Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 23, 1872
THE TIME TABLE.
By R. F. Cottrell
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL.
When you start on a journey by railroad, it is convenient to have a table of the road over which you are to pass, giving the name of each station on the way, with time and distance. Thus furnished, by your own observation you can know how far you have advanced on your journey; what stations you have passed and what ones are yet to be passed, before reaching the city to which you travel. You need ask no one the names of the places which you pass, the progress you have made, or the number of stations you are yet to pass, before reaching your destination; only observe and note your progress, and you have all the needed information in the table that is before you.
So the Lord has kindly placed in our hand a complete table of the great railway of time, reaching from the establishment of the first great universal empire of earth down to the Judgment, the second, or glorious coming of Christ, and the introduction of that everlasting kingdom, a kingdom in which all the people of God will share, and which will have no end. This time table, or rather way table, for the time from station to station is not given in every instance, is as accurate and as reliable as any table of the way from Buffalo to New York. It is indeed an infallible guide; its correctness having been tested by actual observation, until the last station but one has been reached, the eternal city at the end of the road.
In the second chapter of Daniel, we have a sketch of the entire road in four divisions. The great image with its four grand divisions, its head of gold, its breast and arms of silver, its body of brass, and its legs of iron, are explained to mean four great dominions of earth, which are to be followed by the everlasting kingdom of God. The fourth of these kingdoms was to be divided, not to be united again till the kingdom of God should appear, which should break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and stand forever.
Leaving Babylon in the days of the great Nebuchadnezzar, the train of time has reached successively Medo-Persia, Grecia and Rome. But the fourth kingdom, Rome, was to be divided, and in the days of “these kings,” Rome divided, the God of Heaven is to set up a kingdom. This division has been accomplished. A little before A. D. 500, the old Roman Empire had been divided into ten parts, corresponding with the ten toes of the image. What next? Time is not given in this chapter. We are not informed just how far it is to the next station; but this we know with absolute certainty, that we have reached the station, Rome Divided, and that the next station is the final one, The Kingdom of God.
In the seventh chapter of Daniel, we have the same table re-published, with some additional particulars concerning the road near its grand terminus, for the special information and benefit of travelers that shall pass over this, the most perilous part of the road.
The four great beasts represent the four great kingdoms of earth, which are to be succeeded by the everlasting kingdom of God. We find the fourth, the Roman kingdom, divided into ten parts, symbolized by the ten horns upon the beast. And here comes the additional light. Another kingdom arises among the ten, different from all the rest. The description is a perfect description of the kingdom of the popes of Rome. Popery rose to power on the plucking up of the third and last of those powers which stood opposed to its doctrines and pretensions, the Ostrogoths, who were finally subdued in March, A. D. 538. In connection with this dominion we have time; not reaching to the end, but to “the time of the end”—Dan. 11: 35, 40; 12: 9—an indefinite period, reaching from the close of the bloody reign of the papacy, to the end—to the final destruction of that and all earthly rule, and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom. The period of the papal supremacy is variously expressed, as “a time and times and the dividing of time, Dan. 7: 25,” a thousand two hundred and threescore days, Rev. 12: 6, “a time, and times, and half a time,” Rev. 12: 14, and “forty and two months,” Rev. 13: 5. It is three and a half prophetic years, consisting of 360 days each, and each of these days is a symbol of a literal year; so that the whole period is 1260 years. Reckoning thirty days to the month, forty-two months amount to precisely the same number. Now to A. D. 538, the time of the plucking up of the third and last of the three kingdoms which stood in the way of the papal reign, add 1260 years, and it brings us to A. D. 1798, the very year that the papal throne was overturned and the pope was carried a captive by France, one of those kingdoms over which he had so long ruled. We live at a time when we can say with assurance that the dominion of the papacy has been taken away. The text says, “They shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it UNTO THE END.” And of this same blasphemous power, Paul says: “Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2: 8. The papacy is to exist then to the second advent of Christ, and be destroyed by that exceeding glory or brightness that shall attend him when he is “revealed from heaven in flaming fire.”
When the prophet had brought us down to the time when “the Judgment was set and the books were opened,” he says, “I beheld THEN because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” This is the end of human government, since the body of the beast does not pass under other ruling heads, but is destroyed; unlike the preceding beasts, whose lives were prolonged after their dominions were taken away.
