“Time has Demonstrated this Fact.”
By R. F. Cottrell
What fact? "That there is no connection between the two thousand three hundred days and the seventy weeks." So says an original writer who calls himself "G." in the Advent Herald of Jan. 26, 1864. He further says, "To contend for a connection compels one to seize upon some incidental event, which leaves the sanctuary as it was. Moreover a person who takes this view of the subject must forever grope in the dark." I take G. to be an Adventist, as he writes for the Herald. What caused him to be such? Probably the Advent movement of 1844. This movement has given rise to the various sects who now call themselves Adventists. But, according to G.'s assertion, the leaders in that movement were groping in the dark; for all held that the seventy weeks were a part of the twenty three hundred days. If G. has got into the light and is ashamed of his parentage, he should no longer sail under the Advent banner. A stream may increase—grow broader and deeper—in its onward course from the highlands to the ocean; but it is generally understood that it cannot rise higher than its fountain. So the light upon the advent doctrine may, and does increase, as time is rolling us forward to the ocean of eternity; but when it shall be demonstrated that this light in its rise was total darkness, I shall beg to be excused from walking in it. The foul waters of error do not purify themselves in their onward flow. A lie does not become the truth when it becomes advanced in age and is crowned with the hoary locks of antiquity; if it was a lie at the first, it remains a lie still; though some may repeat it, till they really believe it is the truth. There was some truth in Adventism in its rise, or there was not. If there was no truth in it, I would not choose to be called an Adventist. Prophetic time—"the hour of judgment," and the coming of the Lord were the burden of that first message. The Lord did not then come, and if there was nothing in the time of the message, what was there in it that could claim to be from heaven? If the advent movement is not from heaven, I would not follow it. When that mighty angel of Rev. x, lifted up his hand to heaven and swore that there should be time no longer, he either told the truth or he did not. The little book of prophetic numbers which he held in his hand was open, or it was still sealed. If it was not unsealed then, in 1844, the movement that claimed to be a fulfillment of that prophecy was a lie. How many such time messages as the world has enjoyed since it was, all of them amounting to nothing, will it take to develop the fulfillment of that prophecy? How long before these nominal Adventists will get the book pried open, and the seal broken? I should have thought the Author of the prophecy could have opened the book at once, and not had so much folly manifested in trying to get it open. I had thought that these time messages, based upon the twenty three hundred days, were all "played out," as it is said, but still they come! "Time has demonstrated." Well, time I admit may demonstrate something. Is it not possible that it may demonstrate that the twenty three hundred days are ended? Has not time demonstrated that the seventy weeks of Daniel are ended? And yet the Jew may claim, that because the kind of Messiah which his people looked for did not appear at the time of expectation, that time has demonstrated that the seventy weeks are not yet ended. But the Messiah he looks for has not come and never will. Has not time demonstrated the folly of the Jews? and is it not possible that time may demonstrate the folly of professed second advent believers? In 1838, Eld. J. Litch, the present editor of the Advent Herald, calculated on the fulfillment of the prophetic periods of Rev. ix, connected with the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets, that the Ottoman or Turkish empire would lose its power in August, 1840. Time demonstrated the truth of this, and at the same time, demonstrated that the prophetic numbers could be understood; for on the eleventh of August, 1840, the Sultan did surrender the affairs of his empire into the hands of the allied Christian powers of Europe. Time has demonstrated then that the sounding of the sixth angel ceased in 1840, and there closed the fulfillment of the ninth chapter of Revelation. The second woe was then past; but the account of the sounding of the seventh angel does not immediately follow in the prophecy. The tenth chapter, containing the time message, already referred to, is thrown in parenthetically between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets. Why is this? Because that when, at the close of the ninth chapter, it was demonstrated that the prophetic numbers were unsealed, it was the very time for the angel with the open book to testify to the close of those periods. A mighty movement on prophetic time was to take place right there, between the close of the sixth, and the commencement of the seventh trumpet. This angel of the tenth chapter stands right between the close of the sixth, and the opening of the seventh and with the once sealed book open, and with uplifted hand, swears, "That there should be time no longer, but on the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished," &c. The idea is, The sixth angel has closed his sounding, and the seventh is about to sound, and the work of the gospel is to be finished in a few of the first days (years) of his sounding. Was such a message proclaimed to the world between 1840 and 1844? Yes; and all the time messages that have been gotten up since, or will be from now to the advent, cannot prove that the time had not come, or obliterate from the history of our times the fact of its fulfillment. When time had demonstrated that the prophetic numbers were unsealed, as it had in 1840, the time message of Rev. x, and of chapter xiv, 6, 7, was sounded forth with a voice so loud that the inhabitants of the earth trembled; fitly symbolized by the roaring of the lion which seems to shake the solid ground. As we have said, the book of the prophetic number, which had been sealed "to the time of the end," was unsealed then, or