Chapter VIII: Part 8

And it may be worthy of notice that although the belief in, and abandonment of, the shut-door position has been general, there have been two distinct and opposite ways of getting out of it. One class did this by casting away their confidence in the Advent movement, by confessions to those who had opposed and had scoffed at them, and by ascribing the powerful work of the Holy Spirit to human or satanic influences. These got out of the position on the side of perdition.

Another class heeded the many exhortations of Christ and his apostles, applicable to their position, with its trials, dangers, and duties--Watch--Be ye therefore patient--Cast not away therefore your confidence--For ye have need of patience--Hold fast. They waited, watched, and prayed, till light came, and they by faith in the word saw the open door of the heavenly sanctuary, and Jesus there pleading his precious blood before the ark of the most holy place.

But what was that ark? It was the ark of God’s testimony, the ten commandments. Reader, please follow these trusting, waiting ones, as they by faith enter the heavenly sanctuary. They take you into the holy place and show you “the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread,” and other articles of furniture. Then they lead you into the most holy where stands Jesus, clad in priestly garments, before the mercy-seat which is upon, and but the cover of, the ark containing the law of God. They lift the cover and bid you look into the sacred ark, and there you behold the ten commandments, a copy of which God gave to Moses. Yes, dear reader, there, safe from the wrath of man and the rage of demons, beside his own holiness, are the ten precepts of God’s holy law.

The waiting, watching, praying ones, embraced the fourth precept of that law, and with fresh courage took their onward course to the golden gates of the city of God, cheered by the closing benediction of the Son of God: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Thus they came out of the position of the shut door on the side of loyalty to the God of high Heaven, the tree of life, and the eternal city of the redeemed. The reader will not fail to see the difference between their course and getting out of the shut door on the side of perdition. God pity the apostate.

THE SEVENTH ANGEL.

The seventh angel, the last of the seven trumpet angels, had been supposed to be the same as the “last trump,” which will awake the righteous dead. But many among the Adventists were about this time taking a different view of the subject. The six former trumpet angels were symbols, and each had occupied a period of time, during which a series of events took place. Why not the seventh be a symbol covering a period of time, during which a series of events might also transpire?

But the scenes connected with the last trump mentioned by the apostle, are represented as transpiring “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” Not so with the events under the sounding of the seventh angel. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,” is the testimony of Rev. x, 7. As this entire chapter has a direct bearing upon the subject of the great Advent movement as symbolized by the three messages of Rev. xiv, I will here give it with a few brief remarks of application.

“And I saw another mighty angel come down from Heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to Heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created Heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.” Verses 1-6.

I will briefly call attention to the following points in the above quotation:

1. The angel, in a most solemn manner, swore that there should be time no longer. This does not mean that with the oath of the angel, time, as measured by days, months and years, would cease; for the next verse speaks of the “days” of the voice of the seventh angel. And even from the second advent of Christ and the resurrection of the just, a thousand years are marked as reaching to the resurrection of the unjust. In fact, while the earth and the sun and moon shall endure and continue their revolutions, so long will there be days, months and years. And there is no scripture evidence that these bodies will ever cease to exist. The oath of the angel, therefore, must refer to prophetic time.

2. The angel holds in his hand, as he swears upon the subject of time, a little book open. It may be inferred from this language, that this book was at some time closed up. This was true of the book of Daniel. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. xii, 4. It was to be sealed only to the time of the end, when it was to be opened, knowledge of the subject of which it treats should be increased, and many run to and fro in the Scriptures and obtain knowledge upon the subject. If this open book in the hand of the angel represents the unsealed book of Daniel, how forcible the application of his solemn oath to the manner in which the close of prophetic time was proclaimed in 1844.

The oath of this angel must be regarded as a symbol of a most solemn and positive message proclaimed by the servants of God. His right foot upon the earth, and his left upon the sea, represent its extent, and shows that it was to be borne to the people by sea and by land. The prophet continues:

“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants, the prophets.” Verse 7.

