Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 19. (5/10/1877)

Signs of the Times

May 10, 1877

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 10, 1877

OTHER PARABLES OF CHRIST

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

There was much curiosity and questioning among the people concerning the kingdom which they could not see with their material eyes. Jesus knew every perplexity that agitated the minds of his hearers, and as the multitude again thronged about him, he continued to teach them in parables. “And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you; and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given; and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”

Jesus used the light of a candle to represent his doctrines, which illuminate the souls of those who accept them. This light is not to be hidden from the world, but should shine forth to enlighten and bless those who behold it. The instruction received by those who listened to Jesus was to be communicated by them to others, and thus handed down to posterity. He also declared that there was nothing hidden that should not be manifested. Whatever was in the heart would sooner or later be revealed by the actions; and these would determine whether the seed sown had taken root in their minds and borne goodly fruit, or whether the thorns and brambles had won the day. He admonished them to hear and understand him. To improve the blessed privileges then extended to them, would result in their own salvation and through them would benefit others.

And with what measure of sincere attention they listened to his instructions, they would receive like measure of knowledge in return. All who truly desired to understand his doctrines would be fully satisfied; their Heaven-given privileges would increase; their light would brighten unto the perfect day. But those who did not desire the light of truth would grope in darkness and be overcome by the powerful temptations of Satan. They would lose their dignity and self-control, and the little knowledge of which they had boasted when they declared that they had no need of Christ, and scorned the guidance of Him who left a throne in Heaven to save them.

Following the thread of his discourse the Divine Teacher uses another parable, saying, “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” The seed here spoken of is the word of God sown in the heart and made fruitful by divine grace. If the truth takes root in the heart, it will sooner or later spring into life and bear fruit. The life and character will show the nature and quantity of the seed sown. But the work of cultivating is the work of a lifetime. The principles of truth once planted in the soul, are to be carried out in the daily duties of life. The growth of Christian character is gradual—like the advancement of the natural plant through its various stages of development. But nevertheless the progress is continual. As in nature, so it is in grace, the plant must either grow or die.

Day by day the sanctifying influence of the Spirit of God almost imperceptibly leads those who love the ways of truth toward the perfection of righteousness, till finally the soul is ripe for the harvest, the life-work is ended, God gathers in his grain. There is no period in the Christian life when there is no more to learn, no higher attainments to reach. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime. First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, then the ripening and the harvest; for when the fruit is perfect, it is ready for the sickle.

This figure presented a most marked contrast to the condition of the Jews. Their religion was cold and formal, the Holy Spirit had no place in their hearts; therefore, instead of growing in grace, and advancing in the knowledge of God, they were continually becoming more callous and bigoted, retreating farther and farther from the presence of the Lord. The proud, caviling Pharisees looked around upon the vast numbers gathered to hear Jesus, and noted contemptuously how few there were who acknowledged him as the Messiah. There were many educated and influential men who had come to hear the prophet whose fame had spread far and near. Some of these looked with curious interest upon the throng, which was composed of all classes of society and every nationality. There were the poor, the illiterate, the ragged beggar, the robber with the seal of guilt upon his face, the sick, the maimed, the dissipated, high and low, rich and humble, jostling each other for a place to stand and hear the words of Jesus.

As they gazed, they asked themselves incredulously, Is the kingdom of God composed of such material as this? Jesus read their thoughts, and replied to them by another parable:— “Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” Far and near the mustard lifted itself above the grass and grain, waving its branches lightly in the air. Birds flitted from twig to twig and sang amid its leafy foliage. Yet the seed from which sprang this giant plant, was the least of all seeds. At first it had sent up a tender shoot; but it was of strong vitality, and grew and flourished till it was of large proportions, and the birds lodged under its shadow.

The people look upon the mustard, growing so vigorously about them, and their minds are vividly impressed by the illustration Jesus has used to point the truths of his doctrine. He thus declares that not by force of arms, and the pomp and heraldry of war, is the kingdom of Christ to be set up. But the work is of gradual development. Though the beginning may be small, it will grow and strengthen till, like the grain of mustard seed, it will reach, through imperceptible stages of development, the majesty of greatness.

