Signs of the Times, Vol. 2, No. 40. (9/21/1876)

Signs of the Times

Sep 21, 1876

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Sep 21, 1876

THE TWO WITNESSES.

By John Norton Loughborough

BY J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

(Concluded.)

It is said that those who slew the witnesses rejoiced and made merry. This is apparent from the account of the Festival of Reason. “They went in procession to the Convention, and the rabble, indulging their fondness for the burlesque, caricatured in the most ludicrous manner the ceremonies of religion, and took as much delight in profaning, as they had done in celebrating them. Men, wearing surplices and copes, came singing hallelujahs, and dancing barmagnole, to the bar of the Convention. There they deposited the host, the boxes in which it was kept, and the statues of gold and silver. They made burlesque speeches, and sometimes addressed the most singular apostrophes to the saints themselves. ‘O you!’ exclaimed a deputation from St. Denis, ‘O you, instruments of fanaticism, blessed saints of all kinds, be at length patriots, rise en masse, serve the country by going to the mint to be melted, and give us in this world that felicity which you wanted to obtain for us in the other!’ These scenes of merriment were followed all at once by scenes of reverence and devotion. . . . A festival was instituted for all the Decades, to supercede the Catholic ceremonies of Sunday. . . . The first Festival of Reason was held with pomp on the 20th of Brumaire (the 10th of November). . . . A young woman represented the goddess of Reason. She was the wife of Momoro, the printer, one of the friends of Vincent, Ronsin, Chaumette, Herbert, and the like. She was dressed in a white drapery; a mantle of azure blue hung from her shoulders. Her flowing hair was covered with the cap of liberty. She sat on an antique seat, entwined with ivy, and borne by four citizens. Young girls dressed in white, and crowned with roses, preceded and followed the goddess. Then came the busts of Lepelletier and Murat, musicians, troops, and all the armed sections. Speeches were delivered, and hymns sung, in the Temple of Reason. They then proceeded to the Convention, and Chaumette spoke in these terms:

“‘Legislators! Fanaticism has given way to reason. Its bleared eyes could not endure the brilliancy of the light. This day an immense concourse has assembled beneath those Gothic vaults, which, for the first time, echoed the truth. There the French have celebrated the only true worship, that of liberty, that of reason. There we have formed wishes for the prosperity of the arms of the republic. There we have abandoned inanimate idols for reason, for that animated image, the master-piece of nature.’”

“As he uttered these words, Chaumette pointed to the living goddess of Reason. The young and beautiful woman descended from her seat and went up to the president, who gave her the fraternal kiss, amid universal bravos and shouts of, ‘The Republic forever! Reason forever! Down with fanaticism!’”

—Thiers’ French Rev., Vol. 2, pp. 369–371.

Such is a sample only of the scenes of rejoicing and merriment that they indulged in.

“And they shall send gifts one to another.” It is a striking fact that those who were the prime movers and executioners in the September massacre of 1792, actually received gifts of large sums of money for their services by which they had struck terror into all religionists. From Sept. 2 to 7, they put to death 9,000 victims. The Commune paid, Sept. 4, the sum of 1463 livres as a present to these terrorists.—Thiers’ French Rev., Vol. 1, pp. 361, 365.

The scenes of horror that filled France during this reign of terror far exceeded anything of the kind in the annals of history. “While infidelity was enthroned in power, it wielded the sword of vengeance with infernal ferocity against the priests of the Romish Church, who were butchered wherever found, hunted as wild beasts, frequently roasted alive, or drowned in hundreds together, without either accusation or trial. At Nantes, no less than 360 priests were shot, and 460 drowned. In one night 48 were shut up in a barge and drowned in the Loire; 292 priests were massacred during the bloody scenes of the 10th of August and the 22d of September, 1792; and 1135 were guillotined under the government of the National Convention, from the month of September, 1792, till the end of 1795, besides vast numbers, hunted by the infidel republicans like owls and partridges, who perished in different ways throughout the provinces of France.”—Dick on Diffusion of Knowledge, p. 155.