Why introduce the sounding of the seventh angel thus, unless his sounding commenced with the termination of the prophetic time? He is to continue his sounding a period of days, probably prophetic, meaning years, and in the beginning of his sounding, or during the first portion of the period of his sounding, the mystery of God is to be finished. This mystery is the gospel considered with especial reference to the means by which its blessings are secured to the nations of the earth. It is something which, before the apostles’ days, even from the foundation of the world, was not made known as it was then revealed. Rom. xvi, 25, 26; Eph. iii, 3-5. It was known that the woman’s seed should bruise the serpent’s head, and that in Abraham and his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed; but how this was to be accomplished was not understood till more fully revealed at the first advent of the Saviour, and set forth by the preaching of his apostles. Before this it was not seen that when the Redeemer should be manifested to the world, all walls of partition shall be broken down, all distinctions be obliterated, and Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free, be on equal terms and in equal measure blessed in him. Hence Paul presents as the distinguishing feature of the mystery of God, the fact “that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel,” and that in Christ all might be gathered together in one. Eph. iii, 6; i, 9, 10. Hence we more fully define the mystery of God to mean the great plan of salvation, as it centers in the work of Christ, and is revealed in the New Testament. See also Eph. vi, 19; Col. iv, 3; and Gal. i, 11, 12, compared with Eph. iii, 3.

The finishing of the mystery of God is the completion of the great plan of salvation in connection with Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. In the type the yearly round of service was finished on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the antitype Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary at the end of the 2300 days, to finish the great plan of salvation. The mystery of God was to be finished, as he had declared by his servants, the prophets; and the cleansing of the sanctuary spoken of by the prophet Daniel, is only another expression signifying the same thing as the finishing of the mystery of God. Hence the seventh angel began to sound at the close of the 2300 days, in 1844, when the cleansing of the sanctuary, or the finishing of the mystery of God, commenced.

A series of events to occur under the sounding of the seventh angel is mentioned in chapter xi. After the announcement, in verses 15-17, of his sounding, during which period all earthly kingdoms are to pass into the hands of the King of kings, an event which interests both earth and Heaven, and calls for the grateful thanks of the good of both worlds, this series is given as follows:

1. “And the nations were angry.” This is supposed to have reference to the political commotions and wars of the nations, which the prophets of God have described as marking the closing hours of probation.

2. “And thy wrath is come.” This has reference to the seven last plagues, which will be poured out immediately following the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.

3. “And the time of the dead, that they should be judged.” This is not the investigative Judgment of the righteous. That closes with the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. It is the Judgment of the wicked dead. We are therefore carried forward in this third event to the time of Christ’s appearing in the clouds of heaven, and the resurrection of the just, when he and they will sit in Judgment on the cases of the wicked during the one thousand years.

4. “And that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great” It is true that all these receive immortality at the second coming of Christ, at the commencement of this great Judgment period; but their reward embraces the promised inheritance, the new earth, which will not appear till the close of the one thousand years. “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Then, at the close of the one thousand years, will the prophets, the saints, and all who fear the name of God, both small and great, receive their full reward.

5. “And shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth.” This is also the period of the final destruction of God’s enemies, who have taken part in destroying (corrupting, margin,) the earth. And here closes the sounding of the seventh angel, or the third woe. The prophet still continues:

“And the voice which I heard from Heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go, and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter.” Verses 8-10.

In this highly-figurative portion of the prophecy, John, in receiving the little book from the hand of the angel, represents those who received the doctrine of the coming and kingdom of Christ, as proclaimed in connection with the time, based upon the prophecy of Daniel. His eating the little book, and enjoying its sweetness, represents the holy delight with which they feasted upon the gospel of the coming kingdom. In the symbol, the little book in the mouth of John was as sweet as honey. “What is sweeter than honey?” And what could feast the consecrated soul, imbued with the love of Jesus, as the news of his soon return in glory, with all the holy angels, to redeem those who loved and looked for his appearing?

But in the symbol there is a change from the sweetness of honey to bitterness. This represents the change from the joy of bright hope to the painful sadness of disappointment, experienced by believers at the passing of the time. The hope and faith had been to them an anchor in the storm, a shield in the fight, and their exceeding joy all the day long; and as they drew near the point of expectation, their hopes grew brighter, their faith stronger, and their joys were complete. The time passed; and only those who felt it can form any idea of the bitterness of that disappointment. Probably there never has been a time since the crucifixion, that the high expectations and bright hopes of the disciples of Jesus, have been so completely crushed as at the passing of the time in 1844. And the feelings of the many thousands of disappointed ones were like those expressed by Mary: “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.”

