OUR FAITH AND HOPE; Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We Do.
By James White
NUMBER THREE.—SIGNS OF THE TIMES. “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”—DISCIPLES. “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”—JESUS. Matt. 24: 3, 33. WHEN SHALL THESE THINGS BE?
Our Lord having passed over the important events in the Christian age down to the end, in verses 5–14, next introduces the destruction of Jerusalem, at verse 15, in answer to the inquiry, “When shall these things be?” VERSES 15–20: “When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand); then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” The “abomination of desolation” is called “armies” in Luke 21: 20, and refers to the Roman army. “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” This desolating power is spoken of by Daniel as follows: “And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. . . . And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Margin, “desolator,” Dan. 9: 26, 27. Here is a clear prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. Our Lord referred to the book of Daniel, and taught his disciples to read and understand it; and when they should see what was there predicted take place, they must make their escape. The flight of the Christians of Judea to the mountains would be attended with difficulties. And their subsequent condition would be that of hardships and sufferings. The Lord knew this, and gave them the instructions and warnings necessary. The statement of verse 19 was given to save them from the sorrows of unnecessary woe. That was a time of trouble. But one, “such as never was,” is before the people of God. Jesus recognizes the existence of the Sabbath in verse 20, as late as the destruction of Jerusalem, as verily as he does the seasons of the year. The Sabbath is the uniform term of both Testaments to designate the very day on which Jehovah rested after the creation, the day upon which he put his blessing, and which he set apart for man. Jesus does not speak of the Sabbath as being only a seventh part of time, or one day in seven, and no day in particular. “The Sabbath” are the plain words of our Lord, referring to the last day of the first week of time, and, also, to the last day of each subsequent week. But if the term, the Sabbath, means only a seventh part of time, or one day in seven, and no day in particular, then we may read this definition into the text as follows: But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a seventh part of time! or on one day in seven. If such a prayer could be answered, pray tell us when the disciples could take their flight. VERSES 21: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The “great tribulation” here mentioned is that of the church of Jesus Christ, and not the tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem. We offer the following reasons:— 1. It is a fact that the tribulation of the Christian church, especially under the reign of the papacy, was greater than God’s people had suffered before “since the beginning of the world.” But it is not true that the tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem was the greatest tribulation the world ever witnessed. The tribulation of the inhabitants of the cities of the plain when God rained on them fire and brimstone, or, the tribulation when God destroyed all men from the face of the earth, save eight souls, by the flood, was certainly greater than that at the destruction of Jerusalem. 2. The tribulation of the Christian church has been greater than it will ever be again. True, a time of trouble, “such as never was,” spoken of in Dan. 12: 1, is coming upon the world; but we find in the same verse this blessed promise, “And at that time thy people shall be delivered.” The tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem was not greater than the world will ever witness. The vials of Jehovah’s unmixed wrath are yet to be poured out, not upon the people of one nation only, but upon the guilty millions of all nations. “The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried.” Jer. 25: 33. 3. If this tribulation be applied to the Jews, or any other class of unbelieving men, it cannot be harmonized with Dan. 12: 1, which speaks of the time of trouble such as never was, when Michael shall stand up. Certainly there cannot be two times of trouble, at different periods, greater than ever was, or ever would be. Therefore, we apply the “tribulation” spoken of in Matt. 24: 21, 29, to the church of Christ, extending down through the 1260 years of papal persecution; and the “trouble” mentioned in Dan. 12: 1, to the unbelieving world, to be experienced by them in the future. 4. The period of tribulation was shortened for the elect’s sake. Who are the elect here mentioned? The Jews? No; their house had been pronounced desolate. They were left of God in their hardness of heart and blindness of mind. Says Paul, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” The elect were the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. And where were they when tribulation was upon the Jews? They had fled to the mountains. How absurd, then, to say that the days of the tribulation of the Jews, in the city of Jerusalem, were shortened for the sake of the elect, who had fled from the place of tribulation. 5. The connection between verses 20 and 21, shows that the tribulation was to commence with those Christians who were to flee out of the city. “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day; for then shall be great tribulation.” Our Lord here speaks of the tribulation which his people would suffer from the time of their flight onward. We follow them in their flight to the mountains, and then pass along down through the noted persecutions of the church of God under pagan Rome, and we see, indeed, tribulation. And when we come to the period of papal persecution, we see them suffering the most cruel tortures, and dying the most dreadful deaths, that wicked men and demons could inflict. This last period is especially noted in prophecy. The prophet Daniel saw the papacy, its blasphemy, its arrogance, its work of death on the saints, and its duration as a persecuting power, under the symbol of the little horn. “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Chap. 7: 25. It is generally admitted that “a time and times and the dividing of time” is 1260 years. We shall not here offer proof on the point. Commencing the 1260 years A. D. 538, they reach to A. D. 1798, when Berthier, a French general, entered Rome, and took it. The pope was taken prisoner and shut up in the Vatican. The papacy was stripped of its civil power. Here ended the period of tribulation spoken of by our Lord, which was SHORTENED FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE.