it was not. Time demonstrated that it was unsealed, and the providence of God put the seal of heaven to it, by sending forth the time message. Our God is excellent in working; what he does, he does forever. The car of Providence is rolling onward—it will not roll back and fulfill the time message a second time. But is friend G., quite sure that he has the true view of the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the days? O, certainly. He says, "For the meaning of the sanctuary, &c., I can do no better than to refer the reader to the views of the late editor of the Herald, S. Bliss, published a little before his death. I fully endorse them. It follows then, that as long as the holy land is trodden by the lazy, treacherous Arab and Turk—so long as the Mosque of Omar stands upon the site of the most holy place, that the sanctuary is not cleansed." Had G., given a testimony from Scripture showing that the Lord's sanctuary—his holy dwelling place—is now some spot of this old earth, it would have been more satisfactory to Bible readers, and would not have needed his endorsement. But he could "do no better" than to refer to the views of S. Bliss, and fully endorse them. Then comes his conclusion from premises so well established. "It follows then," says he. Now I confess that I want a little more evidence before I believe that the Turks and Arabs have literally got their feet upon the "true sanctuary"—the sanctuary of this dispensation—and that the Mosque of Omar is in the most holy place. It is true that a sanctuary once stood there, which was a "shadow of the true," but the angel Gabriel told Daniel that it should be destroyed and made desolate "until the consummation;" Dan. ix, 26, 27; and his words have been verified, as far as the destruction is concerned, for the Romans did "destroy both the city and the sanctuary." Can that which is utterly destroyed be cleansed? The word sanctuary is found 146 times in the Bible, and in no instance is applied to any portion of the earth. When used in a literal sense, it always refers to a building; and that building which is called the Lord's sanctuary is always the place where he is represented as dwelling. Ex. xxv, 8. "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." The sanctuary of this dispensation, as well as its priesthood, is in Heaven—it is the "temple of God in Heaven." This is fully proved by Paul, in Heb.150viii, and ix. Its cleansing is there set forth to be effected by the "better sacrifice," even by the blood of the Lamb that was slain on Calvary. Its cleansing also purifies its worshipers; and "the worshipers once purged" will have "no more conscience of sins." Heb. x, 2. They will then be prepared, and not before, for the second advent. How do we know that this work is not being done? It is, if the eighth and ninth of Daniel are connected, as all Adventists believed previous to 1844. But our unknown friend asserts that time has demonstrated that "there is no connection" between them. Is it not possible that it has only demonstrated that his view of the sanctuary is incorrect? Let us examine the prophecy and ascertain, if we can, the magnitude of the work which friend G., informs us that time has done. We learn from the ninth of Daniel that the angel Gabriel came to the prophet, and also that he had seen him before. "Whom I had seen," said he. We have no account of his seeing Gabriel but once besides the present, and that was in the vision recorded in his eighth chapter. Under what circumstances had he seen Gabriel before? "Whom I had seen," said he, "in the vision." He does not say that he had seen him in a vision, but in the vision. He would not refer his readers thus familiarly and definitely to a circumstance which they had no means of being acquainted with. The reader is supposed to be acquainted with the fact that Daniel had had a vision in which Gabriel had appeared to him. Well, that vision is none other than that of the eighth chapter: for at no other time had he had a vision in which Gabriel had appeared to him. Should a writer of travels and incidents tell you, in one chapter of his book, of having an interview with a man of the name of Hill in the city of Buffalo, and in a succeeding chapter, inform you that, being in Chicago, he saw even the man Hill whom he had seen in Buffalo, you could have no doubt as to what former incident he referred in this, unless he had previously recorded more than one such incident. The ninth of Daniel refers to an incident which is recorded in the eighth. Is there no connection between them? Again, in chapter ix, Gabriel says, "O, Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding." In the vision of chapter viii, a voice said to him, "Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision." At the close of this chapter, Gabriel had explained a part of the vision, Daniel says, "I was astonished at the vision but none understood it." How evident it is that the understanding that he had now, at his second visit, come to impart, was the same that he was commanded to give in the previous chapter. The symbols in the vision, that were presented to the eye, namely, the ram, the goat and the little horn, were particularly explained in chapter viii, but the part that "was told," to Daniel, by an angel, that is, the time of verse 14—the 2300 evening morning, (margin),—was left unexplained. Nothing was said of this, but that the vision of the evening and the morning which was told was true, and that the vision should be for many days. Verse 26. Therefore we should expect, that if Gabriel came to Daniel a second time, to give him further understanding of the vision, he would explain what before he had left unexplained, i. e. the time. In accordance with this reasonable expectation, his first words of explanation are—"Seventy weeks." Time is the subject concerning which he has now come to give him information: What time? The time in the vision; for, before he introduces it, he says, "Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision." This is the same definite vision in which he had seen Gabriel. "Consider the vision. Seventy weeks are cut off." As there was nothing in the vision, from