A good degree of relief, however, very soon came in the well-defined position that there was a time of waiting for the Lord, and trial of faith, after just such a disappointment as believers had experienced. And with it came also the general impression that our work, in bearing testimony to the world, was finished. The solemn announcement of the hour of God’s Judgment, in the first message of Rev. xiv, had been made. The stirring testimony in reference to the condition of those who rejected this message, and still clung to a corrupted Christianity, symbolized by the second message, had been borne. Everywhere among believers had been heard the solemn cry, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” “Come out of her my people.” And these messages were clearly seen to be in the past.

But when was the third message to be given? This is one of the series, all of which are to be given in the history of God’s people in this mortal state. This is as distinctly marked in the prophetic sketch of Rev. xiv, as the first and second messages are. And although the disappointed ones felt for a time that their work in warning the world was done, yet God designed to roll upon them again the burden of his work, and they go forth and proclaim the third message. This work, dear reader, is most clearly pointed out in the remaining verse of the chapter upon which I have been commenting: “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

To prophesy sometimes means simply to teach, as in 1 Cor. xi, 4, 5; xiv, 3, 24; Matt. vii, 22. In the first and second messages the prophecies had been opened to the people, and they had been taught the solemn and stirring truths relating to the Judgment. Believers had come up to the time of expectation with a testimony for the people, and the burden of the work upon them. The time passed, and with it also passed from them the burden of the work, and they suddenly found themselves destitute of any message for the people. They felt that their work was done for the world. In that position they should have waited until the great truths connected with the third message were seen by the light of the heavenly sanctuary, and the Spirit of God impressed them with the new work before them, to proclaim the third message, expressed by the prophetic words, “Thou must prophesy [teach the people] again.” This brings me to consider briefly the three messages of Rev. xiv.

THE FIRST MESSAGE.

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. xiv, 6, 7.

This is called the first angel, because it is the first of the series. See verse 9. John calls it “another angel,” from the fact that he had previously seen an angel flying in the midst of heaven.

This proclamation is one of pre-eminent importance. It is not a mere local judgment, but one that concerns all the inhabitants of the earth. Hence it has reference to the final Judgment scene. It is the same gospel that Paul preached that is here styled the “everlasting gospel.” But the great truth uttered by this angel would not have been a truth if uttered by Paul, for he lived at the commencement of the gospel dispensation, and this proclamation relates to its closing scenes. It seems to be the same as “this gospel of the kingdom,” that our Lord presents in Matt. xxiv, 14, as the sign of the end of this dispensation, and which was to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations before the end should come.

The truth on this point is well expressed in the following language of the late Mr. Bliss, editor of the _Advent Herald_, December 14, 1850:

“As an indication of the approach of the end, there was, however, to be seen another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Rev. xiv, 6. The burden of this angel was to be the same gospel which had been before proclaimed; but connected with it was the additional motive of the proximity of the kingdom, ‘saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ Verse 7. No mere preaching of the gospel without announcing its proximity, could fulfill this message.”

In harmony with this testimony from the editor of the _Herald_, I will here give another from a tract on prophecy, published by J. V. Himes about the same time, which also speaks of the character of the message and the time of its application. The title of the tract is “Our Specific Work.”

“The proclamation of an everlasting gospel, ‘The hour of his Judgment is come,’ Rev. xiv, 6, 7, is the leading Advent proclamation.

“The facts summed up are these: John, looking into the distant future, gazing upon the theatre of the final conflict, sees a messenger, a minister of an everlasting gospel, fly through mid-heaven, with a special, elevated, joyous, public, proclamation, requiring haste and extraordinary energy in its delivery. The proclamation contains a fact, and a command founded upon that fact. 1. The fact: ‘The hour of his Judgment is come.’ 2. The command: ‘Fear God,’ &c. These are the elements of this special commission. The work of this symbol agent is thus clearly defined; no terms more specific.

“Does this messenger symbolize a class of teachers? Such has been the general understanding of expositors. Mr. Wesley and Dr. Benson so interpret the passage. On this point there is great unanimity. It is plain from the fact that it is said to preach. That class of people is modern. Mr. Wesley and Dr. Benson make this messenger symbolize the Protestant reformers in the days of Luther. With their view agree a mass of expositors. This commission, however, cannot be Luther’s.