VERSE 22: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” The papacy was clothed with civil power to punish heretics for 1260 years; and had not the period of tribulation of the elect in the providence of God been shortened, the martyrdom of the church would have continued to 1798, in which event, in all human probability, no flesh of the elect would have been saved. But the reformation under Martin Luther, and those associated with this great reformer, modified this tribulation, and continued to restrain the rage and consume the power of the papacy until 1700, since which time, according to all church history, there has been no general persecution against the church. We are brought in this prophetic discourse of our Lord, down into the eighteenth century, very near the present time. We should naturally expect, then, that the instructions and warnings of the next verse would be applicable to this generation. VERSES 23, 24: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Here is a description of the spiritual deception of the present age. False christs arose soon after the first advent of Christ, to deceive the Jews in regard to that event (see verse 5); likewise false christs and false prophets have arisen at this day to deceive the people on the subject of the second advent. The Shakers say, “Lo, here is Christ. His second coming is in the person of Ann Lee.” “Lo, he is there,” cry many of the popular ministers of these times. “His second coming is at the conversion of sinners, or at the death of saints.” So they have as many second comings of Christ as there are sinners converted, and saints die. Senseless theology this! “Lo, here,” exclaim a host of Spiritualists, and they “show great signs and wonders.” If possible they would deceive the very elect. And we regard it as a safe conclusion, that they will yet deceive all others but the elect. VERSES 25, 26: “Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” Our Lord is here dwelling upon what he has just before told them. His subject is still the teachings of those who say, “Lo, here is Christ!” “Lo, he is there!” If the Mormons say, “Behold, he is in the desert,” at Salt Lake City, “go not forth,” yet many of their disciples have gone. Or, if you hear proclaimed from the lips of the professed ministers of Jesus, “Behold, he is in the secret chamber,” Christ’s second coming is spiritual, at death, or at conversion, believe it not. And why not believe such mystical teachings? The reason is given in the next verse. VERSES 27, 28: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” We are very happy that our Lord has not only pointed out false christs and false prophets, and has warned us against their mystical teachings, but he has in contrast set before us the manner of his second coming in the plainest terms. The vivid lightning flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the west, lights up the whole heavens. What, then, when the Lord comes in flaming glory, and all the holy angels with him? The presence of only one holy angel at the new sepulcher where Christ lay in death, caused the Roman guard to shake and become as dead men. The light and glory of one angel completely overpowered those strong sentinels. The Son of Man is coming in his own kingly glory, and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels. Then the whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole earth will tremble before him. VERSES 29–31: “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. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” We have before seen that our Lord speaks in this chapter of the long period of tribulation upon his followers, and we have also seen how those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect’s sake. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened,” &c. We refer the reader to the noted dark day of May 19, 1780, as the fulfillment of this declaration. Mark this. It does not read, after those days, but “after the tribulation of those days.” The days (1260 years, Dan. 7: 25) reached to 1798, eighteen years this side of the dark day in 1780. Mark 13: 24, makes this point still plainer. “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened.” That is, before the 1260 years closed, but after the tribulation or martyrdom of the saints ceased, the sun was darkened. Those who would point to the future, or to the past, prior to the eighteenth century, for the darkening of the sun here mentioned, will do well to read again Mark 13: 24: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened.” “A something strikingly awful shall forewarn that the world will come to an end, and that the last day is even at the door.”