion,\n\"rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.\" Luke 23:56.\n\nInspiration says that the apostle Paul's custom was to preach the gospel\npublicly Sabbath after Sabbath. Acts 13:14; 16:13; 17:1, 2; 18:4. When\nthe Gentiles of Antioch heard the gospel preached by the apostle one\nSabbath, they \"besought that these words might be preached to them the\nnext Sabbath.\" Acts 13:42.\n\nThroughout the New Testament, written years after Christ's ascension,\nthe Holy Spirit, speaking of the seventh day, calls it \"the Sabbath\"\nupwards of fifty times. \"Sabbath\" means rest; therefore when the Holy\nSpirit, in the Christian age, calls the seventh day the rest day, it\nmust infallibly be the day of rest for Christians, the Christian\nSabbath.\n\nIn the Levitical or sacrificial ordinances of the sanctuary services\nthere were annual sabbaths and feasts, associated with meats and drinks\nand ceremonial observances. But in appointing these the Lord\nspecifically distinguished between them and the one and only weekly\nSabbath, which was from the beginning. \"These are the feasts of the\nLord,\" He said, \"beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.\" Lev. 23:37, 38.\n\nThe annual festivals and sabbaths, like all the ordinances of the\nLevitical service, were shadows of things to come, and found their\nfulfilment in the great sacrifice of Calvary. Col. 2:16, 17.\n\nBut the Sabbath of the Lord was made blessed and holy by God at the\ncreation, before sin had entered the world, before any sacrificial or\nshadowy service was instituted to point to a coming Redeemer. It is a\nfundamental and primary institution, a part of the moral order of God's\ngovernment for man, the same as the obligations set forth in each of the\nother commandments.\n\nAnd Inspiration declares the eternal perpetuity of the blessed Sabbath\nday in the future home of the saved, when the prophet describes the\nfelicity of the redeemed, as from month to month, and \"from one Sabbath\nto another,\" all flesh shall come to worship before the Lord. Isa.\n66:23.\n\nThus we find the seventh-day Sabbath a plant of the heavenly Father's\nplanting, rooted deep in all Holy Scripture, and abiding eternally in\nthe world to come.\n\n\nIs the First-day Rest an Institution of God's Planting?\n\nIn the beginning, the first day was employed by God in the work of\ncreation. Gen. 1:1-5.\n\nThroughout all the Old Testament history it was one of \"the six working\ndays.\" Eze. 46:1.\n\nIt was the day of Christ's resurrection; but Inspiration says\nspecifically that \"the Sabbath was past\" when that \"first day of the\nweek\" came. Mark 16:1, 2. Inspiration called this first day merely by\nthe ordinary secular name in common business use, with never a\nsuggestion of attaching any sacredness to the day. For some of the\ndisciples it was a day of journeying, in which the risen Christ joined\nthem. Luke 24:13-29. Later He appeared to the other disciples in\nJerusalem, gathered not in meeting, but at supper in their common\ndwelling house. Mark 16:14.\n\nThe only religious meeting recorded as occurring on the first day of the\nweek was that held at Troas. (See Acts 20:6-13.) The context shows that\nit was an evening meeting, after the Sabbath,--Saturday night, as we\nwould call it, for the Bible reckoning is from evening to evening. It\nwas the last time the believers were ever to see the apostle's face, and\nas they lingered after the close of the Sabbath, he held an all-night\nfarewell meeting, breaking bread with the believers, and leaving at\ndaybreak Sunday morning for the eighteen- or twenty-mile journey afoot,\nacross country to Assos. And while he spent the first day traveling\nafoot, his companions were journeying by boat.\n\nConybeare and Howson (of the Church of England), in that standard work,\n\"Life and Epistles of St. Paul,\" tell the plain fact of the inspired\nrecord, save that manifestly they should not have applied the title\n\"Jewish\" to God's Sabbath; for it was not the Sabbath of the Jews, but\n\"the Sabbath of the Lord thy God:\"\n\n \"It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. On the\n Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail.\"--_Chapter 20, p.\n 520._\n\nDescribing the road between Troas and Assos, they add:\n\n \"Strength and peace were surely sought and obtained by the\n apostle from the Redeemer as he pursued his lonely road that\n Sunday afternoon in spring among the oak woods and the streams\n of Ida.\"--_Id., p. 522._\n\nOnce again the \"first day of the week\" is mentioned, in 1 Cor. 16:2. But\nthat scripture says no word of any sacredness of the day or of any\nreligious observance of it. The apostle was gathering a fund for the\npoor at Jerusalem, and asked every believer to \"lay by\" something every\nfirst day of the week, so that the money would be ready when he came. As\nDean Stanley (Church of England) comments:\n\n \"There is nothing to prove public assemblies, inasmuch as the\n phrase [Greek: par heauto] ('by himself, at his own house')\n implies that the collection was to be made individually and in\n private.\"\n\nAnd Neander's Church History says:\n\n \"All mentioned here is easily explained, if one simply thinks\n of the ordinary beginning of the week in secular life.\"--_Vol.\n I, p. 339 (German ed.)._\n\nTo meet the emergency of need in Judea, these believers were asked to\nlook over their business affairs at the beginning of each week, until\nPaul should come, laying aside a gift as God had prospered them.\n\n\nNo Sunday Sacredness in the New Testament\n\nThis is the record--not one suggestion in all the New Testament of\nSunday sacredness, to say nothing of precept or commandment of the Lord.\nThe late R.W. Dale, D.D., a leading Congregationalist of England, wrote:\n\n \"It is quite clear that, however rigidly or devotedly we may\n spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath.... The Sabbath\n was founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such\n command for the observance of Sunday.... There is not a single\n line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty\n by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday.\"--_\"The Ten\n Commandments,\" pp. 106, 107._\n\nThat religious classic, Smith and Cheetham's \"Dictionary of Christian\nAntiquities,\" says that the \"notion of a formal substitution\" of the\nfirst day for the seventh,\n\n \"and the transference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form,\n of the Sabbatical obligation established by the promulgation of\n the fourth commandment, has no basis whatever, either in Holy\n Scripture or in Christian antiquity.\"--_Article \"Sabbath.\"_\n\nDr. E.F. Hiscox, author of \"The Baptist Manual,\" says:\n\n \"There was and is a commandment to 'keep holy the Sabbath day,'\n but that Sabbath was not Sunday. It will, however, be readily\n said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was\n transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week....\n Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the\n New Testament--absolutely not.\"--_The New York Examiner, Nov.\n 16, 1893._\n\nSuch declarations by well-known scholars might be multiplied, but it is\nnot necessary. The record is open--any one may see it. There is not a\nword in the Holy Scripture of any first-day sacredness. The Sunday\ninstitution is not a plant of our heavenly Father's planting.\n\n\nHow the Change Came About\n\nThere has been no change of the Sabbath by divine authority. Men may\nchoose to rest on any other day, but that cannot make such a day God's\nrest day, His holy Sabbath. One cannot change one's birthday by\ncelebrating another day as such. It is a fact of history that on a\ncertain day of the month one was born. That fact cannot be changed by\nchoosing to celebrate another day as the birthday. Just so it is a fact\nof divine history that God rested on a given day of the week, and on no\nother. That made the seventh day His rest day.\n\nIt is different from other days in character also, for He blessed it and\nmade it holy. To deny the difference between common days and the holy\nday is to say that when the great Creator blesses and makes holy, it is\na vain performance. That cannot be. It would take away all hope of\nholiness or salvation for men. The blessing is upon the day, as every\nsoul finds who keeps it by faith.\n\nWhen men choose to set apart another day than that blessed and\nsanctified of God, it is plainly a setting up of the humanly appointed\ntime against the divinely appointed time. It is exalting man's sabbath\nagainst God's Sabbath. It is man exalting himself \"above all that is\ncalled God.\" 2 Thess. 2:4.\n\nThis was what made the Roman Papacy. The apostle Paul wrote that in his\nday the spirit of lawlessness was already working. He said it would lead\nto a \"falling away\" from the truth of God, and the full exaltation of\nthe man of sin. 2 Thessalonians 2. The falling away came. As Dr. Killen\n(Presbyterian), of Ireland, says in the preface to his \"Ancient\nChurch:\"\n\n[Illustration: THE SABBATH FROM EDEN TO EDEN\n\nBlessed and sanctified in Eden. Gen. 2:3. Christ the Lord of the\nSabbath. Mark 2:28.\n\nWritten by God in His law. Ex. 20:8-11. To be observed in the new earth.\nIsa. 66:23.]\n\n \"In the interval between the days of the apostles and the\n conversion of Constantine, the Christian commonwealth changed\n its aspect.... Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor\n Peter ever heard, crept into use, and then claimed the rank of\n divine institutions.\"\n\nIn his \"Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,\" Cardinal Newman\n(Roman Catholic) tells how rites and ceremonies were borrowed from\npaganism:\n\n \"Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the\n infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and\n appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use,... the\n rulers of the church from early times were prepared, should the\n occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing\n rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of\n the educated class.\"--_Pages 371, 372._\n\nThus along with other adaptations came \"the venerable day of the sun\"\n(Sunday). It was by gradual process that it supplanted the Sabbath. Sir\nWilliam Domville wrote:\n\n \"Centuries of the Christian era passed away before Sunday was\n observed by the Christian church as a Sabbath. History does not\n furnish us with a single proof or indication that it was at any\n time so observed previous to the Sabbatical edict of\n Constantine in A.D. 321.\"--_\"Examination of Six\n Texts,\" p. 291._\n\nThis law of Constantine's was as follows:\n\n \"On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people\n residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In\n the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely\n and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens\n that another day is not so suitable for grain sowing or for\n vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such\n operations, the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th\n day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of\n them for the second time.)\"--_Schaff, \"History of the Christian\n Church,\" Vol. III, chap. 5, sec. 75._\n\nCommenting on this law, Prof. Hutton Webster, of the University of\nNebraska, says:\n\n \"This legislation by Constantine probably bore no relation to\n Christianity; it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor, in\n his capacity of Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the day of\n the sun, the worship of which was then firmly established in\n the Roman Empire, to the other ferial days of the sacred\n calendar.\"\n\n \"What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended as a\n Christian regulation; and a long series of imperial decrees,\n during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, enjoined with\n increasing stringency abstinence from labor on Sunday.\"--_\"Rest\n Days,\" pp. 122, 270._\n\nDean Stanley (Church of England) writes:\n\n \"The retention of the old pagan name _Dies Solis_, or Sunday,\n for the weekly Christian festival, is, in a great measure,\n owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which\n the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his\n subjects, pagan and Christian alike, as the 'venerable day of\n the sun.'\"--_\"History of the Eastern Church,\" lecture 6, par.\n 15._\n\nThus the Sunday institution comes in, marked by its pagan origin, and\nadapted to ecclesiastical purposes by the church of the \"falling away\"\nthat grew into the Roman Papacy. To quote again from the Baptist author,\nDr. Hiscox:\n\n \"Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in\n early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from\n the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that\n it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with\n the name of the sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the\n papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to\n Protestantism.\"--_New York Examiner, Nov. 16, 1893._\n\nNo wonder that with the coming of the latter days, and the proclamation\nof the message of preparation for Christ's second coming, there should\ncome a call to Christians to follow Christ and Holy Scripture in keeping\nGod's holy Sabbath.\n\nAgain the voice of Jesus is heard in protest against traditions that\nmake void the commandment of God.\n\n\"Every plant,\" He says, \"which My heavenly Father hath not planted,\nshall be rooted up.\" Matt. 15:13.\n\n\nMade for Man\n\n The God that made the earth,\n And all the worlds on high,\n Who gave all creatures birth,\n In earth, and sea, and sky,\n After six days in work employed,\n Upon the seventh a rest enjoyed.\n\n The Sabbath day was blessed,\n Hallowed, and sanctified;\n It was Jehovah's rest,\n And so it must abide;\n 'Twas set apart before the fall,\n 'Twas made for man, 'twas made for all.\n\n And when from Sinai's mount,\n Amidst the fire and smoke,\n Jehovah did recount,\n And all His precepts spoke,\n He claimed the rest day as His own,\n And wrote it with His law on stone.\n\n The Son of God appeared\n With tidings of great joy;\n God's precepts He revered,\n He came not to destroy;\n None of the law was set aside,\n But every tittle ratified.\n\n Our Saviour did not die\n To render null and void\n The law of the Most High,\n Which cannot be destroyed;\n But, bruised for us, our stripes He bore,--\n We'll go in peace and sin no more.\n\n --_R.F. Cottrell._\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES IN THE CORN-FIELDS\n\n\"The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.\" Matt. 12:8.]\n\n[Illustration: RETURNING FROM THE SAVIOUR'S TOMB\n\n\"They returned,... and rested the Sabbath day according to the\ncommandment.\" Luke 23:56.]\n\n\n\n\nGLIMPSES OF SABBATH KEEPING AFTER NEW TESTAMENT TIMES\n\n\nNot at once did the innovation of Sunday observance set aside the\nSabbath of the Lord in the practice of even the general church. And\nthrough history, when the general church had fallen away, we catch\nglimpses here and there of faithful witnesses to God's holy Sabbath\ntruth.\n\n\nFirst Centuries\n\nAn old English writer, Professor Brerewood, of Gresham College, London,\nput in shortest phrase what many writers say:\n\n \"They know little who do not know that the ancient Sabbath did\n remain and was observed by the Eastern churches three hundred\n years after our Saviour's passion.\"--_\"Treatise on the\n Sabbath,\" p. 77._\n\n\nFourth Century\n\nCanon 29, of the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), shows that the\necclesiastical system was laboring to put an end to Sabbath keeping:\n\n \"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [the\n Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day [as\n they called Sunday] they shall especially honor, and, as being\n Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If,\n however, they be found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from\n Christ.\"--_Hefele, \"History of the Councils of the Church,\"\n Vol. II, book 6, sec. 93, canon 29._\n\n\nFifth Century\n\nSozomen's Ecclesiastical History shows Rome evidently leading in the\neffort to abolish any recognition whatever of the Sabbath:\n\n \"The people of Constantinople, and of several other cities,\n assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the next day;\n which custom is never observed at Rome, or at\n Alexandria.\"--_Book 7, chap. 19._\n\n\nSeventh Century\n\nThere were true Sabbath keepers in Rome itself, teaching the truth of\nGod among the people, and bringing upon themselves the denunciation of\nPope Gregory the Great, who wrote \"to his most beloved sons the Roman\ncitizens:\"\n\n \"It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit\n have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to\n the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the\n Sabbath day. What else can I call these but preachers of\n Antichrist?\"--_\"History of the Councils\" (Labbe and Cossart),\n Vol. V, col. 1511; see also \"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,\"\n Vol. XIII, book 13, epistle 1._\n\n\nEleventh Century\n\nThe Pope's legates at Constantinople (A.D. 1054) were called to\ndiscuss with Nicetas, \"one of the most learned men at that time in the\nEast,\" says Bower, whose position was \"that the Sabbath ought to be kept\nholy, and that priests should be allowed to marry.\"--_\"History of the\nPopes,\" Vol. II, p. 358._\n\nThe people of north Scotland, the ancient Culdee church founded by\nColumba and his followers, far removed from direct papal influence, was\nstill keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in the eleventh century. Of this\nchurch Andrew Lang says in his \"History of Scotland:\"\n\n \"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical\n manner.\"--_Volume I, p. 96._\n\nSkene, in his classic work, \"Celtic Scotland,\" says of these Sabbath\nkeepers:\n\n \"They seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces\n in the early monastic church of Ireland, by which they held\n Saturday to be the Sabbath, on which they rested from all their\n labors.\"--_Book 2, chap. 8._\n\nMargaret, of England, married Malcolm the Great, the Scottish king, in\n1069. An ardent Catholic, Queen Margaret at once set about Romanizing\nthe Celtic church. She called in the church leaders, and held long\ndiscussions with them. At last, with the help and authority of her royal\nhusband, and quoting the instructions of \"the blessed Pope Gregory,\" she\nsucceeded in turning the ancient Culdee church in Scotland away from the\nSabbath. (See \"Life of St. Margaret,\" by Turgot, her confessor.)\n\n\nTwelfth to Fourteenth Century\n\nAmong the numerous sects of southern Europe and the Alpine valleys, that\nwere pursued and persecuted by Rome, were at least some who saw and\nobeyed the Sabbath truth. Thus, of one of these bodies, the historian\nGoldastus says:\n\n \"They were called Insabbatati, not because they were\n circumcised, but because they kept the Sabbath according to the\n Jewish law.\"--_\"Deutsche Biographie,\" Vol. IX, art. \"Goldast.,\"\n p. 327._\n\n\nFifteenth Century\n\nSabbath keepers in Norway drew the condemnation of a church council held\nin 1435:\n\n \"The archbishop and the clergy assembled in this provincial\n council at Bergen do decide that the keeping of Saturday must\n never be permitted to exist, except as granted in the church\n law.\"--_Keyser's \"Norske Kirkes Historie,\" Vol. II, p. 488._\n\n\nSixteenth Century\n\nWith the setting free of the Word of God by the Reformation, and the\nprotest against the doctrine of papal tradition, multitudes saw that the\nSunday institution was not of divine origin; while not a few went\nfarther, recognizing the claims of God's Sabbath. Moravia was a refuge,\nin those early Reformation days, for many believers in the Reformed\ndoctrines, and among these were Sabbath-keeping Christians:\n\n[Illustration: WALDENSES HUNTED BY THE ARMIES OF ROME\n\n\"Destitute, afflicted, tormented;... they wandered in deserts, and in\nmountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.\" Heb. 11:37, 38.]\n\n \"Even most prominent men, as the princes of Lichtenstein, held\n to the observance of the true Sabbath. When persecution finally\n scattered them, the seeds of truth must have been sown by them\n in the different portions of the Continent which they\n visited.... We have found them [Sabbath keepers] in Bohemia.\n They were also known in Silesia and Poland. Likewise they were\n in Holland and northern Germany.... There were at this time\n Sabbath keepers in France,... 'among whom were M. de la Roque,\n who wrote in defense of the Sabbath against Bossuet, Catholic\n bishop of Meaux.' That Sabbatarians again appeared in England\n by the time of the Reformation, during the reign of Queen\n Elizabeth (A.D. 1533-1603), Dr. Chambers testifies in\n his Cyclopedia [art. 'Sabbath'].\"--_Andrews and Conradi,\n \"History of the Sabbath,\" pp. 649, 650._\n\nIn this century also, Sabbath keepers appeared in Norway, Sweden, and\nFinland. In 1554 King Gustavus Vasa, of Sweden, addressed a letter of\nremonstrance \"to the common people in Finland,\" because so many were\nturning to keep the seventh day.\n\n\nSeventeenth Century\n\nThere was much discussion in England over the authority for Sunday\nobservance. When other church festivals were ignored, as Easter, King\nCharles I wanted to know why Sunday should be kept. He wrote:\n\n \"It will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is discharged\n to be kept, or turned into the Sunday; wherefore it must be the\n church's authority that changed the one and instituted the\n other; therefore my opinion is that those who will not keep\n this feast [Easter] may as well return to the observation of\n Saturday, and refuse the weekly Sunday.\"--_Cox, \"Sabbath Laws,\"\n p. 333._\n\nIt was during this time that the idea first obtained of enforcing Sunday\nobligation by the fourth commandment and calling it the Sabbath. It was\nargued that any \"one day in seven\" was what the commandment meant. Of\nthis argument, John Milton, the statesman-poet, wrote:\n\n \"It is impossible to extort such a sense from the words of the\n commandment; seeing that the reason for which the command\n itself was originally given, namely, as a memorial of God's\n having rested from the creation of the world, cannot be\n transferred from the seventh day to the first; nor can any new\n motive be substituted in its place, whether the resurrection of\n our Lord or any other, without the sanction of a divine\n commandment.\"--_\"Prose Works\" (Bohn), pp. 70, 71._\n\nAgain Milton wrote, in a manuscript which his publishers at the time\nfeared to print:\n\n \"If we under the gospel are to regulate the time of our public\n worship by the prescriptions of the decalogue, it will surely\n be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to the\n express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human\n conjecture to adopt the first.\"--_Cox, \"Sabbath Literature,\"\n Vol. II, p. 54._\n\nWhile kings and poets and ecclesiastics discussed, here and there\nbelievers began to follow the plain Word of God and Christ's example in\nSabbath keeping.\n\n\n\"Loved Not Their Lives unto the Death\"\n\nIn 1618 John Traske and his wife, of London, were condemned for keeping\nthe Sabbath of the Lord, the man being whipped from Westminster to the\nold Fleet Prison, near Ludgate Circus. Both were imprisoned. Mr. Traske\nrecanted under the pressure, after a year, but Mrs. Traske, a gifted\nschool-teacher, was given grace to hold out for sixteen years,--for a\ntime in Maiden Lane prison, and then in the Gate House, by\nWestminster,--dying in prison for the word of the Lord. An estimable\nwoman she was, says one old chronicler, save for this \"whimsy\" of hers,\nthat she would keep the seventh day. All that she asked of men, on her\nprison deathbed, was that she might be buried \"in the fields.\"\n\nBy 1661 Sabbath keepers in London had further increased. In that year\nJohn James was minister to a considerable congregation, meeting in East\nLondon, off the Whitechapel Road. As part of the stern proceedings\nagainst dissenting sects after the restoration of the monarchy, he was\narrested and condemned to death on \"Tyburn Tree.\" His wife knelt at the\nfeet of King Charles II as he came out of St. James's Palace one day,\nand pleaded for her husband's life; but the king scornfully rejected her\nplea, and said that the man should hang. Bogue says:\n\n \"For once the king remembered his promise, and Mr. James was\n sent to join the noble army of martyrs.\"--_\"History of\n Dissenters,\" Vol. I, p. 155._\n\nNothing daunted, the number of Sabbath keepers increased. In a letter by\nEdward Stennet (between 1668 and 1670), it is stated.\n\n \"Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the\n Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have been\n eminently preserved in this tottering day, when many once\n eminent churches have been shattered in pieces.\"--_Cox,\n \"Sabbath Literature,\" Vol. I, p. 268._\n\nFrancis Bampfield was formerly an influential minister of the Church of\nEngland, and prebendary of Exeter Cathedral, but later pastor of a\nSabbath-keeping congregation meeting in the Pinners Hall, off Broad\nStreet, near the Bank of England. Calamy said of him:\n\n \"He was one of the most celebrated preachers in the west of\n England, and extremely admired by his hearers, till he fell\n into the Sabbatarian notion, of which he was a zealous\n asserter.\"--_\"Non-Conformist Memorial,\" Vol. II, p. 152._\n\nHe was arrested while in the pulpit preaching, and in 1683 died of\nhardships in Newgate prison, for the Sabbath of the Lord. An old writer\nsays that his body was followed to burial by \"a very great company of\nfactious and schismatical people;\" in other words, dissenters from the\nstate church.\n\nThomas Bampfield, his brother, Speaker of the House of Parliament at one\ntime, under Cromwell, published a book in defense of the Sabbath of the\nLord. In fact, many published the truth in this manner, and doctors of\ndivinity and even bishops wrote replies.\n\n\"Sabbatarian Baptists,\" these English witnesses to God's Sabbath were\nfirst called in those times, and then \"Seventh Day Baptists.\" In 1664\nStephen Mumford, from one of these London congregations, was sent over\nto New England. He settled in Rhode Island, where the Baptist pioneer of\nreligious liberty, Roger Williams, had founded his colony. In 1671 the\nfirst Sabbatarian church in America was formed in Rhode Island.\nEvidently this movement created a stir; for the report went over to\nEngland that the Rhode Island colony did not keep the \"Sabbath\"--meaning\nSunday. Roger Williams wrote to his friends in England denying the\nreport, but calling attention to the fact that there was no Scripture\nfor \"abolishing the seventh day,\" and adding:\n\n \"You know yourselves do not keep the Sabbath, that is the\n seventh day.\"--_\"Letters of Roger Williams,\" Vol. VI, p. 346\n (Narragansett Club Publications)._\n\nThrough the following century numbers of Seventh Day Baptist churches\nwere founded in America.[F]\n\nSabbath keepers were springing up also on the continent of Europe, in\nBohemia, Moravia, Transylvania, and Russia, where here and there Bible\nbelievers saw that tradition had made void one of the commandments of\nGod. Then, as the events at the end of the long period of papal\nsupremacy had moved Bible students to the earnest study of the\nprophecies, and as the predicted signs of the near approach of Christ's\ncoming began to appear, there arose the great advent awakening in the\nearlier decades of the nineteenth century.\n\nThe prophecies regarding the work of the Papacy in seeking to change the\nlaw of God began to be understood, and it was seen that the last message\nof the everlasting gospel was a call to turn from human traditions to\nthe New Testament standard--\"the commandments of God, and the faith of\nJesus.\" Rev. 14:12. Then began the great movement for Sabbath reform and\nthe proclamation of Christ's second coming, which has given rise to the\nSeventh-day Adventist people, with a work spreading through all lands,\nleading thousands every year to keep the Lord's blessed Sabbath day.\n\nSoon Christ is to be revealed in righteousness and judgment. One burden\nof God's message for the last days is:\n\n\"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation\nis near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man\nthat doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth\nthe Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any\nevil.\" Isa. 56:1, 2.\n\nThrough all the dark centuries, the Lord had somewhere a little remnant\nkeeping the light of the Sabbath truth glowing. They, too, overcame by\nthe blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, loving not their\nlives unto the death. Now, with the clear light shining from the open\nBook, it is for Christians everywhere to turn from tradition to the way\nof God's commandments and the example of Jesus Christ.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n \"Closing Sabbath! Ah, how soon\n Have thy sacred moments passed!\"]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[F] In connection with this topic of Sabbath observance in colonial\nAmerica, it is of interest to note that Count Zinzendorf, the leader of\nthe Moravian missionary movement, was a believer in the sanctity of the\nSabbath of God's appointment. In his life, by Bishop Spangenberg, it is\nstated that the Sabbath question was discussed by Zinzendorf with the\nMoravians, on his visit to Pennsylvania in 1741. The record states:--\n\n\"As a special circumstance it is to be remarked that he determined, with\nthe church in Bethlehem, to celebrate the seventh day as a rest day. The\nmatter was previously fully gone over in the church council, with\nconsideration of all the reasons for and against it, when the unanimous\nagreement was reached to observe the day Sabbatically.... The Count had\nalready long held the seventh day of the week in special\nhonor.\"--_Zinzendorfs \"Leben,\" band 5, pp. 1421, 1422._\n\nThe Bethlehem congregation evidently did not follow the practice long.\n\"But as for himself,\" says Spangenberg, \"with his house, he adhered\nfirmly to this aforementioned practice until his end.\"--_Id., p. 1437._\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAW OF GOD\n\n\nI\n\nThou shalt have no other gods before me.\n\nII\n\nThou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of\nanything: that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or\nthat is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to\nthem, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting\nthe iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth\ngeneration of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of\nthem that love me, and keep my commandments.\n\nIII\n\nThou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord\nwill not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.\n\nIV\n\nRemember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor,\nand do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy\nGod: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy\ndaughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy\nstranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven\nand earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:\nwherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.\n\nV\n\nHonor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land\nwhich the Lord thy God giveth thee.\n\nVI\n\nThou shalt not kill.\n\nVII\n\nThou shalt not commit adultery.\n\nVIII\n\nThou shalt not steal.\n\nIX\n\nThou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.\n\nX\n\nThou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy\nneighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,\nnor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT\n\n\"Whosoever shall do and teach them ... shall be called great in the\nkingdom of heaven.\" Matt. 5:19.]\n\n\nTHE LAW OF GOD\n\nIt is a common saying, \"The majesty of the law.\" It means that the\ncharacter and genius of a government are embodied and expressed in its\nlaws. The words of Inspiration declare to us the majesty of the law of\nthe Most High.\n\n\nThe Character of God's Law\n\nThe infinite perfection of the divine character is reflected in it.\n\n\"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.\" Ps. 19:7.\n\nAs God is holiness and justice and goodness, so also is His law.\n\n\"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and\ngood.\" Rom. 7:12.\n\n\nIts Office\n\nThe law of God gives knowledge of the righteousness of its great\nAuthor.\n\n\"Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart\nis My law.\" Isa. 51:7.\n\nIt marks every departure from righteousness as sin.\n\n\"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the\ntransgression of the law.\" 1 John 3:4.\n\nIt is not a code merely for the regulation of outward conduct. It is the\nmoral law--the primal standard of righteousness established by the\nCreator for His creatures. There is not an impulse of the inmost soul\nthat is not reached by it. It is the word which, living and powerful, is\n\"sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder\nof soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of\nthe thoughts and intents of the heart.\" Heb. 4:12.\n\nFace to face with this holy law, we hear in it the voice of God saying,\n\"Be ye holy; for I am holy.\" Every soul must confess its guilt before\nthe searching power of God's law. All things are naked and open to the\neyes of Him with whom we have to do. \"Guilty!\" we confess. Left alone\nwith our guilt, there could be no ray of hope.\n\n \"The threatenings of the broken law\n Impress the soul with dread;\n If God His sword of vengeance draw,\n It strikes the spirit dead.\"\n\nThank God, we are not left alone; help is laid upon One mighty to save.\n\n \"But Thine illustrious sacrifice\n Hath answered these demands,\n And peace and pardon from the skies\n Are offered by Thy hands.\"\n\n\nGod's Law from the Beginning\n\nThe law of God existed from the beginning. When Adam sinned, he\ntransgressed this holy law; for \"sin is the transgression of the law.\"\nGod's law was not committed to writing until the days of Moses, when the\nLord began to make His written revelations to the children of men. But\nfrom Adam to Moses the precepts of the law of God were teaching\nrighteousness and convicting of sin.\n\n\"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;\nand so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (for until\nthe law [the giving of it at Sinai] sin was in the world: but sin is not\nimputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to\nMoses.)\" Rom. 5:12-14.\n\nThe declaration of this scripture is: Without the law there can be no\nsin. But sin and death were from Adam to Moses, in whose day the law was\nspoken on Sinai; therefore the law of God was in force from the\nbeginning. Its precepts were witnessed to by every preacher of\nrighteousness raised up by God in the days before the deluge and in the\npatriarchal age following. Of Abraham the Lord says,\n\n\"Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My\nstatutes, and My laws.\" Gen. 26:5.\n\nThe Lord called His people out of Egypt, that they might keep his law.\nHis message to Pharaoh was, \"Let my people go, that they may serve Me.\"\nEx. 9:1. He delivered them from bondage by His mighty arm, and cleft the\nRed Sea to lead them forth to obedience, as the psalmist said,\n\n\"He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness:...\nthat they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws.\" Ps. 105:43-45.\n\nIn Egyptian bondage the children of Abraham must have lost much of the\npurity of God's truth; yet the Lord held them under obligation to know\nHis law--the Sabbath precept particularly--before they came to Sinai, or\never He had proclaimed the law in their hearing. He tested them in the\nmatter by the giving of the manna, as He said,\n\n\"That I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no.\" Ex.\n16:4.\n\nFrom the beginning, God's holy law demanded the loyal obedience of every\nhuman being.\n\n\nProclaimed Anew at Sinai\n\nThe Lord had delivered the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage that\nthey might serve Him and make His ways known to the nations. This was\naccording to the promise made to Abraham. To them was committed the\nwritten revelation of God, and through them was to come in the fulness\nof time the promised Messiah.\n\n[Illustration: MOSES BREAKING THE TABLES OF THE LAW\n\n\"He wrote them upon two tables of stone.\" Deut. 4:13.]\n\nWhile the Lord at this time \"made known His ways unto Moses,\" and there\nwas begun the written revelation which grew into \"the volume of the\nbook,\" the Holy Scriptures, one portion of revelation was not left for\nthe prophet of God to speak or for the inspired pen to write. The Lord\nproclaimed His holy law with His own voice, and gave to men a copy\n\"written with the finger of God.\" Moses said of this:\n\n\"The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the\nvoice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And He\ndeclared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even\nten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.\" Deut.\n4:12, 13.\n\nThis display of majesty and glory indescribable was designed to teach\nhow sacred and holy is the law, and to cause men to fear to transgress\nits precepts. Ex. 20:20.\n\nIt was not for themselves alone that the law was committed to Israel.\nThey were to teach the truth to others. As the New Testament says, it\nwas greatly to their advantage that \"unto them were committed the\noracles of God.\" Rom. 3:2. But they \"received the lively oracles to give\nunto us.\" Through obedience to the divine law, they were to be a light\nto the nations.\n\n\"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your\nunderstanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these\nstatutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding\npeople. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto\nthem?\" Deut. 4:6, 7.\n\nAn interesting comment upon these words is supplied by a speech of\nPhalerius, librarian to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. Urging the\nking by all means to secure copies of the sacred books of the Jews for\nhis great library in Alexandria, Phalerius said:\n\n \"Now it is necessary that thou shouldst have accurate copies of\n them. And indeed this legislation is full of hidden wisdom, and\n entirely blameless, as being the legislation of God; for which\n cause it is, as Hecateus of Abdera says, that the poets and\n historians make no mention of it, nor of those men who lead\n their lives according to it, since it is a holy law, and ought\n not to be published by profane mouths.\"--_Josephus,\n \"Antiquities,\" book 12, chap. 2, sec. 4._\n\nUnfaithful as the Jewish people oftentimes were, yet through their\ntestimony and the dealings of God with them, the fame of the living\noracles was spread abroad among the ancient nations.\n\n\nOne God--One Moral Standard\n\n\"There is one Lawgiver.\" James 4:12. He is ever the same, and His law is\nthe standard of righteousness for all mankind. There was not one moral\nstandard before Christ and another after. Christ's death upon the cross\nbecause man had broken the law, is the divine testimony to all the\nuniverse that God's law can never be set aside nor its force suspended.\nJesus opened His public teaching with the declaration:\n\n\"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not\ncome to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven\nand earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the\nlaw, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these\nleast commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least\nin the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the\nsame shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.\" Matt. 5:17-19.\n\nThe moral law of ten commandments is one code, every precept equally\nsacred and equally binding:\n\n\"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is\nguilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do\nnot kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art\nbecome a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that\nshall be judged by the law of liberty.\" James 2:10-12.\n\nThe law of God still speaks with all the force of that voice from Sinai,\nand it speaks to every soul on earth:\n\n\"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who\nare under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world\nmay become guilty before God.\" Rom. 3:19.\n\nThus the law of God convicts all men of sin, and would drive every one\nto Christ for pardon and for the divine gift of the grace and power of\nobedience.\n\nThe ceremonial law--the precepts and ordinances commanded for the\nsacrificial system--ceased with the sacrifice of Calvary, as all these\nceremonial observances pointed forward to the cross. There can be no\nconfounding of the moral law and the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law\nof types and shadows showed in itself that a primary or higher law--the\nmoral law--had been violated, making necessary a divine sacrifice if\ntransgressors were to be saved from death and restored to obedience.\n\n\nThe Standard in the Judgment\n\nThe law of God's moral government, which is the rule of life for every\ncreature, must necessarily be the standard in the great judgment day.