Where are we? What stations have been passed? and how many are still to be reached in the future? The train has passed by Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome in its undivided form. The ten kingdoms have been reached, the three have been plucked up, the papacy has been established, it has spoken its great words against the Most High, it has worn out the saints of the Most High, and thought to change his times and laws, they have been given into his hand, and the full time of his numbered years have expired, he has spoken his great words of infallibility, in the face of the Judgment, and the last remnant or even show of his civil power is gone. What next? It only remains that this beast be totally destroyed at the coming of Christ and the dominion given to his people who will be raised from the dead at that time. The time table has not failed in one particular so far. Will it fail in the last? You would hardly persuade a man, after he had passed every way station between Buffalo and New York, that the next stopping place would not be the city. Yet, by some strange infatuation or mental hallucination, men professing to believe the Scriptures can be blind to the evidences of the Judgment, resurrection, and everlasting kingdom at hand, and believe in a thousand years of a world's conversion and spiritual reign first—a thing not only not mentioned in the time table, but utterly excluded and rendered impossible by it. The temporal millennium is a fabled station, not found in any inspired time table; and consequently the train of time will never reach it, simply because there is no such station on the road.
In the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of Revelation, the time table is renewed, giving the stations not yet passed by, when the beloved disciple was in the isle of Patmos. And this is done, evidently, for the purpose of recording the grand and final warning against following the papacy in its blasphemous and heaven-daring work—Rev. 14: 9–12—a warning prepared expressly for the last generation of men upon the earth.
The great red dragon and the beast with seven heads and ten horns represent the two phases of Daniel’s fourth beast, before and after the rise of the little horn. They are Rome; first, under the controlling influence of paganism, and secondly, under the rule of the papacy. That the beast of Revelation is the same as the fourth beast of Daniel, is evident from the fact that he is marked with a characteristic of each of those four beasts. He has the ten horns of the fourth, he is “like unto a leopard,” the third, “his feet were as the feet of a bear,” the second, “and his mouth as the mouth of a lion,” the first. That this beast is the same as the little horn of Dan. 7, is evident from the facts that he rises at the same time, rules the same dominion, performs the same acts of blasphemy against God and war against his saints, continues the same length of time, and is destined to the same fate.
The papacy has done all that these prophecies have predicted of it. It is all ready and waiting for the destruction that shall come upon it with all its adherents; but here is the third angel’s warning to save all that may be saved from its coming doom; the last warning before the end is reached; predicted 1800 years ago; now being fulfilled in fact. The message is here; and doing its fearful work. The fact that the message is come, and is doing the very work assigned it in prophecy, is as palpable as that after Babylon arose the Medo-Persian Empire, after this the Grecian, and after this the Roman. Facts in the fulfillment of prophecy cannot lie. The fulfillment always comes in the right time and place. The time has come, according to our time table, that the destruction of the great antichristian power is at hand. All those who follow this power will perish with it. The warning is in the order of God’s providence, and it is timely and to the point. “If any man worship the beast and his image, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Light has fully come upon the wicked, lawless work of the papacy. Follow no longer that blasphemous power that thought himself able to change the times and laws of the Most High; and has laid hold upon the holy and perfect law of God, and boasts its power to command men under sin, by a mutilated and revised edition of the same.
“Here are they that keep THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD and the faith of Jesus.” If you keep God’s commandments you will not worship the beast; but if you obey the beast instead of God, you must drink of that wrath to which the beast is doomed.
This message is the grand sequel of all this great line of prophecy. It reveals the grand test which God had in view in giving this long-continued chain of historic events in advance. Without this message, men may learn from this chain of prophecy that probationary time is about to close, and that the kingdom of God is at hand. But this is to teach men what they must do to escape the impending wrath and stand before the Son of man. It makes a practical use of the prophecy which otherwise would only result in a mere theory.
But this message, found in the direct line of the series of events which we have noticed, is the third of a series of divine warnings. Consequently, a junction is made here with another line. Going back to the eighth and ninth of Daniel, we have, during the reign of the Medes and Persians, the beginning of another time table which, running parallel with the other, brings us directly to the third and last message, where the junction is formed.