—Martin Luther. In May 19, 1780, there was a remarkable fulfillment of the predicted darkening of the sun; and in reference to the facts and data, there can be no doubt; for, besides the18historical accounts, which all agree, there were many aged men, with whom men of the present generation have mingled and conversed, who witnessed it, and have testified to it. “In the month of May, 1780, there was a very terrific dark day in New England, when ‘all faces seemed to gather blackness,’ and the people were filled with fear. There was great distress in the village where Edward Lee lived; ‘men’s hearts failing them for fear’ that the Judgment day was at hand, and the neighbors all flocked around the holy man; for his lamp was trimmed, and shining brighter than ever, amidst the unnatural darkness. Happy and joyful in God, he pointed them to their only refuge from the wrath to come, and spent the gloomy hours in earnest prayer for the distressed multitude.”—Tract No. 379 of Am. Tract Society—Life of Edward Lee. “The 19th day of May, 1780, was a remarkably dark day. Candles were lighted in many houses. The birds were silent and disappeared. The fowls retired to roost. It was the general opinion that the day of Judgment was at hand. The legislature of Connecticut was in session, at Hartford, but being unable to transact business, adjourned.”—President Dwight, in (Ct.) Historical Collections. “ANNIVERSARY OF THE DARK DAY.—The dark day, May 19, 1780, is thus described by Mr. Stone, in his history of Beverly: ‘The sun rose clear, but soon assumed a brassy hue. About 10 o’clock, A. M., it became unusually dark. The darkness continued to increase till about one o’clock, when it began to decrease. During this time, candles became necessary. The birds disappeared and were silent, the fowls went to their roosts, the cocks crew as at daybreak, and everything bore the appearance and gloom of night. The alarm produced by this unusual aspect of the heavens was great.’”—Portsmouth Journal, May 20, 1843. The supernatural darkening of the sun, May 19, 1780, has been so universally understood that Noah Webster’s dictionary, in the edition for 1869, under the head of Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of Noted Names, says: “The dark day, May 19, 1780;—so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day, extending over all New England. In some places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several hours together. Birds sang their evening songs, disappeared, and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought the barn-yard; and candles were lighted in the houses. The obscuration began about ten o’clock in the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with differences of degree and duration in different places. For several days previous, the wind had been variable, but chiefly from the south-west and the north-east. The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.” “From Robert Sears’ Guide to Knowledge, published in New York, 1844, we extract the following: ‘On the 19th of May, 1780, an uncommon darkness took place all over New England, and extended to Canada. It continued about fourteen hours, or from ten o’clock in the morning till midnight. The darkness was so great that people were unable to read common print, or tell the time of the day by their watches, or to dine, or transact their ordinary business, without the light of candles. They became dull and gloomy, and some were excessively frightened. The fowls went to roost. Objects could not be distinguished but at a very little distance, and everything bore the appearance of gloom and night. Similar days have occasionally been known, though inferior in the degree or extent of their darkness. The causes of these phenomena are unknown. They certainly were not the result of eclipses.’” “THE MOON SHALL NOT GIVE HER LIGHT.”