\nThe Scripture states the sum of all human obligation and responsibility\nin the words:\n\n\"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His\ncommandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring\nevery work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good,\nor whether it be evil.\" Eccl. 12:13, 14.\n\nEvery son and daughter of Adam's lost race is judgment bound, to answer\nbefore the bar of God the demands of the perfect law. Divine justice\ncannot abate one jot or tittle of the requirements of the holy law, nor\nby any means clear the guilty. But divine mercy has provided the way by\nwhich God can \"be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in\nJesus.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE GIFT OF GOD\n\n\"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.\" John\n3:16.]\n\n[Illustration: CHILDLIKE FAITH\n\n\"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not\nenter into the kingdom of heaven.\" Matt. 18:3.]\n\n\n\n\nJUSTIFICATION BY FAITH\n\n\n\"How should man be just [righteous] with God?\" asked the patriarch Job.\nIt has been the vital question ever since Adam sinned, and lost his\nrighteousness and forfeited his life. The answer of Scripture is:--\n\n\"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our\nLord Jesus Christ.\" Rom 5:1 \"By grace are ye saved through faith; and\nthat not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any\nman should boast.\" Eph. 2:8, 9.\n\nIn the beginning, life and righteousness were the gift of God to man.\nOnly the Creator could bestow the gift at the first; when lost, only\ncreative power can restore it.\n\n\nMan Cannot Justify Himself\n\nThe law of God declares all men sinners. Not only did Adam's posterity\ninherit of necessity a sinful nature, but every soul of man has wrought\nsin as the fruit of that nature.\n\n\"As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so\ndeath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.\" Rom. 5:12.\n\n\"There is no difference,\" Jew or Gentile, bond or free, they are in the\nsame lost condition; \"for all have sinned, and come short of the glory\nof God.\" Rom. 10:12; 3:23.\n\nThe sinner finds himself a transgressor, condemned to death by a holy\nlaw. He turns to it with the thought, \"I will do what it says, and\nbecome righteous and win life.\" But he cannot undo the fact that he has\nsinned. A holy law can only cry, \"Guilty! guilty!\" to one who has\ntransgressed it. The law declares righteousness; it cannot give it. As\nthe Scripture says:\n\n\"We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are\nunder the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may\nbecome guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall\nno flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of\nsin.\" Rom. 3:19, 20.\n\nThe guilt exists. No deeds that man can do can undo it or cover it from\na righteous law. Not only that, but as soon as the law declares what\nrighteousness is, the sinner finds that its demands are altogether\nbeyond the power of his flesh to meet. It calls for a kind of work that\nfallen human nature cannot so much as approach. Paul cried out, when\nstruggling under conviction, \"We know that the law is spiritual: but I\nam carnal, sold under sin.\" Rom. 7:14.\n\nThe carnal cannot bring forth the spiritual. But the law demands a\nspiritual work of righteousness. It is impossible for the carnal mind to\nundertake it. The Scripture says:\n\n\"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law\nof God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot\nplease God.\" Rom. 8:7, 8.\n\nBut the awakened sinner is yet in the flesh. He finds the law thundering\nhis guilt and condemning him to death. He cannot wash away the past, nor\nhide it; he cannot obey God's law with a carnal mind, and that is all\nthe mind he has. He is lost, and helpless of himself, but longs for a\nway of escape. Paul's cry in the same position is the cry of the\ndespairing heart that has not found the Saviour, \"O wretched man that I\nam! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?\" Rom. 7:24. Thank\nGod, there is an answer to that cry, for every sinner.\n\n \"Plunged in a gulf of dark despair,\n We wretched sinners lay,\n Without one cheering beam of hope,\n Or spark of glimmering day.\n\n \"With pitying eyes the Prince of grace\n Beheld our helpless grief:\n He saw, and, O amazing love!\n He came to our relief.\"\n\n\nThe Free Gift of Christ\n\nFollowing that despairing cry of human helplessness, \"Who shall deliver\nme?\" there came the believer's shout of praise, \"I thank God through\nJesus Christ our Lord.\" He is the deliverer; for He \"gave Himself for\nour sins, that He might deliver us.\" Rom. 7:25; Gal. 1:4.\n\nThe way of escape and salvation is the gift of God's love. \"God so loved\nthe world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth\nin Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\" John 3:16.\n\nNo sinner has need to plead that God may be willing to forgive him; the\nLord's infinite love that gave His Son to die, is pleading with the\nsinner to believe and accept salvation.\n\nIn order to be the sinner's Saviour, the divine Son of God must take\nman's place before the broken law. He came in human flesh, with all its\nweakness. \"I can of Mine own self,\" He said, \"do nothing.\" He trusted\nthe Father, and lived a life of perfect righteousness in human flesh. He\nwho knew no sin, bore man's sin in His body on the cross. \"The Lord hath\nlaid on Him the iniquity of us all.\" For man's sin He died, \"that He by\nthe grace of God should taste death for every man.\" In Him was met the\npenalty of the law. But it was a sinless sacrifice. He \"through the\neternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.\" Heb. 9:14.\nTherefore death could not hold Him. He rose in the power of an endless\nlife to be man's advocate and priest and savior, ministering His grace\nand righteousness and life to every one who will receive them.\n\nThe righteousness that He wrought out for man in human flesh He longs to\nput into every human heart. As in His own flesh in Judea He walked and\nlived the life of righteousness, so now, by the Holy Spirit, He walks in\nhuman lives today. That means forgiveness, and deliverance from the\npower of the flesh, and a new life of power, and righteousness and\njustification wrought within by the divine indwelling Saviour. How may\nwe receive Him with all this great salvation?--By faith; by believing\nHis promises; \"that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.\" Eph.\n3:17.\n\nChrist in all His fulness abiding within,--this is the wonder and\nmystery of the gospel, \"which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.\" It\nmeans an ever-present, ever-living Saviour, able to save to the\nuttermost.\n\nWhat abundance of grace is received with His indwelling presence!\n\n_Forgiveness._--\"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to\nforgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\" 1 John\n1:9.\n\n_Deliverance from the Flesh._--The cleansing by Christ's indwelling\npower means that the old life of self is subdued. \"Our old man is\ncrucified with Him.\" Rom. 6:6. \"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the\nSpirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.... And if Christ\nbe in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life\nbecause of righteousness.\" Rom. 8:9, 10.\n\n_A New Heart._--\"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will\nI put within you.\" Eze. 36:26.\n\n_A New Life._--\"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put\non the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true\nholiness.\" Eph. 4:23, 24. It is in blessed fact Christ Jesus living the\nlife in the believer by faith, as the apostle Paul says:\n\n\"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ\nliveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the\nfaith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.\" Gal.\n2:20.\n\n_Righteousness and Justification._--\"This is His name whereby He shall\nbe called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.\" Jer. 23:6. Well does the King\nJames Version print the blessed name in capital letters. It is the great\nname of salvation to every believer. By faith we receive Him, and by\nfaith His righteousness is imputed unto us. His life of obedience covers\nall the believer's surrendered life, past and continuous, and in God's\nsight the life of the believer in Jesus is justified from all sin. It is\nthe triumph of Him who was not only \"delivered for our offenses,\" but\nwas also \"raised again for our justification:\"\n\n\"Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to\ncondemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came\nupon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's\ndisobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall\nmany be made righteous.\" Rom. 5:18, 19.\n\nChrist died and rose again to bring this experience to sinners who have\nstruggled helplessly under condemnation. As Christ Jesus with all His\nrighteousness is received by faith, \"there is therefore now no\ncondemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the\nflesh, but after the Spirit.\" Rom. 8:1.\n\nPraise the Lord! It is all of Christ, and not of any works that we have\ndone. Therefore it is as sure as the oath and promise of God. We can\nlose the experience only as we let Christ go out of the life by\nunbelief. God forbid that we should do this; and help us to be quick to\nrepent and again lay hold of Him by faith if ever we find we have let\nHim go and have lost the covering of His righteousness.\n\n \"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness\n My beauty are, my glorious dress;\n 'Mid hosts of sin, in these arrayed,\n My soul shall never be afraid.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE LAST PRAYER\n\n\"That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting\nlife.\" John 3:16.]\n\nChrist's righteousness is, of necessity, the righteousness demanded by\nthe law of God. He lives that law in the believer. This is what\njustification is. \"Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but\nthe doers of the law shall be justified.\" Rom. 2:13. Justification by\nfaith makes the man a doer of the law by faith, Christ living every one\nof its sacred precepts in the believer's life. This is what He died to\naccomplish, to bring the righteousness of the law to the sinner who\ncould never attain to it himself.\n\n\"What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God\nsending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,\ncondemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be\nfulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.\"\nRom. 8:3, 4.\n\nChrist writes God's law in the new heart: \"I will put My laws into their\nmind, and write them in their hearts.\" Heb. 8:10. It is the rule of His\nown righteousness. For before He came into the world to work out perfect\nrighteousness for us in human flesh, He said, through the psalmist, \"I\ndelight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.\" Ps.\n40:8.\n\nIt is a perfect righteousness and a full salvation that Christ brings\ninto every believer's heart. In Him all fulness dwells, \"and ye are\ncomplete in Him.\"\n\nThe wondrous plan of salvation is so deep that only \"in the ages to\ncome\" will God be able to \"show the exceeding riches of His grace in His\nkindness toward us through Christ Jesus.\" Eph. 2:7. But thank God, even\nhere below sinners saved by grace may \"know the love of Christ, which\npasseth knowledge.\"\n\n \"The wonders of redeeming love\n Our highest thoughts exceed;\n The Son of God comes from above,\n For sinful man to bleed.\n\n \"He knows the frailties of our frame,\n For He has borne our grief;\n Our great High Priest once felt the same,\n And He can send relief.\n\n \"His love will not be satisfied\n Till He in glory see\n The faithful ones for whom He died\n From sin forever free.\"\n\n --_R.F. Cottrell._\n\n[Illustration: THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST\n\n\"Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.\" Matt. 3:15.]\n\n[Illustration: THE FORD OF JORDAN\n\n\"John also was baptizing in AEnon near to Salim, because there was much\nwater there.\" John 3:23.]\n\n\n\n\nBAPTISM\n\nTHE MEMORIAL OF THE RESURRECTION\n\n\nBaptism is the divinely appointed memorial of the resurrection of\nChrist. The great fact of the gospel is that \"Christ died for our sins\naccording to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose\nagain the third day according to the Scriptures\" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4), to be\nour great High Priest and Saviour.\n\nBaptism is a profession of faith in the Saviour, who went into the grave\nfor us, and rose again to life. It is the great object-lesson to teach\nthe truth that the sinner must die to sin and the world, and have a\nresurrection by the power of divine grace to a new life of obedience.\nThe ordinance is the sign of an actual experience, the means by which\nthe believer confesses the work of grace in the soul.\n\nThe Scriptures teach the essential conditions necessary to baptism:\n\n\"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He\nthat believeth and is baptized shall be saved.\" Mark 16:15, 16.\n\n\"What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest\nwith all thine heart, thou mayest.\" Acts 8:36, 37.\n\n\"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in\nthe name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.\" Acts 2:38.\n\nThus it is seen that instruction in the gospel, belief in Christ, and\nrepentance are conditions to precede baptism.\n\n\nBaptism for Believers\n\nThe experience of which baptism is the sign is thus stated:\n\n\"We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was\nraised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also\nshould walk in newness of life.\" Rom. 6:4.\n\n\"As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.\"\nGal. 3:27.\n\n\"Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through\nthe faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.\"\nCol. 2:12.\n\nIn this ordinance, commanded of God, the believer is following the\nexample of Christ, who, when baptized by John in Jordan, said, \"Thus it\nbecometh us to fulfil all righteousness.\"\n\n \"Thus through the emblematic grave\n The glorious suffering Saviour trod;\n Thou art our Pattern, through the wave\n We follow Thee, blest Son of God.\"\n\n\nThe Form of Baptism\n\nThe Scriptural form of baptism is shown in these texts:\n\n\"Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.\"\nMatt. 3:16.\n\n\"They went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he\nbaptized him.\" Acts 8:38.\n\n\"Buried with Him by baptism.... For if we have been planted together in\nthe likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His\nresurrection.\" Rom. 6:4, 5.\n\nWhile the outward form of a religious service, without the spirit and\nthe experience which the form professes, must ever be unacceptable to\nGod, yet when the Lord prescribes a form, it is imperative that His\ninstruction should be followed. The form of the ordinance as commanded\nby God emphasizes the divine meaning of the service.\n\nScriptural baptism is a burial \"in the likeness\" of Christ's burial, as\nthe lifting up of the believer from the watery grave is a likeness of\nthe resurrection of Christ. Of the meaning of the word \"baptism,\" Luther\nwrote:\n\n \"Baptism is a Greek word; in Latin it can be translated\n immersion, as when we plunge something into water that it may\n be completely covered with water.\"--_Opera Lutheri, De Sac.\n Bap. 1, p. 319 (Baptist Encyclopedia, art. \"Baptism\")._\n\nCalvin, after arguing that the form is an indifferent matter, says:\n\n \"The very word 'baptize,' however, signifies to immerse; and it\n is certain that immersion was observed by the ancient\n church.\"--_\"Institutes,\" lib. 4, cap. 15 (Baptist Encyclopedia,\n art. \"Baptism\")._\n\nOf the practice in primitive times, Neander, the church historian, says:\n\n \"In respect to the manner of baptizing, in conformity with the\n original institution and the original import of the symbol, it\n was generally administered by immersion.\"--_\"History of the\n Christian Church,\" Torrey's translation (London edition), Vol.\n I, p. 429._\n\nThe perversion of the ordinance into sprinkling, and that in infancy,\ntakes away the divinely ordained object-lesson; and in the case of the\ninfant must of necessity substitute mere ceremonialism for experience,\nfor the child of unaccountable years can have had no experience of\nbelieving and repenting, which are the necessary conditions to fulfil\nthe meaning of baptism. The change in the ordinance, like most of the\nchanges that came about in the days of the \"falling away\" from the\nprimitive faith and practice, was by gradual process.\n\nDean Stanley, in his \"Christian Institutions,\" page 24, says that it is\nnot till the third century that \"we find one case of the baptism of\ninfants.\" Of the change from immersion to sprinkling, he says:\n\n \"What is the justification of this almost universal departure\n from the primitive usage? There may have been many reasons,\n some bad, some good. One, no doubt, was the superstitious\n feeling already mentioned which regarded baptism as a charm,\n indispensable to salvation, and which insisted on imparting it\n to every human being who could be touched with water, however\n unconscious.\"\n\nThe common practice as late as the twelfth century is thus described by\na Roman Catholic cardinal of that time, named Pullus:\n\n \"Whilst the candidate for baptism in water is immersed, the\n death of Christ is suggested; whilst immersed and covered with\n water, the burial of Christ is shown forth; whilst he is raised\n from the waters, the resurrection of Christ is\n proclaimed.\"--_Patrol. Lat., Vol. CXXX, p. 315 (Baptist\n Encyclopedia, art. \"Baptism\")._\n\nDean Stanley, of Westminster, one of the first scholars of the Church of\nEngland, wrote:\n\n \"For the first thirteen centuries the almost universal practice\n of baptism was that of which we read in the New Testament, and\n which is the very meaning of the word 'baptize,'--that those\n who were baptized were plunged, submerged, immersed into the\n water. That practice is still, as we have seen, continued in\n Eastern churches. In the Western church it still lingers among\n Roman Catholics in the solitary instance of the Cathedral of\n Milan; among Protestants in the numerous sects of the Baptists.\n It lasted long into the Middle Ages.... But since the beginning\n of the seventeenth century, the practice has become exceedingly\n rare. With the few exceptions just mentioned, the whole of the\n Western churches have now substituted for the ancient bath the\n ceremony of letting fall a few drops of water on the face. The\n reason of the change is obvious. The practice of immersion,\n though peculiarly suitable to the Southern and Eastern\n countries for which it was designed, was not found seasonable\n in the countries of the North and West. Not by any decree of\n council or parliament, but by the general sentiment of\n Christian liberty, this remarkable change was effected.\n Beginning in the thirteenth century, it has gradually driven\n the ancient catholic usage out of the whole of\n Europe.\"--_\"Christian Institutions,\" pp. 21, 22._\n\nThe facts are undeniable, and emphasize the importance of reformation\nand return in practice to the plain instructions of the Word of God. As\nthe record shows, it was not the spirit of the New Testament church that\nmade this change in the divine ordinance; rather it is the spirit of the\nchurch of the \"falling away,\" against which the Lord warns all\nbelievers, \"because they have transgressed the laws, changed the\nordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.\"\n\n\nThe Path He Trod\n\n Our Saviour bowed beneath the wave,\n And meekly sought a watery grave;\n Come, see the sacred path He trod--\n A path well pleasing to our God.\n\n His voice we hear, His footsteps trace.\n And hither come to seek His face,\n To do His will, to feel His love,\n And join our songs with those above.\n\n --_Adoniram Judson._\n\n[Illustration: SYMBOLS OF MEDO-PERSIA AND GRECIA\n\n\"The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and\nPersia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia.\" Dan. 8:20, 21.]\n\n[Illustration: COINS OF THE MEDO-PERSIAN AND GRECIAN EMPIRES\n\nThe ram, symbol of Persia; and the goat, symbol of Grecia.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 8\n\nA HISTORIC OUTLINE AND A VITAL QUESTION\n\n\nAnother view of the history of empires and kingdoms was brought before\nthe prophet Daniel in the vision of the eighth chapter. In this vision a\ngreat prophetic period is given, the end of which reaches to the latter\ndays, touching events of our own times that are of direct interest and\nimportance to every one today.\n\nThe vision was given in the third year of Belshazzar, the last king of\nBabylon. Again, as in moving panorama, there passed before the prophet's\nvision the scenes of history. Earthly kingdoms were represented under\nthe symbols of beasts.\n\nWe shall find the prophecy and the history corresponding in every\ndetail, revealing the overruling hand of God, who knows the end from the\nbeginning, and whose living Word of truth bears its witness through all\nthe ages.\n\n \"Truth never dies. The ages come and go;\n The mountains wear away; the seas retire;\n Destruction lays earth's mighty cities low,\n And empires, states, and dynasties expire;\n But caught and handed onward by the wise,\n Truth never dies.\"\n\nThe opening scene of this vision, given by the river Ulai, in Persia, is\nthus described:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there\nstood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were\nhigh; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I\nsaw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no\nbeast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver\nout of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.\"\nVerses 3, 4.\n\nIn the angel's interpretation of the vision Daniel was told: \"The ram\nwhich thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.\"\nVerse 20. \"The higher came up last.\"\n\nThe two horns represented the dual character of the empire: first the\nMedes in ascendancy, then the Persians rising to yet greater power. \"So\nthat no beast might stand before him,\" says the prophecy.\n\n_History._--Xenophon says of Cyrus the Persian:\n\n \"He was able to extend the fear of himself over so great a part\n of the world that he astonished all, and no one attempted\n anything against him.\"--_\"The Cyropaedia,\" book 1, chap. 1._\n\nThe line of Medo-Persian conquest was \"westward, and northward, and\nsouthward,\" just as the prophet saw the ram pushing its way. As one pen\nwrote in the days of Persia's supremacy:\n\n \"He [Darius] showed the world arms glory-crowned.\"\n \"Towns untold before him fell.\"\n \"Burgs over sea ... heard from his lips their fate.\"\n\n --_\"The Persians,\" by AEschylus._\n\nBut the ram pushing westward stirred up an antagonist that was\neventually to overcome him. The prophet continues:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"As I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west\non the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat\nhad a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two\nhorns,... and ran unto him in the fury of his power.... And there was\nno power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the\nground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the\nram out of his hand.\" Verses 5-7.\n\nThe angel's interpretation continued: \"The rough goat is the king of\nGrecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.\"\nVerse 21.\n\n_History._--This \"first king\" of united Grecia was Alexander the Great.\n\n \"With Alexander the New Greece begins.\"--_Harrison, \"Story of\n Greece,\" p. 499._\n\n \"And it happened, after that Alexander ... had smitten Darius\n king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead,\n the first over Greece.\" 1 Maccabees 1:1.\n\nUnder Alexander, the Grecian goat ran upon the Persian ram \"in the fury\nof his power.\" At Arbela, wrote Arrian, the Macedonians charged \"with\ngreat fury.\" None was able to deliver the Persian ram. \"Wherever you\nfly,\" wrote Alexander to the retreating Darius, \"thither I will surely\npursue you.\" (See \"Anabasis of Alexander the Great,\" by Arrian, book 2,\nchap. 14.) Medo-Persia fell before Grecia, as this sure word of prophecy\nhad foretold two hundred years before Alexander's day.\n\nGrecia's expansion and its later history were next unfolded before the\nprophet's vision:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was\nstrong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones\ntoward the four winds of heaven.\" Verse 8.\n\nOf the ram (Persia) it was said it became \"great;\" of the goat (Grecia);\nthat it became \"very great.\"\n\n_History._--Justin, the Roman, wrote of Alexander:\n\n \"So much was the whole world awed by the terror of his name,\n that all nations came to pay their obedience to\n him.\"--_\"History of the World,\" book 12, chap. 13._\n\n \"Vain in his hopes, the youth had grasped at all,\n And his vast thought took in the vanquished ball.\"\n\n --_Lucan's \"Pharsalia\" (Nicholas Rowe's translation), book 3._\n\nBut the unerring prophecy had said that \"when he was strong, the great\nhorn was broken.\" Suddenly the youthful conqueror was cut down by death,\njust as he was preparing to celebrate at Babylon a \"convention of the\nwhole universe,\"\n\n \"being thus taken off in the flower of his age, and in the\n height of his victories.\"--_Justin, \"History of the World,\"\n book 13, chap. 1._\n\nThe ancient pagan writers, in telling the story, make use of language\nvery similar to that used by divine prophecy in foretelling it.\nFollowing Alexander's death the empire was divided \"toward the four\nwinds of heaven.\" Myers says:\n\n \"Four well-defined and important monarchies arose out of the\n ruins.... The great horn was broken; and instead of it came up\n four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.\"--_\"History\n of Greece\" (edition 1902), p. 457._\n\nAs the prophet watched these four kingdoms of divided Greece, he beheld\nanother power coming into the field of his vision through one of the\nfour kingdoms, and extending its authority more than any before it:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"Out of one of them [one of the four kingdoms] came forth a\nlittle horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward\nthe east, and toward the pleasant land.\" Verse 9.\n\n_History._--Medo-Persia was \"great,\" Grecia was \"very great,\" but this\npower was to be \"exceeding great.\" Rome followed Grecia. Polybius, the\nRoman, says:\n\n \"Almost the whole inhabited world was conquered, and brought\n under the dominion of the single city of Rome.\"--_\"Histories of\n Polybius\" (Evelyn Shuckburgh's translation), book 1, chap. 1._\n\nOne of the odes of Horace tells how the name of Rome grew to might:\n\n \"Till her superb dominion spread\n East, where the sun comes forth in light,\n And west to where he lays his head.\"\n\n --_Ode 15, \"To Augustus,\" book 4._\n\nLucan's lines measured its exceeding greatness from the other points of\nthe compass:\n\n \"Though from the frozen pole our empire run,\n Far as the journeys of the southern sun.\"\n\n --_\"Pharsalia,\" book 10._\n\n\"The empire of the Romans filled the world,\" says Gibbon. It was\n\"exceeding great,\" according to the prophecy. In the vision the little\nhorn that grew so great came into the prophet's view as proceeding out\nof one of the four horns that he had been watching. Rome rose to\nunquestioned supremacy out of its conquest of Macedonia, one of the four\nnotable kingdoms into which Grecia was divided. It spread forth toward\nthe south, and toward the east, and \"toward the pleasant land,\"\nPalestine becoming a province of the empire in the century before\nChrist. And it was a Roman force that destroyed Jerusalem and devastated\nthe pleasant land.\n\nThus the \"sure word of prophecy,\" with exactness in detail, carries the\nhistory through the centuries to the last great universal monarchy,\nRome.\n\nBut this prophecy does not deal so much with the earlier history of Rome\nas with the developments of later times. It was the same in the\nprophetic outline of Daniel 7. After briefly identifying Rome as the\nlast universal monarchy, the vision of the seventh chapter dealt with\nthe rise of papal Rome, described its exaltation of itself against God,\nand its warfare against the truth and the saints of God. And here again,\nin the eighth chapter, the same persecuting power is seen developing,\nexalting itself, and persecuting the saints of God. The prophecy says\nthat \"it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and\nprospered.\" Dan. 8:12. The papal history, as given in the study on\nDaniel 7, need not be repeated here.\n\n[Illustration: THE CAMP OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS\n\n\"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be\ncleansed.\" Dan. 8:14.]\n\nAs the prophet watched the work of this lawless power, his heart must\nhave cried out to know how long it was to be allowed to prosper in its\nevil way; for next he heard the voice of a holy one asking the question\nfor him,\n\n\"How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the\ntransgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to\nbe trodden underfoot?\" Dan. 8:13.\n\nThe answer was,\n\n\"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be\ncleansed.\" Verse 14.\n\nIn symbolic prophecy a day stands for a year. Eze. 4:6. This is a long\nperiod, therefore, of 2300 years. It reaches to the latter days; for the\nangel said of it, \"At the time of the end shall be the vision.\" Dan.\n8:17.\n\nThe question was, \"How long?\" or literally, \"Until when?\" and the answer\nwas, \"Until two thousand and three hundred days.\" Then what was to come\nto deal with the great apostasy?--\"Then shall the sanctuary be\ncleansed.\" The cleansing of the sanctuary, therefore, must have\nsomething to do with meeting the great apostasy, lifting up God's truth\nthat has been trampled underfoot, and cutting short the reign of evil.\nThe cleansing of the sanctuary, with all that is involved in it, must be\nGod's answer to this lawless power.\n\nError may prosper for a time; but the just balances of the sanctuary\nwill at last pronounce righteous judgment, and the prosperity of evil\nwill be cut short. \"I was envious ... when I saw the prosperity of the\nwicked,\" said the psalmist, \"until I went into the sanctuary of God;\nthen understood I their end.\" Ps. 73:3, 17.\n\nWhat, then, is involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary, the time of\nwhich is marked by the long prophetic period? It is for us to\nunderstand; for it is a work pertaining to the latter days.\n\n[Illustration: OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST\n\n\"We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne\nof the Majesty in the heavens.\" Heb. 8:1.]\n\n[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE SANCTUARY\n\n\"A figure for time then present, in which were offered both gifts and\nsacrifices.\" Heb. 9:9.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY IN TYPE AND ANTITYPE\n\n\nThe Bible teaching concerning the sanctuary of the Levitical service\nshows clearly that the cleansing of the sanctuary is God's answer to\nerror and apostasy.\n\nThe priestly service of the earthly sanctuary, or temple, in the days of\nIsrael, was typical of the work of Christ, our High Priest, in the\nheavenly temple. The earthly priests served after \"the example and\nshadow of heavenly things.\" Heb. 8:5. And of Christ's ministry in the\nheavenly temple we are told:\n\n\"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a\nhigh priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty\nin the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle,\nwhich the Lord pitched, and not man.\" Heb. 8:1, 2.\n\nIn the earthly service, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the closing\nwork of the high priest, marking the end of the yearly round of\nmediatory ministry. The cleansing of the sanctuary in the time of the\nend must, therefore, according to the sure teaching of the type, be the\nclosing ministry of our great High Priest in the heavenly temple, before\nHe lays aside His priestly work to come in glory.\n\n\nThe Service of the Earthly Tabernacle\n\nThere were two distinct phases in the priestly ministry of the\ntabernacle in Israel. The sanctuary was built with two apartments, the\nholy place and the most holy.\n\nIn the holy place were the candlestick with its seven lights, the table\nwith its ever-renewed \"bread of the presence,\" and the altar of incense,\non which sweet incense, symbol of Christ's continual intercession, was\nburned morning and night.\n\nWithin the inner veil was the most holy place, where was the ark\ncontaining the tables of the law, written with the finger of God. The\ncover of the ark was the golden mercy-seat, above which, at either end,\nstood two cherubim of gold, their wings meeting on high, their faces\nlooking ever toward the mercy-seat. It was a type of the throne of\nGod--the angels about the throne, the law the foundation of His\ngovernment, the mercy-seat typifying the interposition of mercy and\npardon for the sinner; and above it the visible glory of the Lord, the\nShekinah.\n\n\"There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above\nthe mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of\nthe testimony.\" Ex. 25:22.\n\nOf the service in the first apartment it is stated:\n\n\"When these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the\nfirst tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.\" Heb. 9:6.\n\n\"Day by day the sacrificial victims were slain at the altar before the\nouter veil, and the blood was 'brought into the sanctuary' by the\npriest.\" This was an acknowledgment of transgression of God's law,\nmeriting death, and a confession of faith in the Lamb of God who was to\nsuffer death in the sinner's stead, and whose atoning blood would plead\nfor him before the righteous law.\n\nThus day by day, either by the sprinkling of the blood \"before the Lord\"\nor by eating a portion of the flesh of the burnt offering in the holy\nplace, the ministry of the priests transferred the sin in type to the\nsanctuary, and the sinner was pardoned.\n\nFor a full year, lacking one day, the ministry was in the first\napartment, or holy place only. But on that last day of the yearly round\nof service--\"the tenth day of the seventh month\"--the high priest\nentered the second apartment, or most holy place.\n\n\"Into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without\nblood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people.\"\nHeb. 9:7.\n\nIn this service the high priest sprinkled the blood upon the mercy-seat\nand in the holy place, \"because of the uncleanness of the children of\nIsrael.\" The sanctuary was to be reconciled or cleansed from all the\nsins registered there in type through the blood of the offerings brought\nday by day during the year.\n\nAs the high priest came out, bearing the sins, he transferred them all\nto the head of the scapegoat, which was sent away into the wilderness;\nand thus \"all their iniquities\" were borne away from the camp into the\nwilderness, and the sanctuary was cleansed. See Leviticus 16.\n\nThis was a solemn time of judgment in Israel. Every man's life came in\nreview that day. Was every sin confessed? Whosoever was not found right\nwith God, when that service was performed, was cut off from having a\npart with God's people.\n\n\"It is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord\nyour God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that\nsame day, he shall be cut off from among his people.\" Lev. 23:28, 29.\n\nIt was indeed an annual day of judgment in Israel. And all this was an\n\"example and shadow of heavenly things.\" Heb. 8:5.\n\n\nChrist's Closing Work in Heaven\n\nTherefore the last phase of Christ's ministry as our high priest in the\nsanctuary of God above, must be a work of judgment, a review of the\nheavenly record, corresponding to the final ministry in the second\napartment of the earthly tabernacle, when that sanctuary was cleansed.\n\n[Illustration: THE MEMORIAL OF HIS SACRIFICE\n\n\"As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the\nLord's death till He come.\" 1 Cor. 11:26.]\n\nDaniel the prophet was shown in vision this change in the ministry of\nour High Priest, namely, from the first to the second apartment of the\nheavenly temple. He describes the wondrous scene, as God's living\nthrone, with its wheels flaming with glory, moved into the most holy\nplace of the heavenly sanctuary, for the closing work of Christ's\nministry:\n\n\"I beheld till the thrones were cast down [\"placed,\" R.V.], and the\nAncient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair\nof His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and\nHis wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from\nbefore Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand\ntimes ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books\nwere opened.\" Dan. 7:9, 10.\n\nThis scene, as the next verse shows, opens while still on earth the\napostasy is exalting itself. But during this same time a solemn judgment\nwork is going forward in heaven above, the finishing of which will give\nGod's answer to the apostasy, and bring the second coming of Christ in\nglory to end the reign of sin. It is the cleansing of the\nsanctuary,--the time when in reality and not in type every case\nregistered in the sanctuary comes in final review before God. When that\nwork closes, according to the type, whosoever is not found right with\nGod will be cut off from having any part with His redeemed people.\n\nThen the priestly ministry of Christ will close, and the destiny of\nevery soul will be fixed for all eternity. To that time must apply the\nwords spoken by Jesus:\n\n\"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: ... and he that is\nrighteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be\nholy still. And, behold, I come quickly.\" Rev. 22:11, 12.\n\nBut now the Saviour, from His place of ministry on high, speaks to all\nthe encouraging exhortation and assurance:\n\n\"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I\nwill not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess\nhis name before My Father, and before His angels.\" Rev. 3:5.\n\nTo let men on earth know when this judgment work, the cleansing of the\nsanctuary, began in heaven, the prophetic period of 2300 years was\ngiven. It is of most solemn importance that we know when that period\nbegins and ends.\n\n[Illustration: ARTAXERXES SENDING THE JEWS TO REBUILD JERUSALEM,\nB.C. 457\n\n\"From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build\nJerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and\nthreescore and two weeks.\" Dan. 9:25.]\n\n[Illustration: NEHEMIAH, THE KING'S CUPBEARER\n\n\"Send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may\nbuild it.\" Neh. 2:5.]\n\n\n\n\nA GREAT PROPHETIC PERIOD\n\n\nTHE 2300 YEARS OF DANIEL 8:14\n\nThe commission to the angel Gabriel was, \"Make this man to understand\nthe vision\" (Dan. 8:16); therefore in the angel's explanation of the\nvision of Daniel 8, we must assuredly find the interpretation of the\nprophetic period of 2300 years, the close of which marks the opening of\nthe judgment work in heaven, or the cleansing of the sanctuary.\n\nThe eighth chapter closes, however, with no reference to the beginning\nof this period of time, a most important measuring line of prophecy. The\nangel had explained the symbols representing Medo-Persia, Grecia, and\nRome, and had dwelt upon the antichristian work of the apostasy that was\nto develop; but he left the time of the prophetic period unexplained,\nsave to say that it was \"true,\" and that it would be \"for many\ndays\"--far in the future. Here the angel stopped, for Daniel fainted. In\nspirit the prophet had been gazing upon the warfare of the great\napostasy against God's truth through the ages, and evidently it took all\nstrength from him. Daniel closes the account of this vision with the\nwords, \"I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.\" Verse\n27.\n\n[Illustration: THE 2300 DAYS\n\nThe heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the longest\nprophetic period in the Bible. Beginning in B.C. 457 when the\ndecree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-26; Dan.\n9:25), seven weeks (49 years) are measured off to indicate the time\noccupied in this work of restoration. These, however, are a part of the\nsixty-nine weeks (483 years) that were to reach to Messiah, the Anointed\nOne. Christ was anointed in 27 A.D., at His baptism. Matt.\n3:13-17; Acts 10:38. In the midst of the seventieth week (31\nA.D.), Christ was crucified or \"cut off,\" which marked the time\nwhen the sacrifices and oblations of the earthly sanctuary were to\ncease. Dan. 9:25, 27. The remaining three and one-half years of this\nweek reach to 34 A.D., or to the stoning of Stephen, and the\ngreat persecution of the church at Jerusalem which followed. Acts 7:59;\n8:1. This marked the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted\nto the Jewish people.