Jesus takes this poor little seed to illustrate his mighty truths. The merest trifle is not beneath the notice of the great Teacher. Many were there whose Christian experience began that day, and would be like the symbol he had used, growing into strength and beauty, trampled upon, yet still maintaining its vigorous life. This figure was indelibly written upon the minds of hundreds who listened to the words of Jesus. Never would they behold the rank-growing mustard, so plentiful in that region, but they would be reminded of this parable of the Saviour, and their hearts would remember the lesson that he taught concerning the mysterious influence of divine grace upon the human soul, and the quickening power of the word that declares itself in the daily life.

“Another parable spake he unto them: The kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” The leaven in the meal represents the progressive work of divine grace in the human heart. The leaven was not naturally in the meal, but being placed in it gave rise to fermentation which resulted in a radical change of the whole mass. So the principles of God’s truth, hidden in the heart of an individual, change his entire nature, and influence his life. The natural feelings are transformed, the affections are consecrated, and the mind elevated. Physically, the man appears the same; but inwardly, he has become renewed by the heavenly principles that animate his life.

Again Jesus took the fields before him and the sowers and reapers to illustrate his truths, saying, “The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.”

The tares were noxious weeds, very annoying to the cultivator of the soil, for they sprang up together with the good grain. There was danger of disturbing the roots of the wheat, and destroying the young blades, if the weeds were rudely pulled from among them; besides this, the tares so closely resembled the grain, while growing, that it was hard to distinguish the one from the other.

When the servants of the householder came and asked him from whence the tares had come, seeing he had sown good seed in his field, he told them that an enemy had sowed the weeds among his grain to injure him. Then they inquired if they might not gather out the tares and leave the wheat free. “But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

The enemy sowing the troublesome seeds, is an illustration of Satan’s work upon the human mind. Christ is the Sower, who scatters the precious grain in the fallow ground of the heart; but the enemy of souls stealthily sows the seeds of evil. These germs of error spring up abundantly and bear their noxious fruit, sometimes crowding out and destroying the precious plants about them. The soil that should have produced goodly grain for the nourishment of man, runs to waste, and the seeds of sin are carried from that to other fields.

The growth of the tares among the wheat would draw special attention to it. The grain would be subjected to severe criticism. Indeed, the whole field might be set down as worthless by some superficial observer, or by one who delighted to discover evil. The sower might be condemned by him, as one who had mingled the bad seed with the good for his own wicked purpose. Just so the erring and hypocritical ones who profess to follow Jesus bring reproach upon the cause of Christianity, and cause the world to doubt concerning the truths of Christ. As the presence of the tares among the wheat counteracted to a great degree the work of the sower, so sin among the people of God, frustrates, in a measure, the plan of Jesus to save fallen man from the power of Satan and render the barren ground of the human heart fruitful of good works.

The tares so closely resembled the wheat that the laborers might easily be deceived when the blades were green, and root out the good plants. But when the field was white for the harvest, then the worthless weeds bore no resemblance to the wheat that bowed under the weight of its full, ripe heads. Then the tares were ruthlessly plucked up and destroyed, while the precious grain was gathered into barns. Sinners who make false pretensions of piety mingle together for a time with the true followers of Christ, and this external semblance of Christianity is calculated to deceive many. But in the harvest of the world there will be no likeness between good and evil. The wicked will be gathered from the righteous, to trouble them no more forever.

After Jesus had sent the multitude away, and had retired with his disciples into the house, they asked him to explain the parable that he had given them, and he answered, “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

These words of Christ are meaningless to those who are looking for a temporal millennium, when all the world will be converted. He expressly states that the wheat and tares shall grow together till the harvest, which is the end of the world. Then the tares are to be gathered out of the field; but they are not to be transformed by a mighty miracle into wheat. They are to remain tares, and are to be cast into the fire and utterly destroyed.