“That body must exist somewhere, and, in its character and in the nature of its work, it must agree with the symbol messenger. They must agree as face to face in a mirror. Can such a body be found? The proclamation above stated has been heard. The world can bear testimony to this. The cry, ‘The hour of his Judgment is come,’ sounded through all Christendom. The multitudes heard, and scoffed, or trembled. By what body of believers was this proclamation made? Not by those who taught that that Judgment was a thousand years in the future. No church which holds to the doctrine of a spiritual reign can be that body, as the elements of their proclamation flatly contradict those elements above stated. Such a body now existing can be found alone among those who constitute the Advent believers in Europe and America.”

In proof that this message has not been fulfilled in the history of the church in ages past, I offer the following reasons:

1. No proclamation of the hour of God’s Judgment come, has ever been made in any past age.

2. If such a proclamation had been made many centuries in the past, as some contend, it would have been a false one.

3. The prophecies on which such a proclamation to men in a state of probation must be based, were closed up and sealed to the time of the end.

4. The Scriptures plainly locate the message of warning respecting the Judgment in a brief space immediately preceding the advent of our Lord; thus directly contradicting the view that locates these messages in past ages.

We now offer proof in support of the foregoing propositions. If they are sustained, they establish the fact that the present generation is that one to which the angels’ messages are addressed. We earnestly invite all who wish the truth, to weigh this part of the argument with especial care.

1. Has the proclamation of the hour of God’s Judgment come, been made in any past age? If such a proclamation has never been made in past centuries, there is an end to controversy on this part of the subject. No persons have ever been able to show any such proclamation in the past. The apostles did not make such a proclamation. On the contrary, they plainly inform us that the day of the Lord was not then at hand. Martin Luther did not make this proclamation; for he thought the Judgment about three hundred years in the future. And finally, the history of the church presents no such proclamation in the past. Had the first angel preached to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, that the hour of God’s Judgment had come, the publicity of such a proclamation would be a sufficient guaranty that the history of the world would contain some record of the fact. Its total silence respecting such a proclamation, is ample proof that it never was made, and should put to silence those who make such an affirmation.

2. We are on firm ground, also, when we say that had such a proclamation been made to the world in past ages, it would have been a false proclamation. Four reasons sustain this statement. 1. There is no part of the Bible on which such a message, centuries in the past, could have been based. Hence had such a proclamation been made, it would have been without scriptural foundation, and consequently not from Heaven. 2. It would have been in direct opposition to those scriptures which locate the Judgment, and the warning respecting its approach, in the period of the last generation. The scriptures which sustain these two reasons we shall presently cite. 3. The history of the world amply evinces that the hour of God’s Judgment had not come ages in the past. 4. Nor would it be true of past ages, if limited to Babylon. For Rev. xviii, 8-10, clearly shows that the hour of Babylon’s Judgment is yet in the future. It is certain, therefore, that the angel with the proclamation respecting the hour of God’s Judgment, has not given it at a time when it would be not only destitute of scriptural support, but would absolutely contradict their plain testimony.

3. The prophecies which give us the time of the Judgment, and which present the succession of events leading down to that great crisis, were closed up and sealed till the time of the end. We refer particularly to the prophecies of Daniel. See chap. viii, 17, 26; xii, 4, 9. Hence it is evident that God reserves the warning to that generation which alone needs it. Noah’s warning respecting the flood, was alone applicable to those who should witness it; thus also the warning respecting the Judgment is alone applicable to that generation which lives in the last days.

4. The Bible locates these messages in the period which immediately precedes the second advent, and plainly warns us against the proclamation of the Judgment at hand prior to that time. Here we join issue with our opponents. Instead of finding that the apostles gave this proclamation, as some teach, we shall find indubitable evidence that they located this warning far in the future, and that they admonished the church to heed none that should precede a given time. If we recur to the book of Acts, we shall find Paul preaching before Felix, of the Judgment to come; and before the Athenians, that God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. Acts xxiv, 25; xvii, 31. But that book nowhere intimates that Christ was immediately coming to Judgment. Peter points his hearers to the future, saying, that the heavens which had then received Christ, must retain him until the times of restitution. Acts iii, 21.

The first epistle to the Thessalonians may seem to teach that the apostles expected the coming of Christ to Judgment in their day. Indeed, it is evident that such an idea was received from it by the Thessalonian church. Hence it was, that in his second epistle to them, Paul found it necessary to speak explicitly on the point. He tells them that the coming of Christ to the Judgment could not take place until the great apostasy; and as the result of that apostasy, that the Man of Sin should be revealed, showing himself that he is God, and exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped. That this mystery of iniquity is the great Romish apostasy, none but a Papist will deny.

Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he had told them of these things when he was yet with them. And where could Paul have learned this fact, which he had thus stated to them? He was accustomed to reason from the Scriptures, and not to deal in assertion. Hence, it is very evident that he refers to the prophecy of Daniel, which in its seventh chapter has given the successive events which intervened between its time and the Judgment. In this series of events it has with wonderful precision described the power to which Paul has referred as the Man of Sin. No Protestant will deny the identity of Daniel’s little horn and Paul’s Man of Sin. And as Daniel has brought it into a series of events which ends with the Judgment and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom, it was an easy matter for Paul to tell where in this series of events he stood, and whether the Judgment was its next event or not. The apostle, therefore, plainly tells him that that day was not at hand. For the Man of Sin, the little horn, must arise and perform his predicted work, and when that should be accomplished, the coming of Christ should transpire, to consume “that Wicked” with its brightness.

Now when was the little horn to arise? Daniel was told that it should arise after the ten horns upon the fourth beast; or, in other words, after the fourth empire should be divided into ten kingdoms, which was accomplished about five hundred years after Christ. The Judgment therefore could not come prior to that time. But how long was this little horn to have power to wear out the saints? Daniel informs us that it should be for “a time and times, and the dividing of time.” How long is this period? Rev. xii shows that it is 1260 prophetic days, or years. Verses 6, 14. It follows therefore that the apostle carries the mind forward five hundred years to the development of the Man of Sin, and thence 1260 years for his triumph, before the Judgment could be preached as an event immediately impending. Whoever will carefully read Dan. vii, will get the original of Paul’s argument in 2 Thess. ii, and will not fail to see the force of his statement.

The papal supremacy began 538, and ended in 1798 with the overthrow of the Pope’s temporal power. The warning of Paul against a false proclamation respecting the Judgment at hand, therefore, expires at that time, and not before. For we have then reached the point of time where the last important event in Dan. vii, before the Judgment has transpired. An angel from Heaven preaching the hour of God’s Judgment come, many years in the past, would be giving a different gospel from that preached by Paul. Those who locate the angel of Rev. xiv, 6, 7, in past ages, virtually place upon his head the anathema of Paul in Gal. i, 8.

And what is of very deep interest, the point of time at which Paul’s warning expires is the commencement of the time of the end--the very point to which the visions of Daniel were closed up and sealed. Compare chapter xi, 33, 35; vii, 25, and the fact that the 1260 years’ persecution of the saints terminates with the commencement of the time of the end, will appear obvious. How gloriously does this view of the subject make the truth of God shine out! For the warning of the apostle against a false proclamation of the Judgment at hand, expires at the very point where the seal is taken from those prophecies which show when the Judgment sits. And it is respecting this period, the time of the end, that it is said, Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge [on the very subject which was before concealed] shall be increased. Then the time of the end is the period in which the Judgment-hour cry, and the subsequent messages are to be given. Dan. viii, 17, 26; xii, 4, 9.

Another important argument on this point is found in what our Lord has said relative to the signs of his second advent. The church were to understand when his coming was at hand, by the fulfillment of certain promised tokens. Until these should be seen, they were not authorized to look for the immediate advent of the Lord. But when the signs which our Lord promised began to appear, his church might then know that his coming to judge the quick and the dead was at hand. It is an interesting fact that Christ has marked the time in which these signs were to begin to appear. Consequently the messages in question could not be delivered prior to that time. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Matt. xxiv, 29. “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.” Mark xiii, 24, 25. We think there can be no mistake that in these scriptures our Lord refers to the papal tribulation of Daniel the prophet. The signs of his second coming were to commence “_in_ those days,” but “_after_ that tribulation.” In other words, the 1260 prophetic days should not be quite over, but their tribulation should be ended, when the sun should be darkened. The sun was darkened in 1780, and the tribulation of those days was then past, but the days did not expire till 1798. Thus we have the signs of our Lord’s immediate advent just opening upon us, as we come down to the time of the end, the period when the vision should be unsealed, and many run to and fro with the word of warning to a perishing world.

The extent of this proclamation is worthy of notice. An English writer, Mourant Brock, thus remarks: “It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching ‘this gospel of the kingdom;’ whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the church of England are raising the same cry.”--_Advent Tracts_, Vol. ii, p. 135.