\n\nBut the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the\nseventy weeks) reach to 34 A.D., the remaining 1810 years of\nthe 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or\ncleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then\nspecial light began to shine upon the whole sanctuary subject, and\nChrist's mediatorial or priestly work in it.\n\nFour great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic\nperiod,--the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish\npeople as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.]\n\nBut the angel had been commanded, \"Make this man to understand the\nvision;\" and soon after, as recorded in the next chapter,--possibly\nwithin a year,[G]--Gabriel appeared to the prophet with the words:\n\n\"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding....\nTherefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.\" Dan. 9:22,\n23.\n\nThereupon the angel began to deal with the matter of time in the\nprophecy, the very feature of the vision of the eighth chapter that he\nhad not yet made Daniel understand. Therefore the vision of the 2300\nyears must be the topic.\n\n\nThe Starting-Point\n\nFirst of all, the angel said that a short period was to be cut off from\nthe long period, and allotted to the Jewish people; this short period\nwas to reach to the coming of the promised Messiah and the filling up of\nthe measure of Jerusalem's transgressions. The angel's own words are:\n\n\"Seventy weeks [490 days, prophetic time, or 490 literal years] are\ndetermined [cut off, as the word means] upon thy people and upon thy\nholy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and\nto make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting\nrighteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint\nthe Most Holy.\" Verse 24.\n\nThis 490-year period \"cut off\" was to cover the history of the people of\nJerusalem until that city had filled out the measure of its\ntransgression. The only prophetic period from which this 490 years can\nproperly be said to be \"cut off\" is, assuredly, the longer period of\n2300 years, which stretches far onward to \"the time of the end.\" The 490\nyears and the 2300 years, then, must begin at the same time.\n\nIt was the time period that the angel Gabriel was yet to explain; and he\nbegins the explanation by showing that the first 490 years of it would\nreach to the days of the Messiah. Then he gives the event that marks the\nbeginning of the 490 years, which event must necessarily mark the\nbeginning of the 2300 years as well.\n\nThis is what he was commissioned to make Daniel \"understand\" when first\nthe vision of the 2300 years was given. Now he tells him to \"understand\"\nit:\n\n\"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the\ncommandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the\nPrince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street\nshall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after\nthreescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself:\nand the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and\nthe sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the\nend of the war desolations are determined.\" Dan. 9:25, 26.\n\nThe date of the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild\nJerusalem is the date, therefore, from which the great prophetic\nmeasuring line runs; the first 490 years of it to reach to the time and\nwork of the Messiah, at the first advent, the full 2300 years running on\nto mark the time when the judgment hour in heaven opens. Once the\nstarting-point is fixed, all the events of the long period must follow\nexactly as scheduled in the time-table of divine prophecy.\n\n\nDate of the Commencement to Restore Jerusalem\n\nThere were several commands issued concerning the restoration of\nJerusalem after the Babylonish captivity. Cyrus, and Darius, and\nArtaxerxes Longimanus each issued such a decree. Which one answers to\nthe language of the prophecy as \"the commandment to restore and to build\nJerusalem\"?\n\n[Illustration: THE JEWS MOURNING OVER THE RUINS OF JERUSALEM\n\n\"I went out by night,... and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were\nbroken down.\" Neh. 2:13.]\n\nThe decree of Artaxerxes was most comprehensive (Ezra 7), authorizing\nthe full restoration of the civil and religious administration of\nJerusalem and Judea. And Inspiration specifically sums up all the\ndecrees as completed only in that of Artaxerxes, which thus constituted\n\"the commandment:\"\n\n\"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God\nof Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and\nArtaxerxes king of Persia.\" Ezra 6:14.\n\n[Illustration: REBUILDING JERUSALEM\n\n\"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God\nof Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and\nArtaxerxes king of Persia.\" Ezra 6:14.]\n\nAccording to this scripture, the full \"going forth of the commandment to\nrestore and to build,\" dates from this decree of Artaxerxes. And this\ndecree went forth \"in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.\" Ezra\n7:7.\n\nWhat year was this seventh year of Artaxerxes--a date so important to\nfix to a certainty?\n\nThe great chronological standard for the kings of the ancient empires is\nthe canon, or historical rule, of Ptolemy. Ptolemy was a Greek\nhistorian, geographer, and astronomer, who lived in the temple of\nSerapis, near Alexandria, Egypt. From ancient records he prepared a\nchronological table of the kings of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome\n(carrying the Roman list to his own time, which was the second century\nafter Christ). Along with his list of kings and the years of their\nsuccession, Ptolemy compiled a record of ancient observations of\neclipses. In such and such a year of a king, for instance, on a given\nday of the month, an eclipse of the sun or moon would be recorded.\nAstronomers have worked out these observations, and verified them. The\nlearned Dr. William Hales said:\n\n \"To the authenticity of these copies of Ptolemy's canon, the\n strongest testimony is given by their exact agreement\n throughout, with above twenty dates and computations of\n eclipses in Ptolemy's Almagest.\"--_\"Chronology,\" Vol. I, p.\n 166._\n\nThus, says James B. Lindsay, an English chronologist, \"a foundation is\nlaid for chronology sure as the stars.\" So the sun and the stars, the\ndivinely appointed timekeepers, bear their witness to the accuracy of\nthe historical record.\n\nWe thank God for this, as we desire to know if we may depend upon\nPtolemy's canon to help us fix to a certainty the seventh year of\nArtaxerxes.\n\nAccording to Ptolemy, Artaxerxes succeeded to the throne in the two\nhundred and eighty-fourth year of the canon. In modern reckoning, this\ntwo hundred and eighty-fourth year runs from Dec. 17, 465 B.C., to Dec.\n17, 464 B.C. The canon does not tell at what part of the year a king\nsucceeded to the throne; it only deals with whole years. The question\nis, to be exact, Did Artaxerxes come to the throne in December, 465\nB.C., or at some time in the year 464 B.C.? At what season of the year\ndid the king take the throne? Some historians, dealing with the matter\nroughly, date the succession from the year 465. But in dealing with\ndivine prophecy, we require certainty upon which to base the reckoning\nof the seventh year of Artaxerxes, from which date the prophetic period\nruns.\n\nAnd in God's providence we do have certainty. Of all the kings of\nAssyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, in Ptolemy's long list, there is but\none concerning whose succession the Scriptures give us the very time of\nthe year--and that one is Artaxerxes. The one case in which we need to\nknow to a certainty the season of the year, in order to fix an important\ndate in prophecy, is the one case in which Inspiration gives exactly the\nparticulars. Who cannot see the hand of God in this?\n\nThe combined record of Neh. 1:1; 2:1 and Ezra 7:7-9,[H] shows that\nArtaxerxes came to the throne between the fifth month of the Jewish year\nand the ninth month,--roughly, between August and December,--or in the\nautumn. The Bible gives one part of the record, and Ptolemy's canon\ngives another part; and by the combined record we know that Artaxerxes\ncame to the throne late in the year 464 B.C., and thus the seventh year\nof his reign would be 457 B.C. This is the date fixed by other sources\nof reliable chronology also, Sir Isaac Newton having worked out several\nlines of evidence from ancient authorities, in each case reaching the\nyear 464 B.C. as the first of Artaxerxes, which makes the seventh to be\n457 B.C.\n\nIn the seventh year of Artaxerxes the commandment went forth to restore\nand to build Jerusalem, and this event fixes the beginning of the 2300\nyears, as also of the 490 years cut off from it upon the Jewish people.\n\nThat year, 457 B.C., therefore, is a date of profound\nimportance. It stands like the golden milestone in the ancient Forum at\nRome, from which ran out all the measurements of distance to the ends of\nthe empire. From this date, 457 B.C., run out the golden\nthreads of time prophecy that touch events in the earthly life and the\nheavenly ministry of Jesus that are of deepest eternal interest to all\nmankind today.\n\n\nThe Ransom Paid\n\n Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,\n Which, at the mercy-seat of God,\n Forever doth for sinners plead,\n Can cleanse my guilty soul indeed.\n\n Lord, I believe were sinners more\n Than sands upon the ocean shore,\n Thou hast for all a ransom paid,\n For all a full provision made.\n\n --_Nikolaus Zinzendorf._\n\n[Illustration: THE ANOINTING OF JESUS AT HIS BAPTISM\n\n\"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.\"\nActs 10:38. (See Matt. 3:16.)]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[G] The dates placed in the margin of the King James Version indicate a\nperiod of fifteen years between the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel.\nThis was because in former days it was thought that Belshazzar was the\nBible name of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, who reigned seventeen\nyears. In that case, from \"the third year\" of his reign, when the\nprophecy of Daniel 8 was given, to the \"first year of Darius,\" who\nsucceeded him, when the angel appeared again to Daniel, would be fifteen\nyears. But the unearthing of the buried records of Babylonia during the\nlast half century, reveals the fact that Belshazzar was the son of\nNabonidus, associated with him on the throne as king for a few years\nbefore the fall of Babylon. The third year of his reign may very likely\nhave been the last year; and Darius immediately followed Belshazzar. The\nexplanation of the ninth chapter might have been within a few weeks or\nmonths following the vision of chapter 8, and probably was.\n\n[H] These texts show that the king came to the throne in the autumn, so\nthat the actual years of his reign would run from autumn to autumn. Neh.\n1:1 begins the record: \"In the month Chisleu, in the _twentieth year_.\"\nNeh. 2:1 continues: \"It came to pass in the month Nisan, in the\n_twentieth year_ of Artaxerxes.\" Thus it is plain that in the monthly\ncalendar of the king's actual reign the month Chisleu came first in\norder, and then Nisan. Chisleu was the ninth month of the Jewish sacred\nyear, roughly, December. Nisan is the first month, April. And these\nmonths, December, April,--in that order,--came in the first year of the\nking, of course, the same as in his twentieth year. And in the same year\nalso came the fifth month, August; for Ezra 7:7-9 shows that the first\nand fifth months--in that order--also fell in the same year of his\nreign. Then we know of a certainty that his reign began somewhere\nbetween August and December, that is, in the autumn. The first year of\nArtaxerxes was from the latter part of 464 B.C. to the latter part of\n463, and the seventh year, as readily counted off, would be from near\nthe end of 458 to near the end of 457. Under the commission to Ezra, the\npeople began to go up to Jerusalem in the spring of that year, 457 B.C.\n(in the first month, or April), and they \"came to Jerusalem in the fifth\nmonth\" (August). Ezra 7:8, 9. Ezra and his associates soon thereafter\n\"delivered the kings commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the\ngovernors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the\nhouse of God.\" Ezra 8:36. With this delivery of the commissions to the\nking's officers, the commandment to restore and to build had, most\ncertainly, fully gone forth. And from this date, 457 B.C., extends the\ngreat prophetic period.\n\n\n[Illustration: DANIEL'S PRAYER ANSWERED\n\n\"I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.\" Dan. 9:22.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHECY FULFILLED\n\nEVENTS OF THE \"SEVENTY WEEKS\" AND END OF THE 2300 YEARS\n\n\nThe angel explained to Daniel the events of the seventy weeks allotted\nto Jerusalem and its people \"to finish the transgression.\" Seven weeks\nand threescore and two weeks (69 weeks) of the seventy were to reach to\nthe Messiah. The angel's words were:\n\n\"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to\nfinish the transgression.... Know therefore and understand, that from\nthe going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem\nunto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two\nweeks [69 weeks, or 483 days].\" Dan. 9:24, 25.\n\nThe sixty-nine weeks, symbolic time, are 483 years, which were to reach\nfrom the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to Messiah the\nPrince.\n\n\nThe Time of the Messiah's Coming\n\nThe commandment of Artaxerxes to restore and build Jerusalem, as we have\nseen, went forth in 457 B.C. Reckoning from that date, 483 full\nyears bring us to A.D. 27, when, according to the prophecy, the\nMessiah should appear.\n\nMessiah means \"anointed.\" The anointing of Jesus, and His manifestation\nas the Anointed One, was at His baptism:\n\n\"Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and,\nlo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God\ndescending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from\nheaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\"\nMatt. 3:16, 17.\n\nThus Jesus was anointed as the Messiah (see Acts 10:38), and John\nproclaimed: \"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the\nworld.\" John 1:29.\n\nWhen did this baptism and anointing take place? The Gospel of Luke\nsupplies the historical facts for fixing the year:\n\n\"In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate\nbeing governor of Judea,\" etc. Luke 3:1-3.\n\nTiberius followed Augustus, who died in A.D. 14. But before the\nlatter's death, Tiberius was associated with him on the throne. Some\nmodern historians date this appointment of Tiberius as Caesar from\nA.D. 13; but the \"History of Rome,\" by Dion Cassius, a Roman\nsenator, born in the second century, shows, under events of\nA.D. 12, that Augustus recognized Tiberius as holding the\nimperial dignity at that time. (Book 56, chap. 26.) Again, Dr. Philip\nSchaff says:\n\n \"There are coins from Antioch in Syria of the date A.U. 765\n [A.D. 12], with the head of Tiberius and the\n inscription, _Kaisar, Sebastos (Augustus).\"_--_\"History of the\n Christian Church,\" Vol. I, p. 120, footnote._\n\nThese coins from Syria bear certain witness that the first year of\nTiberius should be counted from A.D. 12. Therefore \"the\nfifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar\" would be A.D.\n27, just 483 years from the going forth of the commandment to restore\nJerusalem. The prophecy of the sixty-nine weeks was fulfilled--the\nMessiah had come.\n\n\nConfirming the Covenant\n\nBut \"one week\" of the seventy remained--seven years. Of the Messiah's\nwork during this time the angel said:\n\n\"He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst\nof the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.\"\nDan. 9:27.\n\nChrist's death upon the cross made \"the sacrifice and the oblation to\ncease,\" so far as their appointed force was concerned. After three years\nand a half of ministry, \"in the midst\" of this seven-year period, the\nprophetic week, the Messiah was lifted up on Calvary. For centuries the\nsure word of prophecy had pointed to this supreme hour in the working\nout of the plan of salvation. When the time was fulfilled, the promise\nof God was fulfilled also, and the divine Sacrifice was offered.\n\n \"Paschal Lamb, by God appointed,\n All our sins on Thee were laid;\n By Almighty Love anointed,\n Thou redemption's price hast paid.\n All Thy people are forgiven\n Through the virtue of Thy blood;\n Opened is the gate of heaven,\n Peace is made 'twixt man and God.\"\n\nWith the offering of the great Sacrifice, all the typical offerings\nceased to have significance. The veil of the temple was rent when the\nLamb of God expired upon the cross,--sign to all that He had caused \"the\nsacrifice and the oblation to cease.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST\n\n\"In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation\nto cease.\" Dan. 9:27.]\n\n[Illustration: THE RENT VEIL\n\n\"The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.\"\nMark 15:38.]\n\nThe Messiah was to \"confirm the covenant with many for one week,\"\nfilling out the seventy weeks allotted in God's merciful patience\nespecially to the people of the Jews. Three and a half years of Christ's\npersonal ministry on earth had been devoted to the chosen people. Now,\nafter His ascension, He was still, in the persons of His disciples, to\npress the gospel of the new covenant especially upon the Jewish\npeople--\"to the Jew first,\" and \"beginning at Jerusalem.\"\n\n\n[Illustration: PETER PREACHING IN THE HOUSE OF CORNELIUS\n\n\"They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.\"\nActs 8:4.]\n\nThis last seven-year period, beginning in A.D. 27, ended in\nA.D. 34. By that time the opposition of the Jews was becoming\nexceedingly bitter. As a people they were rejecting again the divine\ninvitation extended by the risen Christ through His witnesses. About\nA.D. 34 Stephen was martyred. The same council that, against\nall evidence, had rejected the Messiah, again rejected the appeal of the\nHoly Ghost shining visibly on Stephen's countenance.\n\nThe believers in Jerusalem were driven out by persecution; and \"they\nthat were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.\" Acts\n8:4. The Gentiles gave heed in Samaria, and the Ethiopian received the\ngospel on the road to Gaza. The gospel message had fairly passed the\nboundaries of Jerusalem and was on its way to the \"uttermost parts of\nthe earth.\"\n\nThough the seventy weeks cut off upon the Jewish people and upon the\nholy city had ended, to the world's end the gospel of Christ's salvation\nis for that people as well as for all other nations.\n\n\nThe Ending of the 2300 Years\n\nIt must not be forgotten that the angel was explaining to Daniel the\nvision and prophecy of the long prophetic period that was to reach to\nthe cleansing of the sanctuary at the time of the end.\n\nThese events of the first seventy weeks of that period were \"to seal up\nthe vision and prophecy.\" Dan. 9:24. The shedding of the blood of the\ndivine Sacrifice \"to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in\neverlasting righteousness,\" set Heaven's seal to the vision. As surely\nas the great Offering had been made, so surely the cleansing of the\nsanctuary would be accomplished by the ministry of our High Priest in\nheaven.\n\nAnd the exact fulfilment of the time schedule for this first portion of\nthe prophetic period, set seal to the declaration that when the full\n2300 years should run out, the closing ministry of Christ would surely\nbegin in the heavenly sanctuary.\n\nFrom 457 B.C., when the commandment of Artaxerxes to restore\nJerusalem went forth, the measuring line of the 2300 years reaches to\nthe year A.D. 1844. In that year the time of the prophecy came.\nThen the cleansing of the sanctuary was to begin.\n\nThe prophet John, in the Revelation, beheld the opening of this last\nphase of the ministry of Christ in the most holy place of the temple of\nGod. \"The temple of God was opened in heaven,\" he says, \"and there was\nseen in His temple the ark of His testament.\" Rev. 11:19. The prophet\nheard voices saying, \"The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and\nthe time of the dead, that they should be judged.\" Verse 18.\n\nAgain we must quote Daniel's description of the opening of this ministry\nin the most holy place of the heavenly temple. He saw thrones of\njudgment set up. He saw the moving throne of the Almighty, with its\nwheels of naming glory, take its position for the final work of our High\nPriest in the holy of holies above:\n\n\"I beheld till the thrones were cast down [placed], and the Ancient of\ndays did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head\nlike the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels\nas burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him:\nthousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten\nthousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were\nopened.\" Dan. 7:9, 10.\n\nThis was the scene enacted in the heavenly temple when the year 1844\nbrought the judgment hour. Then began in heaven the work of the\ninvestigative judgment, or the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary,\nduring which the case of every individual will come in review before\nGod.\n\nWhen that work of investigation is finished, the ministry of Christ for\nsin will end, human probation will close, and our Lord will quickly come\nas King of kings and Lord of lords, to gather His redeemed, while all\nsinners will be destroyed by \"the brightness of His coming.\" 2 Thess.\n2:8.\n\nIn the vision of Daniel 8, as the great apostasy was seen warring\nagainst God's truth, the question was asked, \"How long shall be the\nvision,... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden\nunderfoot?\" The answer was, in effect, In 1844 the cleansing of the\nsanctuary will begin in heaven,--the hour of God's judgment, that will\ngive God's answer to sin and apostasy.\n\nWe are living in the great antitypical day of atonement, for which all\nheaven has been waiting. The end is at hand. And while that work is\nproceeding in heaven above, the Lord proclaims a special message on\nearth, lifting up again truths long trodden underfoot, and calling men\nto prepare for the coming of the Lord.\n\n\n _How Shall We Stand?\n \"For the hour of His judgment is come.\"_\n\n \"The judgment is set, the books have been opened;\n How shall we stand in that great day\n When every thought, and word, and action,\n God, the righteous Judge, shall weigh?\n\n \"The work is begun with those who are sleeping,\n Soon will the living here be tried,\n Out of the books of God's remembrance,\n His decision to abide.\n\n \"O, how shall we stand that moment of searching,\n When all our sins those books reveal?\n When from that court, each case decided,\n Shall be granted no appeal?\"\n\n[Illustration: THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE\n\n\"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the\ncommandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.\" Rev. 14:12.]\n\n[Illustration: THE GOSPEL COMMISSION\n\n\"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\"\nMark 16:15.]\n\n\n\n\nA WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT\n\nFORETOLD IN THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 14\n\n\nWhile the work of the judgment hour, or period,--the cleansing of the\nsanctuary,--is proceeding in the heavenly temple above, the Lord sends\nto the world a special message of preparation for the coming of the\nLord.\n\nIt would not be the divine way to let this solemn judgment in heaven\ncome unheralded to men. Daniel's prophecy had fixed the time of its\nbeginning; and the question asked in the prophet's hearing, \"How long\nshall be the vision ... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be\ntrodden underfoot?\" suggested that when the time came, the truths of God\nthat had been trodden underfoot through the ages would be lifted up and\nproclaimed anew to all the world.\n\nWith the coming of the judgment hour, in the year 1844, there arose just\nsuch a work, a definite gospel movement, that has ever since been\ncarrying the message for the hour to the ends of the earth.\n\n\nThe Way Prepared for the Rise of the Movement\n\nBut there was a preliminary work to be done, to prepare the way for the\ndefinite advent movement and message.\n\nIn the days of Israel of old, as the time for the cleansing of the\nsanctuary drew near, the people were forewarned of the approach of the\nsolemn hour. The day of atonement--\"the tenth day of the seventh\nmonth\"--was a typical hour of judgment. All the people were to prepare\ntheir hearts for that great day.\n\nTo this end, the Lord appointed the first day of the seventh month a day\nof sounding of the trumpets. Lev. 23:24. The silver trumpets, pealing\nforth on that day, proclaimed to all that the day of atonement was near\nat hand, when every case would be brought in review before the\nmercy-seat by the ministry of the high priest in the most holy place of\nthe earthly sanctuary.\n\nTrue to the type, as the year 1844 drew near, when the great antitypical\nday of atonement was to open and the closing work of Christ to begin in\nthe most holy place of the heavenly temple, the trumpet call of the\napproaching judgment hour was set pealing through all Christendom.\n\nEvents of the closing years of the eighteenth century and the early\ndecades of the nineteenth, had stirred up Bible students to give greater\nattention to the study of the prophetic scriptures. It was seen that\nsigns of the latter days were appearing, and that every line of historic\nprophecy pointed to the near approach of Christ's second coming.\n\nHere and there students of the Word saw that the 2300-year period of\nDan. 8:14, as explained in the ninth chapter, would end soon; and some\narrived at the correct date, and looked to the year 1844 as the time\nwhen the judgment hour would come.\n\nWitnesses were raised up in Europe--in Holland, Germany, Russia, and the\nScandinavian countries. Joseph Wolff, the missionary to the Levant,\npreached in Greece, Palestine, Turkey, Afghanistan, and other regions\nthe coming of the judgment hour. William Miller and many associates\npreached the message throughout America.\n\nWriting in the days just before 1844, Mourant Brock, a clergyman of the\nChurch of England, said:\n\n \"It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the\n near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of\n warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the\n continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers\n of the word are thus preaching 'this gospel of the kingdom;'\n whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the Church of\n England are raising the same cry.\"--_\"Advent Tracts_,\" _Vol.\n II, p. 135 (1844)._\n\nNot all who joined in the awakening cry at this time explained the\nprophecies alike, or emphasized the definite year 1844 as the beginning\nof the hour of God's judgment; though in America, Europe, and Asia the\nclear message of the ending of the prophetic time in 1844 was proclaimed\nwith power by many voices. And as the time came, the world was ringing\nwith the call to prepare to meet the judgment hour, even as the hosts of\nIsrael were called by trumpet peals to prepare for the typical day of\natonement.\n\nThe nature of the event to come at the end of the 2300 years was not\nunderstood by these early heralds of the advent hope. The general\nexpectation was that the judgment hour meant the end of the world and\nthe coming of the Lord. Though the word of prophecy indicated clearly\nthat there was a special work to be done on earth while the judgment\nhour was proceeding in heaven, this was not clear to Bible students at\nthe time. So when the prophetic period ended and the Lord did not come,\nbelievers in the prophetic truths were disappointed and unbelievers\nscoffed. But the call to prepare for the judgment hour was the message\ndue to the world at that time, and the awakening cry was raised on every\ncontinent.\n\nIn the days of the Saviour's first advent, the disciples and the\npopulace had proclaimed the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem.\nThey were at once disappointed; instead of enthroning Him as king, they\nwitnessed His crucifixion. But in proclaiming the coming of Zion's King\nto Jerusalem, they were fulfilling the prophecy that had been uttered,\nand were giving the message for that day, notwithstanding their mistaken\nview as to the events that would follow.\n\nJust so the trumpet call of the coming judgment hour was the message for\nthe days of 1844; and the message was given, attended by the power of\nGod. When the hour was at hand, the providence of God raised up faithful\nwitnesses to proclaim it.\n\nAll this was preparatory to the rise of the definite advent movement of\nthe prophecy, when the hour of God's judgment should begin.\n\n\nThe Closing Work\n\nIn vision, on the Isle of Patmos, the prophet John was given a view of\nthe closing work of the gospel on earth, while the closing ministry of\nChrist was proceeding in heaven above. The prophet wrote:\n\n\"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting\ngospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,\nand kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God,\nand give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship\nHim that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of\nwaters.\" Rev. 14:6, 7.\n\nThe message further warned against following the ways of the great\napostasy; and in the vision the prophet was shown people in all lands\ntaking their stand at the call of the message. The angel described them\nin these words:\n\n\"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the\ncommandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.\" Verse 12.\n\nMuch as pictures appear to us when thrown in succession upon a screen,\nthese scenes must have passed before the vision of the prophet. He saw\nthe coming of the hour, the rise of the movement, and its extension into\nall lands; he heard the message sounding, and saw the kind of people\ndoing the work--a people keeping \"the commandments of God, and the faith\nof Jesus.\"\n\n[Illustration: PAUL WRITING TO TIMOTHY FROM ROME\n\n\"There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord ...\nshall give me at that day: and ... unto all them also that love His\nappearing.\" 2 Tim. 4:8.]\n\nCenturies had passed, after this word was written in the Book, when the\nflight of time at last brought the hour of the prophecy--the year 1844.\nThat very year witnessed the rise of the definite advent movement which\nis still proclaiming the very message of the prophecy to the world.\n\nIt was in the year 1844, in New England, that a little group of\nbelievers in the blessed hope of Christ's soon coming, saw clearly, from\ntheir study of the Bible, that the New Testament platform of \"the\ncommandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,\" emphasized in this\nprophecy of the judgment hour, meant the keeping of the fourth\ncommandment as well as the other nine. Thereupon they began to keep and\nto teach the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week, made holy\nand blessed and commanded by God.\n\nOne member of this group of commandment-keeping Adventists was Frederick\nWheeler, from whose dictation the following statement was prepared,\nfixing exactly the facts as to the time:\n\n \"As a Methodist minister he was convinced of the advent truth\n by reading William Miller's works in 1842, and joined in\n preaching the first message [that of the judgment hour]. In\n March, 1844, he began to keep the true Sabbath, in Washington,\n N.H.\"--_Review and Herald (Washington, D.C.), Oct. 4, 1906._\n\nThey were but a little band, those believers in New Hampshire, but the\ntime of the prophecy had come, and with the coming of the hour there was\nthe nucleus of the movement forming, believers in the near coming of the\nLord, preaching the message of the prophecy, \"The hour of His judgment\nis come,\" and keeping \"the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.\"\n\nFrom that small beginning has grown the movement that Seventh-day\nAdventists stand for, spreading through all the world today.\n\nIt was in the year following 1844 that Joseph Bates, of Massachusetts, a\nretired sea captain, and a preacher of the advent hope, began to keep\nthe Sabbath. Captain Bates wrote and published, and soon others,\nfollowing his example, embraced the Bible Sabbath.\n\nAs the Scripture teaching concerning the sanctuary was studied, light\ncame flooding in. It was seen that the great prophetic period of Daniel\n8, which ended in 1844, marked the opening of Christ's ministry in the\nmost holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, the work of the judgment hour\nin heaven; and there, plainly revealed in Revelation 14, was a special\ngospel message to be carried to all the world while the judgment hour\nstill continued.\n\nThe little company that began to keep the commandments of God as\nAdventist believers in 1844, did not understand that they were beginning\nthe definite movement foretold by the prophecy. They only determined to\nturn from traditions that had made void God's law, and to obey the law\nof the Most High, whose servants they were.\n\nBut in the light of the Scripture prophecy and of events, we can see\nclearly the hand of God leading that little baud into the right pathway\nwhen the year of 1844 came; and the work there begun has grown into the\nworld-wide movement of today.\n\nNearly two thousand years before, it had been written in the \"sure word\nof prophecy\" that when the hour of God's judgment came, a people keeping\nGod's commandments would arise and spread forth into all the world with\nthe last gospel message. The long prophetic period of Daniel 8 had fixed\nthe year 1844 as the time when the judgment hour would begin and when\nthe people of the prophecy must appear.\n\nWhen the year came, that people appeared, keeping \"the commandments of\nGod, and the faith of Jesus.\" When the hour struck, the work began. This\nadvent movement was born of God in fulfilment of prophecy. And the\nmission of the movement is to lift up again the standard of truths\nobscured by tradition and trodden underfoot, and to call all men to the\nNew Testament platform of the \"commandments of God, and the faith of\nJesus,\" where every believing soul may find safe refuge in these closing\nmoments of the judgment hour in the courts above.\n\n[Illustration: A CHRISTIAN MOTHER EXHORTING HER DAUGHTER TO MARTYRDOM\n\n\"Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... as for me and my house, we\nwill serve the Lord.\" Joshua 24:15.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE JUDGMENT-HOUR MESSAGE\n\nTHE GOSPEL FOR OUR DAY\n\n\nThe gospel message for this time of the judgment hour is set forth in\nthe vision of Revelation 14:\n\n[Illustration: THE TWO BEASTS OF REVELATION 13\n\n\"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.\"\nRev. 14:7.]\n\n\"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting\ngospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,\nand kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God,\nand give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship\nHim that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of\nwaters.\n\n\"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen,\nthat great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the\nwrath of her fornication.\n\n\"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man\nworship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead,\nor in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,\nwhich is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation;\nand he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the\nholy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their\ntorment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor\nnight, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the\nmark of his name.\n\n\"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the\ncommandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.\" Rev. 14:6-12.\n\nWhen this message has been heralded to all nations, according to\nprophecy the end will come, for the next scene brought before the\nprophet's vision was the coming of Christ to reap the harvest of the\nearth:\n\n\"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like\nunto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand\na sharp sickle.\" Verse 14.\n\nThe outline of the message given here reveals certain main features:\n\n\n1. A Gospel Message\n\nIt is not a new or another gospel. There is but one gospel. This message\nis \"the everlasting gospel\" in terms that meet the situation in the time\nof the judgment hour. The advent movement carries the blessed message of\nfull salvation from sin by faith in Jesus Christ.\n\n\n2. A Solemn Warning\n\nThe message is God's final answer to the age-long perversions of His\ntruth. Even the warnings uttered vibrate with the saving grace and\nwinning power of God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.\n\nIn the vision of Daniel 8, the prophet was shown the working of apostasy\nin the latter times, as it \"cast down the truth to the ground\" and\n\"practiced and prospered.\" But in answer to the question, \"How long?\"\nthe great prophetic period of the 2300 years was given, at the end of\nwhich (in 1844) the judgment work in heaven was to begin. When that\nwork is finished, Christ's glorious appearing will end the reign of sin\nand error.\n\nAnd while the closing judgment work is proceeding in heaven, this\nmessage of the judgment hour lifts up on earth the standard of truths\ntrodden underfoot, and the Lord utters His last warning against sin and\napostasy. It is a terrible word that He speaks. Bengelius described it\nas--\n\n \"that threatening pronounced which is the greatest in all the\n Scriptures, and which shall resound powerfully from the mouth\n of the third angel.\"--_\"Introduction to Apocalypse,\" Preface\n xxix (London, 1757)._\n\nThe Lord is in earnest with men in this hour when the judgment, now\npassing on the dead, must also soon seal the eternal destiny of all the\nliving. Hence the message challenges every soul to a decision.\n\nLooking forward to the time when this message should be due, John Wesley\nwrote:--\n\n \"Happy are they who make the right use of these divine\n messages.\"--_\"Notes on New Testament,\" on Revelation 14._\n\nThese warnings are part of the \"everlasting gospel.\" Whosoever,\ntherefore, preaches the full gospel of Christ in these last days must\nsound this solemn call.\n\n\n3. A Call to Loyalty to God\n\n\"Fear God,\" is the call, \"Worship Him.\" In the preceding vision of the\nthirteenth chapter, the Lord had shown the prophet the work of an\necclesiastical power, symbolized by a leopardlike beast, that was to\nspeak great things, and that was to persecute believers through long\ncenturies, warring against God's truth and His sanctuary. \"All the world\nwondered after the beast.\" The prophet said,\n\n\"All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not\nwritten in the book of life of the Lamb.\" Rev. 13:8.\n\nWhile worldly influence and the voice of popular religion exalt this\necclesiastical power and give glory to it, the gospel message calls all\nmen to worship God.\n\n\"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come:\nand worship Him.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and\nreceive his mark,[I] ... the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath\nof God.\"\n\nThe issue, it is clear, involves the question of authority. Shall God be\nrecognized as supreme? or shall this ecclesiastical power, whose rise\nand work were foretold in the prophecy, be recognized as the great\nauthority?\n\n\nThe Work of the Papal Power\n\nAny comparison between this leopard beast of Revelation 13 and the\n\"little horn\" of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, shows plainly that the\nsame power is represented in each. The same voice is heard \"speaking\ngreat things,\" the same persecuting spirit is shown, the same warfare\nagainst God's truth. It is the Roman Papacy, in its exaltation of human\nauthority above the divine, that \"lawless one\" of Paul's prophecy,\nsetting itself forth as God in the temple of God, treading underfoot the\nword and the law of the Most High, as foretold by Daniel:\n\n\"He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out\nthe saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws.\" Dan.\n7:25.\n\nAgainst the recognition of the assumed authority of this power, the\ngospel message of Revelation 14 sounds its solemn warning: \"If any man\nworship the beast and his image, and receive his mark.\"\n\n\nThe Image to the Papacy\n\nWhat is this image? Plainly an image to the Papacy must be some\nreligious authority or federation not organically of the Papacy itself,\nbut adopting papal principles and seeking to enforce these principles by\ncivil power, just as the Papacy has ever done, where possible. This\ndevelopment in likeness of the Papacy was shown the prophet in the\nlatter part of the vision of Revelation 13. He saw the image formed, and\nin vision witnessed its determined efforts to enforce upon men the mark,\nor sign, of the Papacy:\n\n\"He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth\nthe earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose\ndeadly wound was healed.... And he causeth all, both small and great,\nrich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or\nin their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had\nthe mark, or the name of the beast.