p. 6 | Untitled article by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 5, 1912

The Hand of God in History — No. 27

By W. A. S.

Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy

Providential Agencies for a Quick Work in Evangelizing the World

In the vision of the advent movement of Rev. 14:6-14, the prophet saw the closing message of the "everlasting gospel" being carried swiftly, as by an angel "flying in the midst of heaven," to every nation and tribe and tongue.

The Lord, the living God, is independent of the use of material agencies. He sends forth his word, and his Spirit speaks to hearts direct from heaven above. He appeals to the fact that he "giveth breath" to every soul on earth, every moment, as evidence of his power to send the message of life to every soul. Isa. 42:5-7. But he works through human agencies also in proclaiming the gospel message. He sends saved sinners to tell other sinners the way of life. Not unto angels but unto men has he committed the preaching of the word of reconciliation to the world. And wondrously has the providence of God wrought in raising up facilities and opening ways for a quick work in this generation.

Not so many years before the year 1844 brought the hour of God's judgment and the rise of the definite advent movement of the prophecy, there was not a steamship plowing the seas, nor a steam railway train moving on earth. We to-day can scarcely realize how very modern are the means for rapid transit.

Writing of world-transforming events of the Victorian era, — Queen Victoria began her reign in 1837, — Mr. J. H. McCarthy said, in his "Short History of Our Own Times," written in 1880: —

"A reign which saw in its earliest years the application of the electric current to the task of transmitting messages, the first successful attempts to make use of steam for the business of transatlantic navigation, the general development of the railway system all over these countries, and the introduction of the penny post, must be considered to have obtained for itself, had it secured no other memorials, an abiding place in history. The history of the past forty or fifty years is almost absolutely distinct from that of any preceding period. In all that part of our social life which is affected by industrial and mechanical appliances we see a complete revolution. A man of the present day suddenly thrust back fifty years in life, would find himself almost as awkwardly unsuited to the ways of that time as if he were sent back to the age when the Romans occupied Britain. He would find himself harassed at every step he took. He could do hardly anything as he does it to-day. Sir Robert

Peel traveled from Rome to London to assume office as prime minister, exactly as Constantine traveled from York to Rome to become emperor. Each traveler had all that sails and horses could do for him, and no more. A few years later Peel might have reached London from Rome in some forty-eight hours."

The heart is filled with awe in contemplation of the wonderful changes of our own generation, as we realize that these developments have come about in the providence of God, in order that in this hour of God's judgment the whole world shall hear the gospel message.

Speaking of the providential preparing of the pathways over the world for the era of modern missions, Dr. Edward Lawrence says: —

"There was one other force which was needed to fully equip the church for its universal activity, and to draw the nations of the world together into a net, as the peoples of old had been drawn into the Greco-Roman empire. That was the power of steam, which was to bind the lands together with bands of steel, turn the oceans into a Mediterranean, make the locomotive an emissary of God's kingdom, and the steamer a morning star to herald the day. That invention was not ready to begin its task of annihilating space until the dawn of the nineteenth century. But it was ready in time, for not until then was the purified church itself roused to a fidelity grand enough to undertake the work for which God had been preparing this equipment. It was in 1807, while the young men at Williamstown were praying and studying about missions, that Robert Fulton was making the first trip of the 'Clermont' from New York to Albany."

The 'Clermont's' success in that early time was bright with promise for the future revolutionizing of ocean travel. As Julia Ward Howe wrote for the Fulton centenary celebration: —

"And not alone for Hudson's stream Avails the magic power of steam. Blessings of unimagined worth Its speed shall carry 'round the earth; Knowledge shall on its pinions fly, Nor land nor race in darkness lie; Commerce her hoards shall freely bring To many an urgent summoning, And Want and Wealth, in sundered lands, Shall closely clasp redeeming hands."

But it was not at once apparent that the wide world was to be reduced to small dimensions by the new developments. As late as 1835 a Liverpool newspaper gave the following report of a lecture by a Dr. Lardner: —

"As to the project, however, which was announced in the newspapers of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was, he had no hesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to the moon."

But the new time at hand in the divine program of fulfilling prophecy demanded the bringing in of facilities never before employed; and with the call of the hour the facilities came. In 1838 the British steamships 'Great Western,' 'Sirius,' and 'Royal William' made successful trips to New York, and inaugurated the steamship passenger service between the Old World and the New. A New York paper, commenting on the arrival of the 'Sirius' and the 'Great Western,' said: —

"What may be the ultimate fate of this excitement — whether or not the expense of equipment and fuel will admit of the employment of these vessels in the ordinary packet service — we can not pretend to form an opinion; but of the entire feasibility of the passage of the Atlantic by steam, as far as regards safety, comfort, and despatch, even in the roughest and most boisterous weather, the most skeptical must now cease to doubt."

There was one other step to take, however, for real success. That came in 1843. Then was launched the 'Great Britain,' at Bristol, the first of the ocean passenger boats with iron hull, and the first ocean steamer fitted with screw propeller. "To forge her main shaft James Nasmyth invented his celebrated steam-hammer." The ship made its first voyage, to New York, in 1845. This ship was the pioneer of the enduring type of ocean steamships which now, in numerous fleets, are furrowing all the seas, uniting all lands, —

"Swift shuttles of an empire's loom, That weave us main to main."

They have made open and swift the path in our day to the uttermost coasts of the earth.

(To be continued)