Thiers says: “The number of persons guillotined during the reign of terror in France was 1,022,351. This does not include the massacre at Versailles, at the Abbaye, the Carmelite, or other prisons, on Sept. 2, the victims Glacière of Avignon, those shot at Toulon and Marseilles, or the persons slain in the little town of Bedoin, the whole population of which perished.”—Thiers’ French Rev., Vol. 3, p. 106. Dr. Dick, in speaking of the results of this Revolution, says: “Such was the rapidity with which the work of destruction was carried on that within the short space of ten years, not less than three millions of human beings (one-half more than the whole population of Scotland) are supposed to have perished in that country alone, chiefly through the influence of immoral principles, and the seductions of a false philosophy.”—Dick’s Improvement of Society, p. 154.

Concerning the winding up of this scene we read (Rev. 11:11), “And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying unto them, ‘Come up hither.’ And they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.” Almost simultaneously with the close of the French Revolution, Bible societies were organized, and the Scriptures have spread with that rapidity that in all civilized countries the before obscured, or sackcloth-covered, witnesses may be read by every family. The Scriptures are so within the reach of all that their prominent position is represented by their ascension to heaven “in a cloud.”

“Their enemies beheld them.” Yes, even infidel France, with all her boasted statements that she should destroy religion, has had to behold the world-wide spread of the Bible.

Verse 13: “And the same hour was there a great earthquake,” representing the great political revolution of France, which shook many portions of the government of the Old World. “And the tenth part of the city fell.” This city is the same as the woman of Rev. 17, the Papal Church. France was one of the ten original divisions of Western Rome, which had been given into the hands of the Papal Church, by the decree of Justinian, in 1798. By the breaking out of this Revolution one of the ten parts of the Catholic hierarchy was destroyed, here represented by a “tenth part of the city” falling. “And in the earthquake were slain of men (margin, names of men, titles) seven thousand.” This Revolution was a war on titles, as the following will show: “At the same moment a member proposed to abolish the titles of count, marquis, baron, etc.; to prohibit liveries; in short, to suppress all hereditary titles.” “Its first decree relative to the ceremonial, abolished the titles of sire, and majesty, usually given to the king.”—Thiers’ French Rev., Vol. 1, pp. 150, 201. It has been estimated that something like 7,000 titles were destroyed in that Revolution, which had as its object to bring all down upon a level. In the massacres of Aug. 10, and Sept. 2, 1792, the watchword of the rabble was, “Down with the Aristocrats!” meaning all those who hitherto had had any titles of distinction or of office.

“And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Many who were zealous in this Revolution saw the folly of their course and endorsed the Bible; and even “Callot-d’Herbois died calling on that very God whom he had impiously blasphemed.”—Thiers’ French Rev., Vol. 3, p. 221. Note. I am inclined to think, however, that “the remnant” has reference to the other nine parts of the city; that is, to the same as the nations, etc., who would not suffer the witnesses to be buried. These rejoiced when they saw the horrid scene end, and the word of God exalted.

Here we behold another striking evidence that God is the author of the prophecy, Revelation, in the accurate fulfillment of these predictions concerning the treatment of his word. “The third woe cometh quickly,” is the language that follows this prophecy. That woe is now doubtless coming on the earth. National calamities are increasing. “Evil is going forth from nation to nation.” Nations are commencing to understand what is meant by being “distressed with perplexity.” Soon the nations will be angry, and God’s wrath come as marked out under the seventh trumpet. Lord, arouse thy people for the conflict, for it is surely coming, and that speedily.

The Atonement.—No. 17.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

This point being settled, another question arises: Are there two holy places in the heavenly sanctuary? and if so, did not Christ enter the most holy when he ascended on high? The answer to this is as follows:—

1. When Moses was about to make the tabernacle, he was admonished to make all things according to the pattern shown him in the mount. Heb. 8:5; Ex. 25:40.

2. This tabernacle and its officers served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.” Heb. 8:5.

3. The two holy places in the earthly sanctuary are termed “figures of the true” [holy places]; and patterns of things in the Heavens. And they could not be patterns of the heavenly, and be made in “all things according to the pattern” shown to Moses, unless the heavenly had also two holy places.