which seventy weeks could be cut off, but the 2300 days, and taking this in connection with what has before been proved, there can be no other reasonable conclusion, but that the seventy weeks were introduced in explanation of the 2300 days, to give the date of their commencement, and to "seal up," or make sure, "the vision and the prophecy," by fixing the intermediate points of time, which cluster around the first advent and crucifixion of Messiah the Prince. Has time demonstrated that there is no connection between those things which the Spirit of prophecy has thus manifestly bound together as with a three-fold cord? No; but it has demonstrated that the view of the sanctuary which G., adopts, a view which has not a word of Bible for it, is incorrect; for, taking the date given by the angel for their commencement, the 2300 days have terminated, as G., himself seems to admit, and the work of cleansing his sanctuary is not begun. The view which G., gives of the daily is, that it was the daily sacrifices of the Jews, after their restoration to Jerusalem. He says, "How long the vision concerning the daily sacrifice—from the time of their restoration until they shall be taken away, and the transgression of desolation, how long the desolations of Jerusalem, to give both the sanctuary and the host, the people of God and their place of worship—to be trodden under foot? by the little horn and others." Again he states the question thus: "How long shall we sacrifice at Jerusalem? Then how long shall Judah lay in ruins?" Having all his work thus laid out, he commences the 2300 days, not at the commencement of the daily offering at Jerusalem, but just long enough thereafter to make them certainly end in 1868! There seems to be a remarkable inharmonious harmony among Timeists, in regard to the close of the present dispensation about that time. They arrive at it by altogether different routes, but all agree that it cannot be later than 1867 or 1868. One dates the rise of the papacy in 606, to which he adds 1260 days, and comes to the conclusion that in 1866 or 7, the papacy will be destroyed. Another has the 2300 days end in 1822, and adds to that 45 years, the difference between the ending of the 1290 and the 1335 days of Dan. xii, and comes to a similar conclusion. Last of all friend G., has discovered a third route, as we have seen, to the same desirable termination. What there is about that date that pleases Satan so well, I cannot see, unless it is that he knows that it is beyond the close of probation. God is not the author of confusion. Perhaps while G., was giving his view of the daily and the time of its being taken away, namely, at the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, he forgot to calculate where the 1290 days of Dan. xii, 11, would terminate. Add them to A. D. 70, and they terminate in 1360. What took place then friend G.? It is evident that the daily was taken away not more than thirty years before the establishment of the papacy; therefore G.'s, view of the daily is incorrect. Another absurdity of his position is, that it makes the infidel Jews the true host or people of God, and their temple at Jerusalem the sanctuary, at the destruction of Jerusalem, some forty years after their rejection and the time when Jesus said to them, "Your house is left unto you desolate." In conclusion G., says, "I have no doubts as to the correctness of my position. I feel that I have found the true key. Unto God my Saviour be all the glory, yea, I will praise him forever." Fanaticism generally very sanctimoniously gives to God all the glory of making dear self the humble instrument of bringing to light what it imagines to be important and glorious truths. The Lord wants no share in the glory of a discovery that sets aside his word and providence, and makes him the author of confusion like the one we have been reviewing. The inventor is welcome to the exclusive right. He may really believe his strange theory, for aught I know; but that does not prove that the Lord has commissioned him to make known the time of the second advent. We admit that the time message of Revelation, chapters x, and xiv, must be fulfilled before the advent; and we have shown that it had its place, and was fulfilled between 1840 and 1844. The true bill was issued before any of these counterfeits appeared. Any one who will examine these chapters carefully will see the time message is not the last, but that there must be a prophesying again, or another message to men and probation to follow; hence, if our time friends have the true time message, they will be disappointed; for the time does not bring the coming of the Lord. Reader, do not get disgusted with the Babel which exists under the advent name, and throw away your Bible. There is a God, and he is the author of the Bible and of the Advent faith. His word is being harmoniously fulfilled. I have referred you to what time has demonstrated, concerning the close of the sixth trumpet in 1840, and have showed that there was the point for the time message to be fulfilled; and there it was fulfilled. The Lord has made good his promise—he took up that obligation, when it became due—please give him credit, and do not ask him to fulfill it again. He will not repeat it; the car of his providence is rolling onward. And if you can find a people that are following down the prophetic track laid down in the word—that are prophesying again, or have another Bible message, which does not overthrow the past, but harmonizes with it—a message of practical importance to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord—you will find a people that have the present truth—the truth which is absolutely necessary to prepare you for translation at the coming of the Lord. Such a message is that of the "third angel" of Rev. xiv, 9-12—a message that is now being fulfilled. The commandments spoken of in this message are those which are contained in the temple of God in Heaven—the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched and not man. Rev. xi, 19; Heb. viii, 2. Those who are willing to keep these commandments will not be deluded with a false view of the sanctuary and the 2300 days.