Jesus, in his explanation of the parable, brings distinctly before his disciples the great difference between the treatment of the wicked and the righteous in that time when men shall be judged for their deeds. Reaching down to the end of time, he corrects the false doctrines of those who rise up to deceive the people. He would teach men that God, who rained a fiery tempest upon the cities of the plains and destroyed them because of the iniquity in their midst, will surely punish the sinner. He holds the destiny of men and nations in his hands, and he will not always be mocked. Jesus himself declares that there is a greater sin than that which brought destruction upon Sodom and Gomorrah; it is the sin of those who see the Son of God and listen to his teachings, yet turn from his salvation, and reject his offered mercy. But the righteous shall be rewarded with eternal life.

The Waiting Harvest.

By R. C. Baker

“THE harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2.

The harvest is whitening, the laborers are few, And fainting and weary, their work they pursue; Broad, broad, are the acres of ripening grain, Few and scattered the reapers o’er all the vast plain.

From bearing the burden and heat of the day, Some weary, and falter, and faint by the way; But true to their mission, and smiling at pain, They rise and return to their toiling again.

Dear Lord of the harvest, before thee we plead, O listen and help in this time of our need. O send forth the laborers in power and in might, To reap down the fields which for harvest are white.

Ere long the dark shadows of evening will fall, Then in vain the poor sinner for mercy will call; Now, now, is the time for the warning to sound, Now the guilty may come, and sweet pardon be found.

O send forth the laborers, dear Father, we cry, Endue them with Spirit and power from on high, To awaken poor souls from their slumbers profound, Ere they wake in despair at the last trumpet’s sound.

Dear Lord of the harvest, the poor sinner spare, O answer thy people’s importunate prayer; For soon the glad time of ingathering will come, And fain would we gather rich sheaves to our home.

R. C. BAKER.

Principles Shape Happiness and Misery

Our principles are the springs of our actions; our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles.—Skelton.

Character and the Quality of a Coat

THERE is in some minds a very intimate connection between a man's character and the quality of his coat.

THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE

HELD IN OAKLAND, CAL., APRIL 1–17, 1877.

Last week we gave a brief synopsis of the first two lessons of the course given at this Institute, covering the prophecies of Dan. 2 and 7. This week we give the questions proposed by the class on those two chapters, and the answers, substantially, that were presented to the same.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON LESSONS I. AND II.

1. Dan. 2. It has been stated by some speakers that the reason the Lord chose gold, silver, brass, and iron to represent the four kingdoms in the great image, was because those kingdoms would represent themselves by these metals. Is there any historical proof of this assertion?

Ans. An iron crown was used in the later years of Rome as their symbol of power; and this iron crown appeared as a historical object down to within a few hundred years of the present time. But we know of nothing to sustain the statement in reference to the other kingdoms. That some regard was had to the relative strength of the kingdoms, in the metals by which they were represented, is evident from the language of the prophecy itself: “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron.” Verse 40. But inasmuch as the image closes with a mixture of miry clay; the idea of degeneracy from beginning to end, from gold to mud, is still more strongly presented.

2. Dan. 2:45. What is the mountain out of which the stone was cut that smote the image on its feet?

Ans. The great mountain of grace, that system of favor to men which led God and his Son to devise the way of salvation, and which led Christ to enter upon the work of redemption which will result in his finally having a kingdom filling the whole earth, after all the evil kingdoms of this world like the shattered fragments of broken potters’ vessels shall have been cleared away.

3. Dan. 7:8. Of what are the eyes and mouth symbolical?

Ans. This little horn being a symbol of the papacy, the eyes in the horn would appropriately indicate the far-seeing policy, shrewdness and cunning of that power. In some of the great papal processions in Rome, there is borne before the pope a banner or shield covered on both sides with eyes, to denote that that church is all eyes, everywhere present, watching the actions of all men. Well was it said of that horn that it had eyes like the eyes of man. The mouth would indicate clearly the other great feature of this church, its utterance of presumptuous words, and assumption of blasphemous titles.