Twenty-three hundred days or years are the whole length of time given on this route; these do not, however, reach to the terminus, but only to the junction, leaving the last warning to be fulfilled without definite time. The period of the last message is the time of watching. “Watch, for ye know not when the time is.” The time of the cleansing of the sanctuary is the time of watching. “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8: 14.
The starting point in this time table is given in Dan. 9, and there are several stations on the line which have been reached precisely on time. From the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, to the beginning of the personal ministry of Christ at his first advent, was to be sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years. The commandment to restore took effect in the autumn of B. C. 457. Just 483 years from this time, namely, in A. D. 27, we find Christ, after his baptism and temptation, proclaiming, “The time is fulfilled, repent and believe the gospel.” In the midst of the seventieth week, Messiah was to be cut off. After preaching the gospel three years and a half, namely, at the time of the Passover in A. D. 31, Christ was crucified. Three and a half years more bring us to the end of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, when the gospel was no longer confined to the Jewish people, but went to the Gentiles. This brings us to the autumn of A. D. 34, where 490 of the 2300 years terminated, leaving 1810 to be fulfilled thereafter. Add 1810 to A. D. 34, and it brings us to the end of the whole period in the autumn of A. D. 1844.
Here another notable station was reached. And as the cleansing of the sanctuary is the work of a priest in blotting out sins, and as the work of Christ, our great High Priest in the final blotting out of the sins of all his people is a work of judgment, or the beginning of the Judgment, it was ordained that at the close of the 2300 days the message should go forth to the world, “Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rev. 14: 6, 7. This proclamation was made at the right time; and just before the end of the days to which it pointed, the second messenger raised the cry, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Verse 8. This brings us to the42third and last message. Definite time is no longer given; but we know that we are swiftly approaching the termination of the road. As certain we are as that the Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, a thing that is demonstrated by the fulfillment of these prophecies. The last station but the final one has been reached, and the last alarm is being sounded as we approach the final depot, the grand terminus of the road of time, the endless blessing of eternal life in the city of God, or the retribution of the great day of the wrath of God and the Lamb.
And what shall it be to you and me, dear hearer? Those who shall escape the coming wrath are plainly and emphatically described as “they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”—the law of the Father and the gospel of the Son. Do we fill this description?
Some tell us the commandments of God have been changed, or that the day of the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, a change for which they are obliged to confess they have no direct scriptural authority. Others see that this will not hold, and they boldly take the ground that the ten commandments—the moral law of God—have been abolished. Can it be possible that those who violate these precepts, spoken by the mouth of God and written in his own handwriting on tables of stone, are the very persons distinguished from all others as those who keep them? Are those who hold and teach that the commandments of God have been superseded by the faith of Jesus, the very people who are described as keeping both? The idea is preposterous.
And what means this agitation on the subject of the commandments of God?—why this present agitation in church and State of the questions pertaining to the Sabbath, its proper observance, and its recognition and enforcement by law? The answer is obvious: The time has come for the last message to do its work. The people are being enlightened to prepare them for this final test. The message, as we said, is here; it is here on time. It is growing louder and louder. Men are making decisions on their final destiny. Those who indeed keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Christ, will be safe—they will not be worshipers of the beast.
Reader, are you ready for the Judgment that is just before us? Are you so consecrated to God that you are ready to pass the test? Do you hate sin, and love Christ, so that you can have confidence that all your past sins will be blotted out before he shall leave his position before the mercy-seat where he now pleads in behalf of those who truly repent, and forsake their sins. Get ready, oh! get ready to meet him in peace at his glorious coming, which is even at the door. You have no time to waste in ruinous delay. The Spirit has been grieved too long. The loving Saviour has been shut out, and his dying love slighted too long. Open and let him in. Seek a full conversion to all the will of God. A conversion that satisfies a fallen church, a church that will not be controlled by the commandments of God further than is popular among men, will not do. Light upon the commandments is before you. Walk in the light, and not choose darkness and condemnation. Be a Bible Christian, and not vainly trust that the traditions of men will do just as well. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15: 9
BY AND BY.
What if gloom be all around?
What if ills and wrongs confound
If you have a true man's heart?
If you scorn to cheat or lie,
If you act a noble part,
Joy shall bless you by and by—
By and by.