Dr. Joseph Wolfe traveled in Arabia Felix, through the region inhabited by the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. In Yemen he saw a book which he mentions thus:

“The Arabs of this place have a book called Seera, which treats of the second coming of Christ, and his reign in glory.”

“In Yemen he spent six days with the Rechabites. ‘They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab. With them were children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Terim in Hatramawt, who expect, in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven.’”--_Wolfe’s Mission to Bokhara_.

“In Wirtemberg there is a Christian colony numbering hundreds, who look for the speedy advent of Christ; also another of like belief on the shores of the Caspian; the Molokaners, a large body of Dissenters from the Russian Greek church, residing on the shores of the Baltic--a very pious people, of whom it is said, ‘taking the Bible alone for their creed, the _norm_ of their faith is simply the Holy Scriptures’--are characterized by the ‘expectation of Christ’s immediate and visible reign upon earth.’ In Russia the doctrine of Christ’s coming and reign is preached to some extent, and received by many of the lower class. It has been extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the south part among the Moravians. In Norway, charts and books on the Advent have been circulated extensively, and the doctrine received by many. Among the Tartars in Tartary, there prevails an expectation of Christ’s advent about this time. English and American publications on this doctrine have been sent to Holland, Germany, India, Ireland, Constantinople, Rome, and to nearly every missionary station on the globe. At the Turks Islands, it has been received to some extent among the Wesleyans. Mr. Fox, a Scottish missionary to the Teloogoo people, was a believer in Christ’s soon coming. James McGregor Bertram, a Scottish missionary of the Baptist order at St. Helena, has sounded the cry extensively on that island, making many converts and pre-millennialists; he has also preached it at South Africa, at the missionary stations there. David N. Lord informs us that a large proportion of the missionaries who have gone from Great Britain to make known the gospel to the heathen, and who are now laboring in Asia and Africa, are Millennarians; and Joseph Wolfe, D. D., according to his journals, between the years 1821 and 1845, proclaimed the Lord’s speedy advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkistan, Bokhara, Affghanistan, Cashmere, Hindostan, Thibet, in Holland, Scotland and Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and at New York city, to all denominations. He declares he has preached among Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yesedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to Pachas, Sheiks, Shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc. And of his extraordinary labors the _Investigator_ says: ‘No individual has, perhaps, given greater publicity to the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, than has this well-known missionary to the world. Wherever he goes, he proclaims the approaching advent of the Messiah in glory.’”--_Voice of the Church_, pp. 342-344.

The following, from the pen of the editor of the _Voice of Truth_ for January, 1845, fairly represents the position of all American Adventists at that time:

“We are doubtless near that auspicious hour when the harvest of the earth will be reaped, as described in Rev. xiv, 14-16. The history of God’s people in this mortal state, as given in that chapter, before being glorified, is nearly complete. The everlasting gospel, as described in verses 6 and 7, has been preached unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. No case can be more clearly demonstrated with facts than that this message has been borne to every nation and tongue under heaven, within a few past years, in the preaching of the coming of Christ in 1843, or near at hand. Through the medium of lectures and publications the sound has gone into all the earth, and the word unto the ends of the world.”

But those were disappointed who expected the Lord would come in 1843 and in 1844. This fact, with many, is sufficient reason for rejecting all the testimony in the case. To them the position that the Advent movement was in fulfillment of prophecy, when at the same time those who took part in the movement were sorely disappointed, is an absurdity. We acknowledge the disappointment, but cannot acknowledge that this furnishes a just reason for denying the hand of God in that work. It is a fact that God’s people have fulfilled prophecy, and at the same time been disappointed in their hopes. This was the case with the disciples and the shouting multitude on the occasion of our Lord meekly riding into Jerusalem, when they cried, “Hosannah to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosannah in the highest.” The prophet of God had said, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zech. ix, 9. And his words must be fulfilled. That which inspired the shouts of the disciples was the expectation that their Master would then ascend to the throne of David and reign among them. But in this they were disappointed. In a few days their hopes died, as he expired upon the cross. Did they fulfill prophecy? No one will deny that they did? Were their expectations which moved them to fulfill the prophecy realized? They were utterly disappointed.