4. Dan. 7:13. What is meant by the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, when he comes to the Ancient of Days?

Ans. This scene certainly does not take place on this earth, or within the region of our atmosphere. The Ancient of Days is not here. The Son of man goes before him to receive a kingdom, which he does not receive before his work as priest is ended; hence it does not refer to his ascension at the time of his first advent; for then he went to his Father to act as priest before him. But he receives his kingdom before he returns. Luke 19:12. Hence this scene transpires in Heaven. The clouds therefore are not the clouds of our atmosphere which may be referred to in expressions respecting his return to this earth. We know of no clouds in Heaven but the clouds of angels that ever surround their Lord; and we think these are the ones intended here.

5. Dan. 7:23. What marked the establishment of Rome as a universal empire?

Ans. Rome reached the height of its greatness under Octavian, known as Augustus Cæsar. The date from which it may most probably be considered a universal empire, was the time when it had made itself master of all the divisions of the preceding or goat kingdom. And when it made Egypt a province, it had then absorbed into itself all the kingdom of Alexander. This was B. C. 30. But it was introduced into prophecy earlier than this, that is, when the league was made between it and the Jews in B. C. 161. After that the prophet saw it extending itself toward the east, the south, and the pleasant land. This was fulfilled when it made Syria and Palestine Roman provinces in B. C. 63, and Egypt, as already stated, B. C. 30.

6. Dan. 7:25. Is the word “times” in this verse in the Greek or Hebrew of such form as to denote just two times; that is, is it in the dual number, so that the expression might be read, “a time, two times, and half a time, making three times and a half?” Ans. No argument, we think, can be drawn from the dual number on this verse. The Hebrew does not make that distinction in numbers, and in the Greek the form is frequently identical with the regular plural. But the expression is none the less definite; for no number being expressed, the law of language would require us to understand the least number that could be expressed by the plural, which is two. As many as two it must be, or it could not be put in the plural; but to say that it is more than two, would be pure assumption for there is nothing to indicate it. And this conclusion is made certain by comparing this language with other prophecies in reference to the same period of time, in which it is called 42 months and 1260 days. Rev. 12:6, 14; 13:5. This would be a time (1 year 360 days) two times (or years 720 days) and half a time (180 days) making in all 1260 days.

7. Dan. 7:25. Some claim that the 1260 years of papal supremacy began somewhere in the 8th century when Pepin ascended the throne. How can this be answered?

Ans. The point marked in the prophecy as the beginning of papal supremacy is not when the pope became a temporal prince, but when he had power to persecute the church of God. This was not by virtue of any grant from Pepin, nor from Phocas, but from Justinian. Croly, on the Apocalypse, says that the highest authorities among the civilians and annalists of Rome spurn the idea that Phocas was the founder of the supremacy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian as the only legitimate source. Baronius, the great Catholic historian, formally gives the whole detail of Justinian’s grants of supremacy to the pope. Gavazzi, Lectures, p. 66, says: “The celebrated letter of Justinian to the pope in the year 533, not only recognizing all previous privileges, but enlarging them, and entitling the pope and his church to many immunities and rights, afterward gave origin to the pretensions displayed in the canon law.” See also De Commin, vol. 1, p. 114. This decree made in 533 was not carried into effect till 538, and we must date the period from the time when the saints’ times and laws were actually given into his hands. It was this spiritual control, not temporal, that is marked by the prophecy.

8. Dan. 7:25. If the Bible year is only 360 days, how were the seasons regulated, as there are in reality in every year 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 49 seconds?