\" Rev. 13:12-17.\n\n\nThe Mark, or Sign, of Papal Authority\n\nThe Roman Papacy sets forth the Sunday institution as the mark of the\nauthority of the church to substitute ecclesiastical tradition and\ncustom for the Word of God. Thus, Monsignor Segur, in \"Plain Talks about\nthe Protestantism of Today,\" says:\n\n \"The observance of Sunday by Protestants is an homage they pay,\n in spite of themselves, to the authority of the church.\"--_Page\n 213._\n\nIt was to this change in the Sabbath by tradition, contrary to the plain\ncommand of God to keep holy the seventh day, that the famous Council of\nTrent appealed when it gave Rome's answer to the Reformation cry of \"The\nBible and the Bible only.\" The council had long debated the ground of\nits answer. The historian says:\n\n \"Finally, at the last opening on the eighteenth of January,\n 1562, their last scruple was set aside; the archbishop of\n Rheggio made a speech in which he openly declared that\n tradition stood above Scripture. The authority of the church\n could therefore not be bound to the authority of the\n Scriptures, because the church had changed Sabbath into Sunday,\n not by the command of Christ, but by its own authority. With\n this, to be sure, the last illusion was destroyed, and it was\n declared that tradition does not signify antiquity, but\n continual inspiration.\"--_Dr. J.H. Holtzman, \"Canon and\n Tradition,\" p. 263._\n\nEver since this memorable council, the Sunday institution has been held\nforth as the mark of the power of the church to command religious\nobservances. Thus, again, Keenan's \"Doctrinal Catechism\" says:\n\n \"_Question._--Have you any other way of proving that the church\n has power to institute festivals of precept?\"\n\n \"_Answer._--Had she not such power, she could not have done\n that in which all modern religionists agree with her,--she\n could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first\n day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh\n day, a change for which there is no Scriptural\n authority.\"--_Page 174._\n\nThe prophecy of Daniel declared that this power would \"think\" to change\nthe times and laws of the Most High; and the change of the Sabbath\ncommandment is set forth as the mark of the church's authority above the\nwritten law of the Most High.\n\nMost remarkable of all, Protestant organizations are defending the\nunscriptural observance of the humanly established first-day sabbath in\ncontradiction to the law of God, which declares that \"the seventh day is\nthe Sabbath of the Lord thy God.\" And these organizations, in denial of\nthe Protestant principle of religious liberty, are seeking power to\nenforce Sunday observance by civil law. But this is to make a very image\nto the Roman Papacy--a church using the power of the state to enforce\nreligious observance.\n\nIt was all foretold in the prophetic word. The prophet was shown (Rev.\n13:11-17) this likeness or image to the Papacy--ecclesiastical\norganizations not of the Papacy itself, but following papal principles\nin this matter--seeking to compel men to receive the mark of the papal\napostasy.\n\nAgainst the workings of both the Papacy and this image to the Papacy,\nthe last message of the \"everlasting gospel\" lifts its warning cry:\n\n\"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his\nforehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath\nof God.\"\n\nIt is the time of the judgment hour, when God was to lift up the\nstandard of truths long trodden underfoot. In the heavenly sanctuary\nChrist's closing judgment work is going forward, preparatory to His\ncoming in consuming glory to end the reign of sin. On earth the Lord is\nsending the last gospel message to men, warning against sin and error,\nand calling all men to worship God, and to keep \"the commandments of\nGod, and the faith of Jesus.\"\n\n\nThe Sign of Jehovah's Authority\n\nGod also has His sign, or mark, of authority. He bases His claims to\nsupreme authority upon the fact of His creative power. As Creator, His\nis the authority and the power.\n\n\"The Lord is the true God.... He hath made the earth by His power.\" Jer.\n10:10-12.\n\nAnd the divinely established memorial of this creative power is the holy\nSabbath. The Sabbath is the mark, or sign, of the true God:\n\n\"Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that\nye may know that I am the Lord your God.\" Eze. 20:20.\n\nOn one side is the mark, or sign, of apostasy from God; on the other the\nmark, or sign, of loyalty to God. Which mark will men receive, as the\nissue is pressed upon every soul for decision? On which side shall we\nstand? Under whose banner shall we be found when the judgment hour\ncloses?\n\n[Illustration: PILATE'S FATAL DECISION IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL\n\n\"Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called\nChrist?\" Matt. 27:22.]\n\nThe test that came to Pilate comes anew to men as Christ's message\npresses for acceptance. \"What shall I do then with Jesus?\" asked the\nRoman governor--and yielded to popular clamor. His fatal decision in the\ntime of testing warns us to decide for Christ and for the word of his\nsalvation now, in this hour of God's judgment.\n\nThe message of Rev. 14:6-14 is going to all the world now. Every year\nthousands of new voices join in telling it. Printing presses are\nprinting it in many languages. Schools and colleges in every continent\nare educating thousands of Seventh-day Adventist youth, keeping before\nthem, as the highest aim of life, the hastening of the advent message to\nthe world. Sanitariums in many lands, while training medical missionary\nevangelists, are at the same time ministering to the sick, and teaching\nthe principles of Bible health and temperance. The movement necessarily\nemphasizes every principle of \"the everlasting gospel,\" while pressing\nupon all the solemn issue that loyalty to Christ now means to turn from\nunscriptural tradition and custom to the commandments of God and the\nfaith of Jesus. However ancient the custom of observing Sunday, it is\nbut an innovation, setting aside the Word of God and the example of\nJesus Christ. As St. Cyprian said: \"Usage without truth is only an\nantiquated error.\" The clear light of Holy Scripture now calls the\nbeliever away from the path of error to the way of light.\n\n \"The older error is, it is the worse,\n Continuation may provoke a curse;\n If the Dark Age obscured our fathers' sight,\n Must their sons shut their eyes against the light?\"\n\n --_Bishop Ken._\n\nIn times past Christian believers have been unwittingly following the\nlead of the Papacy in this matter. The Lord holds no man accountable for\nlight that he did not have. Reformation is a progressive work. Of the\npast we may say with Paul:\n\n\"The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men\neverywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He\nwill judge the world in righteousness.\" Acts 17:30, 31.\n\nNow, with this \"hour of God's judgment\" already come, the entire\ncovering of papal tradition is to be torn aside, and when Jesus comes in\nglory, in every land will be found believers having the faith and\nkeeping the commandments of God.\n\nAll this was shown to John on the Isle of Patmos,--the coming of the\njudgment hour, the rise of the advent movement, and the heralding of the\nlast message to the nations.\n\nWhat John saw in vision nearly two thousand years ago, we see fulfilling\nbefore our eyes today. But it is not enough to see it; we must have a\npart in it, be a part of it.\n\n[Illustration: LUCIFER PLOTTING AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD\n\n\"I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;... I will be like the\nMost High.\" Isa. 14:13, 14]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[I] The use of a mark, or sign, to designate the divinity worshiped, is\ncommon in non-Christian religions. One may see the Hindu returning from\nthe temple with the mark of Vishnu or other deity freshly painted upon\nthe forehead. Of the ancient usage, from which this Bible symbol of the\n\"mark\" is taken, Dr. John Potter says, in his \"Antiquities of Greece:\"\n\n\"Slaves were not only branded with stigmata for a punishment of their\noffenses, but (which was the common end of these marks) to distinguish\nthem, in case they should desert their masters; for which purpose it was\ncommon to brand their soldiers; only with this difference, that whereas\nslaves were commonly stigmatized in their forehead, and with the name or\nsome peculiar character belonging to their masters, soldiers were\nbranded in the hand, and with the name or character of their general.\nAfter the same manner, it was likewise customary to stigmatize the\nworshipers and votaries of some of the gods: whence Lucian, speaking of\nthe votaries of the Syrian goddess, affirms, 'They were all branded with\ncertain marks, some in the palms of their hands, and others in their\nnecks: whence it became customary for all the Assyrians thus to\nstigmatize themselves.' And Theodoret is of opinion that the Jews were\nforbidden to brand themselves with stigmata [Lev. 19:28], because the\nidolaters by that ceremony used to consecrate themselves to their false\ndeities.\n\n\"The marks used on these occasions were various. Sometimes they\ncontained the name of the god, sometimes his particular ensign; such\nwere the thunderbolt of Jupiter, the trident of Neptune, the ivy of\nBacchus: whence Ptolemy Philopater was by some nicknamed Gallus, because\nhis body was marked with the figures of ivy leaves. Or, lastly, they\nmarked themselves with some mystical number, whereby the god's name was\ndescribed. Thus the sun, which was signified by the number DCVIII, is\nsaid to have been represented by these two numeral letters XH (Conf.\nMartianus Capello). These three ways of stigmatizing are all expressed\nby St. John in the book of Revelation: 'And he causeth all, both small\nand great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their\nright hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell,\nsave he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of\nhis name.'\"--_Vol. I, pp. 65, 66 (London, 1728)._\n\n\n[Illustration: SATAN ENTERS THE GARDEN OF EDEN\n\n\"The wages of sin is death.\" Rom. 6:23.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF EVIL\n\n\nThe Beginning of the Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan\n\nThe great controversy between good and evil, that has been waged on\nearth ever since man's fall, had its origin in heaven. Certain angels\nrebelled against God and His government.\n\n\"There was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the\ndragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither\nwas their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast\nout, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the\nwhole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast\nout with him.\" Rev. 12:7-9.\n\nThus came the forces of evil into this world, which have been working\nthrough all the ages to draw men from allegiance to God, and to infuse\ninto human hearts the same spirit of disobedience which wrought the ruin\nof Satan and his angels.\n\n\nThe Cause of the Downfall\n\nChrist stated the principle: \"If therefore the light that is in thee be\ndarkness, how great is that darkness!\" Matt. 6:23.\n\nThe principle finds its utmost application in the great reversal, by\nwhich Lucifer, the light bearer in heaven, became Satan, the adversary,\nthe prince of darkness.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST AND NICODEMUS\n\n\"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\" John\n3:3.]\n\nIn the pride and self-exaltation of Tyre, of old, the Lord saw\nmanifested the spirit of the god of this world; so, in declaring His\nmessage of rebuke to the prince of Tyre, the Lord describes the cause\nand history of Satan's fall:\n\n\"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God.... Thou art the anointed\ncherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy\nmountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones\nof fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast\ncreated, till iniquity was found in thee.... Thine heart was lifted up\nbecause of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy\nbrightness.\" Eze. 28:13-17.\n\nLikewise, in the swelling pride of Babylon the Lord recognized the\nspirit of the leader of the rebellious angels. In one of the messages to\nBabylon is this reference to the vaulting ambition of Lucifer in heaven:\n\n\"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer [\"day-star,\" margin], son of\nthe morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the\nnations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I\nwill exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the\nmount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend\nabove the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.\" Isa.\n14:12-14.\n\nLucifer, his powers now perverted to evil, deceived many of the angels,\npersuading them to join him in rebellion against the government of God;\nwith the result that Satan and all his host were cast out. Christ said,\n\"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.\" Luke 10:18.\n\n \"Him the Almighty Power\n Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky.\"\n\n\nThe Earth as the Battle Ground\n\nThen the great controversy which began in heaven was transferred to this\nearth, and now centers around man. For \"that old serpent,\" the leader of\nthe fallen angels, deceived man, and persuaded him to distrust God and\nto choose his own way in preference to God's way. Thus came sin and\ndeath into the world. And Satan, who had overcome man at the forbidden\ntree, became by his own usurpation and by man's perfidy, \"the prince of\nthis world.\"\n\nBut Christ gave himself to save man, to deliver him from the bondage of\nsin, and to restore him to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The\nsame mighty power that overcame Satan and his angels in heaven is able\nto overcome his power in human hearts and lives. The controversy is\nstill between Christ and Satan, and man's salvation or destruction is\nthe aim of the contending forces.\n\n[Illustration: THE REDEMPTION PRICE\n\n\"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,\nthat is, the devil.\" Heb. 2:14.]\n\nThere is no neutral ground. Every soul must choose as to which side he\nwill yield allegiance. In this choice lies his eternal destiny.\n\n\"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his\nservants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of\nobedience unto righteousness?\" Rom. 6:16.\n\nTherefore the Lord pleads with men, \"Choose life.\" Every soul that\nchooses life has the promise of it, for Christ \"is able ... to save them\nto the uttermost that come unto God by Him.\" Heb. 7:25.\n\n\nThe Judgment upon Satan\n\nFrom the time of Satan's rebellion it was assured, by the very\nomnipotence of God, that there would come a last judgment when evil\nwould be destroyed from the universe. This execution of judgment upon\nthe fallen angels is thus referred to by Jude:\n\n\"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own\nhabitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto\nthe judgment of the great day.\" Verse 6.\n\nThe evil spirits themselves know that this day is coming. When Christ\nwas about to cast certain of them out of one who was possessed, they\ncried out, \"Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?\" Matt.\n8:29.\n\nThough the judgment of that last day was originally set for Satan and\nhis angels, unrepentant men will have a part in it, because they have\njoined Satan in his lawless rebellion. To the wicked it will be said:\n\n\"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the\ndevil and his angels.\" Matt. 25:41.\n\nSatan sees that the day is hastening; and the shorter the time in which\nto work, the greater his fury in seeking to draw souls to perdition.\n\nThe warning comes to us in these last days:\n\n\"Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is\ncome down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath\nbut a short time.\" Rev. 12:12.\n\nChrist's second coming ends the reign of Satan in this world. The wicked\nare slain by the consuming glory of Christ's coming (2 Thess. 2:8); and\nthe righteous are taken to heaven, beyond the reach of Satan's arts (1\nThess. 4:16, 17). The archenemy and his angels are thus left upon an\nearth devoid of human beings. Here he is chained for a thousand years,\nin this pit of desolation (Rev. 20:2, 5), his only companions the angels\nwho fell with him, his only occupation the contemplation of the ruin he\nhas wrought and the destruction that still awaits him.\n\nBy the second resurrection--that of the wicked dead, after the thousand\nyears--Satan is again set free to ply his arts upon his subjects. As the\nholy city comes down out of heaven from God, with all the saints, Satan\ngathers his angels and all the forces of the lost of all the ages, to\nmake an assault upon the city. The result was shown to the prophet in\nvision:\n\n\"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the\nsaints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of\nheaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceiveth them was cast\ninto the lake of fire.\" Rev. 20:9, 10.\n\nThat is the fate awaiting the author of sin. In the account of Satan's\npride and self-exaltation, uttered by the prophet in the message to\nTyre, there occurs also this prophecy of the utter destruction that\nawaits him, when he shall bring his forces against the city of God in\nthat last conflict:\n\n\"I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that\nbehold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be\nastonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any\nmore.\" Eze. 28:18, 19.\n\nThis is the final victory of Christ over evil, in the great controversy\nthat began in heaven. Satan exalted himself--and lost. Christ humbled\nHimself, even unto the death--and won the eternal triumph.\n\n\"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He\nalso Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might\ndestroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.\" Heb. 2:14.\n\n[Illustration: JESUS BY THE SEA\n\n \"O Galilee, sweet Galilee,\n What mem'ries rise at thought of thee!\"]\n\n[Illustration: SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR\n\n\"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar\nspirits,... should not a people seek unto their God?\" Isa. 8:19.]\n\n[Illustration: SATAN'S FIRST LIE\n\n\"Ye shall not surely die.\" Gen. 3:4.]\n\n\n\n\nSPIRITUALISM: ANCIENT AND MODERN\n\n\nThe essential claim of Spiritualism is its assertion of power to hold\ncommunication with the spirits of the dead; or rather, it claims to have\ndemonstrated that really there is no death.\n\n \"There is no death;\n What seems so is transition.\"\n\nThe late Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace, the English scientist, said of\nSpiritualism:--\n\n \"It demonstrates, as completely as the fact can be\n demonstrated, that the so-called dead are still alive.\"--_\"On\n Miracles and Modern Spiritualism\" (London, 1875), p. 212._\n\n\nFirst Declaration of the Doctrine\n\nIn the very first book of the Bible is a similar claim: \"Ye shall not\nsurely die.\" Gen. 3:4.\n\nBut this declaration, while recorded in the Scriptures, is not the word\nof God. The Lord had declared to man that disobedience would bring\ndeath. But Satan, as the tempter in Eden, caused the woman to doubt the\nword of God: \"The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely\ndie.\" And the woman believed the tempter rather than God, and so sinned\nagainst the Creator.\n\nHaving tempted man to disobedience, so bringing death into the world,\nwhat more natural, in the course of deception, than to endeavor to\npersuade the human family that, after all, there is no death; that what\nappears so is only an introduction to fuller life and activity? \"Ye\nshall not surely die.\"\n\n[Illustration: PHARAOH'S SORCERERS COUNTERFEITING THE WORK OF GOD\n\n\"Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their\nenchantments.\" Ex. 7:11.]\n\nAs mankind departed from right and lost the knowledge of God, dead\nheroes were deified as gods, and much of the pagan worship consisted in\nsacrifices to the spirits of the dead, supposed to be living still and\nconcerned with affairs in the land of the living. When Israel fell away\nfrom God and joined the Moabites in the worship of Baal-peor, the record\nsays of the nature of the service:\n\n\"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of\nthe dead.\" \"Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto\ndevils.\" Ps. 106:28, 37.\n\nInstead of dealing with the spirits of the dead, the idolatrous\nworshipers were really putting themselves in direct touch with the\nagencies of Satan, the fallen angels.\n\n\nDivine Warnings\n\nThis explains the severity of the divine warnings against the ancient\npractice of necromancy, or mediumship. The Lord said:\n\n\"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,\nto be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.\" Lev. 19:31.\n\n[Illustration: DEMONISM IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST\n\n\"He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.\" Mark 5:8.]\n\n\"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,\nthou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.\nThere shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his\ndaughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an\nobserver of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a\nconsulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all\nthat do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.\" Deut. 18:9-12.\n\nThe ancient seance, where the living sought unto the dead for knowledge,\nwas denounced by the prophet Isaiah:\n\n\"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits\nand unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people\nseek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the\ndead?\" Isa. 8:19, A.R.V.\n\n\"To the law and to the testimony!\" the prophet cries. To seek unto the\ndead for knowledge is to turn from the law and the testimony, and to\ntake the counsel of the direct agencies of Satan, the great deceiver.\n\n\nModern Spiritualism\n\nWhat Spiritualism is may best be understood by the prophetic warnings\nconcerning the revival of this great deception in the last days. The\napostle spoke of these days as a time when seducing spirits would lead\nmany away from the faith:\n\n\"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall\ndepart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of\ndevils.\" 1 Tim. 4:1.\n\nThis deceptive working is an indication of the nearness of Christ's\nsecond coming:\n\n\"Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and\nsigns and lying wonders.\" 2 Thess. 2:9, A.R.V.\n\nTrue to the sure word, now that the last days have come, there has\narisen the movement of modern Spiritualism, with its signs and wonders,\npurporting to be wrought by the spirits of the dead. Professor Wallace\nsays:\n\n \"Modern Spiritualism dates from March, 1848; it being then\n that, for the first time, intelligent communications were held\n with the unknown cause of the mysterious knockings and other\n sounds similar to those which had disturbed the Mompesson and\n Wesley families in the seventeenth and eighteenth\n centuries.\"--_\"On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism\" (London,\n 1875), p. 146._\n\nIt was in Hydeville, N.Y., in the family of Mr. Fox, that the modern\ncult originated, it being found that by mysterious but clear sounds of\nknocking, unseen intelligences were able to communicate answers to\nquestions asked. The rapidity of the spread of the great deception was\nremarkable. One of the Fox sisters, Mrs. A. Leah Underhill, wrote:\n\n \"Since that day, starting from a small country village of\n western New York, Spiritualism has made its way--against\n tremendous obstacles and resistance, but under an impulse and a\n guidance from higher spheres--round the civilized globe.\n Starting from three sisters, two of them children, and the\n eldest a little beyond that age,... its ranks of believers,\n privately or publicly avowed, have grown within thirty-six\n years to millions.\"--_\"The Missing Link in Modern\n Spiritualism,\" Introduction._\n\nMany at the time thought, as have many since, that the \"rappings\" with\nwhich the manifestations began were caused by some trickery on the part\nof the Fox sisters, but men of unimpeachable standing and intelligence\ncertified to the contrary. Horace Greeley, famous editor of the New York\n_Tribune_, wrote in his paper that the sisters had visited him in his\nhome and courted the fullest investigation as to \"the alleged\nmanifestations from the spirit world.\" As the result of his\nobservations, he wrote:\n\n \"Whatever may be the origin or the cause of the 'rappings,' the\n ladies in whose presence they occur do not make them. We tested\n this thoroughly and to our entire satisfaction.\"--_Id., pp.\n 160, 161._\n\nIt was no mere sleight of hand that launched this cult upon the world as\nthe last days came. Beyond all the physical manifestations, the\nreligious idea in Spiritualism has leavened the religious thought of\nmillions. No one can deny that the basic idea is the one that the\nserpent promulgated in Eden, \"Ye shall not surely die.\"\n\nMrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, another of the Fox sisters, says of the\ndiscovery of 1848:\n\n \"On the night of the thirty-first of March, 1848, we found\n beyond a shadow of a doubt or peradventure, that death had no\n power over the spirit.... In a word, we found our so-called\n dead were all living.\"--_\"Nineteenth Century Miracles\"\n (Manchester, England), p. 554._\n\n[Illustration: THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT\n\nOne of the historical settings of Spiritualism. A poor woman accused by\nher neighbors of practicing witchcraft.]\n\nNow the Scriptures teach plainly what these agencies in Spiritualism are\nnot, and what they are.\n\n\nWhat They Are Not\n\nThey are not the spirits of the dead communicating messages to the\nliving.\n\nIn one of the earliest written portions of Holy Scripture, the Lord\ndeclared plainly that the dead have no knowledge of the living:\n\n\"He passeth: Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His\nsons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but\nhe perceiveth it not of them.\" Job 14:20, 21.\n\nThe dead have no part in any communications with the living on earth:\n\n\"Neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done\nunder the sun.\" Eccl. 9:6\n\n\nWhat They Are\n\nAlready we have told what they are in quoting the warnings of prophecy\nconcerning the special deceptions of Satan in the last days.\n\n\"The working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.\" 2\nThess. 2:9.\n\n\"Seducing spirits.\" 1 Tim. 4:1.\n\nAnd as they were shown to the prophet John in a vision of the very end,\nhe declared:\n\n\"They are the spirits of devils, working miracles.\" Rev. 16:14.\n\nThese are the agencies through which come the supernatural\nmanifestations of Spiritualism. It is a terrible deception that leads\nmen and women to seek to satanic agencies, supposing that they are\ncommunicating with the spirits of their dead friends. Satan and his\nangels can readily simulate the personality of the dead, and so deceive\nthose who disobey God in seeking to the dead for knowledge.\n\n\nThe Climax of Deception\n\nThat the marvels of Spiritualism would increase as the end nears, was\nplainly taught by our Saviour in describing the workings of Satan just\nbefore the second advent. He left us the warning:\n\n\"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there;\nbelieve it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,\nand shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were\npossible, they shall deceive the very elect.\" Matt. 24:23, 24.\n\nEvidently, then, by the miracle-working power that he possesses, Satan\nwill work mighty deceptions through both human and supernatural\nagencies. And the crowning deception will be his own manifestation as\nthe Promised One, simulating Christ's second coming. But the power and\nglory that will fill all earth and the heavens at Christ's coming,\ncannot be copied by Satan, with all his miracle-working skill. That is\nwhy it is so important that we understand the Bible teaching as to the\nnature and manner of Christ's second advent. The doctrine of the silent,\nsecret, mystical coming is all abroad in the world, the teaching exactly\ncalculated to prepare the way for Satan's purposes of deception.\nTherefore Christ forewarns us:\n\n\"Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you,\nBehold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret\nchambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east,\nand shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of\nman be.\" Matt. 24:25-27.\n\nThe teachings of ancient theosophy and spiritualism--the mysticism of\nthe East--have been permeating Christendom in recent years. Mme. Jean\nDelaire, writing in a London review, said some years ago:\n\n \"India has apparently still a mission to fulfil, for her\n thought is slowly beginning to mold the thought of Europe and\n of America; our keenest minds are today studying her\n philosophy; our New Theology is founded upon the old, old\n Vedanta.\"--_National Review, September, 1908, p. 131._\n\nThis flood of ancient spiritualism from the East has come about\naccording to Isaiah's prophecy of things that were to \"come to pass in\nthe latter days:\"\n\n\"Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they are\nfilled with customs from the East, and are soothsayers like the\nPhilistines.\" Isa. 2:6, A.R.V.\n\nIn 1909 one of the leading representatives of theosophical thought, Mrs.\nAnnie Besant, of India, toured America with the message of a coming\nmessiah. She announced:\n\n \"My message is very simple: 'Prepare for the coming Christ.' We\n stand at the cradle of a new subrace, and each race or subrace\n has its own messiah. Hermes is followed by Zoroaster; Zoroaster\n by Orpheus; Orpheus by Buddha; Buddha by Christ. We now await\n with confidence a manifestation of the Supreme Teacher of the\n world, who was last manifested in Palestine. Everywhere in the\n West, not less than in the East, the heart of man is throbbing\n with the glad expectation of the new avatar.\"\n\nThe leaven of the spiritualistic philosophy has been working its way\nthrough Christendom during this generation. We see clearly that the evil\none is preparing the way for his final work of deception.\n\n[Illustration: HOME OF THE FOX FAMILY, HYDESVILLE, N.Y.\n\nSpiritualism originated in this house March 31, 1848.]\n\n[Illustration: \"HE IS RISEN\"\n\n\"Because I live, ye shall live also.\" John 14:19.\n\nCOPYRIGHT, STANDARD PUB. CO.]\n\n[Illustration: MARY MEETS HER RISEN LORD\n\n\"He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.\" John\n11:25.]\n\n\n\n\nLIFE ONLY IN CHRIST\n\nMAN'S NATURE AND STATE IN DEATH\n\n\nA wide-open door for Spiritualism is afforded by the teaching that man\nhas life in himself--immortality by nature; and that death is not really\ndeath, but another form of life.\n\nThe Scriptures close this door of false hope, teaching us that man is\nmortal, that death is really death, and that immortality is the gift of\nGod through Christ by the resurrection from the dead.\n\nClearly and definitely the Bible teaches that God only has immortality,\nstyling Him \"the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord\nof lords; who only hath immortality.\" 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.\n\nThis scripture disposes of every idea that man is immortal by nature,\nand opens the way for a consideration of the Scripture teaching\nconcerning man's nature, his state in death, and the promise of life and\nimmortality in Christ.\n\n\nMan by Nature Mortal\n\nThe word \"mortal,\" as used in that ancient question by Eliphaz,\ndescribes man's nature:\n\n\"Shall mortal man be more just than God?\" Job 4:17.\n\nIn the creation, life was conditional upon the creature's relation to\nChrist the Creator, in whom all things consist:\n\n\"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that\nwas made. In Him was life.\" John 1:3,4.\n\nHe was, and is, as the psalmist says, \"the fountain of life.\" Cut off\nfrom vital connection with Him, there could be no continuance of life.\nThe Lord warned Adam that his life was conditional upon obedience. \"In\nthe day that thou eatest thereof,\" He said of the forbidden tree, \"thou\nshalt surely die.\" Gen. 2:17. It was a declaration that man was not\nimmortal, but was dependent upon God for life.\n\nWhen by unbelief and sin man rejected God, the sentence--death\neternal--must have been executed had not the plan of salvation\nintervened. But as the stroke of divine justice was falling upon the\nsinner, the Son of God interposed Himself and received the blow. \"He was\nbruised for our iniquities.\" In the divine plan, the great sacrifice for\nman was as sure then as when, later, it was actually made on Calvary.\nChrist was \"the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.\"\n\nAnd there Adam, the sinner, now with a fallen human nature, which would\nbe perpetuated in his descendants in all subsequent time, was granted an\nextension of life, every moment of which, whether for him or for his\nposterity, was the purchase of Christ by His own death, in order that in\nthis time of probation man might find forgiveness of sin and assurance\nof life to come. Adam was not created immortal, but was placed on\nprobation, and had he continued faithful, the gift of immortality must\nhave been given him at some later time, after he had passed the test. As\nthe original plan is carried out through Christ, \"the second Adam,\" the\ngift of immortality is bestowed finally upon all who pass the test of\nthe judgment and are found in Christ, in whom alone is life.\n\nHaving fallen, Adam, now possessed of a sinful nature, must die. \"The\nwages of sin is death.\" Rom. 6:23. It was impossible that sin or sinners\nshould be immortalized in God's universe. So, inasmuch as the tree of\nlife in Eden had been made the channel of continuance of life to man,\nthe Lord said:\n\n\"Now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and\neat, and live forever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the\ngarden of Eden.\" Gen. 3:22, 23.\n\nThis negatives the idea that there could ever be an immortal sinner, who\nshould mar God's creation forever. Sin works out nothing but death.\n\"Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.\" James 1:15. Fallen\nhimself, Adam could bequeath to his posterity only a fallen, mortal\nnature. So began the sad history summed up in the text:\n\n\"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;\nand so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.\" Rom. 5:12.\n\n\nMortality Universal\n\nMortality is written upon all creation. Ages ago the wise man wrote,\n\"There is one event unto all: ... they go to the dead.\" Eccl. 9:3. Human\nhearts everywhere and in all time have cried out against the\nremorselessness of the great enemy. \"Do people die with you?\" was the\nquestion met by Livingstone in the untraveled wilds of Africa. \"Have you\nno charm against death?\" The Greek as well as the barbarian confessed to\nthe helplessness of man before the great enemy. Centuries before Christ,\nSophocles the Athenian wrote:\n\n \"Wonders are many! and none is there greater than man, who\n Steers his ship over the sea, driven on by the south wind,\n Cleaving the threatening swell of the waters around him.\n\n \"He captures the gay-hearted birds; he entangles adroitly\n Creatures that live on the land and the brood of the ocean,\n Spreading his well-woven nets. Man full of devices!\n\n \"Speech and swift thought free as wind, the building of cities;\n Shelters to ward off the arrows of rain, and to temper\n Sharp-biting frost--all these hath he taught himself. Surely\n Stratagem hath he for all that comes! Never the future\n Finds him resourceless! Deftly he combats grievous diseases,\n Oft from their grip doth he free himself. Death alone vainly--\n Vainly he seeks to escape; 'gainst death he is helpless.\"\n\n --_Chorus from Antigone._\n\nWhat unspeakable pathos in the cry of humanity's helplessness before\ndeath, the great enemy! But when Adam went out of Eden, it was with the\nassurance of life from the dead through the promised Seed, if faithful.\nIt is the message of the one gospel for all time--everlasting life in\nChrist.\n\n[Illustration: JESUS RAISING THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN\n\n\"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.\" Rom.\n6:23.]\n\n\"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting\nlife.\" John 3:16.\n\nAs there is none other name under heaven by which men can be saved, so\nthere is no other way of everlasting life or immortality, save in Christ\nJesus our Lord.\n\n\nWhen Immortality is Bestowed\n\nChrist said, \"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in\nMe, though he were dead, yet shall he live.\" John 11:25.\n\nHe has turned death, that would have been eternal, into a little time of\nsleep, from which he will awaken the believer. In the resurrection of\nthe last day immortality is bestowed, \"in a moment, in the twinkling of\nan eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead\nshall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this\ncorruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on\nimmortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,\nand this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to\npass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.\" 1\nCor. 15:52-54.\n\n \"There is a blessed hope,\n More precious and more bright\n Than all the joyless mockery\n The world esteems delight.\n\n \"There is a lovely star\n That lights the darkest gloom,\n And sheds a peaceful radiance o'er\n The prospects of the tomb.\"\n\nNot until the resurrection, \"at the last trump,\" is immortality\nconferred upon the redeemed. Note that it is not something immortal\nputting on immortality; but this \"mortal\" puts on immortality. Mark\nthis: there is no life after death, save by the resurrection. \"If there\nbe no resurrection of the dead,... then they also which are fallen\nasleep in Christ are perished.\" 1 Cor. 15:13-18.\n\nThis resurrection, as stated by the apostle Paul, is not at death, but\nin the last day, when Christ shall come, and all His children that are\nin their graves shall hear His voice. Jesus says:\n\n\"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the\nSon, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise\nhim up at the last day.\" John 6:40.\n\nThat is why the coming of Christ has been the \"blessed hope\" of all the\nages.\n\n\nMan's State in Death\n\nBetween death and the resurrection, the dead sleep. Jesus declares that\ndeath is a sleep. Lazarus was dead, but Jesus said, \"Our friend Lazarus\nsleepeth.\" John 11:11. It is the language of Inspiration throughout. The\npatriarch Job said:\n\n\"Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is\nhe? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth\nup: so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more [the\nheavens will be rolled back as a scroll at Christ's coming], they shall\nnot awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.\" Job 14:10-12.\n\nThis hope of the resurrection at the last day was no indistinct hope to\nthe believer in God's promises. The patriarch continued:\n\n\"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time\nwill I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer\nthee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands.\" Verses 14,\n15.\n\nJob tells us of the place of his waiting for the Life-giver's call: \"If\nI wait, the grave is mine house.\" Job 17:13. It is thence that Christ\nwill call His own when He comes. \"The hour is coming, in the which all\nthat are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.\" John\n5:28, 29.\n\nDeath is an unconscious sleep. It must of necessity be so; for death is\nthe opposite of life. Therefore there is no consciousness of the passing\nof time to those who sleep in the grave. It is as if the eyes closed in\ndeath one instant, and the next instant, to the believer's\nconsciousness, he awakens to hear the animating voice of Jesus calling\nhim to glad immortality, and to see the angels catching up his loved\nones to meet Jesus in the air.\n\nThese scriptures, out of many, will suffice to show that man is not\nconscious in death:\n\n\"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his\nthoughts perish.\" Ps. 146:4.\n\n\"The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything....\nAlso their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished;\nneither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done\nunder the sun.\" Eccl. 9:5, 6.\n\nDeath is a sleep, which will continue until the resurrection. Then the\nLord will bring forth from the dust the same person who was laid away in\ndeath.\n\nSome have said that this Bible doctrine of the sleep of the dead until\nthe resurrection is a gloomy one. Popular tradition thinks of the\nblessed dead as going at once to heaven, which, say some, is a beautiful\nthought. But they forget that the same teaching consigns their\nunbelieving friends to immediate torment--and that, too, while awaiting\nthe judgment of the last day.