Never mind though men should sneer—
Honest toil should know no fear;
Face the world with bravest mien,
Drive the dark clouds from your sky;
There shall break upon the scene
Stars of triumph by and by—
By and by.
He's the nobleman who strives,
Who on honest labor thrives:
Who, on minds that now distress,
Pours love's balm most tenderly;
To him there shall come to bless
Life's fruition by and by—
By and by.
Man was never made to mourn
Hopeless live and die forlorn;
Man was made to bravely bear—
Man was made to hold on high
Hope's bright banner in the air,
And await the by and by—
By and by.
Consecration: The Danger of Self-Deception in Religion
By E. B. Saunders
Consecration.—No. 3.
The most terrible deception that can overtake a man is self-deception in religion. To be deceived by the devil and at the same time suppose that our peace is made with Heaven, is far worse than to lose earthly possessions or even life itself; because we are by it cheated out of eternal life. It seems to me that it is time that Seventh-day Adventists were awake on this subject. To be sure the Testimonies have spoken out plainly on it, and twelve or fourteen years ago there were some excellent selected articles on this point, in the Review; but we need something from the pen of living witnesses, whose hearts burn with holy consecration and love to God. This veil of deception must be torn from the hearts of many, or they will be lost.
When I realize that fourteen of the best years of my life have been lost by this means, I feel like trying to warn others; and may others, who have taken deeper draughts at the living fountain, than myself be encouraged to help in this good work.
But there are those who are puffed up in spiritual things, who feel that they do not sin, and boastingly speak of their attainments, who had better remain silent, or seek for the genuine baptism of the Spirit of God before offering a word on the subject.
Many professors of religion seem to rest satisfied with a mere outward observance of religious duties. They are not hypocrites; for they honestly suppose that they are doing all God requires. Their religious duties are not put on to deceive others, but their ideas of true godliness do not reach the exalted standard God requires.
The turning to keep the Sabbath has a blessing in it, because it is crossing to former habits; and some mistake this blessing for conversion; but the heart is not converted; evil habits and passions still rule the heart.
The next step with such is to join the church; and the sacred ordinances of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, &c., are observed; but these do not change the heart. There is still a love for sin, at least there is not a repugnance to sin in some of its forms. There is sometimes a murmuring, hard spirit, even if words do not express it; a fault-finding (in the heart) with the providence of God, and a feeling as though God required too much; and his law was too holy, for reaching the thoughts and intents of the heart, it is out of the power of such professors to keep it. Hence they look upon God as a hard master, and with such the most trifling duties of religion are oftentimes a hard task. Yet these brethren and sisters, with these and many similar feelings, hope to be saved, hope to go through, hope to pass the final test of the Judgment. May the Spirit of God tear off the veil from such hearts.
Dear brethren and sisters, you who feel that the requirements of God are too holy, and who find religious duties a burden, you are being cheated out of eternal life. And the fault is not in God, but in yourselves. You will find your hearts still clinging to some idol. Something occupies the place in the affections that God should occupy. The rubbish of this world so fills the heart that Jesus cannot enter. He desired to come in and sup with you. You may have wealth, honors, church fellowship, and all these things; but have you Jesus? Does your heart beat with rapture at the mention of his dear name, and is your soul bound up in one bundle of love to God, Jesus, the angels, and the people of God? Unless we have a heart filled with love, and an intense desire to please God, we are poor indeed. The straws we may gather with our dirt-rake will not supply the place of the Spirit of God. Earthly riches can bear no comparison to the wealth of the soul who has Jesus formed within the hope of glory.
These things are an unknown tongue to many; they cannot understand it; and the reason is obvious; they have no experience. The truth is believed by them, but the Spirit of God has not subdued the heart. They have started to serve God just as they would perform a piece of work: in their own strength, not realizing the nature of the foe they must vanquish or the armor God would clothe them with.
God does not help such ones, for they are unwilling to be helped. When they give up all, and yield the heart in perfect submission to God and earnestly entreat the Lord for help, placing themselves and all they have upon the altar, then our Heavenly Father will touch their hearts by his Spirit; and love, supreme love to God will fill the heart, and the countenance will shine with holy consecration. Then the armor (Eph. 6:11-18) of God will be found a perfect fit, and we can fight the battles of the Lord victoriously.