Ans. The regular year of the Jews was 12 months of 30 days each, which would give just 360 days for the year. But this falling so much short of a real year, the seasons would have been entirely thrown out of place in a short time, unless some method had been adopted to remedy the difficulty. The simple method adopted by the Jews was this: Every third year an extra month was intercalated. Their 12th month was called Adar, and this extra month was called ve-Adar, or the second Adar, and was made of sufficient length just to make up the time they had lost, and bring the year up with the sun again. But this third year, lengthened out indefinitely by this thirteenth month, was exceptional. The regular year was 360 days in length; and hence in the reckoning of all prophetic periods the year of 360 days must be taken. But the years which they symbolize are of course the actual years, 365¼ days in length.

9. What judgment is spoken of in Dan. 7:26?

Ans. Political judgment on the papacy at the end of its specified period of 1260 years. National calamity and overthrow are sometimes spoken of in the Scriptures as judgments. In Acts 7:7, Stephen speaks of the overthrow of the Egyptians at the exode as follows: “And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God; and after that shall they come forth and serve me in this place.” It could therefore be properly said that the (threatened) judgment upon the Egyptian nation sat at that time. So the period of papal supremacy was limited to 1260 years, and at the end of that time judgment was rendered and his dominion taken away. That this judgment refers exclusively to the papacy is evident from the remainder of the verse. It was at the time when his dominion was taken away which we know was in 1798; and a consuming process was to follow, which has since been fulfilled till now the last vestige of his temporal power is gone, and the end must be near. This judgment is not the same as that of verses 9 and 10, which has been explained in remarks on the sanctuary, nor the same as that of verse 22, which seems to refer to the time when the saints will have their part to act in apportioning judgments upon the wicked, 1 Cor. 6:2, which will be during their reign of a thousand years with Christ. Rev. 20:4.

10. At what date was Rome divided into its eastern and western divisions?

Ans. As the prophecy takes no note of this division it is a point of no importance so far as concerns an interpretation of the prophecy. It is however a matter of historical interest as one of the steps which prepared the way for the overthrow of the Western Empire. Swinton’s Outlines of the World’s History, p. 193, speaks on this point as follows:— “Constantine made a change which had a great effect upon the later history of the Roman world. He removed the capital of the empire to the old Greek city of Byzantium, on the Bosphorus, which he greatly enlarged and called New Rome, but which has been better known ever since as Constantinople (Greek polis, a city—the city of Constantine). Even before this, Rome had, as we have seen, ceased to be the usual dwelling-place of the emperors, who commonly lived at Milan, Nicomedia (Bithynia), and elsewhere; but the transfer of the capital to a Greek city is a proof of how completely the Empire had come to overshadow Rome and Italy. Theodosius was the last emperor who reigned over the whole Roman Empire. On his death in A. D. 395, the vast dominion was divided between his two sons.—Honorius ruling in the West, and Arcadius in the East. From that date the history of Rome divides itself into two distinct histories, that of the Western or Latin Empire, and that of the Eastern, Greek or Byzantine Empire.”

LESSON THREE.

THE VISION OF DANIEL CHAPTER VIII.

The symbols of this chapter are mostly explained in the chapter itself. The ram with two horns, the higher of which came up last, represented the kings, or the kingdom, of Media and Persia, the two horns symbolizing the two elements in the nation, the Medes and Persians. The Persian came up last and attained the controlling influence. Hostilities first broke out between the Babylonians and the Medes, whereupon Cyaxares, king of the Medes, summoned to his aid his nephew Cyrus, the son of his sister who had been married to Cambyses the king of Persia. Cyrus, responding with an army of 30,000 Persians, was at once placed by Cyaxares in command of the joint forces of the Medes and Persians. On the taking of Babylon, B. C. 538, Cyaxares (who is called Darius in Dan. 5:31), as civil ruler, took the throne. On his death, two years later, B. C. 536, he made Cyrus his successor, and the same year, Cambyses, the father of Cyrus dying, Cyrus was brought also to the Persian throne. The two were then united in one; and thus was founded the Medo-Persian Empire, the ruling house being in the Persian line. This power pushed its conquests especially in the directions named, northward, westward and southward, till in the days of Ahasuerus, Esther 1:1, it reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia.