4. That there are two holy places in the heavenly temple is shown by the book of Revelation, in which prophecy has unfolded various events in this dispensation immediately concerning the position and work of our High Priest.

When the living creature (one of the cherubim) called him up in the Spirit to Heaven, he said he saw a throne set, and described its appearance, and Him that sat thereon; and said there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Rev. 4:2–5. The order given to Moses, in erecting the earthly sanctuary, was to set the candlestick with its seven lamps on the south side of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, which was the holy place. Ex. 29:33–35; 40:24. As this was a shadow and example of heavenly things, we learn by this text in the book of Revelation that John’s vision of the throne of God was in the holy place of the heavenly temple, where were the seven lamps of fire or golden candlestick. Therein the Lord said he would manifest his presence; Ex. 29:42, 43; and there was our Saviour at the time of John’s vision, officiating as priest. In this, a continual or daily offering was made, that judgment might be stayed, and the sinner spared, until the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, or making atonement, which was the blotting out and entire removal of sin from the sanctuary of God. According to the type, this work of propitiation or intercession the Saviour had first to fulfill, in order to give man an opportunity to be reconciled to God, or converted, that his sins might be blotted out in the appointed time.

But we look down the stream of time still further; when the dispensation is drawing to a close, and the seventh trumpet is sounded. Keith, on the prophecies, quoted largely from Gibbon, to show that the first four trumpets noted events connected with the downfall of Western Rome. Mr. J. Litch, late editor of the Advent Herald, Boston, Mass., following Keith, traced the history of the next two, showing their connection with Eastern Rome. In this he gave conclusive evidence that the sixth trumpet ceased to sound in 1840. We think the seventh trumpet or third woe commenced in 1844, at the termination of the 2300 days. A small work of great value is published at the Office of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, entitled, Sounding of the Seven Trumpets.

The seventh trumpet announces the third woe upon the earth, and great voices are heard saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ;” the elders before the throne of God announce that “the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and them that fear thy name, small and great.” Rev. 11:15–17.

Here is a series of events, the connection and location of which cannot be mistaken, showing that this dispensation closes up under this trumpet. Our Saviour says, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his works shall be.” Rev. 22:12. Paul says the saints shall have rest when the Lord Jesus is revealed, taking vengeance on the wicked. 2 Thess. 1:6–10. And Jesus told his disciples they should be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:14. Thus it is shown that the judgment of the dead, the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection of the just, are events transpiring under this trumpet.

The prevailing ideas of the Judgment are vague and indefinite. Probably a majority, certainly many, look upon it in this light; that the Lord shall appear in the clouds of heaven; that all the dead will be raised, and the judgment will then sit upon the whole

human race. Another view is that each one is judged immediately after death. The first of the above views is contradicted by the scripture which says the saints shall judge the world; 1 Cor. 6:2; and the other by the declaration that God reserves the unjust to the day of Judgment to be punished, 2 Peter 2:9, and by many other texts which say that the Judgment takes place at an appointed day.

It is not reasonable to suppose that the saints will judge the world in their present state, or previous to the time when themselves are judged. The following from Bliss’ Review of Prof. Bush on the Resurrection is more reasonable and scriptural than the view generally entertained:—

“We are inclined to the opinion that the judgment is after death, and before the resurrection; and that before that great event the acts of all men will be adjudicated; so that the resurrection of the righteous is their full acquittal and redemption—their sins being blotted out when the times of refreshing shall have come; Acts 3:19; while the fact that the wicked are not raised proves that they were previously condemned.”

That the judgment of the saints is fully accomplished while the Saviour is in the sanctuary in Heaven, before his coming, and therefore before the resurrection, is evident; for (1.) their judgment must be closed while Jesus is their advocate, that he may procure their acquittal. And (2.) they are raised immortal, which is the evidence of their acquittal. The judgment of the world or of the unjust, in which the saints take part, must be subsequent to the resurrection or redemption of the just, but before the second resurrection. And thus it appears that the wicked are rejected in that judgment which takes place while Christ is a priest, while the degree of their guilt and their punishment is determined in that judgment in which the saints take part. This is the only view that will harmonize all the Scriptures. As the resurrection of the righteous to immortality and eternal life is the announcement of the decision of the judgment to them, so the wicked are raised to condemnation and the second death, which is the execution of the judgment before determined in regard to them.

