The Time of the End by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 4, 1916

The Time of the End

By W. A. S.

(Concluded)

4. The Opening of All Lands

As the time came for knowledge to be increased, it was necessary that all lands should be open to receive the enlightening agencies. Thus, as the time of the end came, we see distinctly the hand of Providence swinging open the doors into all countries. It has been an era of world exploration and development. Particularly is this true of the last sixty or seventy years. It was in 1844 that the time of the prophecy came for the special advent movement, bearing the judgment-hour message to the world. The range of the movement is thus described in the prophecy:—

“I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Rev. 14: 6.

This was a declaration that as the time came for the closing gospel work to be done, the doors of access to every nation and tongue and people would be thrown open. In 1844, or but a few years before, much of the world was closed to missionary endeavor. But as the prophecy indicates, the years following have witnessed the swift and systematic opening of all lands to the gospel message.

It was in 1842 that the first five treaty ports in China were opened to missions; in 1844 Turkey was prevailed upon to recognize the right of Moslems to become Christians, reversing all Moslem tradition; in 1845 Livingstone’s determination was formed to open up the African interior; in 1844 Allen Gardiner established the South American Mission. Dr. A. T. Pierson, speaking of the wonderful way in which Providence opened the doors of access in these times, wrote as follows:—

“Most countries shut out Christian missions by organized opposition, so that to attempt to bear the good tidings was simply to dare death for Christ’s sake; the only welcome awaiting God’s messengers was that of cannibal ovens, merciless prisons, or martyr graves. But, as the little band advanced, on every hand the walls of Jericho fell, and the iron gates opened of their own accord. India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey, Africa, Mexico, South America, the Papal States, and Korea were successively and successfully entered. Within five years, from 1853 to 1858, new facilities were given to the entrance and occupation of seven different countries, together embracing half the world’s population.”—Modern Mission Century, p. 25.

God’s providence has laid under tribute every force and every resource for the opening of all lands—missionary endeavor, love of adventure, commercial enterprise, and scientific interest. Railways have been built through regions that were undiscovered seventy years ago, and among the passengers traveling now over the iron trail are men and women of tribes unknown fifty years ago. But the gospel message was to go to every tribe and tongue before the end; and wonderfully Providence has been opening the doors throughout all this “time of the end,” and particularly in our generation.

5. Material Agencies for the Work

The prophecy represents not only a world-wide work, but a quick work in proclaiming the gospel message in the last days. The movement is symbolized in the Revelation by an angel flying in the midst of heaven, from land to land. And as to the closing work, when the end is near at hand, the Scripture says:

“For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9:28.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” This is the hope for a quickly finished work in all the earth in our time. Yet the Lord lays hold of material things for service; and wonderfully the hand of Providence has wrought in bringing into existence material agencies for a quick work in carrying the gospel to the world—such agencies as no generation before ours ever had.

At the time when the first foreign missionary movement was being launched in America, Robert Fulton’s steamship, the “Clermont,” was making its first trip on the Hudson. In 1838 the first ship to cross the Atlantic under steam power alone came into New York from Liverpool, forerunner of the fleets that furrow all the seas today, making quick pathways for the gospel messengers to all lands. It is a gift of God’s providence to this generation when all the world is to hear the gospel message.

“He hath made the deep as dry, He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the earth.”

In 1825 Stephenson built his first railway passenger locomotive, which still may be seen in the Darlington (England) railway station. It was the beginning of the great revolution in land travel. The late Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace, scientist, wrote:—

“From the earliest historic and even in prehistoric times till the construction of our great railways in the second quarter of the present century [the nineteenth], there had been absolutely no change in the methods of human locomotion.”—The Wonderful Century, p. 7.

For nearly six thousand years men had traveled in the old way. Why should these revolutionary changes in travel by sea and land abruptly come just at that time?—Because the time of the prophecy was at hand, when the last gospel message was to be carried quickly to all the world—“to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” We see the hand of the living God opening the doors into all lands, and his wonderful providence laying at the feet of this generation agencies for quickly covering the whole earth.

Later came the electric telegraph, for the quick transmission of news. It was in 1837 that Cook and Wheatstone in England, and Morse in the United States, made their applications for patents on the electric telegraph. It was in 1844 that the first long-distance system was successfully demonstrated—when the historic message was sent from Baltimore to Washington, “What hath God wrought!” Now news of events fulfilling prophecy, and news of progress and conditions in all lands are daily spread before the world by this agency of our wonderful time. As the closing events take place, the Lord has so ordered it in his providence that no one need be ignorant of the signs of the times fulfilling before the eyes of men.

Here is an incident illustrating the way in which the electric telegraph may multiply and spread abroad the witness borne to the truth of God in some obscure corner of the earth: Some years ago a young man in Europe—a Seventh-day Adventist—was giving answer for his faith. His conscience would not allow him to do ordinary labor on God’s holy Sabbath. He had declared to the court that the oath of loyalty which had been required of him forbade his breaking the Sabbath. “How is that?” asked the judge. The young man replied:—

“I was sworn in with a Christian oath, and therefore cannot be under an obligation to violate the commandments of God and work on the Sabbath. One must regard God as the highest authority, and obey him in the first place.”

This witness was borne in a little courtroom, before a small group of men. But the press dispatches took it up, and the description of the scene and report of the words spoken were carried by electric telegraph to the press of at least four continents; and millions read the testimony of the young man to the faith that was in him. In the days to come, with great events taking place and solemn issues calling upon men to make decision for God and for his truth, how quickly, in some great crisis, all the world may be warned, and the last individual decisions be made for eternity.

Time fails us to speak of all the wonderful material developments of this time when knowledge has been increased, and when men are not only searching to and fro, but literally running to and fro. The whole earth is brought within the range of human knowledge, and the light is streaming out toward every dark place where the children of men dwell.

Nearly two thousand five hundred years ago it was written upon the prophetic page,—

“Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

There the word stood on the scroll of prophecy through more than two millenniums. Then, as the time of the end came, lo, the book of prophecy was unsealed, and the new era of increasing knowledge began to spread in wondrous blessing over the earth.

So surely, also, the prophecies of the last things will be accomplished; and we see, in the events taking place before our eyes, that God is indeed finishing his work in the earth, and cutting it short in righteousness.

W. A. S.