PROPHETIC OCCURRENCES

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 9, 1879

PROPHETIC OCCURRENCES.

There is a growing belief among Christians of all denominations that we are living in that remarkable and significant era of the world so often referred to in the Bible as “the latter days.” This belief is leading to a new and more thorough search of the prophetic parts of Scripture, to discover, if possible, their relation to our own time and to passing events. In consequence of the many exhortations in the New Testament to watch, and to be prepared, by continual alertness, for the second coming of Christ, coupled with the signs and wonders predicted as marking the close approach of our visitation, the history which each day makes for itself is scrutinized with deep interest by a large number of religionists. Not a few of these persons claim the multiplying frequency of extraordinary exceptional circumstances, as regards both people and things, as evidence of the correctness of their opinions; and they profess to find their warrant for such claim in numerous passages of the word of God, particularly in these verses from the twenty-first chapter of the gospel according to St. Luke:—

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring: men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable: Behold the fig-tree, and all the trees: when they now shoot forth ye see and know of yourselves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Verses 25–31.

Also in the following verses from the third chapter of Paul’s second epistle to Timothy:—

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” Verses 1–5.

And those verses from the last chapter of Revelation:—

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Verses 11, 12.

These various passages of Scripture, with a multitude of others of like significance, indicate radical, universal, conspicuous changes, calculated to arrest and fix the attention of those who are watchful, waiting, expectant, looking for the fulfillment of prophecy. Accordingly, it is insisted by many students of the Bible that just such conditions are beginning to manifest themselves all over the world, and are becoming increasingly remarkable in their character. It is not that each extraordinary event, singly and independently considered, has no parallel in history, in the peculiar qualities which render it exceptional or impressive, for the contrary is the general fact; but it is that the strange, or wonderful, or startling instances which formerly were occasional, few, widely separate, are now frequent, numerous, and crowded together; that constant repetition has familiarized the public mind with what used to be regarded as phenomenal; that occurrences which once excited a profound sensation have sunk to the level of the commonplace.

On applying this principle of interpretation to our own country, it is urged that there is found an extensive range of illustrative circumstances. Thousands of happenings take the form of extremes. We are pointed to the surprising mildness of last winter; to the scorching heat of the past summer; to the unusual prevalence and fatality of sunstroke; to the dire intensity and deadliness of the yellow-fever epidemic; to the extraordinarily liberal contributions, in a period of hard times, to relieve the sufferers in the stricken cities; to the heroism of self-sacrifice exhibited by such as Benner, and by the unacclimated physicians and nurses, who hastened from safe and comfortable homes to peril their lives in performing acts of benevolence; to the unnatural want of affection shown in the desertion of children by their parents, and of parents by their children, smitten with the fell disease; and to the grudging and scanty charity of the immensely rich, during a time of such intense distress, as contrasted with the ample generosity of other classes. We are further pointed to the saturnalia of vice and to the carnival of crime, run riot with extravagance and eccentricities of all sorts; to the multiplying cases of homicide without remorse, of murder lacking provocation, of suicide from whimsical motives; to remarkably astute, daring, expert, and successful robberies, like that of the Manhattan Bank; to the colossal audacity and fantastical ingenuity which invaded the sanctity of Stewart’s grave for the purpose of extorting a large reward for the return of the body. We are still further pointed to the almost inexplicable lawlessness in Breathitt county, Ky., where society for weeks has been terrorized by contending factions of sanguinary and revengeful men, whose animosities took their rise from the most trivial beginnings; to the bloody-minded infatuation which has deliberately employed armed array, human butchery, and unrestrained ballot-box stuffing, in order to realize and secure a solid South; to the desperate wickedness in high places brought to light by the revelations about the cipher dispatches. Indeed, we are asked to look in whatever direction we please—from the President’s extraordinary and unavailing policy of reconciliation to Edison’s wonderful and utilitarian inventions—from the mountain range of events to the mole-hill series of occurrences—and to notice the growing tendency to what is strange, remarkable, extreme, exceptional, peculiar, astonishing.

In like manner abroad, Europe was never afflicted nor agitated as now by the hand of assassination raised against kings. There is “distress of nations, with perplexity.” The whole of the industrial system of Great Britain seems about to crumble to pieces. Both her exports and her imports are declining with alarming rapidity. Her prime minister is a Jew—a race subject to political disabilities there only a few decades ago. The snow-fall in England exceeds all precedent for thirty years. No parallel exists for the destitution of her laboring classes. Within a year, socialism in Germany and other countries has become a real and recognized peril to the government. No such failure as that of the Glasgow Bank has happened during the present century. Its directors were building churches while wrecking homes. Grant’s progress in his travels has been marked by distinguished honors never before paid to an American by crowned heads. Thus does the extraordinary and surprising character of events in the Old World appear in full sympathy with the extraordinary and surprising character of events in the United States.

We have thus given form and expression to thoughts which many Christians are exchanging with one another in the course of their social intercourse. Some persons may be inclined to sneer at such views, and to call them nonsense; but, in the circles where they are prevalent, they are regarded as earnest truths and solemn realities. Without taking sides, we are content to lay before our readers a statement of these new inductions from the text of Scripture.—Daily Inter-Ocean, Jan. 2, 1879.