It was on the day of atonement only that the High Priest went into the most holy place wherein was the ark; that place was opened only on that day. In the scripture which we have had under consideration—Rev. 11—and under the sounding of the seventh trumpet it is said, “The temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” This is conclusive proof that the atonement is made under the seventh trumpet, and that it is at the close of this dispensation.

It has already been noticed that in Rev. 4, before any of the trumpets sounded, John was shown a door opened in Heaven, a throne set, and seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. The seven lamps (seven golden candlesticks) were in the holy, and the ark of the testament in the most holy. From this we learn that our Saviour’s work of intercession in the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary continued from the commencement of his ministry in A. D. 31 to the sounding of the seventh trumpet in A. D. 1844, when the antitypical day of atonement commenced.

The difference between the work in the holy, and that in the most holy, is clearly marked in the Scriptures. The intercession in the holy is general, for the whole world; and herein is shown the benefit that the whole world receives from the death of Christ. Every sin deserves its punishment, which is death; and without a mediator this would be the unavoidable and universal consequence. But through the pleading of the Saviour, sentence against the evil work is not speedily executed; Eccl. 8:11; the sinner is granted an opportunity to repent; a time of probation is given in which he may return to God through Christ. In this sense Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He has prepared a covering beneath which all may find refuge. By virtue of his death for sin, wherein mercy is exalted and justice honored, the transgressor is spared and invited to accept the blood of Jesus as his substitute, and be reconciled to God. The benefits of probation which all enjoy, are by his blood and intercession. And surely these are no slight benefits. Though the sinner may pass them by unheeding; may scorn the warning voice, and despise the precious blood; the countless multitude of the redeemed who are all reconciled by these very means, forever attest the value and fullness of those means so blindly disregarded by the impenitent.

On the other hand, the atonement is specific and limited. By this it is not to be understood that repentance and reconciliation are not given in the day of atonement, as some have inferred. To sustain such a view it would be necessary to show that the penitent would not have been received, according to the type, on the day in which Aaron or his son made atonement; but that cannot be shown. All received the benefit of that act who “afflicted their souls,” as the Lord commanded. But this we learn, that such as did not “afflict their souls”—who did not repent, and were not reconciled to God, were “cut off from among the people;” their sins were not blotted out; no atonement was made for them. This work extends only to those who are reconciled to God; who, by confessing and forsaking their sins are entitled to mercy in the Judgment; or, in other words, to those who are converted, whose sins “may be blotted out.” Acts 3:19. It is very evident that Peter did not think their sins would be blotted out when they were converted, but at some future time; and the Scriptures clearly show that that time is when the sanctuary is cleansed and the atonement made.

Though a doctrine should be maintained or admitted on the strength or correctness of its principles, yet in the mind of the inquirer its strength is more readily appreciated by a discovery of the weakness of, or defects in, an opposite view. The common view, that the death of Christ is equivalent to the atonement, is attended with difficulties which are insurmountable. Losing sight of the truth, men have rushed to the extremes of error in opposite directions, and spent their time in useless labor to maintain a fruitless warfare.

We read that Christ died for all. Some who take the view that the death of Christ is the atonement, readily conclude that the sins of all have been atoned for, and argue thence that no condemnation can remain to any. The argument is reasonable, but the premise is defective. A regard for the distinction I have noticed, would remove this prop of Universalism.

Others, assured from the Scriptures that all will not be saved, that some do now and will finally rest under condemnation, are shut up to the conclusion that the atonement is not made for all. They also regard the death of Christ and the atonement as the same thing, and therefore are necessarily precipitated to the opposite extreme, that Christ did not die for all, but only for a chosen part of mankind. Did they regard the distinction here noticed, they might accept the plain declaration of Scripture that Christ died for all, and yet find abundant proof that there will be some who will have no forgiveness because they will not come to Christ that they might have life. The whole truth embraced would unite these parties and end their controversy.