Converted men have an intense love for God. The strongest expressions of language seem tame, incapable of expressing in its fullness this absorbing passion. Hannah could say, “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord. . . . I rejoice in thy salvation.” Mary could say, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” and David, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee.” “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. . . . For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” Yet David, Mary, and Hannah, seemed to express, only partially, the fullness of their hearts.
There is a fullness in Jesus many have never experienced. We must have it, if we go through. We cannot buy Heaven, love to God alone is the passport we must have. Donations, loans, gifts to the cause of God, made without a heart glowing with love to God, will not purchase Heaven. But we can have the Holy Spirit, which will enable us to love God, and make our offerings acceptable in his sight.
Dear brethren, be entreated to seek God, and get the eyesalve to anoint your spiritual eyes; then you will see this terrible self-deception in its true light. Do not let Satan cheat you out of the best of your life as he has me. But I am thankful that there is yet opportunity to redeem the time. Let us make haste to improve it.
E. B. Saunders.
Sand Prairie, Wis.
As roots of plants, by mysterious forces, draw in the materials of life from the earth and throw them upward, and themselves lying in darkness, minister to shining glory of blossoms and leaf in the sunlight above, so prayers uttered here in darkness and tears and with no seen results, shall in Heaven disclose fruits whose transcendent loveliness the utmost wishes of earth did not measure.
RUM vs. REPUTATION.—
At a social meeting & few evenings since, the cause of intoxication, among other subjects, was the theme of conversation. A gentleman stated that when a young man, he was in the habit of enjoying himself with his friends over a social bottle, until father Taylor cursed him with a clap of thunder! “Walking, or rather rolling through the streets one day,” he continued. “I hailed the old salt, singing out, ‘How d’do, my old boy.’” Father Taylor stopped short, and seizing me by the coat-collar with both hands, looked me sternly in the face—I shall never forget the look—and then demanded in a voice of thunder—Young man, is rum of more value to you than your reputation? Go43home and get sober; the very dogs in the street shun you with disgust! I went home overwhelmed with shame, and though ten years have elapsed since that time, nothing that could intoxicate has passed my lips, nor shall I ever forget that my reputation is of more value than all the rum in the world.”
It Makes No Difference.
By Charles L. Boyd
It makes no difference, we are often told, what you believe if you are only honest. This does not seem to be an argument of modern date, but one used centuries in the past to meet a plain, Thus saith the Lord.
When Naaman, the captain of the host of the king of Syria, heard that there was a man in Samaria, who could cure him of the fatal and loathsome disease with which he was afflicted, he at once set out with precious presents to find the man of God. Without pomp or ceremony, the prophet sends his servant to the captain of the victorious host, saying, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times . . . and thou shalt be clean. But hear the objection: Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean?”
And why not as well wash in the rivers of his own country? Would God care for so small a matter as this? Abana and Pharpar had their source near that of Jordan. They were clear, cool, and swiftly flowing mountain streams. They flowed through a pleasant country and “made the region they watered like the garden of Eden for fertility and beauty.”
The answer to the above, I believe to be, It was not in accordance with the command of God.
It is true that the deep, rolling Jordan, even at the time of year when it overflows its banks, was stopped in its progress as the feet of those who bore the ark of God touched its brink; and while the waters below rushed onward toward the Dead Sea, those above piled in a massive wall. Twice was the Jordan stopped, as the mantle of Elijah struck its waves, and a dry passage was left from shore to shore.
We are often met with this argument in regard to the Lord’s Sabbath. On failing to find any proof in the word of God for the observance of Sunday, our first-day friends usually resort to the argument of “It makes no difference which day we keep if we are only sincere and keep the day right.”
We are often told that it makes no difference whether we believe the soul to be mortal or immortal; or whether the dead are in a conscious or an unconscious state between death and the resurrection.
We are also repeatedly told that the time of the second advent is among the hidden mysteries of the Lord, with which we have no right to meddle; for if we are prepared for death, we are for the coming of our Saviour. But our resort is to the Bible, where we find it repeatedly asserted that the seventh-day is the Sabbath, with the reason why it was set apart; also that it is a sign between God and his people.
