p. 5 | Fulfilling Signs of the End by Eva L. Bowen

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 28, 1910

Fulfilling Signs of the End

By Eva L. Bowen

EVA L. BOWEN

“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.”

There are in this verse three tokens of the time of the end: (1) Certain prophecies of Daniel, until then sealed, not understood, will be opened; (2) many shall run to and fro; (3) knowledge shall be increased. By the fulfilment of these things we may know that the time of the end has come.

The words to Daniel were, “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end.” He had just been having a vision which greatly perplexed him. “I heard,” he said, “but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? and he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”

Now the book of Daniel as a whole has never been sealed. Portions of its prophecies have always been understood; but not until the beginning of the nineteenth century was the meaning of that part which perplexed Daniel, known. Then within a few years, men living in every part of the globe began to study that portion, and, entirely independent of one another, gave to it the same interpretation. William Miller in America, Edward Irving in England, Archibald Mason in Scotland, Joseph Wolff in Asia,—these, with many others, received, during the first half of the last century, the same light on those portions of Daniel which were to be closed till the time of the end.

“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Some writers explain this as a running to and fro through the Bible, a searching of its pages, and thus knowledge of its truths being increased. The words may have that meaning. Certain it is that in the early part of the nineteenth century there was a great awakening in Bible research. The study for the interpretation of the prophecies of Daniel would necessitate that. And as men were beginning to receive light upon the prophecies of the Bible, societies for its distribution were being organized. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded, and within the next twenty-five years similar societies sprang up in all parts of Europe; and in 1816 the American Bible Society was organized. So it is true that knowledge of the Bible has been increased.

But there is another application of those words, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” That was to take place at the time of the end, when also the prophecies of Daniel were to be opened to the understanding of men. We have seen that they were unfolded during the first half of the past century, and just as surely as one part of this verse was fulfilled, did the other come to pass. For, as God was giving to some men light upon the Bible, he was working upon the minds of others in another way; and gradually there came into use the improved modern methods of travel and communication by means of which the last warning message might be quickly given to the world.

In 1819 the first ocean steamer plowed its way across the Atlantic. In 1820 the typesetting machine was invented, the use of which has greatly facilitated printing. In 1832 the first telegraph message was sent; and the words of that message were, “What hath God wrought!” In 1866 the laying of the Atlantic cable was completed. And so one might go on, and enumerate an almost endless list of modern inventions which have greatly lessened labor, time, and distance.

This unequaled advance along all scientific lines is aptly described by Dr. Pierson in his “New Acts of the Apostles.” I quote from page 39 of that book:—

“This is the world’s golden age so far as invention and discovery, intelligence, and material progress can bring it. Measured by achievement; each year is a century. This is the age of railway and steamship; photograph and phonograph; telescope and microscope; spectroscope and spectrum analysis; audiphone and microphone; . . . steam printing-press and machine typesetter; typewriter and sewing-machine; of the discovery of forty new metals, and the revolution of chemical science; of the ocean cable and the signal service; of anesthetics, and a score of new sciences and arts; of cheap postage and the universal postal union; . . . of machine work instead of hand work; of free schools and universities for the people. . . . Most wonderful of all, this is the age of electricity, which already serves man as motor, messenger, and illuminator, and is to be applied . . . to no one knows to how many other uses.”

“Robert Mackensie, in his graphic sketch of the ‘Nineteenth Century,’ calls this feature of our times ‘the great outbreak of human inventiveness which left no province of human affairs unvisited.’” And Gladstone said that “one decade of years from 1875 to 1885 witnessed a forward stride of the race more gigantic than all the previous ages of history.”

Thus have the words of God to Daniel been fulfilled. The great increase of scientific knowledge which was to mark the time of the end is the leading characteristic of our own day. Those prophecies of Daniel which were to be sealed till the last days of time have been opened within the past century. The great clock of time is about to strike the closing hour of this earth’s history. Wherever one turns, he may see, written in glowing letters by the finger of God, “Behold, I come quickly.” “Be ye therefore ready.”

Takoma Park, D. C.