\n\nNo; the Bible teaching is the cheering doctrine, the \"blessed hope.\" All\nthe faithful of all the ages are going into the kingdom together. This\nblessed truth appeals to the spirit that loves to wait and share joys\nand good things with loved ones. Of the faithful of past ages the\napostle says:\n\n\"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not\nthe promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they\nwithout us should not be made perfect.\" Heb. 11:39, 40.\n\nThey are waiting, that all together the saved may enter in. And the time\nof waiting is but an instant to those who \"sleep in Jesus.\"\n\nDavid was a man of God, but the apostle Peter, speaking by the Spirit on\nthe day of Pentecost, declared to the people of the city of David: \"He\nis both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day....\nFor David is not ascended into the heavens.\" Acts 2:29-34. They without\nus have not been made perfect. They are all awaiting that glad day\ntoward which the apostle Paul turned the last look of his mortal vision:\n\n\"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the\nfaith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,\nwhich the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not\nto me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.\" 2 Tim. 4:7,\n8.\n\nWhat joy in that day to march in through the gates into the eternal\ncity, with Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Paul, and all the\nfaithful, and the loved ones of our own home circles, and dear comrades\nin service, every one clothed with immortality, the gift of God in\nChrist Jesus our Redeemer! Horatius Bonar's hymn sings the joyful hope\nas the loved are laid away to \"sleep in Jesus:\"\n\n \"Softly within that peaceful resting place\n We lay their wearied limbs, and bid the clay\n Press lightly on them till the night be past,\n And the far east give note of coming day.\n\n \"The shout is heard, the Archangel's voice goes forth;\n The trumpet sounds, the dead awake and sing;\n The living put on glory; one glad band,\n They hasten up to meet their coming King.\"\n\nIn a word, the Scripture teaches that God alone has immortality, that\nman is mortal, that death is a sleep, that life after death comes only\nby the resurrection of the last day, that the righteous are then given\nimmortality. Further, the Scripture teaches that later there will be a\nresurrection of the unjust, not unto life, but unto death, the second\ndeath, from which there is no release.\n\nEvery doctrine of Scripture and of the gospel is in accord with this\nBible teaching as to man's nature and his state in death. But the\ntraditional view of the natural immortality of the soul and of life in\ndeath, nullifies the Bible doctrines of life only in Christ, and the\nresurrection, and the judgment, and the giving of rewards at Christ's\ncoming, and the final judgment upon the wicked and its execution.\n\n\nA Few Questions Briefly Considered\n\n_1. The \"Living Soul\"_\n\nSays one, \"Did not the Lord put into man an immortal soul?\"\n\nNo; the Scripture says:\n\n\"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into\nhis nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.\" Gen.\n2:7.\n\nThe soul was not put into the man, but when the life-giving breath was\nbreathed into his nostrils, the man himself became a living soul, a\nliving being. The ordinary version (King James) gives \"a living soul\" in\nthe margin of Gen. 1:30, showing that the same expression is used of all\nthe animal creation in the Hebrew text. The famous Methodist\ncommentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, says on this phrase, \"living soul:\"\n\n \"A general term to express all creatures endued with animal\n life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations.\"\n\n_2. Are \"Soul\" and \"Spirit\" Deathless?_\n\n\"Are not the soul and spirit said to be deathless?\" questions another.\n\nNo. One writer says of the Scriptural use of the words \"soul\" and\n\"spirit:\"\n\n \"The Hebrew and Greek words from which they are translated,\n occur in the Bible, as we have seen, seventeen hundred times.\n Surely, once at least in that long list we shall be told that\n the soul is immortal, if this is its high prerogative.\n Seventeen hundred times we inquire if the soul is once said to\n be immortal, or the spirit deathless. And the invariable and\n overwhelming response we meet is, _Not once!\"_--_\"Here and\n Hereafter\" by U. Smith, p. 65._\n\nOn the contrary, the Lord declares, \"The soul that sinneth, it shall\ndie.\" Eze. 18:20. It means that the person who sins shall die; for the\nwords \"soul,\" \"mind,\" \"heart,\" and \"spirit\" are used to express life or\nthe seat of the affections or of the intellect. One may commend his soul\nto God, or his spirit to God (really his life into the keeping of God),\nuntil the great day of the resurrection. The word \"soul\" is used of all\nanimal life in New Testament usage, as well as in the Old; as, \"Every\nliving soul died in the sea.\" Rev. 16:3.\n\n_3. The Thief on the Cross_\n\n\"Did not Christ promise the thief on the cross that he would be with Him\nthat day in Paradise?\"\n\nNo; for Paradise is where God's throne is, and the tree of life, and the\ncity of God, the capital of Christ's kingdom; and three days later\nChrist had not yet ascended to the Father. \"Touch Me not,\" He said to\nMary after His resurrection; \"for I am not yet ascended to My Father.\"\nJohn 20:17. The dying thief, therefore, was not with Him in Paradise\nthree days before.\n\nNor did the thief's question suggest such a thought. His faith grasped\nChrist's resurrection, the resurrection of His children, and the coming\nkingdom; and that day on the cross, in the moment of the deepest\nhumiliation of the Son of God, the repentant sinner cried, \"Lord,\nremember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.\" And the Saviour replied,\n\"Verily I say unto thee today\"--this day, when the world scoffs and the\ndarkness presses upon Me, this day I say it--\"shalt thou be with Me in\nParadise.\" Luke 23:42, 43.\n\nThe punctuation that makes it read, \"Today shalt thou be with Me in\nParadise,\" is not a part of the sacred text, and puts the Saviour's\npromise in contradiction with the facts of the whole narrative and the\nteaching of Scripture.\n\n_4. The Rich Man and Lazarus_\n\n\"Then there is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus,\" one says,\n\"where Lazarus and Dives are talking, though dead--Lazarus in Abraham's\nbosom and the rich man in torment.\"\n\nBut that is a parable; and no one can set the figures of a parable\nagainst the facts of positive Scripture. In parables, lessons are often\ntaught by figurative language and imaginary scenes which could never be\nreal, though the lesson is emphasized the more forcefully.\n\nIn the parable of Judges 9, the trees are represented as holding a\ncouncil and talking with one another. No one mistakes the lesson of the\nparable, or supposes that the trees actually talked. So in the parable\nof the rich man and Lazarus, the lesson is taught that uprightness in\nthis life, even though under deepest poverty, will be rewarded in the\nfuture life; while uncharitable selfishness will surely bring one to\nruin and destruction.\n\nIn the face of the Bible teaching, no one can turn this parable into\nactual narrative, representing that the saved in glory are now looking\nover the battlements of heaven and talking with the lost writhing before\ntheir eyes in agony amid the flames of unending torment. This is not the\npicture that the Scriptures give us of heaven, nor of the state of the\ndead, nor of the time and circumstances of the final rewards or\npunishments.\n\n[Illustration: From an inscription on an Egyptian monument, representing\nthe weighing of a soul after death.]\n\n[Illustration: LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM\n\n\"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ... are set forth\nfor an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.\" Jude 7.]\n\n[Illustration: SATAN'S FINAL ASSAULT UPON THE KINGDOM OF GOD\n\n\"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the\nsaints about.\" Rev. 20:9]\n\n\n\n\nTHE END OF THE WICKED\n\n\nSo soon as ever Lucifer introduced sin into heaven, it was certain, in\nthe righteousness and omnipotence of God, that the day would come when\nsin would be blotted out of the perfect creation. Inspiration tells us\nthat a time of final reckoning with sin was assured when Satan and a\nhost of the angels with him lifted up the standard of mysterious\nrebellion against the law and harmony of heaven:\n\n\"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own\nhabitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto\nthe judgment of the great day.\" Jude 6.\n\nPunishment for sin is assured. By listening to Satan's temptation, man\nbecame involved in sin. Then a divine Saviour was provided, through whom\nevery soul might escape from the kingdom of darkness, and find salvation\nand life. But it is inevitable that those who refuse the way of life\nand reject the salvation of God, must finally be involved with Satan and\nsin in the day when sin is visited.\n\nBy Adam's sin, all his posterity inherited a sinful, dying nature. \"In\nAdam all die,\" the Scripture says. But not a soul in the last day can\nplead Adam's sin and the inheritance of a fallen nature as an excuse for\nhis own transgressions. By Christ's gift of His life for us, the sinner,\nwith all his weaknesses, may become a partaker of the divine nature, and\nescape the power of the fleshly nature. By virtue of Christ's death for\nall, all recover from the death they die in Adam--the first death. All\nhave a resurrection, the unjust as well as the just; and then every one\ngives account of himself to God, according to his own life and the use\nhe has made of the light given him of God.\n\n\nThe Two Resurrections\n\nThe Scriptures emphasize the fact that there are to be two\nresurrections. Paul, before Felix, declared his belief the same as that\nof all the prophets,--\"that there shall be a resurrection of the dead,\nboth of the just and unjust.\" Acts 24:15.\n\nJesus declared it in these words:\n\n\"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear\nHis voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the\nresurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the\nresurrection of damnation.\" John 5:28, 29.\n\nThe first resurrection is that of the just, at Christ's second coming.\nIt is written of this:\n\n\"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on\nsuch the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God\nand of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.\" Rev. 20:6.\n\nAfter this, the righteous return with Christ to heaven, and remain there\nduring the thousand years. The wicked living at the time of His coming\nare slain by the consuming glory of His presence; and they, with all the\nunjust of all the ages, await in the grave the second resurrection, at\nthe end of the thousand years.\n\n\"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were\nfinished.\" Rev. 20:5.\n\nAt the end of the thousand years the city of God, with the saved, comes\ndown out of heaven and settles upon the earth.\n\nThen the wicked are raised--the second resurrection. Under Satan's\nleadership they march up to attack the city of God. How naturally, we\ninfer, may Satan persuade the lost that, after all, he was right when he\ndeclared to Adam, \"Ye shall not surely die.\" Here are all his servants\nof all the ages--living. Why may they not be immortal, beyond the power\nof God to destroy? The old battle that began in heaven is on again.\nSatan, the archrebel, marshals his hosts of fallen angels and the\nmyriads of fallen men, his legions stretching wide over the earth.\n\n\"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the\nsaints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of\nheaven, and devoured them.\" Rev. 20:9.\n\n\"This is the second death,\" the Scripture says. Verse 14. The great day\nhas come when the sinner receives his wages--death--and sin is\ndestroyed.\n\n\nThe Punishment Everlasting\n\n\"The wages of sin is death.\" And the second death is everlasting. There\nis no resurrection from this death. The Scriptures describe it in terms\nthat affirm utter destruction, resulting in nonexistence.\n\n\"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of\nthe Lord, and from the glory of his power.\" 2 Thess. 1:9.\n\n\"Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud,\nyea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh\nshall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them\nneither root nor branch.\" Mal. 4:1.\n\n\"They shall be ashes,\" the third verse of this chapter says. Every\nexpression possible to language is employed to denote utter destruction,\neverlasting death. That means nonexistence. Sin and sinners are blotted\nout. The prophet Obadiah, speaking of the visitation upon the\nheathen--the unbelieving--in \"the day of the Lord,\" says:\n\n\"They shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as\nthough they had not been.\" Verse 16.\n\nThis is the utter end of sin and all sinners, and of the author of sin.\nRoot and branch they are gone, \"as though they had not been.\" All this\nis in the description of the last judgment, so fully set forth in the\ntwentieth chapter of Revelation.\n\n\"Death and hell [_hades_, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire.\nThis is the second death.\" Rev. 20:14. Death and the prison house of\ndeath are gone forever. Sin is wiped out of a perfect universe, and not\neven a trace will remain of the place of the fiery judgment.\n\n\"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt\ndiligently consider his place, and it shall not be.\" Ps. 37:10.\n\nThe fires of the last day purify the earth, which comes forth in\nEden-like beauty. In the whole creation of God there is no sin, no\nsinner, but all is harmonious again, as before sin entered the universe.\nThe prophet was given a view of this glorious consummation, and the\ntriumph of the Son of God over sin.\n\n\"Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the\nearth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I\nsaying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that\nsitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.\" Rev.\n5:13.\n\n\nSome Opinions Briefly Considered\n\nThe doctrine of the immortality, the indestructibility, of the soul is\nresponsible for the traditional view that the wicked are kept alive in\nunending misery through all eternity. How different this picture from\nthat which Holy Scripture gives of the second death! Terrible and awful\nit is, but it results in the utter destruction of sin and sinners,\nleaving a clean universe. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul\ncame in from pagan philosophy. Herodotus, \"the father of history,\" said:\n\n \"The Egyptians ... were also the first to broach the opinion,\n that the soul of man is immortal.\"--_Book 2, par. 123._\n\nEvidently, they passed the doctrine on to the Greeks. Its origin was in\nthe words of Satan in Eden, \"Ye shall not surely die.\" The pagans had\ntheir nether world of spirits, or their transmigration of souls with its\nceaseless round from body to body, and the Roman Catholics their\npurgatory with its purifying fires. From these sources and not from the\nWord of God, the traditional view has come into modern Christendom,\nrepresenting the Lord as unable or unwilling to end sin, but keeping the\nsinner alive throughout eternity, to suffer torture that can bring no\nremedy. The Scripture teaching is far otherwise. However, there are\ncertain Scripture phrases that emphasize the severity of the punishment\nof sin, which are often taken as supporting the doctrine of never-ending\nconscious torment.\n\n_1. \"Forever and Ever.\"_--In Rev. 20:10 it is said that the devil and\nhis chief agencies \"shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.\"\nThe phrase emphasizes the surety of their utter destruction.\n\n\"Forever\" means age-lasting, or life-lasting--so long as a thing exists\nby its nature. Thus in Ex. 21:6 the servant who loved his master and did\nnot wish to leave his service was to have his ear pierced, \"and he shall\nserve him forever,\" that is, without release as long as he lives. So the\nfiery judgment of that last day holds the wicked until life ends; there\nis no release until life is consumed.\n\n_2. \"Everlasting Punishment.\"_--\"These shall go away into everlasting\npunishment.\" Matt. 25:46. It is everlasting punishment, not everlasting\npunishing. The punishment is everlasting death--\"who shall be punished\nwith everlasting destruction.\" 2 Thess. 1:9.\n\nThe truth of the utter destruction of sinners is awful enough, but it\ncommends itself to every thought of justice and mercy; for sin must be\ncleansed from a perfect universe. But the unscriptural view of\neverlasting conscious torment that never reaches the point of full\npunishment, is unthinkable. Yet it is urged as a doctrine, and contended\nfor as vital to Christianity.\n\nThe following description is taken from a book written for children,\nentitled \"The Sight of Hell.\" It is printed in Dublin--for children.\n\n \"Little child, if you go to hell, there will be a devil at your\n side to strike you. He will go on striking you every day,\n forever and ever, without ever stopping. The first stroke will\n make your body as bad as Job's, covered from head to foot with\n sores and ulcers. The second stroke will make your body twice\n as bad as the body of Job.... How then will your body be after\n the devil has been striking it every moment for a hundred\n million years without stopping?\"--_Quoted in the London Present\n Truth, April 30, 1914._\n\nWhat a relief to turn from this to the Bible doctrine of the\n\"everlasting destruction\" of the second death, terrible though it be!\n\n_3. \"Everlasting Fire,\" \"Eternal Fire,\" \"Unquenchable Fire.\"_--All these\nexpressions are used in describing the fiery judgment upon sin and\nsinners. The effect of the fire is everlasting and eternal, and by a\ncommon usage in language the adjective that describes the effect is\napplied to the agent by which the effect is wrought.\n\nA specific example of everlasting fire in the punishment of evil is\ngiven in Scripture. Sodom and Gomorrah, those wicked \"cities of the\nplain,\" were destroyed by a rain of fire from heaven. These cities,\nInspiration says, \"are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance\nof eternal fire.\" Jude 7. The fire was everlasting, eternal, in its\neffects. The cities of the plain were everlastingly consumed. But the\nfire went out when the destruction was complete. Unquenchable fire is\nfire that cannot be quenched. It consumes utterly, until nothing is\nleft; then it goes out of its own accord.\n\n_4. \"Where Their Worm Dieth Not.\"_--Jesus warned of the certain\ndestruction of sin and sinners in the fire of Gehenna; for this is the\nword translated \"hell\" in Mark 9:43.\n\nHades, which is often translated \"hell,\" is the grave, not the place of\npunishment. Gehenna, here used of the place of punishment, was the name\nof the valley where the refuse of Jerusalem was cast for burning. The\nmap of Jerusalem, in any ordinary Bible with maps, shows just outside\nthe southern wall a gorge marked \"Valley of Hinnom\" (Gehenna). It was\nhere that the people, in the olden times, had sacrificed their children\nto Moloch.\n\n \"In order to put an end to these abominations, Josiah polluted\n it with human bones and other corruptions. 2 Kings 23:10, 13,\n 14.\"--_Hastings's \"Dictionary of the Bible.\"_\n\nHere the fires consumed the refuse, and the fire and worms utterly\ndestroyed the carcasses of beasts flung into the place of destruction.\nIt was regarded as a place accursed, and the smoldering fires became\nsymbolical of the fires of the judgment.\n\nThe use of this illustration, instead of arguing that the wicked are\nnever destroyed but always live, conveys the opposite idea. What went\ninto the fires of Gehenna was utterly consumed, nothing being left. This\nwas used by Christ as a figure illustrative of the utter destruction of\nthe unrepentant sinner in the day of visitation.\n\nThis must suffice. The positive teaching of Holy Scripture is that sin\nand sinners will be blotted out of existence. There will be a clean\nuniverse again when the great controversy between Christ and Satan is\nended.\n\n[Illustration: PETER DELIVERED FROM PRISON\n\n\"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and\ndelivereth them.\" Ps. 34:7.]\n\n[Illustration: DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS\n\n\"My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they\nhave not hurt me.\" Dan. 6:22.]\n\n\n\n\nANGELS: THEIR MINISTRY\n\n\nThe one verse of Scripture which, perhaps, most comprehensively sums up\nthe ministry of the angels of God, is this:\n\n\"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them\nwho shall be heirs of salvation?\" Heb. 1:14.\n\nThis scripture shows us how truly all heaven is engaged in working for\nthe salvation of this poor world, which has wandered from the fold of\nGod. It will surely be a time of rejoicing among all the angelic host\nwhen Christ, the Good Shepherd, brings back this lost world, cleansed\nfrom sin, once more to the fold of God's perfect creation.\n\nThe angels rejoiced when this world was created. The Lord said to Job:\n\n\"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?... when the\nmorning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?\"\nJob 38:4-7.\n\nBefore ever this world was created, or man upon it, the angels had been\ncreated by the eternal Son, in whom all things consist. For angels are\nnot redeemed men, neither will the redeemed in the world to come ever\nbecome angels. Angels are a different order of beings from men, a higher\norder in creation. We read:\n\n\"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou\nvisitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou\ncrownedst him with glory and honor.\" Heb. 2:6, 7.\n\nIn the life to come, by the wondrous power of Christ's transforming\ngrace, redeemed men are to be made equal to the angels, as Christ\nstated:\n\n\"Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and\nare the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.\" Luke\n20:36.\n\nThis lifting of sinful man to an equality with the angels, at least in\nthe possession of life and immortality, is an illustration of the gospel\nprinciple, \"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.\" Rom. 5:20.\nBut the declaration of equality with angels is a denial of identity with\nangels. Angels existed before man, and redeemed man will still be man,\ndistinct from the angelic order, though the associate of angels in the\nservice of God.\n\n\nAttendants at the Throne of God\n\nWhen the prophet Isaiah was given a view of the heavenly temple, he saw\ndifferent orders of angels attending the throne of God:\n\n\"I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His\ntrain filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six\nwings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his\nfeet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said,\nHoly, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.\" Isa. 6:1-3.\n\nEzekiel beheld them in glory, attending the moving throne of the\nAlmighty. \"The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a\nflash of lightning.\" Eze. 1:14.\n\nDaniel beheld the angelic host gathered in the most holy place of the\ntemple above, as the time came for the opening of the work of the\ninvestigative judgment, the cleansing of the sanctuary. Seeing the\nthrone of God set for this final work of Christ's ministry, the prophet\nsays:\n\n\"Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten\nthousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were\nopened.\" Dan. 7:10.\n\n\nGod's Messengers\n\nThe word \"angel\" means messenger. To and fro these angelic messengers\nhave gone in the service of their Creator. A view of their ever-watchful\nservice is given in the words of the psalmist:\n\n\"Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His\ncommandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.\" Ps. 103:20.\n\n\nBearers of Tidings\n\nThey visited Abraham's tent with warning of Sodom's overthrow. Genesis\n18.\n\nThey visited Lot in the city, and urged him to get his family out.\nGenesis 19.\n\nAs Jacob, in fear but repentance, was about to meet Esau, whom he had\ndeceived, \"the angels of God met him.\" Genesis 32. \"This is God's host,\"\nhe said, and he knew that the God of Abraham and Isaac, and his God,\nalso, had not forsaken him.\n\nAt a discouraging time in the history of Israel, an angel appeared to\nGideon, bringing the message, \"The Lord is with thee,\" and calling him\nto the work of delivering his people. Judges 6.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB'S DREAM IN BETHEL\n\n\"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them\nwho shall be heirs of salvation?\" Heb. 1:14.]\n\nAs Daniel's prayer reached heaven, even while he still prayed, the angel\nGabriel \"being caused to fly swiftly,\" touched him, and said:\n\n\"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At\nthe beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am\ncome to show thee.\" Dan. 9:21-23.\n\nSo close is the communication between heaven and earth.\n\nThe gladdest tidings ever brought from heaven to earth since the promise\nof the Deliverer to Adam in Eden, were brought by angels to the\nshepherds of Bethlehem. First, one angel appeared, saying:\n\n\"I bring you good tidings of great joy.... For unto you is born this day\nin the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.\"\n\nSuch tidings to earth could never be the mission of one lone angel, when\nall heaven longed to cry the news to a lost world.\n\n\"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host\npraising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth\npeace, good will toward men.\" Luke 2:13, 14.\n\n\nUnseen in Halls of Government\n\nOne incident related in the book of Daniel draws aside the curtain, and\nshows how angels doubtless often have worked unseen in kingly courts or\nhalls of legislation. Daniel had prayed for three weeks for light in\ncertain matters that the angel Gabriel had begun to unfold to him. When\nat last the angel came, overpowering the prophet with the glory of his\npresence, it was with a statement, first, of the reason for the delay in\nresponding to his prayer. The angel said:\n\n\"From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and\nto chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come\nfor thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one\nand twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to\nhelp me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to\nmake thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days.\"\nDan. 10:12-14.\n\n\nMessengers of Deliverance\n\nThe story of deliverance wrought by angels is too long to tell. One need\nonly think of the angels' taking slow-moving Lot by the arms and setting\nhim out of Sodom (Genesis 19); of the angel finding Elijah under a bush\nin the desert, and first baking a cake for the hungry man before\nspeaking the word to his discouraged heart (1 Kings 19); of Elisha\npraying that the young man's eyes might be opened to see that there were\nmore angels with them round about than all the Syrians encamped against\nthem:\n\n\"The Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the\nmountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.\" 2\nKings 6:17.\n\nAn angel shut the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their\nden. Daniel 6. An angel smote off Peter's irons in the prison at\nJerusalem, opened the doors, and led him forth. Acts 12. Amid the angry\nwaves sweeping over the foundering ship in the Adriatic, Paul the\napostle bade the despairing crew be of good courage, \"for there stood by\nme this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying,\nFear not.\" Acts 27:23, 24.\n\nAll through the ages, the angels of God have been standing by. Daniel,\nand Peter, and Paul are dead; but the angels still live. \"Are they not\nall ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be\nheirs of salvation?\" Heb. 1:14.\n\n\nGuardian Angels\n\nThat means that every child of God is under the guardianship of the\nangels. \"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him,\nand delivereth them.\" Ps. 34:7.\n\nThank God, we are never left alone. Every child of God has a guardian\nangel commissioned by the loving Father to watch over him. Christ said:\n\n\"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto\nyou, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father\nwhich is in heaven.\" Matt. 18:10.\n\nThis does not mean that trials never will come, or troubles. In the\nmidst of the trial, the angel of the Lord will stand by to strengthen\nand to bring help from the God of all comfort. It was in the midst of\nthe fiery furnace that the \"form of the Fourth\" appeared, walking with\nthe three Hebrew children--Jesus Himself treading the fiery way with\nthem. And when Jesus, in the days of His flesh, was sinking under the\ncrushing burden in Gethsemane, \"there appeared an angel unto Him from\nheaven, strengthening Him.\" Luke 22:43.\n\nOur Saviour, who knows the comforting power of angel ministry, is the\nCaptain of the heavenly host, and has commissioned them all as\nministering spirits to the heirs of salvation.\n\nWhen He comes in glory for His people, Christ will have \"all the holy\nangels with Him.\" As the voice of Jesus awakens His sleeping saints and\nthey rise immortal from the opened graves, \"He shall send His angels,\n... and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from\none end of heaven to the other.\" Matt. 24:31.\n\nThe angels who have watched over the heirs of salvation through all the\nages, know where they are, and they know how to gather them, with their\nloved ones, to meet the Lord.\n\nThe angels who rejoiced when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth,\nwho mourned when man fell, who have all along been working with Christ,\ntheir leader, to rescue the lost, will yet rejoice when the Lord brings\nhome His own. What a day will that be in heaven!\n\n[Illustration: MODERN INVENTIONS FULFILLING PROPHECY\n\n\"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.\" Dan.\n12:4.]\n\n[Illustration: CAREY IN INDIA TRANSLATING THE BIBLE\n\n\"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.\" Acts 19:20.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE TIME OF THE END\n\n\n\"Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time\nof the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be\nincreased.\" Dan. 12:4.\n\nThus the words of the angel, spoken nearly twenty-five hundred years\nago, announced the opening of a new era of enlightenment when the latter\ndays should come.\n\n\nThe Time\n\nAt the end of the long period of predicted tribulation of the\nchurch--the twelve hundred and sixty years of Daniel's prophecy--the\nworld entered upon this era of \"the time of the end.\"\n\n\"They shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil,\nmany days.... And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them,\nand to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end:\nbecause it is yet for a time appointed.\" Dan. 11:33-35.\n\nIn practically every outline of prophecy touching this time, the events\nof the last days are represented as following the end of the prophetic\nperiod of tribulation. Christ's prophecy of Matthew 24 so declares. Our\nSaviour showed that this period of tribulation, would be shortened, \"for\nthe elect's sake,\" and that \"immediately after the tribulation of those\ndays\" the signs of the end would begin to appear.\n\nThus, while the full period of the twelve hundred and sixty years ended\namid the scenes of the French Revolution, which gave the papal power a\ndeadly wound in the last decade of the eighteenth century, the\nshortening of the days of tribulation had begun even earlier to spread\nincreasing knowledge and enlightenment over the earth.\n\n\nThe Prophecy Unsealed\n\nThe angel's words to Daniel were,\n\n\"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many\nshall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.\" Dan. 12:4.\n\n\"The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.\" Verse 9.\n\nThis means that as the time of the end came, men would be impelled to\nsearch diligently for light in the prophetic word. Events taking place\nin fulfilment of the prophecy would be recognized, and with the coming\nof the time there would come the opening up, or unsealing, of the\nprophetic scriptures, with their message for men in the last days.\n\nAs the time drew near, Bible students were led more and more to search\nthe word of prophecy. Sir Isaac Newton, called \"the greatest of\nphilosophers,\" wrote of prophetic study:\n\n \"The giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of\n the true church. For God has so ordered the prophecies, that in\n the latter days 'the wise may understand, but the wicked shall\n do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.' Dan.\n 12:9, 10.\"--_\"Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel\"\n (London, 1733), part 1, chap. 1._\n\nAgain, this man who had delved so deeply into the laws of nature, but\nwho bowed his heart in childlike faith to listen to the voice of\nInspiration, declared his hope that the time of the end was near at hand\nin his day (he died in 1727). Of this prophecy of the unsealing of the\nbook he wrote:\n\n \"'Tis therefore a part of this prophecy, that it should not be\n understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it\n makes for the credit of the prophecy that it is not yet\n understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these\n things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late\n interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than\n ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the\n gospel be approaching, it is to us and to our posterity that\n those words mainly belong: In the time of the end the wise\n shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand....\n 'Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of\n this prophecy, and keep those things which are written\n therein.'\"--_\"Observations on the Apocalypse\" (London, 1733),\n chap. 1._\n\nTrue to the word of the angel, the events of the ending of the twelve\nhundred and sixty years of papal supremacy, amid the scenes of the\nFrench Revolution, drew the attention of Bible students everywhere. It\nwas seen that prophecy was being fulfilled before men's eyes. It gave\ngreat impetus to the study of the prophetic scriptures. The great\nhistoric prophecies began to be opened up--unsealed--to the\nunderstanding. An English historian of that period, John Adolphus,\nthough writing a secular history, remarks upon this awakening interest\nin prophetic study:\n\n \"The downfall of the papal government [in 1798], by whatever\n means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any\n other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of\n Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with\n bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the\n overthrow of a church which they considered as idolatrous,\n though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity; and\n many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and\n the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of\n the Holy Scriptures.\"--_\"History of France from 1790 to 1802\"\n (London, 1803), Vol. II, p. 379._\n\nFrom those tunes of fulfilling prophecy, there arose a distinct\nmovement, reviving the teaching of the doctrine of Christ's second\ncoming, and directly preparing the way for the advent movement that was\nto come with the days of 1844, when yet fuller light was to break forth\nfrom the unsealed prophecies of the book of Daniel. Of the angel that\nsymbolizes the special gospel work for these last days, it is written,\n\"He had in his hand a little book open.\" Rev. 10:2. The \"time of the\nend\" came, and with it has come the opening of the sealed book. The\n\"sure word of prophecy\" speaks its message full and clear to the ears of\nall mankind today.\n\n\nIncrease of Knowledge\n\n\"Many shall run to and fro,\" the prophecy said, \"and knowledge shall be\nincreased.\" It is knowledge of the prophecy and of the things of God\nthat is primarily the topic; but the era that we are discussing has been\none of general enlightenment and extension of knowledge.[J] \"The\nentrance of Thy words giveth light,\" says the psalmist: and when the\nReformation of the sixteenth century broke the bands of age-long\nsuperstition and error, and set free the Word of God, the way was\npreparing for the coming of this wonderful era of the diffusion of\ngeneral knowledge.\n\nThe era of reform movement was an era of world exploration and\ndiscovery. Diaz had founded the south African cape, and Columbus had\ngiven to future generations the New World. The result was voyage after\nvoyage of discovery, and then awakening, colonization, and expansion.\n\nThe famous and learned Francis Bacon, who died in 1626, felt in his day\nthat the time spoken of by Daniel's prophecy was drawing near. He\nwrote:\n\n \"Nor should the prophecy of Daniel be forgotten, touching the\n last ages of the world: 'Many shall go to and fro, and\n knowledge shall be increased;' clearly intimating that the\n thorough passage of the world (which now by so many distant\n voyages seems to be accomplished, or in course of\n accomplishment), and the advancement of the sciences, are\n destined by fate, that is, by divine Providence, to meet in the\n same age.\"--_\"Novum Organum,\" book 1, xciii. (Bacon's Works,\n Spedding and Ellis, Vol. IV, p. 92.)_\n\nWhen the time indicated in the prophecy fully came, with the last decade\nof the eighteenth century, there was witnessed the upspringing of\nmovements that have wrought mightily for the enlightenment and\nevangelization of the world. As the events of the French Revolution\nannounced the closing of the long era of papal supremacy, so also\nanother series of events at the same time announced the opening of the\nera of increasing knowledge. Speaking of these developments, Lorimer, a\nScottish writer, said:\n\n \"At the very time when Satan is hoping for, and the timid are\n fearing, an utter overturn of true religion, there is a\n revival, and the gospel expands its wings and prepares for a\n new flight. It is worthy of remembrance that the year 1792, the\n very year of the French Revolution, was also the year when the\n Baptist Missionary Society was formed, a society which was\n followed during the succeeding, and they the worst, years of\n the Revolution, with new societies of unwonted energy and\n union, all aiming, and aiming successfully, at the propagation\n of the gospel of Christ, both at home and abroad. What\n withering contempt did the great Head of the church thus pour\n upon the schemes of infidels! And how did He arouse the\n careless and instruct His own people, by alarming providences,\n at a season when they greatly needed such a\n stimulus.\"--_\"Historical Sketches of the Protestant Church in\n France,\" p. 522._\n\nAnother writer, Dr. D.L. Leonard, historian of the century of missions,\nsays:\n\n \"The closing years of the eighteenth century constitute in the\n history of Protestant missions an epoch indeed, since they\n witnessed nothing less than a revolution, a renaissance, an\n effectual and manifold ending of the old, a substantial\n inauguration of the new. It was then that for the first time\n since the apostolic period, occurred an outburst of general\n missionary zeal and activity. Beginning in Great Britain, it\n soon spread to the Continent and across the Atlantic. It was no\n mere push of fervor, but a mighty tide set in, which from that\n day to this has been steadily rising and spreading.\"--_\"A\n Hundred Years of Missions,\" p. 69._\n\nThe time of the prophecy had come, and the hand of providence was\nbringing into being agencies that have spread light and knowledge over\nall lands.\n\n \"Look where the missionary's feet have trod--\n Flowers in the desert bloom; and fields, for God,\n Are white to harvest. Skeptics may ignore;\n Yet on the conquering Word, from shore to shore,\n Like flaming chariot, rolls. Ask ocean isles,\n And plains of Ind, where ceaseless summer smiles;\n Speak to far frozen wastes, where winter's blight\n Remains;--they tell the love, attest the might\n Of Him whose messengers across the wave\n To them salvation bore, hope, freedom gave.\"\n\n --_Horace D. Woolley._\n\nThe organization of foreign missionary enterprise was quickly\naccompanied by the establishment of Bible societies for a systematic\nwork of translating and world-wide distribution of the Scriptures. In\n1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. Students of\nthe prophetic word felt at the time that these agencies were coming in\nfulfilment of the prophecy. One writer of those times said:\n\n \"The stupendous endeavors of one gigantic community to convey\n the Scriptures in every language to every part of the globe may\n well deserve to be considered as an eminent sign even of these\n eventful times. Unless I be much mistaken, such endeavors are\n preparatory to the final grand diffusion of Christianity, which\n is the theme of so many inspired prophets, and which cannot be\n very far distant in the present day.