Unless we believe the Bible doctrine of the sleep of the dead, I know of no way to meet the fearful doctrine of Spiritualism, which is spreading with such awful rapidity among all classes, throughout our land. Spiritualism offers particular inducements to converts; especially to those who have lost near and dear friends. But thanks be to our kind Heavenly Father that he has made it so plain that the dead are at rest, that they know not anything.
Says our Saviour, “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching.” And we cannot be watching, unless we are expecting and believing that our Lord is soon coming. Oh! that all would discover their mistake and retrace their steps as speedily as Naaman did, and build upon the sure foundation of truth, which alone will stand the final test.
CHAS. L. BOYD.
Cherokee, Iowa.
The True Adorning.
By David Downer
“Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel.” 1 Pet. 3:3.
LANGUAGE so plain as the above should never be mistaken, and those who are slow to get the meaning of this language and obey it, are, I fear, designedly slow to comprehend it. The sister who is trying to extricate herself from former habits of pride, will find this language acting upon her like frost on tender vines, destroying the very roots.
Peter says the adorning shall not be of plaiting the hair. God has given the hair for a covering. But see how the arrangement of the Creator has been reversed. No item of the toilet changes a woman's appearance more than the way she dresses her head; consequently, the art of dressing the hair is becoming a thing of importance; and not a few are devoting all their time to the outside, and none to the inside of the head.
A fine growth of hair is beautiful to look at. Such hair needs little ornamentation besides its own glossy ringlets. It is an insult to nature to spoil luxuriant hair by mixing in a lot of dead hair. No woman has natural hair enough to meet the demand of the present elaborate fashion, which alone proclaims its own absurdity.
The unnatural heat produced by these fearful fashions is causing much needless pain in headaches, and fatigue in carrying the burden. How long would a man of sense have his head enveloped in a cushion of mohair or dead human hair? Imagine him in this plight at the desk, or in the counting room, or preaching, where a cool head is necessary to the achievement of his task.
Men think, and think, and think, over individual and national progress, until their brains burn up with fever. Men do not care so much for grey hair, red hair, or curly hair, if they only have the investment inside, which is a good stock in trade, or a profession to insure prosperity in life. Why should not women think more of sense and ability, than looks? Surely there are not enough beauties in the world to secure success merely on that basis. And it is a humiliating fact that homely women of wit and sense win all the lasting laurels, and receive the most attention: a fact that ought to work reform in idle and useless lives.
If short hair is so much more convenient and beautiful for men, why not for women? Despite the prejudice against this simple style, many have adopted it, and find it agreeable. However, whether long or short, a simple arrangement of the hair, which is as productive of as little heat as possible, is most desirable. I truly believe we should adopt a style of life and dress that will harmonize as nearly as possible with God's holy word, and not allow ourselves to become slaves of fashion or pride. May the Lord help us, is my prayer, that we may be prepared for the great and trying day.
DAVID DOWNER.
Sand Prairie, Wis.
The Coming of Christ.—No. 3.
By S. S. Griswold
BY S. S. GRISWOLD.
Having shown in the preceding article that Christ and the apostles taught that the coming of the Son of man and the coming of the Lord were events near at hand in that age, I now proceed to consider the particular passages of the New Testament relating to that subject, and endeavor to ascertain the true nature or character of that advent.
There are two classes of passages that refer to the advent, and it is worthy of notice that they employ widely different terms when describing the coming of Christ. In the gospels, it is called the coming of the Son of man—the coming of the Son of man in his kingdom. In the epistles, it is called the coming of the Lord—the appearing of Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord Jesus, the great day, the last day, that day, the day, all of which doubtless refer to a coming of Christ, and the character of that coming is the object of our inquiry. Is it a coming of Christ in a bodily form, a personal return of the Saviour to this earth? or is it a coming of Christ in the establishing of his kingdom; and in those providences, special or otherwise, by which the kingdom of God has been, and is to be, built up here, resulting in the judgment and destruction of its enemies; also the revelation of the Saviour in the soul and heart; a conscious experience of believers; the being present of the Lord; the coming of Christ to his people at death; their resurrection in the spirit world; their glorified entrance into Heaven; the continuous judgment of the dead; as they enter the world of spirits, including all those attending events; that stand connected with the solemnity and import of those things?