“The moon shines with a borrowed light, and therefore if the sun from whom she borrows her light is turned into darkness, she must fail, of course, and become bankrupt.”—Matthew Henry. “The night succeeding that day (May 19, 1780,) was of such pitchy darkness, that in some instances, horses could not be compelled to leave the stable when wanted for service. About midnight, the clouds were dispersed, and the moon and stars appeared with unimpaired brilliancy.”—Portsmouth Journal, May 20, 1843,—Extract from Stone’s History of Beverly. Mr. Tenny, of Exeter, N. H., quoted by Mr. Gage, to the Historical Society, speaking of the dark day and dark night of May 19, 1780, says: “The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the Almighty first gave birth to light. I could not help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was equally invisible with the blackest velvet.” Dr. Adams, speaking of the dark night, says: “At nine, it was a darkness to be felt by more senses than one, as there was a strong smell of soot. Almost every one who happened to be out in the evening, got lost in going home. The darkness was as uncommon in the night as it was in the day, as the moon had failed the day before.” THE STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN.
We here give an extract from an article written by Henry Dana Ward, in regard to the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833, published in the Journal of Commerce, Nov. 15, 1833: “At the cry, ‘look out of the window,’ I sprang from a deep sleep, and with wonder saw the east lighted up with the dawn and meteors. The zenith, the north, and the west also, showed the falling stars, in the very image of one thing, and only one, I ever heard of. I called to my wife to behold; and while dressing, she exclaimed, ‘See how the stars fall!’ I replied, ‘That is the wonder!’ and we felt in our hearts that it was a sign of the last days. For, truly, ‘the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Rev. 6: 13. This language of the prophet has always been received as metaphorical. Yesterday, it was literally fulfilled. The ancients understood by aster, in Greek, and stella, in Latin, the smaller lights of heaven. The refinement of modern astronomy has made the distinction between stars of heaven and meteors of heaven. Therefore, the idea of the prophet, as it is expressed in the original Greek, was literally fulfilled in the phenomenon of yesterday. “And how did they fall? Neither myself, nor one of the family, heard any report; and were I to hunt through nature for a simile, I could not find one so apt to illustrate the appearance of the heavens, as that which St. John uses in the prophecy before quoted.” “The stars fell ‘even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Here is the exactness of the prophet. The falling stars did not come as if from several trees shaken, but from one; those which appeared in the east, fell toward the east; those which appeared in the north, fell toward the north; those which appeared in the west, fell toward the west; and those which appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the park), fell toward the south. And they fell not as the ripe fruit falls. Far from it; but they flew, they were cast, like the unripe fruit, which at first refuses to leave the branch; and when, under a violent pressure, it does break its hold, it flies swiftly, straight off, descending; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or less force; but each one falls on its own side of the tree. Such was the appearance of the above phenomenon to the inmates of my house.” Prof. Olmstead, of Yale College, says:—“The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth’s surface, from the middle of the Atlantic on the east, to the Pacific on the west; and from the northern coast of South America, to undefined regions among the British possessions on the north, the exhibition was visible, and everywhere presented nearly the same appearance. “The meteors did not fly at random over all parts of the sky, but appeared to emanate from a point in the constellation Leo, near a star called Gamma Leonis, in the bend of the sickle. “This is no longer to be regarded as a terrestrial, but as a celestial, phenomenon; and shooting stars are now to be no more viewed as casual productions of the upper regions of the atmosphere, but as visitants from other worlds, or from the planetary voids.” The People’s Magazine, Boston, January, 1834, on the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833, says:— “The Rockingham (Va.) Register calls it ‘A rain of fire,’—thousands of stars being seen at once; some said it began with considerable noise.” “The Journal of Commerce informs us that ‘three hundred miles this side of Liverpool the phenomenon was as splendid there as here; and that in St. Lawrence County there was a snow-storm during the phenomenon, in which the falling stars appeared like lightning; . . . that in Germantown, Pa., they seemed like showers of great hail.’” “The Lancaster (Pa.) Examiner says: ‘The air was filled with innumerable meteors or stars; . . . hundreds of thousands of brilliant bodies might be seen falling at every moment, . . . sloping their descent toward the earth, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, resembling flashes of fire.’” This is important testimony as to the vast extent of the falling stars, and also as to their emanating from a single point in the heavens. It was the greatest display of celestial fire-works recorded on the pages of history. It was no atmospheric or terrestrial phenomenon, common to the upper regions of the earth; but a display of the divine power, baffling the science of man.