WITH our last paper we closed the examination of the prophetic periods. We have seen that they are all finished and in the past. Before passing to the events to which they brought us, we wish to notice briefly the movement among the people of God which marked this important period, and the prophecies which foretold it.
John saw, as we are informed in the 10th of Revelation, a mighty angel come down from heaven. . . . 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 the angel which I saw," says John, "stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, . . . that there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."
Let this angel and his testimony be particularly noticed: 1. He swears to time. 2. He has in his hand a little book opened. 3. He stands with one foot on the sea and the other on the land.
1. He swears to time, and declares that it should be no longer. To what kind of time does he refer? It must be one of three kinds: literal, probationary, or prophetic. But it cannot be literal time as measured off by months and years, for the angel immediately after speaks of the days of the voice of the seventh angel; no doubt meaning years, as in other prophecies. And we have further a period of 1000 years measured off, even after the resurrection. Rev. 20. It cannot therefore be what we understand by literal time. But does it not mean probationary time? We answer, No; for the angel declares to John, who doubtless personates the church, that he must "prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Probation then still lingers after this angel utters his oath. These considerations compel us to the conclusion that it is prophetic time to which he refers. In other words, he declares that with his testimony the prophetic periods end. Look carefully, reader, at this subject. Walk all around it. Look in every direction and see if you can find an avenue to any other conclusion than is here presented. An angel swears that time—some kind of time—shall be no longer. He immediately speaks of days (years) to succeed; and he tells John, and through him the church, to prophesy again many peoples, showing that there is yet mercy for them, and yet room to receive them. Now as it is certain that some time, according to the angel's oath, and as it is certain that only one of three kinds can be referred to, and as the angel by his testimony settles the matter in regard to two kinds, that he does not refer to them, it is certain that he must refer to the only other kind remaining, and that is prophetic time. This will appear further as we consider the next item.
2. He has in his hand a little book open. As his testimony relates to prophetic time, it must be based on that portion of the word which treats of prophetic time, and that is pre-eminently the book of Daniel. But what did the angel tell Daniel concerning his book? Said he (Dan. 12:4, 9), "Shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. . . . The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." But the angel has in his hand a little book open. This little book doubtless represents the book of Daniel's prophecy, which contains the very points concerning which the angel testifies, and as it is open when he bears his testimony, we have a clue to the chronology of his work. We know that it is in the time of the end that he proclaims his solemn message from land and sea; for not till then is the book opened and the prophecy unsealed. But when is the time of the end? This may be easily ascertained by comparing Dan. 7:25 with chap. 11:35. The tribulation of the saints in this last quotation is evidently the same as their oppression by the little horn, the man of sin; and they were to be given into his hand until a time, times, and the dividing of time, which we have already shown to be 1260 years, commencing in 538, and terminating in 1798. This date therefore marks the commencement of the time of the end; and since that period we must locate the angel on the land and sea.
In Rev. 14, an angel is also brought to view who has a message of time, based upon the same foundation as the proclamation of chap. 10; namely, the time of the end and the unsealing of the prophecies. He is thus introduced by John (14:6): "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, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come."
This is called "another angel," because John had before seen an angel flying through heaven, after the fourth angel had sounded, announcing three woe trumpets to come. We call him the first angel, because he is the first of the series of the three angels of the 14th chapter; and his message, therefore, is designated as the first angel's message. He has the everlasting gospel to preach, which we understand to be the same as the "gospel of the kingdom" mentioned by our Saviour in Matt. 24:14. But it is not in the order of God to employ literal angels to preach the gospel. This has been committed unto men. This angel must therefore be a symbol of the church; and his message must be a special proclamation by God's people, the true church, to be made at the point of time where this message is located.500
Upon its chronology, we shall offer but a word. We remark, 1. That such a message as this was not given by the apostles. They did not preach that the hour of God's Judgment had come, or was coming in their day; but they reasoned of a Judgment to come. See Acts 17:31; 24:25; 2 Thess. 2:3. 2. It was not given to the Reformers. They did not preach the hour of God's Judgment is come. Martin Luther placed the Judgment about 300 years in the future from his time. 3. Being a message of time, it must be based on the prophetic periods; but no message based on the prophetic periods, can be given till the book containing those periods is unsealed, and the book was unsealed, according to the testimony of the angel to Daniel, till the time of the end, the commencement of which the prophecy locates in 1798. We cannot therefore look for the angel with the judgment-hour cry, till subsequent to that date. And this makes the chronology of this angel the same as that of the angel in chap. 10. And since their work is also the same, and based upon the same foundation, and there cannot be a double fulfillment of the same work at the same time, we conclude that the angels of chap. 10, and 14:6, are identical.
We have already seen that the prophetic periods cannot extend beyond 1844; and we have now the fact, before us that the time of the end, to which the book containing those periods, was closed up and sealed could not commence earlier than 1798; between this point, therefore, and 1844, we must listen for the oath of the mighty angel, that time should be no more, and the solemn message that the hour of his Judgment is come. Has such a message gone forth? and in the right time? We answer, Yes; and testimony on this point, brings us to the remaining item to be noticed in reference to this angel; namely,
3. He had one foot on the sea, and the other on the land. That just such a movement as has of late years taken place on the Advent question, is contemplated in the prophecy, we cannot doubt. If any are disposed to question this conclusion, let them consider the matter, and tell us what kind of a move they would expect in fulfillment of those prophecies. Let them tell us how a proclamation of the close of the prophetic periods, and the coming of God's Judgment hour, would differ from the work there brought to view. But a proclamation has gone forth embodying both these particulars. A mighty movement has taken place, based upon the evidence that the prophetic periods were about to close. It came up at the right time, being subsequent to the unsealing of the book, in the time of the end. It commenced years previous, but culminated in 1844. The advent movement! The world witnessed it; and the world has not forgotten it. In the city and in the country, in the towns and in the villages, in the quiet districts, and in the crowded marts, in cars and coaches, and in ships and steamers, as they coursed in every direction over the mighty deep, the sound was going forth, The hour of his Judgment is come. It sped on till it encircled the globe. Truly the angel had one foot on the sea, as well as on the land. It has been stated that there was not, at that time, a missionary station on the globe, to which the message did not penetrate.
It will be no infringement upon the design of these articles not to speak particularly of the second angel of Rev. 14, after referring the reader to the above work. Suffice it to say, that he follows the first with a solemn announcement. "Babylon is fallen," is the cry that is heard from his lips. This also has been fulfilled in our day. It is a fact that the confused sects of the present day, which we think the Holy Spirit here designates by the term Babylon, mixture, confusion (since it is true of them in fact), did by the rejection of the doctrine of the Lord's speedy advent, whom they profess to love, and whose appearing they ought therefore also to love;—it is a fact, we say, that by the rejection of this truth they did meet with a moral fall, a declension in every department of religion, piety and virtue. Although all may not agree with us in the cause, the fact of this change is no assertion of our own. Out of their own mouth we judge them in this respect. It has been acknowledged and deplored by almost every organ of the religious world. As a result of this movement in 1844, it has been computed that fifty thousand left her communion. And we verily believe that a testimony is now ripening, which, in fulfillment of Rev. 18:1-4, will bring from her ranks every child of God.
We have thus briefly noticed the move that took place, and such as we might expect would take place to mark the close of the prophetic periods. The days have ended, and a mighty angel has sworn to the fact. No man may undo his testimony. By this we are brought to the autumn of 1844. The testimony that centers upon this point from the infallible witness of the word is this: Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed: then is the hour of God's Judgment come; and it has not failed in any particular.