\"--_G.S. Faber, D.D.,\n \"Dissertation on the Prophecies,\" Vol. II, p. 406 (1844)._\n\nNow the Word of God, in whole or in part, is speaking in more than five\nhundred languages, and it is estimated that these tongues, at least in\ntheir spoken form, can make the divine message comprehensible to\nninety-five per cent of the inhabitants of the earth.\n\nThe work of modern missions, that had its birth as the time of the end\ncame, is one of the great world factors today. Nearly thirty million\ndollars a year are given for Protestant missions, and a force of more\nthan twenty thousand foreign missionaries is in the field, not counting\nthe many thousands of native missionaries and helpers. Truly the time of\nthe end is proving to be an era of increasing light and knowledge.\n\n\nThe Opening of All Lands\n\nAs the time came for knowledge to be increased, it was necessary that\nall lands should be open to receive the enlightening agencies. Thus, as\nthe time of the end came, we see distinctly the hand of Providence\nswinging open the doors into all countries. It has been an era of world\nsurvey and development. Particularly is this true of the last sixty or\nseventy years. It was in 1844 that the time referred to in the prophecy\ncame for the special advent movement, bearing the judgment-hour message\nto the world. The range of the movement is thus described in the\nprophecy:\n\n\"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting\ngospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,\nand kindred, and tongue, and people.\" Rev. 14:6.\n\nThis was a declaration that as the time came for the closing gospel work\nto be done, the doors of access to every nation and tongue and people\nwould be thrown open. In 1844, or but a few years before, much of the\nworld was closed to missionary endeavor; but as the prophecy indicates,\nthe years following have witnessed the swift and systematic opening of\nall lands to the gospel message.\n\nIt was in 1842 that five treaty ports in China were opened to commerce\nand to missions,--advance steps in the opening of all China to the\ngospel. In 1844 Turkey was prevailed upon to recognize the right of\nMoslems to become Christians, reversing all Moslem tradition. In 1844\nAllen Gardiner established the South American Mission. In 1845\nLivingstone's determination was formed to open up the African interior.\n\nDr. A.T. Pierson, speaking of the wonderful way in which Providence\nopened the doors of access in those times, wrote as follows:\n\n \"Most countries shut out Christian missions by organized\n opposition, so that to attempt to bear the good tidings was\n simply to dare death for Christ's sake; the only welcome\n awaiting God's messengers was that of cannibal ovens, merciless\n prisons, or martyr graves. But, as the little band advanced, on\n every hand the walls of Jericho fell, and the iron gates opened\n of their own accord. India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey,\n Africa, Mexico, South America, the Papal States, and Korea were\n successively and successfully entered. Within five years, from\n 1853 to 1858, new facilities were given to the entrance and\n occupation of seven different countries, together embracing\n half the world's population.\"--_\"Modern Mission Century,\" p.\n 25._\n\n[Illustration: INTO THE HEART OF AFRICA\n\nThe Victoria Falls railroad bridge over the Zambezi.]\n\nGod's providence has laid under tribute every force and every resource\nfor the opening of all lands--missionary endeavor, love of adventure,\ncommercial enterprise, and scientific interest. Railways have been built\nthrough regions that were undiscovered seventy years ago, and among the\npassengers traveling now over the iron trail are men and women of tribes\nunknown fifty years ago. But the gospel message was to go to every\ntribe and tongue before the end; and wonderfully Providence has been\nopening the doors throughout all this \"time of the end,\" and\nparticularly in our generation.\n\n\nMaterial Agencies for the Work\n\nThe prophecy represents not only a world-wide work, but a quick work in\nproclaiming the gospel message in the last days. The movement is\nsymbolized in the Revelation by an angel flying in the midst of heaven,\nfrom land to land. And as to the closing work, when the end is near at\nhand, the Scripture says:\n\n\"He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a\nshort work will the Lord make upon the earth.\" Rom. 9:28.\n\n\"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.\"\nThis is the hope for a quickly finished work in all the earth in our\ntime. Yet the Lord lays hold of material things for service; and\nwonderfully the hand of Providence has wrought in bringing into\nexistence material agencies for a quick work in carrying the gospel to\nthe world--such agencies as no generation before ours ever had.\n\nConsider the marvelous facilities for world-travel. They are the product\nof this time of the end. \"Many shall run to and fro,\" said the prophecy.\nSome interpreters have restricted the Hebrew phrase to a \"searching\" to\nand fro for knowledge. Even this would include a literal running to and\nfro; for the light of increasing knowledge was to be diffused over all\nthe earth. But the best authority on the Hebrew declares for the plain\nmeaning of our English translation: \"Many shall run to and fro.\" In two\nrecent works, Dr. C.H.H. Wright, the English scholar, says of this text:\n\n \"The natural meaning must be upheld, i.e., wandering to and\n fro.\"--_\"Critical Commentary on Daniel,\" p. 209._\n\n \"Why should not that expression be used in the sense in which\n it is employed in Jeremiah 5:1, namely, of rapid movement\n hither and thither?\"--_\"Daniel and His Prophecies,\" p. 321._\n\nAt the time when the first foreign missionary movement was being\nlaunched in America, Robert Fulton's steamship, the \"Clermont,\" was\nmaking its first trip on the Hudson.\n\n[Illustration: HIEROGLYPHICS\n\nThe \"Ox Song\" of the Egyptian threshing-floor.]\n\nIn 1838 the first ships to cross the Atlantic under steam power\nalone--the \"Sirius\" and the \"Great Western\"--came into New York from\nLiverpool, a few hours apart, forerunners of the fleets that furrow all\nthe seas today, making quick pathways for the gospel messengers to all\nlands. Verily, they are a gift of God's providence to this generation,\nwhen all the world is to hear the gospel message.\n\n[Illustration: CUNEIFORM WRITING\n\nAn account of the capture of Babylon, B.C. 538. From the\ncylinder of Cyrus.]\n\n \"He hath made the deep as dry,\n He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the earth.\"\n\nIn 1825 Stephenson built his first railway passenger locomotive, which\nmay still be seen in the Darlington railway station, in England. It was\nthe beginning of the great revolution in land travel. The late Prof.\nAlfred Russel Wallace, scientist, wrote:\n\n \"From the earliest historic and even prehistoric times till the\n construction of our great railways in the second quarter of the\n present century [the nineteenth], there had been absolutely no\n change in the methods of human locomotion.\"--_\"The Wonderful\n Century,\" p. 7._\n\n[Illustration: MANUSCRIPT WRITING\n\nThe process by which the books of the great library of Alexandria,\nEgypt, were made.]\n\nFor nearly six thousand years men had traveled in the old way. Why\nshould these revolutionary changes in travel by sea and land come\nabruptly just at this time?--Because the time foretold in the prophecy\nwas at hand, when the last gospel message was to be carried quickly to\nall the world--\"to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.\"\nWe see the hand of the living God opening the doors into all lands, and\nHis wonderful providence laying at the feet of this generation agencies\nfor quickly covering the whole earth.\n\n[Illustration: GUTENBERG'S FIRST TYPES\n\nReproduced from the first edition of the famous forty-two-line Latin\nBible, printed by Gutenberg.]\n\nLater came the electric telegraph, for the quick transmission of news.\nIt was in 1837 that Cooke and Wheatstone in England, and Morse in the\nUnited States, made their application for patents on the electric\ntelegraph. It was in 1844 that the first long-distance system was\nsuccessfully demonstrated--when the historic message was sent from\nBaltimore to Washington, \"What hath God wrought!\" Now news of events\nfulfilling prophecy, and news of progress and conditions in all lands,\nare daily spread before the world by this agency of our wonderful time.\n\n[Illustration: THE GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS\n\nOn which was produced the first printed Bible, in 1456 A.D.]\n\n[Illustration: THE FRANKLIN PRESS\n\nOperated by two men, it has a maximum speed of 250 impressions per\nhour.]\n\nAs the closing events take place, the Lord has in His providence so\nordered it that no one need be ignorant of the signs of the times\nfulfilling before the eyes of men.\n\n \"Speak the word and think the thought,\n Quick 'tis as with lightning caught--\n Over, under, lands or seas\n To the far antipodes.\"\n\nHere is an incident illustrating the way in which the electric telegraph\nmay multiply and spread abroad the witness borne to the truth of God in\nsome obscure corner of the earth:\n\n[Illustration: THE HOE DOUBLE OCTUPLE PRESS\n\nThe largest printing press in the world. Length, 48 feet; height, 19-1/2\nfeet; weight, 175 tons; number of parts, 65,000; revolutions, 300 per\nminute; paper used per hour, 18 tons, or 216 miles of paper three feet\nwide; production per hour, 300,000 eight-page folded newspapers.]\n\n\n The Mighty Press\n\n \"When old Gutenberg, inventor\n Of the printing press, and mentor\n Of the clumsy-fingered typos\n In a sleepy German town,\n Used to spread the sheets of vellum\n On the form, and plainly tell them\n That the art was then perfected,\n As he pressed the platen down,\n He had not the faintest notion\n Of the rhythmical commotion,\n Of the brabble and the clamor\n And the unremitting roar\n Of the mighty triple decker,\n While the steel rods flicker,\n And the papers, ready folded,\n Fall in thousands to the floor.\"\n\nSome years ago a young man in Europe--a Seventh-day Adventist--was\ngiving answer for his faith. His conscience would not allow him to do\nordinary labor on God's holy Sabbath. He had declared to the court that\nthe oath of loyalty which had been required of him forbade his breaking\nthe Sabbath. \"How is that?\" asked the judge. The young man replied:\n\n \"I was sworn in with a Christian oath, and therefore cannot be\n under an obligation to violate the commandments of God and work\n on the Sabbath. One must regard God as the highest authority,\n and obey Him in the first place.\"\n\nThis witness was borne in a little courtroom, before a small group of\nmen; but the press dispatches took it up, and the description of the\nscene and report of the words spoken were carried by electric telegraph\nto the press of at least four continents, and millions read the\ntestimony of the young man to the faith that was in him.\n\nIn the days to come, with great events taking place and solemn issues\ncalling upon men to make decision for God and His truth, how quickly, in\nsome great crisis, all the world may be warned, and the last individual\ndecisions be made for eternity!\n\n\nModern Printing\n\nThe invention of the printer's art had come just in time to give wings\nto Reformation truth. Luther said of it:\n\n \"Printing is the latest and greatest gift by which God enables\n us to advance the things of the gospel. It is the last bright\n flame, manifesting itself just previous to the extinction of\n the world. Thanks be to God, it came before the last day\n came.\"--_Michelet's \"Life of Luther,\" p. 291._\n\nWhile improvements in the art were made through the centuries, it was a\nslow process, even up to the opening of our generation. During our day,\nhowever, inventions have revolutionized the printing process.\n\nIn this, as in other things, the methods have been speeded up to meet\nthe necessities of this time of rapid accomplishment. The printing press\nis one of the chief of the marvelous enlightening agencies of this time\nof the end. By it the printed pages of truth are set falling over the\nearth \"like the leaves of autumn.\"\n\nTime fails us to speak of all the wonderful material developments of our\nday, when knowledge has been increased, and when men are not only\nsearching to and fro, but literally running to and fro. The whole earth\nis brought within the range of human knowledge, and the light of saving\ntruth is streaming out toward every dark place where the children of men\ndwell.\n\nNearly twenty-five hundred years ago it was written upon the prophetic\npage,\n\n\"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many\nshall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.\"\n\nThere the word stood on the scroll of prophecy through more than two\nmillenniums. Then, as the time of the end came, lo, the book of prophecy\nwas unsealed, and the new era of increasing knowledge began to spread in\nwondrous blessing over the earth.\n\nSo surely, also, the prophecies of the last events will be accomplished.\nIn the occurrences taking place before our eyes, we see that God is\nindeed finishing His work in the earth, and cutting it short in\nrighteousness.\n\n[Illustration: FORTIFICATIONS ON THE BOSPORUS\n\nThe strategic waterway involved in the Eastern Question.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[J] It is not designed to give the reader the idea that this running \"to\nand fro\" refers wholly to turning to and fro through the pages of a\nbook. The times in which we live have been characterized by a great\nincrease in Bible study, and consequently in knowledge of the\nScriptures; but it is equally true that this has been due in large\nmeasure to the fact that there are no longer any \"hermit\" kingdoms.\nTravel, a real physical running \"to and fro\" through the earth, has\ncontributed mightily to the modern increase of knowledge, and in no\nother field of investigation has this been more true than in the study\nof the Bible. By increased facilities for travel, all nations have been\nbrought close together physically. Different races and nationalities\nhave become acquainted, missionary zeal has been quickened, and peoples\nformerly beyond the reach of missionary operations have become easily\naccessible. In this sense, as well as by private searching of the\nScriptures, knowledge has increased.\n\n\n[Illustration: THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA IN CONSTANTINOPLE\n\nThe most famous of all Mohammedan temples.\n\nCOPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE EASTERN QUESTION\n\nMODERN HISTORY IN THE LIGHT OF ANCIENT PROPHECY\n\n\nNot alone of the history of ancient nations does the \"sure word of\nprophecy\" bear witness. Political events of our own and coming days are\ndescribed.\n\nThe nations of the latter day are pictured as preparing war, gathering\ntheir forces for the great Armageddon, the battle of the day of God.\n\nAs a signal of the last great struggle, the fall, or \"drying up,\" of the\npower ruling the territory watered by the river Euphrates is foretold.\nRev. 16:12. The Euphrates in all modern history has been suggestive of\nthe dominions of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. And Armageddon,\ndesignated as the meeting place of armies in the last clash of nations,\nis in Palestine, which, through all modern times, has been in possession\nof the Turkish power.\n\nThe index finger of prophecy points, therefore, to this region of the\neastern Mediterranean as the pivotal point in the closing history of\nnations; and with Turkey's fate is wrapped up the fate of all the\nnations of the world.\n\nAll this adds deepest and most solemn import to the study of what is\nknown as the Eastern Question, a question that has been to the fore in\ninternational politics much of the time throughout this generation. Wars\nhave been fought over it, cabinets have wrestled with it, and still it\nholds its place in the first rank of living issues of today.\n\nAs every one knows, the Eastern Question involves the dominion or\nsupremacy in the Near East. This region was a pivotal point in the\nstruggles of the nations in ancient times--the meeting place of East and\nWest. Maspero, historian of ancient empires, says of it:\n\n \"Some countries seem destined from their origin to become the\n battle fields of the contending nations.... The nations around\n are eager for the possession of a country thus situated....\n From remote antiquity Syria was in the condition just\n described. By its position it formed a kind of meeting place,\n where most of the military nations of the ancient world were\n bound sooner or later to come violently into\n collision.\"--_\"Struggle of the Nations,\" chap. 1._\n\nIt is not strange, therefore, that one of the great outlines of historic\nprophecy should deal with events centering around this pivotal region.\nThe prophecy of Daniel 11 does so, outlining the course of history from\nancient times to the final solution of the Eastern Question amid the\nscenes of the end.\n\n\nRise and Fall of Ancient Empires\n\nThe prophetic outline of Daniel 11 begins with Persia, in the third year\nof Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon. (See Dan. 10:1.) The angel of God\nappeared to Daniel, and in the longest and most detailed single prophecy\nin all the Bible, told the story of events connected with this region of\nthe Near East for the centuries to come, until the end. Putting the word\nof prophecy and the record of history side by side, we see how exactly\nhistory has fulfilled prophecy; and we may know certainly that the brief\nportion of the prophecy yet unfulfilled will surely come to pass.\n\n\nPersia\n\n_Prophecy._--\"Now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand\nup yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than\nthey all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all\nagainst the realm of Grecia.\" Dan. 11:2\n\n_History._--The three kings following Cyrus were (1) Cambyses, (2)\nSmerdis, (3) Darius; the fourth, Xerxes, was \"far richer than they all.\"\nHe had the treasures of his father, Darius, who was called the\n\"merchant\" or \"hoarder\" by his own people, and Xerxes gathered stores of\nwealth in addition. When Xerxes was on his way to invade Grecia, a\nLydian named Pythius entertained the whole Persian army with feasts, and\noffered to aid in bearing the expense of the campaign. Xerxes asked who\nthis man of such wealth was. He was answered:\n\n \"This is the man, O king! who gave thy father Darius the golden\n plane tree, and likewise the golden vine; and he is still the\n wealthiest man we know of in all the world, excepting\n thee.\"--_Herodotus, book 7, par. 27._\n\n\"Richer than they all,\" Xerxes, \"through his riches,\" was able, as the\nprophecy had foretold, to \"stir up all against the realm of Grecia.\"\nForty-nine nations marched under his banners to the attack. The Greek\npoet, AEschylus, who himself fought against the Persians, wrote of\nXerxes' mighty host,\n\n \"And myriad-peopled Asia's king, a battle-eager lord,\n From utmost east to utmost west sped on his countless horde,\n In unnumbered squadrons marching, in fleets of keels untold,\n Knowing none dared disobey,\n For stern overseers were they\n Of the godlike king begotten of the ancient race of Gold.\"\n\n --_\"Persae,\" Way's translation._\n\nXerxes boasted that he was leading \"the whole race of mankind to the\ndestruction of Greece.\" But his invasion ended in the total rout of his\nforces by land and by sea. It was an advertisement to the world that\nPersia's might was broken. The prophecy treats it so, and deals no\nfurther with Persian history.\n\nAEschylus at the time celebrated the passing of Persia's prestige in the\nlines,--\n\n \"With sacred awe\n The Persian law\n No more shall Asia's realms revere;\n To their lord's hand\n At his command,\n No more the exacted tribute bear.\n\n * * * * *\n\n Before the Ionian squadrons Persia flies,\n Or sinks engulfed beneath the main;\n Fallen! fallen! is her imperial power,\n And conquest on her banners waits no more.\"\n\n --_\"Persae,\" Potter's translation._\n\nThe next great world change was to be the rise of Grecia to dominion.\nSo, although a number of kings followed Xerxes in Persia, the prophecy\npasses from his disastrous invasion directly to the coming of Grecia\nunder its \"mighty king,\" Alexander the Great.\n\n\nGrecia\n\n_Prophecy._--\"A mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great\ndominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his\nkingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of\nheaven; and not to his posterity.\" Dan. 11:3, 4.\n\n_History._--Alexander the Great stood up and ruled with great dominion,\nover a kingdom stretching from India to Grecia, with kings yet farther\nwest sending embassies to Babylon to make submission. But in the height\nof his power, as the prophecy suggests, he was suddenly cut down by\ndeath. All his posterity perished, and out of the struggles of his\ngenerals for supremacy came (301 B.C.) the division of the\nempire toward \"the four winds,\" as the prophecy had declared so long\nbefore. Rawlinson, the historian, says:\n\n \"A quadripartite division of Alexander's dominion was\n recognized: Macedonia [west], Egypt [south], Asia Minor\n [north], and Syria [stretching eastward beyond the\n Euphrates].\"--_\"Sixth Monarchy,\" chap. 3._\n\n\nThe Kings of the North and South\n\nNext, a rearrangement of these powers is noted; and it is this that\ngives us the key to the study of the closing portion of the long\nprophetic outline dealing with events of our own day. The narrative\ncontinues:\n\n_Prophecy._--\"The king of the south shall be strong, and one of his\nprinces ... shall be strong above him;... his dominion shall be a great\ndominion.\" Verse 5.\n\n_History._--The history testifies that the king of the south (Egypt,\nunder Ptolemy) was strong; but one of the four princes was \"strong above\nhim.\" Seleucus, of Syria and the east, pushed his dominion northward,\nsubduing most of Asia Minor, and extending his boundary into Thrace, on\nthe European side, beyond the Dardanelles. Henceforward, as Mahaffy\nsays,\n\n \"there were three great kingdoms--Macedonia, Egypt,\n Syria--which lasted, each under its own dynasty, till Rome\n swallowed them up.\"--_\"Alexander's Empire,\" p. 89._\n\nThus Seleucus took the territory of the north, and the Syrian power\nbecame king of the north, its empire extending from Thrace, in Europe,\nthrough Asia Minor to Syria and the Euphrates. The seat of empire was\nremoved from the east, and Antioch, in northern Syria, \"once the third\ncity of the world,\" became the famous capital.\n\nThe prophecy next foretold in remarkable detail the contests between\nthese two strong powers, the king of the north (Syria and Asia Minor)\nand the king of the south (Egypt). The conflict raged back and forth\ntill the coming of the Romans. The Holy Land was the frequent meeting\nplace of the contending armies. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes\nit:\n\n \"Palestine was as of old the battle field for the king of the\n north and the king of the south.... The history of these times\n is lost in its details.\"--_Ninth edition, Vol. XV, art.\n \"Macedonian Empire,\" p. 144._\n\nWe shall not follow the details of this contest as foretold in the\nprophecy, nor yet the outline of events after the coming of the Roman\npower ended the rivalry between Syria and Egypt. It is necessary only\nthat we fix the events and geographic terms of this early portion of the\nprophecy. Then we shall have the key to the closing portion, dealing\nwith events of the last days, when the king of the north again appears.\n\n\nThe Modern King of the North\n\nIn the last verses of the chapter we find the king of the north a chief\nactor in this same region, \"at the time of the end.\" Verse 40. And we\nare told that when this power comes to its end, it is the signal that\nthe great day of God is at hand. (See Dan. 12:1.)\n\nIt becomes a vital question, therefore, what power in these last days is\nthe king of the north, whose end is the signal of the swift ending of\nthe world. Inspiration gives the basis for the answer. The king of the\nnorth in the early portion of the prophecy was the power that ruled in\nSyria and Asia Minor, from the Euphrates to the shores of the\nDardanelles. The king of the north, then, of the later portion of the\nprophecy, must be the power that has been ruling in this same region\nduring the time of the end.\n\nWhat power has held dominion over this territory in modern times?--The\nTurkish or Ottoman Empire. At this time Turkey holds almost the\nidentical dominion of the ancient king of the north--from the Euphrates\nto the sea, and northward over Asia Minor and the shores of the\nDardanelles.\n\nThen today Turkey is certainly the king of the north, according to the\nprophecy of Daniel 11.\n\nOf the later history of the king of the north and his end and the events\nfollowing it, the prophecy says:\n\n\"Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him:\ntherefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to\nmake away many.\n\n\"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in\nthe glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall\nhelp him.\n\n\"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which\nstandeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of\ntrouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same\ntime: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that\nshall be found written in the book.\" Dan. 11:44, 45; 12:1.\n\n[Illustration: CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE\n\nThe capital of the Turkish government.\n\nCOPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N, Y.]\n\nThe opening verse of this scripture describes exactly the history of\nTurkey in modern times. Turkey's disquietude has come because of tidings\nout of the east and out of the north. In both these directions there has\nbeen a pushing back of the Turkish frontier, particularly in the north.\nAgain and again, during this time of the end, Turkey has gone forth\nwith fury to resist these encroachments and prevent the loss of\nterritory.\n\nThe prophecy indicates that in some of these struggles the king of the\nnorth will yet transfer his capital:\n\n\"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the\nglorious holy mountain.\"\n\n\nRemoval to Jerusalem\n\nThis prophecy can mean nothing else than that the king of the north will\neventually set up his headquarters in Jerusalem; for Jerusalem is \"the\nholy mountain\" of the Scriptures. Zech. 8:3.\n\nIt is a wise counsel that says, \"Tread lightly in the details of\nunfulfilled prophecy.\" Just how events are to turn, by what route or\nprocesses the steps are to be taken, it is useless to conjecture. But\nthere the prophecy stands. Every word of the early portion of the\nprophetic outline has been fulfilled to the letter in the history of the\nancient empires battling century after century over this region. Every\nword spoken of the final scenes will as certainly be fulfilled.\n\nIn view of this prophecy,--that Jerusalem is yet to be made the\nheadquarters of the king of the north,--it becomes highly significant\nthat the Mohammedans regard Jerusalem as a sacred city. According to\nMohammedan tradition, Jerusalem is to play a leading part in the closing\nhistory of that people. Hughes, in his \"Dictionary of Islam,\" article\n\"Jerusalem,\" summarizes the teaching:\n\n \"In the last days there will be a general flight to Jerusalem.\"\n\nSpeaking of Jerusalem, an old Arab commentator on the Koran, Mukaddasi\n(A.D. 985), said:\n\n \"As to the excellence of the city. Why, is not this to be the\n place of marshaling on the day of judgment, where the gathering\n together and the appointment will take place? Verily Makkah\n [Mecca] and Al Madina have their superiority by reason of the\n Ka'abah and the prophet,--the blessing of Allah be upon him and\n his family!--but, in truth, on the day of judgment both cities\n will come to Jerusalem, and the excellencies of them all will\n then be united.\"--_Le Strange, \"Palestine under the Moslems,\"\n p. 85._\n\n[Illustration: MODERN JERUSALEM\n\n\"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the\nglorious holy mountain.\" Dan. 11:45.]\n\nThus Moslem doctrinal teaching and tradition both point out Jerusalem as\nthe rallying place of Moslems before the end. Again and again in recent\nyears, as the pressure has threatened the Turkish hold on\nConstantinople, the thoughts of Moslems have turned toward Jerusalem as\na possible capital. A few years ago a Seventh-day Adventist missionary\nin Constantinople wrote to his home board:\n\n[Illustration: THE MOSQUE OF OMAR\n\nSituated in Jerusalem, on Mt. Moriah, the site of Solomon's Temple.]\n\n \"Within the past few months quite a company of people from the\n Transcaucasus district have come to Ismid,--old\n Nicodemia,--bringing all they possess with them. Some of them\n possess considerable wealth. When asked if they were going to\n settle in Ismid, they replied that they would settle nowhere\n permanently at present. They stated that they had come to be\n prepared to go with their leader when he left Constantinople to\n go to Jerusalem.\"\n\nWherever the capital may first be set up following the forsaking of\nConstantinople,--and Turkish authorities, we are told, have discussed a\nnumber of possible locations in Asia Minor,--there stands the ancient\nprophecy as to the eventual seat of the king of the north,\n\n\"He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the\nglorious holy mountain.\"\n\nFollowing that, what comes? The prophecy declares,\n\n\"Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.\"\n\n\nWhat Comes When Turkey Falls\n\nThe fury of his goings forth \"utterly to make away many,\" the moving of\nhis capital from one place to another, avail nothing in the end. \"He\nshall come to his end, and none shall help him.\"\n\nThe suggestion of the prophecy is that this power has hitherto been\nhelped to stand. Here again every suggestion of the prophetic language\nfinds its response in history. Through these later years of the time of\nthe end the Ottoman Empire has been helped to stand, by either one power\nor another, or by some combination of powers. The late Lord Salisbury,\nwhile premier of Britain, thus stated the reasons for this policy of\nhelping Turkey:\n\n \"Turkey is in that remarkable condition in which it has now\n stood for half a century, mainly because the great powers of\n the world have resolved that for the peace of Christendom it is\n necessary that the Ottoman Empire should stand. They came to\n that conclusion nearly half a century ago. I do not think they\n have altered it now. The danger, if the Ottoman Empire should\n fall, would not merely be the danger that would threaten the\n territories of which that empire consists; it would be the\n danger that the fire there lit should spread to other nations,\n and should involve all that is most powerful and civilized in\n Europe in a dangerous and calamitous contest. That was the\n danger that was present to the minds of our fathers when they\n resolved to make the integrity and independence of the Ottoman\n Empire a matter of European treaty, and that is a danger which\n has not passed away.\"--_Mansion House speech, Nov. 9, 1895._\n\nThe veteran premier stated the fear of modern statesmen that Turkey's\nfall would involve all civilization in a calamitous conflict. The\nprophecy pictures just such a catastrophe, in these words:\n\n\"He shall come to his end, and none shall help him. And at that time\nshall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children\nof thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was\nsince there was a nation even to that same time.\"\n\nWhat modern statesmen have seen impending and have sought to ward off,\nthe ancient prophecy says will surely come to pass when the king of the\nnorth comes to his end,--a time of trouble for the nations such as never\nwas.\n\n\nIn the New Testament\n\nIn the prophecy of Revelation 16, the last great clash of the nations is\nrepresented as following the fall of the power that rules the territory\ndrained by the Euphrates. Describing the last events in human history,\nunder the pouring out of the vials of judgment upon the world, the\nprophet says:\n\n\"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and\nthe water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east\nmight be prepared.\" Rev. 16:12.\n\nThe water of the Euphrates represents the people or power ruling by it.\nWhen anciently the Assyrians dwelt by that river and were about to\ninvade Israel, the prophet said, \"The Lord bringeth up upon them the\nwaters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria.\" Isa.\n8:7. The waters of the Euphrates meant the Assyrian power.\n\nJust so in this prophecy, the river stands for the people. As the Nile\nstood for Egypt, and the Tiber for Rome, so in all modern times the\nEuphrates has stood for Turkey. The \"drying up\" of the Euphrates must\nmean the ending of the Turkish power. And in the verses immediately\nfollowing, Revelation pictures the gathering of the nations of the whole\nworld to Armageddon--\"the battle of that great day of God Almighty.\"\nFollowing Turkey's end comes the final clash of nations. The earth\nquakes, the cities of the nations fall, and the last judgments of God\ncome upon a warring world.\n\nHere, as in Daniel 12, is pictured a time of trouble for the nations\nsuch as never was, and the end of the world, when the power ruling in\nSyria, by the Euphrates, comes to its end.\n\n\nThe Approaching End\n\nFor years statesmen and observers have discussed the approaching\ndissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Travelers in Turkey have reported\nthat thoughtful Turkish people held the conviction that the crisis of\ntheir nation was near at hand. Years ago Mr. Charles MacFarlane wrote:\n\n \"The Turks themselves seem generally to be convinced that their\n final hour is approaching. 'We are no longer Mussulmans,--the\n Mussulman saber is broken,--the Osmanlis will be driven out of\n Europe by the _gaiours_, and driven through Asia to the regions\n from which they first sprang. It is Kismet! We cannot resist\n destiny!' I heard words to this effect from many Turks, as well\n in Asia as in Europe.\"--_\"Kismet; or the Doom of Turkey\"\n (London, 1853), p. 409._\n\nA later Turkish traveler, Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt, says:\n\n \"Ancient prophecy and modern superstition alike point to the\n return of the Crescent into Asia as an event at hand, and to\n the doom of the Turks.... A well-known prediction to this\n effect, which has for ages exercised its influence on the\n vulgar and even on the learned Mohammedan mind,... places the\n scene of the last struggle in northern Syria, at Homs, on the\n Orontes. Islam is then finally to retire from the north, and\n the Turkish rule to cease. Such prophecies often work their own\n fulfilment.\"--_\"Future of Islam,\" p. 95._\n\nThus native tradition and human forebodings have contemplated the\nbreak-up of the Turkish power, as the course of the years has witnessed\nthe shrinkage of its territory and the ever-increasing difficulty of its\nposition.\n\nNow and then there has been a renewal of Turkey's vigor and prestige;\nthen again its situation has been rendered yet more precarious. It has\nbeen a buffer between the clashing interests of the great powers.\nSpeaking of Turkey's difficult position in this respect, the London\n_Fortnightly Review_, May, 1915, expressed a common view thus:\n\n \"When once the nations of Europe set foot in Asia Minor, the\n pace of Turkey's further downfall will be set not so much by\n Turkey's strength or weakness as by the mutual jealousies of\n the occupying powers.\"\n\nThe storm clouds hang ever low over the Near East; while above all the\ndin of wars and rumors of wars, the voice of divine prophecy declares\nthat when this power comes to its end, the closing events in human\nhistory will quickly follow.\n\n[Illustration: CONSTANTINOPLE THE KEY CITY OF THE WORLD\n\nThe cross on which the peace of the world has been crucified.]\n\nThe solemn truth rings in our ears like a trumpet peal; the age-long\nEastern Question is hastening on to its final solution, and its solution\nbrings the end of the world.\n\nIn the light of the \"sure word of prophecy\" the developments of our day\nin the East become more than matters of grave political concern to\nstatesmen and observers of affairs generally; they are matters of\ndeepest personal, eternal interest to every soul. In watching the trend\nof international affairs, we are watching the doing of the last things\namong the nations.\n\nAs these things are seen coming to pass exactly as the prophecy\nforetold, we recognize them as God's call to men in the last generation\nto turn to Him and prepare their hearts to meet the coming Lord. Let no\none think to wait until he sees Turkey come to its end before making his\npeace with God. The end of this power, as described in Revelation 16,\ncomes during the falling of the seven last plagues. And the last verse\nof the preceding chapter shows that Christ's ministry for sinners in the\nheavenly temple has ended before the plagues begin to fall. Human\nprobation will already have closed. The solemn decree will then have\nbeen issued in heaven:\n\n\"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let\nhim be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous\nstill: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come\nquickly.\" Rev. 22:11, 12.\n\n\"Now is the accepted time,\" calls the Spirit; \"now is the day of\nsalvation.\" 2 Cor. 6:2. We have not to make ourselves ready. \"If we\nconfess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to\ncleanse us from all unrighteousness.\" 1 John 1:9. Our part is to believe\nand confess; His part is to forgive and cleanse and make us ready for\nthe coming kingdom.\n\n\nThe Sinner's Plea\n\n With broken heart and contrite sigh,\n A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry;\n Thy pardoning grace is rich and free:\n O God, be merciful to me!\n\n Nor alms, nor deeds that I have done,\n Can for a single sin atone;\n To Calvary alone I flee:\n O God, be merciful to me!\n\n And when, redeemed from sin and hell,\n With all the ransomed throng I dwell,\n My raptured song shall ever be,\n \"God has been merciful to me!\"\n\n --_Cornelius Elven._\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON\n\nThe whole world involved in the last great clash of nations. \"The\nnations were angry, and Thy wrath is come.\" Rev. 11:18.]\n\n[Illustration: THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON AND MT. MEGIDDO\n\n\"He gathered them together into a place called ... Armageddon.\" Rev.\n16:16.]\n\n\n\n\nARMAGEDDON\n\nTHE FINAL CLASH OF EARTHLY EMPIRES\n\n\n \"We are living, we are dwelling,\n In a grand and awful time,\n In an age on ages telling,\n To be living is sublime.\n Hark! the waking up of nations,\n Gog and Magog to the fray;\n Hark! what soundeth? Is creation\n Groaning for her latter day?\"\n\nThe sure word of prophecy that foretold the rise and fall of ancient\nempires, and outlined the general course of world history through the\nages, describes also the last great struggle of the nations.\n\nThe proverb says, \"Peace is the dream of the wise, but war is the\nhistory of man.\" And divine prophecy assures us that the history of this\npresent world will end amid scenes of conflict.\n\nMany in our time have come to think that civilization must reach a\nbetter way of composing the rivalries of the nations. The prophecy\nforewarns us otherwise. In fact, the prophetic word points to the talk\nof peace and safety amid preparations for war, as a distinct sign of the\nlatter days.\n\n\"In the last days,\" Isaiah says, \"many people shall go and say:\"\n\n\"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into\npruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither\nshall they learn war any more.\" Isa. 2:2-4.\n\nThis is what \"many people\" were to be saying. But the real conditions in\nthe last days are described as exactly the opposite. The prophet Joel\ndescribes the real spirit of the world in these times:\n\n\"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles [the nations]: Prepare war, wake up\nthe mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat\nyour plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the\nweak say, I am strong.\" Joel 3:9, 10.\n\nThe context shows that the prophet is speaking of the last times, when\n\"the day of the Lord is near.\" Verse 14.\n\n\nThe Prophecy Fulfilling\n\nThis is what we have seen in our time, as never before in the history of\nman,--the product of the plowshare and the pruning hook being turned\ninto instruments of war.\n\nAbout twenty-five years ago the late Marquis of Salisbury, speaking as a\nman grown gray in the service of the state, asked a London audience the\nquestion, \"What is the great change that marks this time as different\nfrom the times when most of us were young men?\" The aged statesman\nanswered his own question, saying that it was the arming of the nations,\nthe swift race upon which the powers had then recently entered, to\nincrease their naval and military armaments. It is a sign of our times,\nanswering to the prophetic forecast.