But, assuming that the atonement was made on Calvary, one of the above positions must necessarily be admitted. Either the death of Christ was for a limited number (as the atonement is), or else the sins of all have been atoned for, and all must be saved. If the atonement is already made, if the sanctuary is already cleansed, and sins blotted out by an act long passed, it is not possible that the destiny of man can be affected by the proclamation and belief of the truth. For if our sin was removed or blotted out long before we were born, it is hard to see how the fact could be more a fact, or made more certain by our belief of it; or, if our sins were not so blotted out, our unbelief could not affect the omission. But “Christ died for all;” and the impenitent will be “punished with everlasting destruction.” It is a matter of wonder that Bible readers have ever for a moment recognized as true the idea that death makes an atonement, when the atonement is always represented as the work of the priest, performed in the sanctuary, with the blood of the offering.

Pray for the Erring.

Has thy brother gone astray— Have dark clouds obscured his way, Causing him to stumble? Pray. Prayer may lift the stricken up; Prayer may give the hopeless hope. Prayer may win thy brother back To the straight and narrow track. Prayer will move the mighty arm That alone can shield from harm.

Has thy sister gone astray? Suffer not thy heart to say Hard, reproachful things, but pray. Thou may’st well give prayers and tears, Not of moments, but of years, One poor struggling soul to aid, In its hour of direst need. For thy sister gone astray Pray, in tender pity, pray.

Has a Christian gone astray? ’Tis thy brother; do not say Words of condemnation; pray. Had’st thou been as sorely tried, Thou had’st wandered far more wide, Pray, with meekest charity— Pray, with purest fervency— Pray; his soul cannot be lost And thy heart not rue the cost.

’Tis his hour of sorest need; Show thyself a friend indeed, For him with the Saviour plead. Pray that God’s eternal arm May deliver him from harm. Pray. For him the Saviour bled. Shall that blood in vain be shed? Bear him to the mercy-seat, Plead for him at Jesus’ feet. —Sabbath Recorder.

The Maddening Mechanism of Thought.

Who would imagine, after reading the following, that when death has broken the case, seized the pendulum, and silenced the “clicking of the terrible escapement,” the maddening mechanism of thought is strengthened and accelerated a thousand-fold, as popular theology would have us believe? Such is not the law of mechanics as illustrated by any other piece of machinery. Mr. Holmes has come well nigh bearing testimony in favor of the Bible doctrine of the unconscious state of the dead:—

Our brains are seventy-year clocks. The angel of life winds them up once for all, then closes the case and gives the key into the hands of the angel of resurrection. Tic-tac! tic-tac! go the wheels of thought; our will cannot stop them; they cannot stop themselves; sleep cannot still them; madness only makes them go faster; death alone can break into the case, and seizing the ever swinging pendulum, which we call the heart, silence at last the clicking of the terrible escapement we have carried so long beneath our wrinkled foreheads. If we could only get at them, as we lie on our pillows, and count the dead beats of thought after thought, and image after image jarring through the over-tired organ! Will nobody block those wheels, uncouple the pinion, cut the string that holds those weights, blow up the infernal machine with gunpowder? What a passion comes over us sometimes for silence and rest—that this dreadful mechanism, unwinding the endless tapestry of time, embroidered with spectral figures of life and death, could have but one brief holiday! Who can wonder that men swing themselves off from beams in hempen lassos? that they jump off from parapets into the swift and gurgling waters beneath? that they take counsel of the grim fiend who has but to utter his one peremptory monosyllable, and the restless machine is shivered as a case that is dashed upon a marble floor? If anybody would really contrive some kind of a lever that one could thrust in among the works of this horrid automaton and check them, or alter their rate of going, what would the world give for the discovery? Men are very apt to try to get at the machine by some indirect system or other. They clap on the brakes by means of opium, they change the maddening monotony of the rhythm by means of fermented liquors. It is because the brain is locked up and we cannot touch its movements directly, that we thrust these coarse tools in through any crevice by which they may reach the interior, alter its rate of going for a while, and at last spoil the machine.—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Continue reading: THE TWO LAWS