And while those were disappointed in every particular, Adventists, in 1844, were right in three of the four leading points of the Advent faith. These points were, first, the manner and object of Christ’s second advent; second, the application of the prophetic symbols of the book of Daniel; third, prophetic time; and fourth, the event to take place at the end of the prophetic periods. In respect to the first three points, the Adventists of 1844 were right. As to the fourth, they were mistaken. The angel did not tell Daniel that Christ would come at the end of the 2300 days. His words to the prophet are: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary of Dan. viii, 14, is now understood, and seen to be quite another thing than the second coming of Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven, to redeem his people and destroy his enemies by the fires of the last day.

Disappointment by no means proves that God has no hand in the guidance of his people. It should lead them to correct their errors, but it should not lead them to cast away their confidence in God. It was because the children of Israel were disappointed in the wilderness that they so often denied divine guidance. They are set forth as an admonition to us, that we should not fall after the same example of unbelief.

But it must be apparent to every student of the Scriptures, that the angel who proclaims the hour of God’s Judgment, does not give the latest message of mercy. Rev. xiv, presents two other and later proclamations, before the close of human probation. This fact alone is sufficient to prove that the coming of the Lord does not take place at the close of the first angel’s proclamation.

THE SECOND MESSAGE.

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

This angel is spoken of as the second, because the one following it is, in the language of inspiration itself, called the third. In commenting upon language so highly symbolic, the first point is to determine the meaning of the symbol introduced.

1. What, then, is the Babylon of this message? It is here simply called “that great city.” But it is elsewhere spoken of in the book of Revelation in a manner which cannot fail to lead to a correct solution of this question. In Rev. xvii, 18, this same city is called a woman. “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Now a woman is always in the Scriptures, when used as a symbol, taken to represent religious organizations, the true church being represented by a virtuous woman, as in chapter xii, and the false by a corrupt woman, as in the text before us, and many other places. Babylon is something distinct from the civil powers of the earth; for with her the kings of the earth form unlawful connections. It is the place where the people of God as a body are, for they are at a certain time called away from her communion. These considerations show that we are not to look to any literal city for the Babylon of the Apocalypse, nor to any civil powers, but to ecclesiastical or church organizations. Is, then, any particular church, to the exclusion of all others, designated by the term Babylon? It would not be consistent to suppose this; for 1. The term Babylon, from Babel, where God confounded the language of men, signifies mixture, confusion. In the sense in which we have shown it to be used in the book of Revelation, it must denote conflicting and discordant religious creeds and systems. But this would not be applicable to any one religious denomination, as each of these denominations is more or less a unit. 2. The people of God who are called out of Babylon, are not as a body connected with any single denomination. Hence we must understand by the term all the false and corrupted systems of Christianity. That the Romish and Greek churches are included in these, few will be disposed to deny; while the Protestant churches, alas! more or less identified with war, for a long time the bulwark of American slavery, fatally conformed to the world, and guilty of the long catalogue of sins charged by Paul upon professed Christians in the last days, 2 Tim. iii, 1-5, must be reckoned as a member of the family. In this branch of the family we find that mixture and confusion in the multiplicity of sects and creeds which most fitly answers to the import of the term.

2. What is the fall of Babylon? Evidently a moral fall. In Rev. xviii, 1-5, where a second and subsequent announcement of this event seems to be given, we read, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” That is, as the result of her fall she had sunk to this deplorable condition. Having fallen, her iniquities rapidly increased, her sins reached unto Heaven, and God’s people are called out. Verses 4, 5. Hence this fall is a moral one. The absurdity of applying this to Rome or any other literal city, where but few, if any, of the people of God are, and out of which they could not be called after its fall or destruction, must be very apparent. The harmony of applying it to a religious body which can apostatize and become corrupt, and from which the people of God can be subsequently called out, is equally clear, and the necessity for such an application no less evident. No other is at all admissible.

The cause of the fall of Babylon is said to be because she “made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Her fornication was her unlawful connection with the kings of the earth. The wine of this is that with which the church has intoxicated the nations of the earth. There is but one thing to which this can refer, and that is, false doctrine. This harlot, in consequence of her unlawful union with the powers of earth, has corrupted the pure truths of the Bible, and with the wine of her false doctrine has intoxicated the nations. As a few of the gross errors which she has caused the masses to receive as Bible truth, we mention the following: 1. That the soul is immortal. 2. That sprinkling and pouring are baptism. 3. That Sunday is the Sabbath. 4. That there are to be a thousand years of peace and prosperity before the coming of the Lord. 5. That the saints’ inheritance is not the earth made new, but an immaterial, intangible region beyond the bounds of time and space. 6. That the second advent is to be understood spiritually, and that it took place at the destruction of Jerusalem, or that it takes place at conversion or at death. 7. That it is right and scriptural to hold human beings in bondage; and 8. That it is of no consequence, if we may judge from their practice, to come out and be separate from the world. Most of these pernicious errors Protestant sects have drawn from the Romish mother, and others they have themselves originated, showing conclusively that they are but the daughters of the great apostasy.