\n\nThroughout the present generation the thoughtful have watched with grave\nforebodings the preparations of the nations for war. Queen Alexandra, of\nBritain, once said of it:\n\n \"I was educated in the school of a king who was, before all\n things, just; and I have tried, like him, always to preach love\n and charity, I have always mistrusted warlike preparations, of\n which nations seem never to tire. Some day this accumulated\n material of soldiers and guns will burst into flames in a\n frightful war that will throw humanity into mourning on earth\n and grieve our universal Father in heaven.\"\n\nAs the race of armaments went forward on a scale never before thought\nof, statesmen and writers began to make use of the word \"Armageddon\" to\ndescribe the conflict that they saw was inevitable. Years ago the London\n_Contemporary Review_ said:\n\n \"Odd things are happening everywhere.... Russia, Germany,\n England--these are great names; they palpitate with great\n ideas; they have vast destinies before them, and millions of\n armed men in their pay, all awaiting Armageddon.\"\n\nIn June, 1909, Lord Rosebery, in a speech before a press convention in\nLondon, commented gravely upon the significance of the feverish haste\nwith which the nations were arming themselves, \"as if for some great\nArmageddon, and that in a time of the profoundest peace.\"\n\nTo quote from a popular American magazine, of the same year:\n\n \"Today all Europe is divided into two armed camps, waiting\n breathlessly for the morrow with its Armageddon.\"--_Everybody's\n Magazine, November, 1909._\n\nThus, everywhere, observers saw that the rivalry of interests among the\nnations was leading to a conflict so overwhelmingly vast that only the\nScriptural word \"Armageddon,\" with its appeal to the imagination, seemed\nadequately suggestive of its proportions.\n\nEvery passing year added to the intensity of feeling and the antagonism\nof interests. In 1911 the London _Nineteenth Century and After_ said:\n\n[Illustration: UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP \"NEVADA\"\n\nPhotograph taken from the Manhattan Bridge. New York.\n\nCOPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD. N.Y.]\n\n \"Never was national and racial feeling stronger upon earth than\n it is now. Never was preparation for war so tremendous and so\n sustained. Never was striking power so swift and so terribly\n formidable.... The shadow of conflict and of displacement\n greater than any which mankind has known since Attila and his\n Huns were stayed at Chalons, is visibly impending over the\n world. Almost can the ear of imagination hear the gathering of\n the legions for the fiery trial of peoples, a sound vast as the\n trumpet of the Lord of hosts.\"--_Quoted in the Literary Digest,\n May 6, 1911._\n\n[Illustration: COMRADES AFTER THE BATTLE\n\nSoldiers bringing in two wounded captives.\n\nPHOTO BY CENTRAL PHOTO SERVICE. N.Y.]\n\nWhat the ancient prophecy foretold--the preparing of war in the last\ndays, the waking up and arming of the nations--we have seen fulfilling\nbefore our eyes in this generation.\n\n\nSatanic Agencies at Work\n\nIn prophecies of the gathering of the nations for the last great\nstruggle, Inspiration draws aside the veil, and allows us to see the\nagencies that have been stirring up the world for the war. As the\nprophet John was shown in vision the scenes of the last days, he saw the\ninvisible powers of Satan, \"the spirits of devils,\" going forth \"unto\nthe kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the\nbattle of that great day of God Almighty.\" Rev. 16:14.\n\nEarnest-minded statesmen have lamented their helplessness to combat the\nforces and influences pressing the world on toward conflict. In one of\nhis last speeches as premier of Great Britain, the late Marquis of\nSalisbury was defending yet further calls for army and navy\nappropriations. He said:\n\n \"For years public opinion was in favor of a pacific policy, but\n now that state of opinion has passed away. The tide has turned,\n and who am I, and who are we, that we should attempt to stem\n the tide? If the tide has turned, we shall have to go with it.\n We are in the presence of forces far larger than we can wield.\"\n\nWhat those forces were, the aged statesman did not recognize, but the\nprophecy tells us. The prophet was shown the evil spirits from Satan\ngoing forth everywhere as the end nears, to stir up the whole world to\nthe last great conflict.\n\nSir Edward Grey, British foreign secretary, described these agencies\nvery accurately. Speaking in the House of Commons, Nov. 27, 1911, he\nsaid:\n\n \"It is really as if in the atmosphere of the world there were\n some mischievous influence at work, which troubles and excites\n every part of it.\"\n\nIt is all coming to pass exactly as the sure word of prophecy foretold.\n\nThe conviction that great and decisive events are at hand has taken\npossession of many hearts in all the world. When the European war broke\nout in 1914, on a scale unprecedented in human history, it was no wonder\nthat the question sprang to many lips, \"Is it Armageddon?\"\n\nThe question was not lightly asked. The committee of the Church\nMissionary Society (Church of England), one of the greatest missionary\norganizations in the world, sent a message to its missionaries in all\nlands at the outbreak of the war. In this message was a call to prepare\nfor the coming of the Lord:\n\n \"It may be that these events will quickly usher in the return\n of Christ to gather His saints together from the four quarters\n of the earth.... Many see in the events preceding and\n accompanying this terrible cataclysm of war the signs of our\n Lord's near return. If so, blessed will that servant be whom\n his Lord when He cometh shall find giving 'their food in due\n season' to those fellow servants who have been put in his\n charge.\"--_Church Missionary Review, November, 1914._\n\nTimely as this call was, it was evident, from the prophetic scriptures,\nthat the conflict then opening could not be the Armageddon of the\nApocalypse, for the prelude to that final clash of nations is an event\nyet in the future--the downfall of a nation whose part in the closing\nscenes is clearly described in the prophecy of the coming Armageddon.\n\nThe end of the power which rules over the territory through which the\nriver Euphrates flows, is the prelude to Armageddon. The prophecy says:\n\n\"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and\nthe water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East\nmight be prepared.\" Rev. 16:12.\n\nNext follows the gathering of \"the whole world\" to \"the battle of that\ngreat day of God Almighty.\" Verse 14.\n\nThrough all modern times Turkey has been identified with the Euphrates.\nThe region of Syria and Asia Minor, long held by Turkey, has been the\nhistoric meeting place of the East and the West. In the London\n_Fortnightly Review_, May, 1915, Mr. J.B. Firth wrote:\n\n \"When, with the fall of Ottoman sovereignty at Constantinople,\n the Turk is driven out of Europe, there will arise once more\n the eternal question of the possession of Asia Minor. That land\n is the corridor between Europe and Asia, along which have\n passed most of the European conquerors--the Russians alone\n excepted--who have invaded Asia, and most of the Asiatic\n conquerors who have invaded Europe.\"\n\nThe fall of the Turkish power in this Euphrates region will, in some\nmanner, prepare the way for \"the kings of the East\" to come up to the\nfinal conflict.\n\n\nThe Awakening of the East\n\nThe same spirit that has been stirring up the West in preparation for\nthe contest has been working in the East also. Year after year observers\nhave pointed out the great changes taking place in Asia. September,\n1909, the London _Contemporary Review_ said:\n\n \"The whole of Asia is in the throes of rebirth. At last we may\n see these three--the yellow race, the Indian race, and the\n Arab-Persian Mohammedan race. And all that is making for the\n Armageddon.\"\n\nA writer in the May, 1913, issue of the London _Nineteenth Century and\nAfter_, reviewing the situation at the close of the Balkan War, said:\n\n \"A new spirit is abroad in the East. It arose on the shores of\n the Pacific when Japan proved that the great powers of Europe\n are not invulnerable. North and south and west it has spread,\n rousing China out of centuries of slumber, stirring India into\n ominous questioning, reviving memories of past glory in Persia,\n breeding discontent in Egypt, and luring Turkey onto the\n rocks.\"\n\nWith all the nations stirred up by the spirit agencies of the god of\nthis world, the prophet next saw the armies of earth gathering to the\nlast great battle. The prophecy continues:\n\n\"And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue\nArmageddon.\" Rev. 16:16.\n\nArmageddon means the hill, or mount, of Megiddo, which overlooks the\nplain of Esdraelon, the historic battle ground of northern Palestine.\nCarmack says of it:\n\n \"Megiddo was the military key of Syria; it commanded at once\n the highway northward to Phoenicia and Coele-Syria and the\n road across Galilee to Damascus and the valley of the\n Euphrates. It was moreover the chief town in a district of\n great fertility, the contested possession of many races. The\n vale of Kishon and the region of Megiddo were inevitable battle\n fields. Through all history they retained that qualification;\n there many of the great contests of southwestern Asia have been\n decided. In the history of Israel it was the scene of frequent\n battles. From such association the district achieved a dark\n nobility; it was regarded as a pre-destined place of blood and\n strife; the poet of the Apocalypse has clothed it with awe as\n the ground of the final conflict between the powers of light\n and darkness.\"--_\"Pre-Biblical Syria and Palestine,\" p. 82._\n\nThus Armageddon, as the \"military key of Syria,\" marks Palestine and the\nNear East as the great international storm center in the final conflict.\n\n\nThe Political Storm Center\n\nIn vision, nearly two thousand years ago, the prophet saw the forces of\nthe last days gathering around this pivotal region. Today observers\nrecognize the eastern Mediterranean as indeed the pivotal point around\nwhich international interests involving East and West naturally revolve.\n\nSome years ago, in discussing railway development in Asia and Africa,\nand the great highways of sea transportation, the London _Fortnightly\nReview_ said:\n\n \"Palestine is the great center, the meeting of the roads.\n Whoever holds Palestine, commands the great lines of\n communication, not only by land, but also by sea.\"\n\nAgain, the Manchester _Guardian_, emphasizing the importance attaching\nto this strategic center, said during the great war:\n\n \"Egypt, as things are,--and the fact cannot be too often\n emphasized,--is the weak spot in our system of imperial defense\n by sea power. Not until Palestine is in our possession can\n Egypt be regarded as safe.\"--_Quoted in Literary Digest, Feb.\n 12, 1916, p. 369._\n\nOther nations have recognized the strategic value of a territory so\nsituated. Thus political considerations make this region pointed out by\nthe prophecy a center of conflicting interests. Hogarth, in his book,\n\"The Near East,\" calls it \"the time-honored storm center of the eastern\nMediterranean.\"\n\n\nThe Religious Storm Center\n\nTo the conflict of political interests is added the rivalry of religious\nsentiment. Commenting on the religious associations of Palestine in\nrelation to the international political situation, the London\n_Spectator_ some years ago stated the matter thus:\n\n \"People often ask how it is that the future of Palestine\n presents such difficulties. The reason is simply that\n Jerusalem--you cannot separate Jerusalem from Palestine--is\n the sacred city of so many creeds and warring faiths. Not only\n is it the holy place of all the Christian churches,--and two of\n them quarrel bitterly over it, the Greeks and the Latins,--but\n it is also one of the most sacred places in the Mohammedan\n world. Mecca and Medina are hardly more sacred than the Mosque\n of Omar. That is a fact which is often ignored by Europeans,\n who forget that to turn the Mohammedans out of the temple\n inclosure would disturb the whole Moslem world, from the\n Straits Settlements to Albania. We must never forget that\n Mohammedan pilgrims from India visit Jerusalem, just as\n Christian pilgrims visit it from Europe. Lastly, Jerusalem is\n profoundly sacred to the Jews, and the Jews are beginning to be\n locally numerous and important. Most certainly there are no\n elements of difficulty wanting in the problem of the future of\n Palestine.\"\n\nHistory records the fact that rivalry over the care of the traditional\nholy places helped to precipitate one European war--that of the Crimea.\n\nIn the study of the Eastern Question, we have seen that the prophecy of\nDaniel 11 marks Jerusalem as still a storm center in the closing scenes.\nA British consul in Jerusalem, in the days following the Crimean War,\nset forth suggestively his view of one of the factors in the Eastern\nQuestion. He wrote:\n\n \"The very heart and kernel of the Eastern Question can only be\n reached in the Holy City, Jerusalem, where the Eastern and\n Western churches are still wrestling as of old for the\n mastery.... Now as heretofore, disguise the object as they may,\n they are striving for a prize which has not been destined by\n divine Providence for either; and this prize is no less than a\n virtual dominion over the Christian world, from a throne of\n government within the sanctuaries of the Holy City; and the\n possession of that throne would involve possession of the key\n to universal dominion.\"--_\"Stirring Times: Records from\n Jerusalem Consulate Chronicles,\" by James Finn, introductory\n note by editor, p. xxiii._\n\n\nForetold in Prophecy\n\nBy every consideration--political, racial, and religious--the Near East\nsupplies all the elements for involving the whole world when once the\nsweeping displacements begin which the prophecy foretold, and for which\nstatesmen in our day have sought to prepare.\n\nLong ages ago the prophet of God, in vision on the Isle of Patmos, was\nshown the clash of interests and the gathering of the nations around\nthis historic center. Before our eyes today we see events tending to\ngive to this region the very character assigned to it by the prophecy.\nIt was written in the sure word of prophecy in order that, as the events\nforetold are seen approaching, men may believe and turn to God, and find\nsalvation from the things coming upon the earth.\n\nInto the prophecy of this sixteenth chapter of Revelation, describing\nthe gathering of forces to Armageddon, our Saviour interjects the\nwarning and the appeal:\n\n\"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his\ngarments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.\" Verse 15.\n\nThe last earthly events that the prophecy is dealing with--the pouring\nout of the seven last plagues, and the clash of Armageddon--come after\nprobation closes. The close of probation, the passing of the ministry of\nChrist in the heavenly temple, will come as a thief, unannounced. Our\nonly safety is in yielding heart and life to him now for cleansing, and\naccepting from his hand the garments of his own righteousness, freely\noffered to every one.\n\n\nWhat Comes with Armageddon\n\nWhatever ambitions or aims may be the impelling motives when the\ngathering to the great conflict comes, one thing is certain: Armageddon\nis to bring triumph and world dominion to no earthly power. As the\nnations gather, the Lord intervenes from heaven, and the history of the\nkingdoms of this world is closed at last. The prophet tells the sequel\nto Armageddon:\n\n\"He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue\nArmageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and\nthere came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne,\nsaying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings;\nand there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon\nthe earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was\ndivided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great\nBabylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the\nwine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the\nmountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of\nheaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God\nbecause of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding\ngreat.\" Rev. 16:16-21.\n\nThe fall of the Turkish power is the prelude to the gathering of the\nnations to the battle of Armageddon. And Armageddon is the prelude to\nthe end of the world and Christ's glorious coming as King of kings and\nLord of lords. The armies gathered to battle for supremacy find\nthemselves suddenly arrayed against the armies of heaven. Another\nprophecy describes the scene when Christ is revealed:\n\n\"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the\nchief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free\nman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and\nsaid to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face\nof Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for\nthe great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?\"\nRev. 6:15-17.\n\nAgain, as the great searchlight of divine prophecy lights up the way\nbefore us, we see by the course of present-day events that the end is\ndrawing very near. By what sudden turn of affairs the last things to be\ndone in history may be set in motion, none can foresee. The Saviour\nadmonishes every soul, \"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour\nas ye think not the Son of man cometh.\" Matt. 24:44.\n\nIt is for this time of waiting, especially, that Christ spoke the\nparable of the ten virgins who waited for the bridegroom. All sincerely\nwanted to meet him; all expected to be ready. But when the cry was\nraised, \"Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!\" only\nfive were ready. The others lacked the oil that was to give them light.\nWe know what the oil represents--the genuine heart experience of the\ngrace and love of Christ.\n\n[Illustration: THE TEN VIRGINS\n\n\"They that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was\nshut.\" Matt. 25:10.]\n\nThose overtaken unready, hastened away to get oil. \"And while they went\nto buy, the bridegroom came; and _they that were ready_ went in with him\nto the marriage: and the door was shut.\" Matt. 25:10. Those that were\nready went in; those that were getting ready were too late. How came\nsome to be ready?--They were ready all the time; they kept ready. This\nlesson is for us now. Our only safety is in being ready every day,\nkeeping sins forgiven, the life surrendered to God.\n\n[Illustration: THE MILLENNIUM\n\nThe millennium is the closing period of God's great week of time--a\ngreat sabbath of rest to the earth and to the people of God.\n\nIt follows the close of the gospel age, and precedes the setting up of\nthe everlasting kingdom of God on earth.\n\nIt comprehends what in the Scriptures is frequently spoken of as \"the\nday of the Lord.\"\n\nIt is bounded at each end by a resurrection.\n\nIts beginning is marked by the pouring out of the seven last plagues,\nthe second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the\nbinding of Satan, and the translation of the saints to heaven; and its\nclose, by the descent of the New Jerusalem, with Christ and the saints,\nfrom heaven, the resurrection of the wicked dead, the loosing of Satan,\nand the final destruction of the wicked.\n\nDuring the one thousand years the earth lies desolate; Satan and his\nangels are confined here; and the saints, with Christ, sit in judgment\non the wicked, preparatory to their final punishment.\n\nThe wicked dead are then raised; Satan is loosed for a little season,\nand he and the host of the wicked encompass the camp of the saints and\nthe holy city, when fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours\nthem. The earth is cleansed by the same fire that destroys the wicked,\nand, renewed, becomes the eternal abode of the saints.\n\nThe millennium is one of \"the ages to come.\" Its close will mark the\nbeginning of the new earth state.]\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST COMING FOR HIS OWN\n\n\"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,\" Rev. 20:4.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE MILLENNIUM\n\n\nThe word \"millennium\" means \"a thousand years.\" This definite period is\nreferred to specifically in but one chapter of the Bible, the twentieth\nof Revelation; and in that chapter it is spoken of repeatedly. We find\nit to be:\n\nThe period during which the saints reign with Christ in judgment.\n\nThe period during which Satan is bound.\n\nThe measure of time between the two resurrections, that of the just and\nthat of the unjust.\n\nAn examination of the scriptures bearing upon the millennium will show:\n\n1. The events that mark its beginning.\n\n2. The events that occur during the thousand years.\n\n3. The events that come at the end of the period.\n\nWe shall find it clearly taught in these scriptures:\n\nThat the millennium begins at the second coming of Christ.\n\nThat the reign of the saints with Him in judgment is not on this earth,\nbut in heaven.\n\nThat this earth, void of human inhabitants, is Satan's prison house\nduring the thousand years.\n\nThat at the end of the thousand years the judgment determined is\nexecuted upon Satan and all the wicked.\n\nThat this earth, purified by the fires of the last judgment, and\nrenewed, becomes the eternal home of the saved.\n\n\n1. Events at the Beginning of the Thousand Years\n\nThe key to the time is furnished by the declaration that the millennium\nbegins with--\n\n\nThe Resurrection of the Just\n\nSpeaking of the risen saints, the Scripture says:\n\n\"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of\nthe dead [the wicked] lived not again until the thousand years were\nfinished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that\nhath part in the first resurrection.\" Rev. 20:4-6.\n\nThere are to be two resurrections. The apostle Paul said that this was\nthe teaching of all Scripture: \"There shall be a resurrection of the\ndead, both of the just and unjust.\" Acts 24:15. The first resurrection,\nthat of the just, marks the beginning of the thousand years.\n\n\nChrist's Second Coming\n\nWhen is this first resurrection, in the order of events in this \"day of\nthe Lord\"? It is at the second advent of Christ. One scripture, out of\nmany, will suffice to state it:\n\n\"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice\nof the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ\nshall rise first.\" 1 Thess. 4:16.\n\nAs the Saviour comes in glory, with all the holy angels, the graves are\nopened, and His voice awakens His children who sleep in the dust.\n\n\"He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they\nshall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of\nheaven to the other.\" Matt. 24:31.\n\nThe time of Christ's second coming, therefore, is the beginning of the\nmillennium.\n\n\nThe Righteous Taken to Heaven\n\nThe living righteous are translated, and, together with the risen\nsaints, are taken to heaven, as the apostle says:\n\n\"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with\nthem in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be\nwith the Lord.\" 1 Thess. 4:17.\n\nThis was the Saviour's promise:\n\n\"In My Father's house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for\nyou. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and\nreceive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.\" John\n14:2, 3.\n\n\nThe Destruction of the Wicked\n\nAt Christ's second coming the wicked are slain. The unbelieving left\nwithout shelter in that day, cannot endure the presence of such glory as\nwill burst upon the world:\n\n\"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in\nflaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey\nnot the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.\" 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.\n\n\nThe Binding of Satan\n\nWith the saints in heaven, beyond the reach of Satan's wiles, and with\nthe wicked dead, not to live again till the thousand years are finished,\nSatan is \"bound\"--confined by divine power to this earth, which becomes\nhis prison house, there being neither saint nor sinner upon whom to ply\nhis arts of deception. No prisoner was ever more effectually chained.\nThe symbolical language of the prophet pictures the scene:\n\n\"I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless\npit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that\nold serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand\nyears, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a\nseal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the\nthousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a\nlittle season.\" Rev. 20:1-3.\n\nThese are the events that mark the beginning of the thousand years:\nChrist's second coming, the resurrection of the just, the ascent of all\nthe redeemed to the city of God, the death of the wicked, and, in\nconsequence, the binding of Satan.\n\n\n2. Events During the Thousand Years\n\n\nIn Heaven\n\nScene after scene of glory is spread before us in the visions the\nprophets were given of the redeemed in the city of God. The prophet John\nsays:\n\n\"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could\nnumber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood\nbefore the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and\npalms in their hands.... Therefore are they before the throne of God,\nand serve Him day and night in His temple.\" Rev. 7:9-15.\n\nThey \"serve\" in the temple of the Lord, the prophet says; while the poet\nsings:\n\n \"Whence came the armies of the sky,\n John saw in vision bright?\n Whence came their crowns, their robes, their palms,\n Too pure for mortal sight?\n\n \"From desert waste, and cities full,\n From dungeons dark, they've come,\n And now they claim their mansion fair,\n They've found their long-sought home.\"\n\nOne service in which the saved have part during the thousand years is\nthe work of judgment that still remains, preparatory to the final\nvisitation of sin and the destruction of Satan and all his works. The\nprophet saw this work going forward in the heavenly courts, the\nredeemed associated with Christ in the service:\n\n\"I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto\nthem: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of\nJesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast,\nneither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,\nor in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand\nyears.\" Rev. 20:4.\n\nIt was to this work of judging the wicked and the evil angels, that the\napostle Paul referred in the counsel to the Corinthians: \"Do ye not know\nthat the saints shall judge the world?... Know ye not that we shall\njudge angels?\" 1 Cor. 6:2, 3.\n\n\nOn Earth\n\nWhile in heaven above the saved are with Christ and the holy angels\nbefore the throne, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, it is to\nbe remembered that on earth all is desolation and emptiness. The wicked\nhave been slain by the glory of Christ's coming. By the quaking of the\nearth the cities of the nations have fallen in ruin, islands have been\nremoved, and mountains cast into the depths of the sea. The condition of\nthe earth during this time of desolation is thus described by the\nprophet:\n\n\"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the\nheavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they\ntrembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was\nno man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo,\nthe fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were\nbroken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.\" Jer.\n4:23-26.\n\n\"Without form, and void,\" said the prophet. This is the same phrase that\nis used in the opening verses of Genesis to describe the chaotic state\nof the earth in the beginning. At the beginning of creation week the\nearth was in a state of emptiness and chaos--an \"abyss,\" as it is\ncalled in the Greek translation of Genesis. Again, during this\nthousand-year period, the earth is an \"abyss,\" or a desolate waste.\n\"Abyss\" is the meaning of the word translated \"bottomless pit\" in the\ntext telling of the binding of Satan by the mighty angel of God:\n\n\"He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and\nSatan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless\npit.\" Rev. 20:2, 3. The Revised Version says, \"And cast him into the\nabyss.\"\n\nConfined to this pit or abyss of desolation, as a prisoner in a prison\nhouse, with none to tempt, the author of sin has a thousand years in\nwhich to view the ruin that sin has wrought in the earth that once left\nits Maker's hand beautiful and perfect, unmarred by any curse.\n\n\n3. Events at the End of the Thousand Years\n\nAt the end of the millennium, this earth becomes the scene of events\nthat close the great controversy between Christ and Satan.\n\n\nThe Descent of the Holy City\n\nThe judgment work in heaven having been accomplished, the hour has come\nfor the execution of the judgment upon sin and sinners. The holy city\ncomes down out of heaven. The prophet saw its descent in vision:\n\n\"I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of\nheaven.\" Rev. 21:2.\n\n\nThe Loosing of Satan\n\n\"When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his\nprison, and shall go out to deceive the nations.\" Rev. 20:7, 8.\n\nWith all the wicked destroyed by the glory of Christ's second coming,\nSatan had been effectually bound; but now, as the city descends, the\nvoice of Christ calls forth the wicked dead, and Satan is thus loosed,\nand assumes control again of those who have chosen him as their master.\n\nIt is the time of which the Scripture speaks: \"The rest of the dead\nlived not again until the thousand years were finished.\" Verse 5. The\nprophet saw the hosts of the lost called forth. \"The sea gave up the\ndead which were in it; and death and hell [the \"grave,\" margin]\ndelivered up the dead which were in them.\" Verse 13.\n\nThus Satan's subjects come forth to the last judgment. The resurrection\nof the wicked of all the ages is the loosing of Satan. Here again is his\nkingdom, and again he plies his deceptions and takes up anew his fight\nagainst God. How very natural that Satan should persuade the wicked that\nhe has raised them to life, that his word in the beginning was true, \"Ye\nshall not surely die\"! If they are immortal, why may they not yet\nprevail against God? Satan rallies his angels and the hosts of the\nwicked, in numbers \"as the sand of the sea,\" to make an attack upon the\ncity of God.\n\n \"How vast the concourse! not in number more\n The waves that break on the resounding shore,\n The leaves that tremble in the shady grove,\n The lamps that gild the spangled vaults above;\n Those overwhelming armies, whose command\n Said to one empire, Fall; another, Stand;\n Whose rear lay wrap't in night, while breaking dawn\n Rous'd the broad front, and called the battle on;\n Great Xerxes' world in arms, proud Cannae's field,\n Where Carthage taught victorious Rome to yield,\n Immortal Blenheim, fam'd Ramillia's host;--\n They all are here, and here they all are lost;\n Their millions swell, to be discerned in vain,\n Lost as a billow in th' unbounded main.\"\n\n --_Edward Young's \"Last Day.\"_\n\n\"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the\nsaints about, and the beloved city.\" Verse 9.\n\n\nThe Wicked Before the Bar of God\n\nBut as the hosts of evil compass the city, they are halted by the glory\nand majesty of the Redeemer's presence, enthroned as eternal victor over\nsin. Just here must apply the prophet's words:\n\n\"I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the\nearth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.\nAnd I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books\nwere opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and\nthe dead were judged out of those things which were written in the\nbooks, according to their works.\" Rev. 20:11, 12.\n\n[Illustration: THE HOLY CITY DESCENDS\n\n\"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.\" Rev 21:3.]\n\nDuring the thousand years the records in heaven have been reviewed, and\nthe degrees of guilt established. Now the judgment is to be pronounced\nand executed. But first the record of the books and the eternal\nrighteousness of God's holy law are flashed by divine power upon the\nconsciences of all the lost--\"their conscience also bearing witness\"\n(Rom. 2:15) that they are without excuse.\n\n\nThe Destruction of Sin\n\nSin is now to be blotted from the universe of God; and those who have\nchosen to be identified with sin perish with it. All that Infinite Love\ncan do has been done in the gift of Christ to save men from the\ntransgression of the holy law of God. That salvation rejected, there is\nnothing remaining that heaven can offer. There is no further sacrifice\nthat can be made. \"There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.\" Heb.\n10:26.\n\nThen follows the last scene in the conflict with evil:\n\n\"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the\nsaints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of\nheaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast\ninto the lake of fire.... And death and hell [the grave] were cast into\nthe lake of fire. This is the second death.\" Rev. 20:9-14.\n\nThe second death ends sin and the author of sin, and death itself. The\ncontroversy is ended. Christ's death has purged sin from the universe of\nGod.\n\n\nThe Earth Purified and Made New\n\nThe fires that consume the wicked melt the earth and purify it from all\ntrace of the curse. It is the day of which Peter wrote:\n\n\"Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements\nshall melt with fervent heat.\" But after this cleansing of every element\nof this sin-cursed earth, the promise of God will be fulfilled in the\nearth made new, as the eternal home of the saved. As Peter says, after\ntelling of the day of burning, \"Nevertheless we, according to His\npromise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth\nrighteousness.\" 2 Peter 3:12, 13.\n\n \"O sweet and blessed country,\n The home of God's elect!\n O sweet and blessed country,\n That eager hearts expect!\n Jesus, in mercy bring us\n To that dear land of rest;\n Who art, with God the Father,\n And Spirit, ever blest.\"\n\n[Illustration: MOSES VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND\n\n\"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\" Matt. 5:5.]\n\n[Illustration: THE SPIES' RETURN\n\n\"The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good\nland.\" Num. 14:7.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOME OF THE SAVED\n\n\nThe Land of Peace\n\nThe Bible opens with a new heaven and a new earth, perfect from the\nCreator's hand; with man sinless and having access to the tree of life\nin the midst of the Eden paradise, out of which flowed a river that\nspread its life-giving waters through the earth.\n\nThe Bible closes with a new heaven and a new earth; with man upright and\nsinless, having right to the tree of life growing in the midst of Eden;\nwith the river of life flowing out from the garden of God, clear as\ncrystal.\n\nBetween the two scenes spreads out the panorama of six thousand years of\nconflict with sin. It is a story of the fall of man, of the loss of his\nEden home, of the curse that marred the earth, of sin and sorrow and\ndeath overspreading all.\n\n\nThe Restorer\n\nBut from the hour when the shadow of sin fell upon the earth, there has\nbeen a light shining in the darkness. Amid the ruin that sin had\nwrought, there appeared the great Restorer.\n\nThe inspired record gives a word-picture of Jesus taking man's place to\nwin back the lost dominion:\n\n\"Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come,\nwhereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is\nman, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest\nhim? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him\nwith glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands:\nThou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He\nput all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under\nHim. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus.\"\nHeb. 2:5-9.\n\nJust where Adam fell and lost his dominion over the earth, we see Jesus,\nthe second Adam, taking man's place and winning back the lost\ninheritance. That is why the picture of the new earth and man's sinless\nstate depicted in the first two chapters of the Bible is repeated in the\nlast two chapters with even greater fulness of glory. God's original\nplan and purpose will be carried out, and this earth, renewed, will be\nthe eternal home of sinless men and women, redeemed by grace.\n\nSin will be found not to have frustrated, but only to have delayed, the\npurpose of God. And what is six thousand years in working out the divine\nplan? In our brief span we may divide human history into ancient,\nmedieval, and modern; but in heaven's life a thousand years are but as\n\"a watch in the night;\" and these six watches are to heaven but as one\nnight of grief and of loving ministry in rescuing the lost.\n\nIt has cost all that heaven had to give. But the infinite Gift was made,\nand all heaven has wrought at the work. Of the angels it is written,\n\"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them\nwho shall be heirs of salvation?\" Heb. 1:14.\n\n\nBringing Back the Lost Dominion\n\nOf all the worlds that shine in the heavens, declaring the glory of God,\nthis earth is the one that was lost. Its light went out in darkness. It\nwandered from the fold of God's perfect creation.\n\nThen the divine Shepherd came to find it and bring it back. And the\nangels that rejoiced when they saw this earth created,--\"when the\nmorning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for\njoy,\"--will again rejoice as the Lord brings back His own,--this earth,\nredeemed from the curse, shining in the bright universe again with the\nperfection of the glory of God.\n\nChrist not only redeems lost men, but He is to redeem this lost earth.\n\"The Son of man,\" He said, \"is come to seek and to save that which was\nlost.\" Luke 19:10.\n\nBy sinning, man lost not only his righteousness and his life, but his\ndominion as well. Originally man had dominion \"over all the earth.\" Gen.\n1:26. As the psalmist says, \"Thou madest him to have dominion over the\nworks of Thy hands.\" Ps. 8:6. He was prince and ruler of the earth. But\nwhen he yielded to Satan's temptation, he yielded up that dominion to\nthe enemy, thus placing himself in the power of his foe. Satan thus\nbecame the \"prince of this world,\" exercising the dominion wrested from\nman.\n\nBut through Christ, this dominion is to be restored. The prophet of old\nsaid:\n\n\"Thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion,\nunto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come\nto the daughter of Jerusalem.\" Micah 4:8.\n\n\nThe Hope of the Promise\n\nThe promise of the gospel of salvation is the promise not only of life\neternal through faith, but of an eternal inheritance in the earth made\nnew, the fulfilment of the Creator's plan when He made this world to be\nthe home of man. This was the star of hope that shone before Adam and\nEve as they stepped forth from Eden into a dying world. It was the\npromise to Abraham, \"the promise, that he should be the heir of the\nworld.\" Rom. 4:13.\n\nIt was not the promise of the world in its present state. For the Lord\ngave Abraham \"none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot\non.\" Acts 7:5. Abraham himself did not look for the promise to be\nfulfilled in this sinful earth, but in the earth made new, redeemed from\nsin. The Scripture says of his hope:\n\n\"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country:\n... for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and\nmaker is God.\" Heb. 11:9, 10.\n\nIt was in the new earth and the New Jerusalem that Abraham, the father\nof the faithful, expected to receive the eternal inheritance promised to\nhim and to his seed. And there all the faithful will find their\ninheritance.\n\n\"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to\nthe promise.\" Gal. 3:29.\n\nThe psalmist said, \"The meek shall inherit the earth.\" Ps. 37:11. Christ\nrepeated it: \"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\"\nMatt. 5:5.\n\n\nThe New Earth and the New Jerusalem\n\nThrough the prophet Isaiah the Lord described the re-creation of this\nearth to be the home of the saved:\n\n\"Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall\nnot be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice\nforever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a\nrejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and\njoy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in\nher, nor the voice of crying.\" Isa. 65:17-19.\n\nIt is not of old Jerusalem that the prophet is speaking, but of the New\nJerusalem, which John saw coming down, with the saints, from God out of\nheaven. He saw it descending upon the earth at the end of the thousand\nyears, and saw the wicked come forth from their graves to judgment. Then\nhe saw the fires of the last day falling upon the lost, consuming sin\nand sinners, and purifying the earth itself from every trace of the\ncurse. It is the day of which Peter wrote, \"Wherein the heavens being on\nfire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.\"\nBut he adds, \"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new\nheavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.\" 2 Peter 3:12,\n13.