The rough goat is explained to be the king of Grecia. Verse 21. The great horn between his eyes was the first king. Id. This shows that the word king as first used has the sense of kingdom; as it would be absurd to speak of the first king of a king. This first king was Alexander the Great, who having defeated the last Persian king, Darius Codomannus, at the battle of Arbela, Oct. 1, B. C. 331, found himself master of the world. This horn was broken and four came up in its place, denoting the four parts into which his empire would be divided. Eight years after the battle of Arbela, Alexander gave himself up to beastly drunkenness to that degree that he died Nov. 12, B. C. 323, aged only 33. Prideaux gives a just estimate of the man, when he calls him “the great cut-throat of the age in which he lived.” In the name of Aridæus, then called Philip, bastard brother of Alexander’s and also an idiot, and by Alexander’s two infant sons, Alexander Ægus and Hercules, all being under the guardianship of Perdiccas, the unity of the empire was for a time maintained. But it did not take long to put these all out of the way, and within fifteen years after Alexander’s death the kingdom was divided into four parts, between his four leading generals: Cassander had Macedon and Greece; Lysimachus had Thrace and those parts of Asia that lay upon the Hellespont and Bosphorus; Ptolemy had Egypt, Libya, Arabia, Palestine and Cœle-Syria, and Seleucus had Syria and all the East. These kingdoms are called, in brief, Macedonia, Thrace, Syria and Egypt. They date from about B. C. 308.

The little horn denotes a succeeding kingdom to arise in the latter part of the reign of the four horns, a kingdom of fierce countenance, strange language, a wonderful destroyer, to stand up against the Prince of princes, and at last to be broken without hand. This horn was not Antiochus Epiphanes as claimed by some, for he was not “exceeding great” in comparison with Medo-Persia and Grecia that went before. He did not increase his dominions, was not another horn, but only one (the 8th in order) of the 26 kings that constituted the Syrian horn of the goat. He did not stand up against the Prince of princes (Christ), but died 164 years before our Lord was born.

This horn must symbolize Rome, as in the parallel visions of Dan. 2 and 7. Rome came out of

one of the horns of the goat, as it conquered Macedonia B. C. 168, and in 161 became connected with the people of God by its league with the Jews; 1 Mac. 8; Josephus’ Antiq., b. xii., c. x., sec. 6; Prideaux, Vol. ii., p. 166; thus becoming a subject of prophecy, and appearing to the prophet to come out of the Macedonian horn. It extended its conquests toward the east, south, and pleasant land (Palestine), making provinces of the following countries: Syria, B. C. 65; Palestine, B. C. 63; Egypt, B. C. 30. It stood up against the Prince of princes, nailing Christ to the cross. By Rome the daily was taken away and the transgression of desolation set up; that is, there was a change in the religion of the empire, Paganism (the daily desolation) was taken away, and the papacy (the transgression of desolation, or the abomination that maketh desolate) was set up. Dan. 12:11. An host was given him: the hordes of barbarians that overran the empire, but were converted to the papal faith.

This horn of Daniel 8 must not be confounded with the little horn on the fourth beast of Dan. 7. That symbolized the papacy exclusively. This embraces Rome through its whole career both pagan and papal. In other words, this horn of Dan. 8, is the same as the great and terrible beast of Dan. 7, in both its phases.

In verse 14 is introduced the period of 2300 days, the sanctuary and its cleansing. All the vision was sufficiently explained to the prophet with the exception of the time. But Daniel says, verse 27, “I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” Although Gabriel had been commanded to make him understand it, Daniel fainted before an explanation of the time was reached, and the angel was obliged to postpone further instruction.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON LESSON III.