For, as has been remarked, nor must the fact be overlooked, that both Christ and the apostles, so clearly taught that the coming of Christ was an event, near at hand, in that age, that it would be fulfilled during that generation, that whatever may be the character of that coming, it must synchronize with such teachings of Christ and the apostles. For, if they were mistaken as to the time of Christ’s advent, they might be as to whether there was to be any advent; and hence the whole teachings of the New Testament concerning the subject may prove unfounded.
I am well aware of the ingenuity, if not sophistry, that has been used, to remove the time of Christ’s advent far down into the future, or at least down into this present age. But it may be questioned whether a more perverted exegesis of Scripture can be found, than that which aims at setting aside the plain, direct and positive teachings of the New Testament, that the time of the advent was then at hand, that it was immediately to transpire, that the Judge THEN stood before the door, and hence, they, to whom Christ spoke, and to whom the apostles wrote, were to watch for his coming, to stand ready to greet his coming, their loins were to be girt, their lamps trimmed and burning, ready to meet their Lord when he should return from the wedding, the Lord’s grand entrance into Heaven at his resurrection, whither he had gone, to meet his celestial bride, the vast multitude of redeemed ones, who were already in that spirit world. The importance of the point above considered, viz., the time of the advent, is my apology for the length of the digression. Let us now examine those passages which speak of “the coming of the Son of man,” and “in his kingdom.”
The phrases, Son of man, and kingdom of God, doubtless found their origin in the description given of a vision seen by the captive prophet Daniel during his residence in Babylon. The account is found in Daniel 2:44 and 7:9-14, where reference is doubtless had to the kingdom which Christ founded during his ministry on earth. For it was during the reign of those kings, there mentioned, that the God of Heaven was to set up a kingdom, which was never to be destroyed, but which was to break in pieces, and consume all other kingdoms, and it was to stand forever. To this kingdom, the prophet saw one like a Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, multitudes of the heavenly hosts, and came to the Ancient of Days, who invested him with dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Hence, as preparatory to the fulfillment of this prophecy, the voice in the wilderness heralded the coming of the Son of man, saying, Prepare the way of the Lord, the kingdom of Heaven or of God is at hand, the reign of Heaven draws nigh. Immediately the king of this kingdom made his appearance, laid its foundation, received all power in heaven and on earth, and was publicly inaugurated as the Son of God. At his resurrection and ascension, to his apostles and disciples he committed this kingdom, and commissioned them to promulgate its principle throughout the world. “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke 22:29. Thus was founded the kingdom of God on this earth, with Jesus of Nazareth as its king, whom, after his ascension, the heavens were to receive during the times of the restitution of all things. It was in reference to the affairs of this kingdom, that the gospels speak of Christ’s coming under the title of the Son of man.
“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Matt. 10:23.
That this coming of the Son of man refers to Christ’s coming, not in person, but in the advancement of his kingdom, is evident from the fact that he himself preached that the gospel of the kingdom of God was drawing near. Mark 1:14, 15. “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Matt. 10:7, the apostles were commissioned to declare, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Now it was to encourage the apostles as they went forth preaching the glad news of this kingdom amidst persecution, that Christ promised them that they would not have gone over the cities of Israel, the land of Palestine, until this kingdom would become a reality. The Son of man, as its king, would be come.
Matt. 16:27, 28: “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
To make this a prophecy of his transfiguration and that it had its fulfillment in that appearance of the Lord, is most puerile. And to assure an audience that some of them would be alive six days from the time he was speaking is most absurd and ridiculous. To refer the passage to the “Final Judgment,” as coming at the end of the world, violates the language. For it was an event soon to take place, just about to be, during the lifetime of some who were standing there listening. And yet it was a coming that would imply his elevation to the office of Judge of all men; for at that coming he would “reward every man according to his works.” It was the coming of Christ in his kingdom, by the promulgation of the gospel, and the founding of the church which was to be the kingdom of God. It was spoken by way of encouragement to his disciples, assuring them that his cause was not a hopeless one, although he now appeared simply as a man, and his course seemed weak. He would soon appear in glory, with angels as attendants, and his kingdom would stand forth with power.