\n\nOut from the dissolved elements of the earth and the atmospheric heavens\nthe Creator's power again calls forth new heavens and a new earth, the\nold creation cleansed and renewed in the perfection of the original Eden\nparadise. It is coming; for John saw it in vision. \"I saw,\" he says, \"a\nnew heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth\nwere passed away.\" Rev. 21:1.\n\nHe saw the city which had come down from heaven--those mansions that\nChrist is now gone to prepare--the New Jerusalem, the holy capital of\nthe eternal kingdom of the saints, where Christ's own throne is set.\n\n\"I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of\nGod is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His\npeople, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God\nshall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more\ndeath, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:\nfor the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne\nsaid, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for\nthese words are true and faithful.\" Rev. 21:3-5.\n\nIt passes comprehension; but it is true. And the life of the saved in\ntheir eternal inheritance will be just as real as is life upon this\npresent earth.\n\n[Illustration: THE SAINTS' ETERNAL HOME\n\n\"I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first\nearth were passed away.\" Rev. 21:1.]\n\n\"They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant\nvineyards, and eat the fruit of them.\" \"The wolf and the lamb shall feed\ntogether, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall\nbe the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy\nmountain, saith the Lord.\" Isa. 65:21, 25.\n\nThe whole earth will be as the Eden paradise planted by God in the\nbeginning. And from week to week and from month to month the saved will\ngather to worship before the glorious throne in the holy city.\n\n\"As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain\nbefore Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And\nit shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one\nSabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the\nLord.\" Isa. 66:22, 23.\n\n\nThe Glories of the Saints' Eternal Home\n\nAs the first two chapters of the Bible tell of earth's original\nperfection, so the last two chapters constitute one psalm of ecstasy\nover the indescribable glories of the earth made new, with its city of\nlight, the walls of jasper, the gates of pearl, the river of life\nflowing from the throne of the Lamb, clear as crystal, with the\nwidespreading tree of life on either side of the river. And supreme\nabove all, Jesus Himself, \"the King in His beauty,\" without whom there\nwould be no glory even in that city foursquare; \"for the glory of God\ndid lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.\"\n\n \"Oh, heaven without my Saviour\n Would be no heaven to me;\n Dim were the walls of jasper,\n Rayless the crystal sea!\n\n \"He gilds earth's darkest valleys\n With light and joy and peace;\n Then what must be the radiance\n Where sin and death shall cease?\"\n\nNext to the loveliness and grace of Christ our Saviour, the glories of\nthis world to come have inspired the sweetest hymns of hope for longing\nhearts. How often has the spirit been lifted above earth's trials as we\nhave sung,\n\n \"O that home of the soul! in my visions and dreams\n Its bright, jasper walls I can see\n Till I fancy but thinly the veil intervenes\n Between the fair city and me.\n\n \"That unchangeable home is for you and for me,\n Where Jesus of Nazareth stands;\n The King of all kingdoms forever is He,\n And He holdeth our crowns in His hands.\n\n \"O how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,\n So free from all sorrow and pain,\n With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands,\n To meet one another again!\"\n\n\"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have\nentered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for\nthem that love Him.\"\n\nThrough the ages, the children of the promise have been journeying\ntoward the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker\nis God, and they have confessed themselves pilgrims and\nstrangers in this present world. As they have followed the way of\nrighteousness,--oftentimes a thorny path,--it has been with the shining\ncity ever before their vision. As they have fallen in death, it has been\nwith closing eyes fixed upon \"that day\" when Christ shall come to take\nHis people to the New Jerusalem preparing above\n\n \"The Lamb there in His beauty\n Without a veil is seen.\n It were a well-spent journey\n Though seven deaths lay between.\"\n\nNow earth's course is nearly run. It is but a little way to the holy\ncity, where the water of life flows clear as crystal from the midst of\nthe throne. The water of life is really there; for the Lord showed it to\nthe prophet John in vision, that he might tell us that he saw it. \"I\nJohn saw the holy city,\" he says, \"and he showed me a pure river of\nwater of life, clear as crystal.\" Rev. 21:2; 22:1.\n\n[Illustration: THE MASTER AT THE DOOR\n\n\"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and\nopen the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with\nMe.\" Rev 3:20.]\n\nChrist invites every one to share the eternal inheritance, giving\nassurance of His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God\nby Him. He is knocking at the door of every heart, asking admittance, in\norder that He may take away all sin, and prepare the soul for the\nheavenly home.\n\nAnd the glories of the holy city invite us to come:\n\n\"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.\nAnd let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the\nwater of life freely.\" Rev. 22:17.\n\n\"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.\nEven so, come, Lord Jesus.\"\n\n[Illustration: EVENTIDE\n\nHome to the fold.]\n\n\n\n\nINDEX OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORITIES\n\n\nAbraham, parable of rich man and Lazarus, 284\n\n\"Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,\" on change of Sabbath, 156\n\nAdolphus, on study of prophecy, 305\n\nAdvent message, Bates as advocate of, 244\n\nAdvent movement, extent of, Brock on, 241\n\nAdvent movement of 1844, 240\n\nAEschylus, on Medo-Persia, 121\n\nAEschylus, on Xerxes' host, 323\n\nAlexander, conquests of, Plutarch on, 121, 122\n\nAlexander, dominion of, Rawlinson on, 324, 325\n\nAlexander, empire of, Appian on, 122\n\nAlexander, first king of Greece, 207\n\nAlexander, greatness of, Arrian on, 44\n\nAlexander, Justin on, 207\n\nAlexander, Lucan on, 45\n\nAlexandra, Queen, on preparations for war, 339\n\nAlexandria, library at, sacred books of Jews in, 187\n\nAngels attending throne of God, 296\n\nAngels, God's messengers, 297\n\nAngels, guardian, 300\n\nAngels in kingly courts, 299\n\nAngels, messengers of deliverance, 300\n\nAngels, their ministry, 295-301\n\nAntitypical day of atonement, 237, 240, 241\n\nApollonius, description of Babylon by, 33\n\nApostasy in last days, Daniel 8, 248\n\nAppearing of Christ, 59\n\nAppian, on Alexander's empire, 122\n\nArian kingdoms plucked up, 129\n\nArian powers uprooted by Belisarius, 134\n\nArmageddon, \"Contemporary Review\" on, 339\n\nArmageddon, \"Everybody's Magazine\" on, 339\n\nArmageddon, final clash of empires, 337-349\n\nArmageddon, foretold in prophecy, 346, 347\n\nArmageddon, Lord Rosebery on, 339\n\nArmageddon, or Mt. Megiddo, Carmack, on 344\n\nArmageddon, prelude to, 343\n\nArmageddon, sequel of, 347, 348\n\nArming of the nations, 106, 107\n\nArrian, on Alexander's greatness, 44\n\nArtaxerxes, date of decree to rebuild Jerusalem, 223\n\nArtaxerxes, date of reign of, 225-227\n\n\"Astronomy,\" Chambers, on falling stars, 101\n\nAtonement, antitypical day of, 237, 240, 241\n\nAvebury, Lord, on war, 112\n\n\nBabylon, description of, by Apollonius, 33, 34\n\nBabylon, desolation of, 31-35\n\nBabylon, desolation of, Layard on, 35\n\nBabylon, \"Encyclopedia of Islam\" on, 35\n\nBabylon in prophecy and history, 119, 120\n\nBabylon, prophecy concerning, 39-41\n\nBabylon, prophecy of, confirmed by history, 41-43\n\nBabylon, Strabo on, 34\n\nBacon, Francis, on increase of knowledge, 306, 307\n\nBall, Sir Robert, on falling stars, 100\n\nBampfield, died in prison for Sabbath keeping, 179\n\nBaptism, conditions necessary to, 199, 200\n\nBaptism for believers, 200\n\nBaptism, form of, 200-203\n\nBaptism, manner of, Dean Stanley on, 202\n\nBaptism, manner of, Neander on, 201\n\nBaptism, manner of, Pullus on, 202\n\n\"Baptism,\" meaning of word, Calvin on, 201\n\n\"Baptism,\" meaning of word, Luther on, 201\n\nBaptism, memorial of resurrection, 199-203\n\nBaptism of infants, Dean Stanley on, 202\n\nBaptism of Jesus, time of, 230, 231\n\nBaptists, Sabbatarian, 179\n\nBaptists, Seventh Day, in America, 179, 180\n\nBarnes, Dr. Albert, on division of Grecia, 122\n\nBates, as a Sabbath keeper, 244\n\nBaudrillart, on papal persecution, 151\n\nBeast, the fourth, of Daniel 7, 126-129\n\nBeasts, empires represented by, 118\n\nBelisarius, Arian powers uprooted by, 134\n\nBellarmine, on great words of little horn, 147\n\nBemont and Monod, \"Medieval Europe\", 137\n\nBengelius, on judgment-hour warning, 249\n\nBerosus, on exploits of Nebuchadnezzar, 120\n\nBerthier enters Rome, Rickaby on, 141\n\nBesant, Mrs. Annie, on spiritualism of the East, 273\n\nBible, agency in the new birth, 15, 17\n\nBible and tradition, 251, 252\n\nBible, Christ the central theme of, 23\n\nBible, Dr. Harris on, 20, 21\n\nBible, Erasmus on, 21\n\nBible for all mankind, 21\n\nBible, given to the world, Faber on, 308\n\nBible, God its author, 14\n\nBible, language of, Van Dyke on, 21, 22\n\nBible, our safety and defense, 18\n\nBible societies, organization of, 308\n\nBible, source of all doctrine, 20\n\nBible, speaks to our day, 13\n\nBible, Spurgeon on authorship of, 14\n\nBible, Spurgeon's experience with, 14\n\nBible, the book that talks, 13\n\nBible, the bread of life, 18\n\nBible, the Christian's shield, 18\n\nBible, the living word, 15\n\nBible, the word that creates, 15\n\nBible, the word that works within, 17\n\nBiddolf, on lessons from Lisbon earthquake, 82\n\nBishop of Rome as head of church, Justinian on, 133\n\nBlunt, on doom of Turks, 333\n\nBogue, on persecution for Sabbath keeping, 178, 179\n\nBonar's hymn, on state of dead, 282\n\nBower, on Sabbath observance, 174\n\nBread of life, Bible as the, 18\n\nBrerewood, on Sabbath in first centuries, 173\n\nBritten, Mrs. Emma, on Spiritualism, 269\n\nBrock, on extent of the advent movement, 241\n\nBruce, on desolation of Tyre, 31\n\nBury, on achievements of Justinian, 132\n\n\nCalamy, on Bampfield as a Sabbatarian, 179\n\nCalvin, on meaning of word \"baptism\", 201\n\nCanon, Ptolemy's, Lindsay on, 225\n\nCarmack, on Armageddon, or Mt. Megiddo, 344\n\nChambers, Dr., on Sabbath in England, 177\n\nChambers, on falling stars, 101\n\nChange of Sabbath, 153-167\n\nCharles I, on Sabbath observance, 177\n\nChina open to the gospel, 309\n\nChrist and Satan, controversy between, 257-263\n\nChrist, central theme of Bible, 23\n\nChrist, closing work of, in heaven, 216\n\nChrist, death of, 231\n\nChrist, glorious appearing of, 59\n\nChrist, lost dominion redeemed by, 363\n\nChrist, second coming of, 51-63, 352\n\nChrist, the restorer, 362\n\nChristian work of Countess of Huntingdon, 63\n\nChrists, false, 74\n\n\"Church Missionary Review,\" on war a sign of end, 343\n\nClarke, Dr. Adam, on \"living soul\", 283\n\nCleansing of the sanctuary, 211, 213-217\n\nClerke, on glory of falling stars, 101, 102\n\nClerke, on star shower of 1833, 94, 95\n\nComing of Christ at the door, 115\n\nComing of Christ, beginning of signs of, 75-77\n\nComing of Christ, love of pleasure a sign of, 109\n\nComing of Christ, manner of, 53-55\n\nComing of Christ, political unrest a sign of, 106\n\nComing of Christ, prelude to, 59\n\nComing of Christ, promise of, 52\n\nComing of Christ, purpose of, 56, 57\n\nComing of Christ, signs of, 74, 75\n\nComing of Christ, signs of, in industrial world, 110\n\nComing of Christ, signs of, in Matthew 24, 65, 66, 112, 113\n\nComing of Christ, signs of, in the social world, 109\n\nComing of Christ, signs of, upon the earth, 105\n\nComing of Christ, the Saviour's prophecy of, 65-77\n\nComing of Christ, to be as in days of Noah, 109\n\nComing of Christ, world evangelization a sign of, 112\n\nCommandments, the ten, 182\n\nComte, M., on passion for pleasure, 10\n\nConnecticut Legislature, Dark Day in, 90\n\nConroy, on temporal sovereignty of popes, 129\n\nConstantine, Sunday law of, 16\n\n\"Contemporary Review,\" on Armageddon, 339\n\n\"Contemporary Review,\" on awakening of East, 344\n\nControversy between Christ and Satan, 257\n\nControversy, earth the battle-ground of, 259\n\nConybeare and Howson, on the Sabbath, 165\n\nCottrell, R.F., poem by, 171\n\nCountess of Huntingdon, Christian work of, 63\n\nCovenant, confirming of the, 231\n\nCreative power of the Word, 15\n\nCroly, on Justinian as founder of papal supremacy, 133\n\nCuneiform writing, 312\n\nCyrus, conquests of, Rawlinson on, 121\n\nCyrus, Xenophon on, 206\n\nDale, on non-sacredness of Sunday, 166\n\nDaniel, book of, unsealed, 304\n\nDaniel 2, prophecy of, 39-49\n\nDaniel 7, prophecy of, 117-129\n\nDaniel 8, prophecy of, 205-211\n\nDaniel, prophecy of 1260 years, 131, 132\n\nDaniel, vision of great beasts, 118\n\nDark Day, Boston \"Gazette\" on, 88\n\nDark Day, cause of unknown, 87\n\nDark Day, contemporary records of, 88, 89\n\nDark Day, Dr. Samuel Stearns on, 89, 90\n\nDark Day, effect on Connecticut Legislature, 90\n\nDark Day, \"Independent Chronicle\" on, 88, 89\n\nDark Day in New England, Williams on, 86\n\nDark Day, prophecy of, fulfilled, 85\n\nDark Day, Timothy Dwight on, 90\n\nDark Day, Webster on, 87\n\nDark Day, Whittier on, 86, 87, 90, 91\n\nDarkening of the sun, 85\n\nDead, not agencies of Spiritualism, 271\n\nDead, sleep of, 280-282\n\nDead, righteous, raised to life, 60\n\nDeath, man's state in, 275, 280-282\n\nDelaire, Mme. Jean, on Theosophy and Spiritualism, 272, 273\n\nDesolation of Babylon, 31\n\nDestruction of the wicked, 61, 353\n\n\"Dictionary of Christian Antiquities,\" on Change of Sabbath, 166\n\nDiscontent, F.T. Martin on growth of, 112\n\nDoctrinal Catechism, on change of Sabbath, 156\n\nDoctrinal Catechism, on power of church, 252\n\nDoctrine, Bible the source of, 20\n\nDominion, bring back the lost, 363\n\nDream of Nebuchadnezzar, 39, 40\n\nDwight, on Dark Day, 90\n\n\nEarth, cleansed and renewed, 364-367\n\nEarth, purified, 359\n\nEast, awakening of, 344\n\nEast, \"Nineteenth Century and After,\" on new spirit in, 344\n\nEastern Question, Jerusalem heart of, Finn on, 346\n\nEastern Question, Maspero on, 322\n\nEastern Question, relation to end of world, 334\n\nEastern Question, the, 321-335\n\nEighteen forty-four, Advent movement in, 240-244\n\nElliott, on great words of little horn, 147\n\nElven, Cornelius, poem by, 335\n\nEmpires, four great universal, 117-129\n\nEncyclopedia Britannica, on Palestine as battle field, 325, 326\n\nEncyclopedia of Islam, on Babylon, 35\n\nEnd of the wicked, 287-293\n\nEnd, time of the, 303-317\n\nErasmus, on the Bible, 21\n\nEternal fire, 292, 293\n\nEuphrates dried up, 332\n\nEurope, kingdoms of modern, 46-48\n\nEverlasting fire, 292\n\nEverlasting punishment, 289-293\n\n\"Everybody's Magazine,\" on Armageddon, 339\n\nEvil, origin of, 257-263\n\nExecutive judgment, 261-263\n\n\nFaber, G.S., on Bible given to the world, 308\n\nFaith, justification by, 191-197\n\nFalling stars, 93\n\nFalling stars, sign to world, 99\n\nFalse Christs, 74\n\nFarrar, on prophecy fulfilled, 35, 36\n\nFerraris, on titles assumed by Pope, 149\n\nFig tree, parable of, 115\n\nFinlay, on beginning of history of Middle Ages, 134, 135\n\nFinlay, on rapid changes in sixth century, 132\n\nFire, everlasting, 292, 293\n\nFire, lake of, 290\n\nFire, unquenchable, 292, 293\n\nFirst angel's message, 239\n\nFirst day rest, 164-166\n\nFirth, on fall of Ottoman power, 343\n\nFlammarion, on density of star shower, 95\n\n\"Forever and ever,\" meaning of, 291, 292\n\n\"Fortnightly Review,\" on Turkey's position, 333, 334\n\nFox family, origin of modern Spiritualism, 269\n\nFrance, decree of, to abolish religion, 140\n\nFrench Revolution, Lamartine on, 140\n\nFrench Revolution, significant events of, 140\n\n\n\"Gazette and Country Journal\" on dark day, 88\n\nGehenna, a valley near Jerusalem, 293\n\nGentiles, gospel carried to, 234, 235\n\nGibbon, on power of Rome, 46\n\nGibbon, on Roman Empire, 209\n\nGibbon, on site of Nineveh, 29\n\nGibbon, on struggle for Italy, 134\n\nGod's challenge to false religious systems, 25\n\nGoldastus, on Sabbath keepers in Alpine valleys, 175\n\nGospel, agencies for work of, 311\n\nGospel, China, opened to the, 309\n\nGospel, doors open to, in all world, 309\n\nGospel for our day, the, 247, 248\n\nGospel message, solemn warning in, 248, 249\n\nGospel, open doors for, Dr. Pierson on, 310\n\nGospel, printing press an agency of, 318\n\nGospel, telegraph used in carrying, 318\n\nGospel, the everlasting, 248\n\nGospel to the Gentiles, 234, 235\n\nGoths, defeat of, 134\n\nGreat controversy, earth the battle ground of, 259\n\nGrecia, Alexander first king of, 207\n\nGrecia, conquests of, under Alexander, 121, 122\n\nGrecia, division of, Dr. Albert Barnes on, 122\n\nGrecia, prophecy and history of, 206, 207, 121, 324\n\nGrecia, prophecy concerning, in Daniel, 244\n\nGreece, division of, 208\n\nGreeley, Spiritualism tested by, 269\n\nGrey, Sir Edward, on Satanic agencies, 342\n\nGuardian angels, 300\n\nGutenberg's first types, 314\n\n\nHales, on authenticity of Ptolemy's canon, 225\n\nHarris, on the Bible, 20-21\n\nHastings, on Valley of Hinnom, 293\n\n\"Hearst's Magazine,\" on growth of discontent, 112\n\nHeresies, papal order against, 150\n\nHerodotus, on doctrine of immortality, 291\n\nHerodotus, on Pythius, the Lydian, 323\n\nHieroglyphics, the \"Ox Song\", 312\n\nHinnom, Valley of, 293\n\nHippolytus, on power of Rome, 46\n\nHippolytus, on prophecy of Rome fulfilled, 126\n\nHiscox, on change of Sabbath, 166, 167\n\nHiscox, on Sunday mark of paganism, 170\n\nHistory, prophecy confirmed by, 35-37\n\nHobbs, Professor, on Lisbon earthquake, 79\n\nHoltzman, on Bible and tradition, 252\n\nHome of the saved, 361-370\n\nHorace, ode on Rome, 47\n\nHorace, on might of Rome, 208\n\nHughes, on Jerusalem's part in closing history, 328\n\nHuguenots, persecution of, Kurtz on, 76\n\nHumboldt, on other displays of falling stars, 99\n\nHumphreys, on appearance of falling stars, 96\n\nHutton, on abolition of religion in France, 140\n\nHymn on state of dead, by Horatius Bonar, 282\n\n\nImage of Daniel 2, 118\n\nImage to the Papacy, 251\n\nImmortality, doctrine of, 291\n\nImmortality, doctrine of, Herodotus on, 291\n\nImmortality, God only has, 282\n\nImmortality of the soul, 275-285\n\nImmortality, the gift of God, 275, 282\n\nImmortality, when bestowed, 279\n\nIncrease of knowledge, 306-317\n\n\"Independent Chronicle,\" on Dark Day, 88, 89\n\nInfant baptism, Dean Stanley on, 202\n\nIsing, visit of, to site of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, 35\n\nItaly, struggle for, Gibbon on, 134\n\n\nJerusalem, Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild, 223-225\n\nJerusalem, date of decree to restore, 223\n\nJerusalem, destruction of temple at, 70\n\nJerusalem, headquarters of king of the North, 328\n\nJerusalem, heart of Eastern Question, Finn on, 346\n\nJerusalem, last days of, 66\n\nJerusalem, last gathering place, Mukaddasi on, 328\n\nJerusalem, Moslems turn toward, 330\n\nJerusalem, part of, in closing history, Hughes on, 328\n\nJerusalem, signs of approaching doom of, 67-69\n\nJessup on falling stars, 100\n\nJesus, the restorer, 362\n\nJesus, time of baptism of, 230\n\nJews, fanaticism of, Ridpath on, 67\n\nJoseph, prophecy fulfilled to, 26\n\nJosephus, on destruction of temple, 70\n\nJudgment, Christ's work in sanctuary, 216, 217\n\nJudgment hour, many witnesses proclaim, 240, 241\n\nJudgment-hour message, 247-255\n\nJudgment-hour message, a call to loyalty, 249\n\nJudgment-hour message, John Wesley on, 249\n\nJudgment-hour warning, Bengelius on, 249\n\nJudgment, law of God the standard in, 189\n\nJudgment, message of, in 1844, 239\n\nJudgment, the hour of God's, 237\n\nJudgment, time of the investigative, 235-237\n\nJudgment upon Satan, 261-263\n\nJurieu, on fall of the Papacy, 140, 141\n\nJustification and righteousness, 195\n\nJustification by faith, 191\n\nJustification not by works, 192\n\nJustification, what it is, 196, 197\n\nJustinian, achievements of, Bury on, 132\n\nJustinian as source of papal power, Croly on, 133\n\nJustinian, decree of, in A.D. 533, 133\n\nJustin, on Alexander, 207\n\n\nKeyser, on Sabbath keeping in Norway, 175\n\nKillen, on change of Sabbath, 169\n\nKingdom of God, when to be set up, 48\n\nKingdoms of modern Europe, 46\n\nKing of the North, the modern, 326\n\nKing of the North, removal of, to Jerusalem, 328\n\nKings of the North and South, 325\n\nKnowledge, increase of, 306\n\nKnowledge, increase of, Francis Bacon on, 306, 307\n\nKnowledge, increase of, Lorimer on, 307\n\nKurtz, on persecution of Huguenots, 76\n\n\nLake of fire, the, 290\n\nLamartine, on French Revolution, 140\n\nLangley, on falling stars, 101\n\nLang, on Sabbath in Scotland, 174\n\nLaodicea, Council of, on Sabbath keeping, 173, 174\n\nLawgiver, only one, 188\n\nLaw of God changed by Papacy, Melanchthon on, 154\n\nLaw of God, character of, 183\n\nLaw of God, existed from the beginning, 184, 185\n\nLaw of God, given anew at Sinai, 186\n\nLaw of God, given with his own voice, 187\n\nLaw of God, office of, 183, 184\n\nLaw of God, relation of, to justification, 191, 193\n\nLaw of God, standard in the judgment, 189\n\nLaw of God, standard of righteousness, 188\n\nLaw of God, the, 182-189\n\nLaw of God unchangeable, 153\n\nLayard, on the desolation of Babylon, 35\n\nLazarus, parable of rich man and, 284, 285\n\nLecky, on papal persecution, 150\n\nLeo XIII, encyclical letter of, 149\n\nLeonard, Dr., on missionary activity, 307\n\n\"Library of Christian Doctrine,\" on change of Sabbath, 154, 155\n\nLife only in Christ, 275-285\n\nLindsay, on Ptolemy's Canon, 225\n\nLisbon earthquake, extent of, 81\n\nLisbon earthquake, James Parton on, 80\n\nLisbon earthquake, lessons from, John Biddolf on, 82\n\nLisbon earthquake, Professor Hobbs on, 79\n\nLisbon earthquake recognized as a sign, 82\n\nLisbon earthquake, Voltaire on, 80\n\nLisbon earthquake, world set to thinking by, 80\n\nLittle horn, 208\n\nLittle horn and fourth kingdom, 126, 127\n\nLittle horn, great words of, Bellarmine on, 147\n\nLittle horn, great words of, Elliott on, 147\n\nLittle horn in prophecy and history, 127\n\nLittle horn, period of supremacy of, 145\n\nLittle horn, time of rise of, 145\n\nLittle horn, work of, 145-147\n\nLorimer, on increase of knowledge, 307\n\nLucan, on Alexander, 45\n\nLucan, on greatness of Rome, 209\n\nLucifer, the light-bearer, 258\n\nLuther, on meaning of word \"baptism\", 201\n\nLuther, on use of printing art, 318\n\n\nMacFarlane, on approaching end of Turks, 333\n\nMahaffy, on kingdoms of north and south, 325\n\nMan, nature of, and state in death, 275-285\n\nManner of Christ's coming, 53\n\nManning, Cardinal, on power of Rome, 125\n\nMark, or sign, of papal authority, 251-253\n\nMark, or sign, use of, Potter on, 250\n\nMartin, on growth of discontent, 112\n\nMaspero, on Eastern Question, 322\n\nMatthew 24, prophecy of, 65-77\n\nMears, Dr., on conditions after Christ, 67\n\n\"Medieval Europe,\" Bemont and Monod, 137\n\nMedo-Persia, AEschylus on, 121\n\nMedo-Persia in prophecy and history, 120, 121, 206\n\nMedo-Persia, prophecy of, Daniel 2, 43, 44\n\nMegiddo, or Armageddon, Carmack on, 344\n\nMelanchthon, on change of law by Papacy, 154\n\nMessage of the judgment hour, 247-255\n\nMessengers of deliverance, angels as, 300\n\nMessiah, covenant confirmed by, 231-235\n\nMessiah, time of baptism of, 230\n\nMichael, standing up of, 327\n\nMiddle Ages, beginning of history of, Finlay on, 134, 135\n\nMillennium, beginning of, 351, 352\n\nMillennium, diagram of, 350\n\nMillennium, events at beginning of, 352\n\nMillennium, events at end of, 356\n\nMillennium, events in heaven during, 354\n\nMillennium, events on earth during, 355\n\nMillennium, the, 351-359\n\nMilner, on falling stars, 94\n\nMilton, on Sabbath observance, 177, 178\n\nMissionary activity, Dr. Leonard on, 307\n\nMissionary developments of century, 113\n\nMissionary movement, a sign of Christ's coming, 112\n\nMissionary movement, increased activity of, 113\n\nMissions, open doors for, 309\n\nMissions, Pierson on open doors for, 310\n\nMonarchies, the four universal, 118\n\nMonod, Bemont and, \"Medieval Europe\", 137\n\nMortal, the natural state of man, 276\n\nMortality, universal, 277\n\nMoslems, Jerusalem as capital for, 330\n\nMotley, on persecution in Netherlands, 150\n\nMukaddasi, on Jerusalem as last gathering place of nations, 328\n\nMyers, on history of Greece, 208\n\n\nNations, anger of, 107\n\nNeander, on first-day collections, 166\n\nNeander, on manner of baptism, 201\n\nNebuchadnezzar, dream of, 39-41\n\nNebuchadnezzar, exploits of, Berosus on, 120\n\nNebuchadnezzar, palace of, Ising on, 35\n\nNebuchadnezzar, stone records of, 43\n\nNecromancy, divine warnings against, 267\n\nNetherlands, persecution in, Motley on, 150\n\nNew birth, Bible an agency of, 15\n\nNewcomb, on falling stars, 95\n\nNew earth, the, 364-370\n\nNew Jerusalem, descent of, 356\n\nNew Jerusalem, the, 364-367\n\nNewman, Cardinal, on rites borrowed from paganism, 169\n\nNewton, Sir Isaac, on prophetic study, 304, 305\n\n\"Nineteenth Century and After,\" on new spirit in East, 344\n\n\"Nineteenth Century and After,\" on preparation for war, 339, 341\n\nNineveh, Rawlinson on, 27\n\nNineveh, site of, Gibbon on, 29\n\nNineveh, the witness of, 27\n\n\nOlmsted, on brilliancy of falling stars, 97\n\nOlmsted, on shooting stars, 95\n\nOrigin of evil, 257-263\n\nOttoman empire, 326\n\nOttoman power, fall of, Firth on, 343\n\nOur day, gospel for, 247\n\n\nPaganism, rites borrowed from, Cardinal Newman on 169\n\nPalestine as battle field, Encyclopedia Britannica on, 325, 326\n\nPalestine as great center, \"Fortnightly Review\" on, 345\n\nPalestine, as political storm center, 345\n\nPalestine, as religious storm center, \"Spectator\" on, 345\n\nPapacy, a persecuting power, 137\n\nPapacy, change of times and laws by, 153\n\nPapacy, claims of, 155, 156\n\nPapacy, counterpart of little horn, 145, 147\n\nPapacy, end of supremacy of, 139\n\nPapacy, extinction of, Canon Trevor on, 141, 142\n\nPapacy, fall of, Jurieu on, 140, 141\n\nPapacy, France strikes against, 140\n\nPapacy, great words of, Elliott on, 147\n\nPapacy, image to the, 251\n\nPapacy, law changed by, Melanchthon on, 154\n\nPapacy, orders of, to destroy heresy, 150\n\nPapacy, persecution by, Lecky on, 150\n\nPapacy plucked up Arian kingdoms, 129\n\nPapacy, power of, Leo XIII on, 149\n\nPapacy shall wear out saints, 149\n\nPapacy, sign of authority of, 156\n\nPapacy, supremacy of, 129\n\nPapacy, supremacy of acknowledged, 132, 133\n\nPapacy, time of its supremacy, 131, 132\n\nPapal authority, mark of, 251\n\nPapal claims in encyclical letter of Leo XIII, 149\n\nPapal persecution, Baudrillart on, 151\n\nPapal persecution, Lecky on, 150\n\nPapal persecutions, \"Western Watchman\" on, 151\n\nPapal power, Sunday the mark of, 252\n\nPapal power, work of the, 250\n\nPapal supremacy, beginning of, 132\n\nPapal supremacy, end of, 139\n\nPapal supremacy officially recognized, 133\n\nParable of the fig tree, 115\n\nParable of the rich man and Lazarus, 284, 285\n\nParable of the ten virgins, 348, 349\n\nParton, on Lisbon earthquake, 80\n\nPeace and safety, 107\n\nPeace prophecies, 338\n\nPersecution after Christ's death, 235\n\nPersecution for Sabbath observance, 178\n\nPersecution in Netherlands, Motley on, 150\n\nPersecution in time of the end 73\n\nPersecution, papal, Baudrillart, on 151\n\nPersecution, papal, Lecky on 150\n\nPersecution, signs of end follow, 73-75\n\nPersecution under Papacy, 149-153\n\nPersecutions, papal, \"Western Watchman\" on, 151\n\nPersia, rise and fall of, 322-324\n\nPhalerius, king urged by, to secure Jewish sacred books, 187, 188\n\nPierson, Dr., on open doors for gospel, 310\n\n\"Plain Talks,\" on Sunday observance, 251\n\nPleasure, passion for, M. Comte on, 109\n\nPleasure, passion for, sign of Christ's coming, 109\n\nPlutarch, on Alexander, 45\n\nPlutarch, on Alexander's conquests, 121, 122\n\nPolitical unrest, 106, 107\n\nPolybius, on dominion of Rome, 208\n\nPope Gregory, on Sabbath observance, 174\n\nPope Innocent II, orders of, to destroy heresies, 150\n\nPope Leo XIII, encyclical letter of, 149\n\nPope Leo XIII, on power of Papacy, 149\n\nPope taken prisoner, Joseph Rickaby on, 141\n\nPope, titles assumed by, Ferraris on, 149\n\nPope Vigilius, date of reign of, Schaff on, 137\n\nPopes, a new order of, 135\n\nPopes declared saints, 137\n\nPopes no longer declared saints, 137\n\nPopes, temporal power of, Conroy on, 129\n\nPotter, on use of a mark, or sign, 250\n\nPresent-day conditions, meaning of, 105-115\n\nPress, the Mighty (poem), 317\n\nPride, cause of Satan's fall, 258\n\nPrince of Tyre, 258\n\nPrinting, Gutenberg's first types, 314\n\nPrinting, Luther on art of, 318\n\nPrinting press, a gospel agency, 318\n\nPrinting press, illustrations of, 315, 316\n\nPrinting press, the mighty, 317\n\nProphecies of Christ's coming, 52\n\nProphecy, Armageddon foretold in, 346, 347\n\nProphecy concerning Babylon, 31-33, 40\n\nProphecy fulfilled, Farrar on, 36\n\nProphecy fulfilled to Joseph, 26\n\nProphecy fulfilling, Marquis of Salisbury on, 338\n\nProphecy of Daniel 7, 117-129\n\nProphecy of Daniel 8, 205-211\n\nProphecy of Daniel unsealed, 304\n\nProphecy, of increase of knowledge, 306\n\nProphecy of Matthew 24, 65-77\n\nProphecy of the judgment, Revelation 14, 239\n\nProphecy of Tyre, 30, 31\n\nProphecy of 2300 years fulfilled, 229-237\n\nProphecy, study of, John Adolphus on, 305\n\nProphecy, the sure word of, 25\n\nProphecy, witness of the centuries to, 25-37\n\nProphetic outline of world's history, 39-49\n\nProphetic period, a great, 219-227\n\nProphetic study, Sir Isaac Newton on, 304, 305\n\nProphetic word, testimony of history to, 35-37\n\nProtestants, persecution of, the \"Western Watchman\" on, 151\n\nPtolemy's canon, authenticity of, Hales on, 225\n\nPtolemy's canon, Lindsay on, 225\n\nPullus, on manner of baptism, 202\n\nPunishment, everlasting, 289, 292\n\nPurification of the earth, 359\n\nPythius, the Lydian, Herodotus on, 323\n\n\nRailroads, construction of, Wallace on, 313\n\nRawlinson, on Alexander's dominion, 324, 325\n\nRawlinson, on Cyrus's conquests, 121\n\nRawlinson, on division of Alexander's kingdom, 122\n\nRawlinson, on Nineveh, 27\n\nReformation a progressive work, 255\n\nReligion, abolition of, by French, Hutton on, 140\n\nResurrection, baptism the memorial of, 199\n\nResurrection of the just, 59, 61, 352\n\nResurrection of the wicked, 62\n\nResurrection, the second, Satan freed at, 262\n\nResurrections, the two, 288, 289\n\nRich man and Lazarus, parable of, 284, 285\n\nRickaby, on Berthier entering Rome, 141\n\nRidpath, on fanaticism of Jews, 67\n\nRighteousness and justification, 195-197\n\nRighteousness, God's law the standard of, 188\n\nRighteousness, the gift of Christ, 193, 194\n\nRighteous taken to heaven, 353\n\nRighteous, translation of living, 59-61\n\nRighteous, with Christ a thousand years, 62\n\nRoman Empire divided, 47, 127\n\nRoman Empire, Gibbon on, 209\n\nRoman Papacy, rise of, to supremacy, 129\n\nRomans, power of, Strabo on, 46\n\nRome, Alexander's plans for conquest of, Plutarch on, 44\n\nRome, Bishop of, head of church, 133\n\nRome divided, 48\n\nRome, dominion of, Polybius on, 208\n\nRome, greatness of, Lucan on, 209\n\nRome, in prophecy and history, 123-125, 208\n\nRome, might of, Horace on, 208\n\nRome, ode of Horace on, 47\n\nRome, power of, Cardinal Manning on, 125\n\nRome, power of, Gibbon on, 46\n\nRome, power of, Hippolytus on, 46\n\nRome, prophecy of, in Daniel 2, 45, 46\n\nRome, prophecy of, fulfilled, 125\n\nRome, prophecy of, fulfilled, Hippolytus on, 126\n\nRome, rise of, in West, 44\n\nRosebery, Lord, on Armageddon, 339\n\nRosse, astronomical observations by, 100\n\n\"Run to and fro,\" Wright on meaning of, 311\n\n\nSabbatarian Baptists, 179\n\nSabbath, and the first day, 164-166\n\nSabbath, at time of exodus, 160\n\nSabbath, change of, \"Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine\" on, 156\n\nSabbath, change of, \"Dictionary of Christian Antiquities\" on, 166\n\nSabbath, change of, Hiscox on, 166, 167\n\nSabbath, change of, \"Library of Christian Doctrine\" on, 154, 155\n\nSabbath, Conybeare and Howson on, 165\n\nSabbath, example and teaching of Jesus regarding, 162\n\nSabbath, given at Sinai, 161\n\nSabbath, how changed, 167\n\nSabbath in Alpine valleys, Goldastus on, 175\n\nSabbath in England, Stennet on, 179\n\nSabbath in Europe, Dr. Chambers on, 177\n\nSabbath, in time of disciples, 163\n\nSabbath keepers in Norway, Keyser on, 175\n\nSabbath keepers in Scotland, Lang on, 174\n\nSabbath keepers in Scotland, Skene on, 175\n\nSabbath keeping, action of Council of Laodicea on, 173, 174\n\nSabbath keeping after New Testament times, 173-181\n\nSabbath keeping among Moravians, 180\n\nSabbath keeping, Bampfield died for, 179\n\nSabbath keeping, persecution for, Bogue on, 178, 179\n\nSabbath keeping, Roger Williams on, 180\n\nSabbath, Killen on change of, 169\n\nSabbath observance, Bower on, 174\n\nSabbath observance, Brerewood on, 173\n\nSabbath observance, Charles I on, 177\n\nSabbath observance, John Milton on, 177, 178\n\nSabbath observance, Pope Gregory on, 174\n\nSabbath observance, Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History on, 174\n\nSabbath, persecution for keeping, 178\n\nSabbath, seventh-day, record of, 160-164\n\nSabbath, the sign of God's authority,253\n\nSabbath, the Bible,159-170\n\nSabbath, through Israel's history, 162\n\nSaints, eternal home of, 361, 367\n\nSaints, Papacy to wear out, 149\n\nSaints, time of resurrection of, 352\n\nSalisbury, Lord, on policy of helping Turkey, 331\n\nSalisbury, Marquis of, on preparation for war, 342\n\nSalisbury, Marquis of, on prophecy fulfilling, 338\n\nSanctuary, Christ's ministry in, 216\n\nSanctuary, cleansing of, 211, 213-217\n\nSantee, L.D., poem by, 103\n\nSatan, binding of, 353\n\nSatan, cause of fall of, 258\n\nSatan, end of reign of, 262\n\nSatan, judgment upon, 261-263\n\nSatan, the loosing of, 356\n\nSatanic agencies at work, 341-343\n\nSatanic agencies, Sir Edward Grey on, 342\n\nSaved, home of the, 361-370\n\nSchaff, on date of Tiberius's reign, 230\n\nSchaff, on Vigilius made Pope, 135\n\nSecond coming of Christ, 51-63\n\nSecond coming of Christ, see Coming of Christ.\n\nSegur, on observance of Sunday by Protestants, 251\n\nSeventh-day Adventists, origin of, 243, 244\n\nSeventh-day Baptists in America, 179, 180\n\nSeventh-day Sabbath, Bible record of, 160-164\n\nSeventy weeks, events of, 229\n\nSeventy weeks, starting point of, 221, 222\n\nSigns in the heavens, 74\n\nSigns of Christ's coming, 74-77\n\nSigns of Christ's coming, given in Matthew 24, 65, 66\n\nSigns of Christ's coming, in industrial world, 110\n\nSigns of Christ's coming, in social world, 109\n\nSigns of the end, 65\n\nSigns of the end, signal to watch, 102\n\nSigns of the last days, 73, 74\n\nSigns upon the earth, 74, 105\n\nSinai, law of God given anew at, 186\n\nSinai, Sabbath given at, 161\n\nSin, the end of, 358\n\nSin, the origin of, 257\n\nSin, the wages of, 289\n\nSkene, on Sabbath in Scotland, 175\n\nSleep of the dead, 280-282\n\nSophocles, on universal mortality, 277, 278\n\n\"Soul\" and \"spirit,\" Scriptural use of, 283\n\nSoul, immortality of, 275\n\nSoul, living, Dr. Clarke on, 283\n\nSoul, the \"living,\" comments on, 283\n\nSozomen's Ecclesiastical History, on Sabbath observance, 174\n\nSpangenberg, on Sabbath-keeping Moravians, 180\n\n\"Spirit\" and \"soul,\" Scriptural use of, 283\n\nSpirit, death declared to have no power over, 269\n\nSpirits, angels as ministering, 295\n\nSpiritualism, ancient and modern, 265-273\n\nSpiritualism and theosophy, Mme. Jean Delaire on, 272, 273\n\nSpiritualism, first declaration of, 265-267\n\nSpiritualism, modern, originated in Fox family, 269\n\nSpiritualism, modern, Prof. Wallace on, 265, 268\n\nSpiritualism of East, taught by Mrs. Besant, 273\n\nSpiritualism, progress of, Mrs. Underhill on, 269\n\nSpiritualism, satanic agencies of, 271\n\nSpiritualism tested by Greeley, 269\n\nSpiritualism, the climax of deception, 272\n\nSpiritualism, the dead not agencies of, 271\n\nSpiritualism, warnings against, 267\n\nSpurgeon, on authorship of Bible, 14\n\nSpurgeon's experience with Bible, 14\n\nStanley, Dean, on baptism of infants, 202\n\nStanley, Dean, on collection on first day, 166\n\nStanley, Dean, on manner of baptism, 202\n\nStanley, Dean, on Sunday, day of the sun, 170\n\nStar shower, density of, Flammarion on, 95\n\nStars, falling, a sign to the world, 99\n\nStars, falling, brilliancy of, Olmsted on, 97\n\nStars, falling, Chambers's Astronomy on, 101\n\nStars, falling, described by Jessup, 100\n\nStars, falling, glory of, Clerke on, 101, 102\n\nStars, falling, Humphreys on, 96\n\nStars, falling, impression made by, Milner on, 99\n\nStars, falling, \"Journal of Commerce\" on, 97\n\nStars, falling, nature of, Twining on, 96\n\nStars, falling, other displays of, Humboldt on, 99, 100\n\nStars, falling, Professor Langley on, 101\n\nStars, falling, Sir Robert Ball on, 100\n\nStars, falling, Thomas Milner on, 94\n\nStars, shooting, Olmsted on, 95\n\nStars, the falling, 93-102\n\nStearns, Dr. Samuel, on dark day, 89, 90\n\nStennet, on Sabbath in England, 179\n\nStephen, stoning of, 234\n\nStoning of Stephen, 234\n\nStrabo, on desolation of Babylon, 34\n\nStrabo, on power of Romans, 46\n\nSun, darkening of, 85\n\nSunday, day of the sun, Dean Stanley on, 170\n\nSunday, Dean Stanley on collection on, 166\n\nSunday law, Constantine's, 169\n\nSunday law, Constantine's, Webster on, 169, 170\n\nSunday, mark of paganism, Hiscox on, 170\n\nSunday, mark of papal power, 252\n\nSunday, Neander on collection on, 166\n\nSunday, not sacred, Dale on, 166\n\nSunday observance by Protestants, Segur on, 251\n\nSunday observance, \"Doctrinal Catechism\" on, 252\n\nSunday previous to Constantine, 169\n\nSunday rest, not of God, 165\n\nSunday, sign of papal authority, 156\n\n\nTabernacle, service of earthly, 214\n\nTelegraph, first demonstrated, 314\n\nTelegraph, used in carrying gospel, 318\n\nTemple at Jerusalem, destruction of, as predicted, 70\n\nTen horns of beast, Daniel 7, 127\n\nTen kingdoms, Daniel 2, 46-48\n\nTen virgins, parable of, 348, 349\n\nTestimony of history to fulfilment of prophecy, 36\n\nTheosophy and Spiritualism, Mme. Delaire on, 272\n\nThief on the cross, the, 284\n\nThis Same Jesus, 54-56\n\nThomson, on Tyre's departed glory, 31\n\nThousand years, diagram of, 350\n\nThousand years, end of, 289\n\nThousand years, righteous with Christ, 62\n\nThwaites, Clara, \"The Last Hour,\" poem, 114\n\nTiberius Caesar, time of reign of, 230, 231\n\nTime of the end, 303-317\n\nTimes and laws, Papacy to think to change, 153\n\nTradition and the Bible, Council of Trent on, 252\n\nTranslation of the righteous, 59-61\n\nTravel, revolution in, 313\n\nTrent, Council of, on tradition and the Bible, 252\n\nTrevor, Canon, on revolt against absolutism, 141\n\nTribulation, the period of, 73\n\nTurkey, Lord Salisbury on helping of, 331\n\nTurkey, position of, \"Fortnightly Review\" on, 333, 334\n\nTurkish power, fall of, prelude to Armageddon, 348\n\nTurks, doom of, Blunt on, 333\n\nTurks, end of, near, MacFarlane on, 333\n\nTwelve hundred and sixty years, 131-137\n\nTwelve hundred and sixty years, end of, 139\n\nTwenty-three hundred days, diagram of, 220\n\nTwenty-three hundred years, ending of, 235\n\nTwenty-three hundred years of Daniel 8, 219\n\nTwenty-three hundred years, prophecy fulfilled, 229-237\n\nTwining, on nature of falling stars, 96\n\nTwo resurrections, the, 288, 289\n\nTyre, desolation of, Bruce on, 31\n\nTyre, glory departed, Thomson on, 31\n\nTyre, prophecy concerning, 30, 31\n\n\nUnderhill, Mrs. A.L., on progress of Spiritualism, 269\n\nUniversal empires, four great, 117\n\nUnquenchable fire, 292, 293\n\n\nValley of Hinnom, Hastings on, 293\n\nVan Dyke, Dr. Henry, on language of Bible, 21, 22\n\nVeil, rending of, 231\n\nVigilius, Pope, date of reign, Schaff on, 135, 137\n\nVoltaire, on Lisbon earthquake, 80\n\n\nWages of sin, 289\n\nWallace, Alfred Russel, on revolution in travel, 313\n\nWallace, Alfred Russel, on Spiritualism, 265, 268\n\nWar, god of, Lord Avebury on, 112\n\nWar, preparation for, Marquis of Salisbury on, 342\n\nWar, preparation for, \"Nineteenth Century and After\", 339-341\n\nWar, preparation for, Queen Alexandra on, 339\n\nWar, sign of end, \"Church Missionary Review\" on, 343\n\nWebster, Noah, on dark day, 87\n\nWebster, Prof. Hutton, on Constantine's Sunday law, 169, 170\n\nWeeks, the seventy, starting point of, 221, 222\n\nWesley, John, on judgment-hour message, 249\n\n\"Western Watchman,\" on persecution of Protestants, 151\n\nWhittier, on dark day, 86, 90\n\nWicked, before bar of God, 357\n\nWicked, destruction of, 61, 353\n\nWicked, end of, 287-293\n\nWicked, final destruction of, 356-359\n\nWicked, resurrection of, 62\n\nWilliams, on dark day in New England, 86\n\nWilliams, Roger, on Sabbath keeping, 180\n\nWord, see Bible.\n\nWord that creates, the, 15\n\nWordsworth, on dawn of Reformation, 149\n\nWorld-wide movement, a, 239-245\n\nWright, on meaning of \"run to and fro\", 311\n\n\nXenophon, on Cyrus, 206\n\nXerxes' host, AEschylus on, 323\n\n\nYears, the 1260, of Daniel's prophecy, 131-137\n\n\nZinzendorf, a Sabbath keeper, 180\n\nZinzendorf, Nikolaus, poem by, 227","title":"Our Day: In the Light of Prophecy","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":92557}