1. Dan. 8:13. What is to be understood by the phrase, “How long the vision?”

Ans. We think it has reference to the time embraced in the vision. How long a period is covered by the vision during which the sanctuary and the host shall be trodden under foot? The answer, Unto two thousand three hundred days, does not point out definitely the close of the time, but only brings to view the last event which will close up the matter so far as the sanctuary and the host are concerned, bringing eternal deliverance to the people of God. These days therefore must cover most of the time of the vision, embracing the duration of the great kingdoms noticed in the prophecy. To call the days literal, not quite six years and a half, would be simply ridiculous. They must be prophetic days, signifying so many years.

2. Dan. 8:17. “At the time of the end shall be the vision.” End of what?

Ans. We think the expression “the time of the end” here means the same as when found in other passages; namely, a period of time commencing in 1798, and extending to the end, in which the main prophetic periods should terminate, and those events and movements transpire which were to warn the world and prepare a people for the end. Then “shall be the vision;” that is, be opened, begin to be understood. It was closed up and sealed to that time. Then it would be unsealed. Since that time the great light has arisen on prophetic subjects which has shown the end to be near, and given rise to the extensive Advent movement of the present generation.

3. Dan. 8:19: “Behold I will make thee to know what shall be in the last end of the indignation.” What is meant by the last end of his indignation?

Ans. The manner of expression here used shows that the indignation covers a period of time. We think that it is the indignation which God permits to come upon his people from opposing powers, the same as mentioned in verse 13, How long shall be the vision . . . to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? In Eze. 21:27, God speaks concerning the throne of Israel, when subjected to the King of Babylon, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more till he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.” Three overturns from Babylon awaited it, that is, to Persia, to Grecia and to Rome. Then it should be no more; national existence ceased, but the spiritual Israel have lived among the nations, but still in subjection to earthly powers. And so it will be till He come whose right it is, Christ, who shall take the throne of his Father David, and rule over his people forever. Again, it was said to Daniel (12:7), “When he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people” (that is, shall have finished the scattering of their power, or their oppression among the nations) “all these things shall be fulfilled.” This all shows that God’s people were to be overturned, scattered, and subject to indignation, till the times, or rule, of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. And in the verse under notice, the Lord says to Daniel, I will make thee to know what shall be in the last end of this time of indignation. Then he goes on to predict the final downfall of earthly kingdoms, and lastly points Daniel forward to the cleansing of the sanctuary, which puts away the sins of God’s people, and is the first step toward their deliverance, which will be the full end of the indignation, followed by their glorification and eternal inheritance.

4. What followed the league formed between the Jews and the Romans in B. C. 161?

Ans. The cruel oppression of the Syrians roused such a spirit of resistance among the Jews that under the leadership of the Maccabees, aided by the friendship of the Romans, they achieved their complete liberation from Syrian tyranny. Smith’s History of the World, Vol. 3, p. 170, speaks of “the long list of nations in Europe and Asia, to which the Roman Senate sent letters requiring them to protect the Jews residing among them.” Thus matters continued till internal dissensions invited the Romans to interfere in a manner more positive than by the existing league of amity and friendship. In the days of Pompey there were two aspirants for the office of high-priest, the high-priest holding also the position of prince or ruler of the people. Powerful factions followed their respective leaders, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus; and to put an end to the strife, appeal was made to Pompey who was then in the East settling the affairs of Syria, to decide the question. Aristobulus, perceiving that Pompey would give the decision in favor of Hyrcanus, retired to Jerusalem and made immediate preparation to defend his claims by force of arms. This brought Pompey with all his army against the city. Aristobulus finally relenting came out to surrender to him the keys of the city; but his party by a sudden outburst of fanaticism refused him entrance. The party of Hyrcanus threw open the gates. The others retreated to the temple and its fortified precincts where they were besieged by Pompey. After three months the place was taken and the defenders massacred, the blood of the priests themselves being mingled with that of the sacrifices they were offering at the altar. Aristobulus graced the triumph of Pompey at Rome. Hyrcanus was restored to the priesthood, but stripped of the royal title. Judea became a Roman province, till the dismemberment of the Roman Empire.

Continue reading: SPIRITUALISM A SATANIC DELUSION