We have seen that Babylon is composed of several divisions; and we know that the name of the whole is frequently applied to any one of its parts. Hence the name Babylon may be applied to any one of these divisions. Consequently when it is announced that Babylon is fallen, it is not necessary to understand that as a whole it experienced a moral change for the worse. It would be true if such change took place in any one of its great branches. The cry, Babylon is fallen, being given subsequent to the first message, is evidence that the fall took place at that time.

The truths connected with the proclamation of the first angel were calculated to correct many of the fundamental errors of Babylon, and open the way for the reception of the whole truth in place of her false doctrines. That these errors were honestly held by the different churches, is not to be questioned. But after light has been given to a person sufficient to enable him to discard an error, he becomes guilty for longer retaining it. So when Babylon, through the proclamation of the first message, was called upon to correct her errors, and redeem her influence over the people, and refused to do so, she then became guilty of willfully refusing the truth, and making the nations intoxicated with her false teaching. Just as the people of God when they are called out after her fall, become guilty by longer retaining their connection with her. Hence the proclamation of the fall of Babylon comes in after the first message, stating the consequence of her rejection of that message. That message has already been located in the present generation; and Rev. xviii shows that Babylon’s fall must take place in the last days, as it is just previous to her final destruction. But as we look over apostate Christendom, we see that the Romish and Greek churches are no more corrupt, either in doctrine or practice, than they have been for ages past. No marked change for the worse has taken place in those bodies within the present generation, nor is there scarcely room for them to become worse than they have already for centuries been. We therefore look to the religious bodies composing the great Protestant family for the fulfillment of the announcement made in the second message, especially in our own country, where the first message was more definitely proclaimed. The inquiry now arises, has there been any moral declension in these bodies within the memory of the generation now living? Did any such change take place with them about the time of the first message, and have they since been filling up their cup of iniquity, as represented in Rev. xviii? If so, we have the place for an unmistakable application of the second message.

But that we may not seem to judge these denominations ourselves, as we might be accused of not rendering impartial judgment, we will let their own members speak, and on their testimony will let the question rest. To show that we are not alone in ranking the popular Protestant sects as a part of Babylon, we offer the following. If they themselves claim it, we are not disposed to dispute it.

Mr. William Kinkade, in his “Bible Doctrine,” p. 294, says:

“I also think Christ has a true church on earth, but its members are scattered among the various denominations, and are all more or less under the influence of Mystery Babylon and her daughters.”

Mr. Hopkins, in a treatise on the millennium, says:

“There is no reason to consider the antichristian spirit and practices confined to that which is now called the Church of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of antichrist in them, and are far from being wholly reformed from her corruptions and wickedness.”

Mr. Simpson, in his “Plea for Religion,” says:

“For though the Pope and Church of Rome is at the head of the grand 1260 years’ delusion, yet all other churches, of whatever denomination, whether established or tolerated, which partake of the same spirit, or have instituted doctrines or ceremonies inimical to the pure and unadulterated gospel of Christ, shall sooner or later share in the fate of that immense fabric of human ordinances; and that Protestant churches should imitate the Church of Rome, in this worst part of its conduct, can never be sufficiently bewailed.”

Alexander Campbell says:

“The worshiping establishments now in operation throughout Christendom, increased and cemented by their respective voluminous confessions of faith, and their ecclesiastical constitutions, are not churches of Jesus Christ, but the legitimate daughters of that mother of harlots, the Church of Rome.”

Lorenzo Dow says of the Romish Church:

“If she be a mother, who are the daughters? It must be the corrupt, national, established churches that came out of her.” _Dow’s Life_, p. 542.

In the Religious Encyclopedia, (Art. Antichrist), we read:

“The writer of the book of Revelation tells us he heard a voice from Heaven, saying, ‘Come of her, my people, that ye partake not of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.’ If such persons are to be found in the ‘mother of harlots,’ with much less hesitation may it be inferred that they are connected with her unchaste daughters, those national churches which are founded upon what are called Protestant principles.”