“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach, unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a _loud
voice_, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is
come.”
This is so plain that all who have been engaged and laboring in the Second
Advent Doctrine must admit it to represent William Miller, and those of
his faith, as the flying messengers preaching the advent of Jesus to their
fellow men, since 1840. Invisible angels never yet preached the gospel to
men; but as it has been here—man preaching to man,—then these angels
represent our own neighbors, preaching, lecturing, and exhorting us with
loud voices to listen to their message, for the judgment was at hand.
He says he “saw another angel.” Where did he see the first one, then?
Answer—In his description of the trumpets, viii: 13, thus he carries our
minds back to the simple narration of the first description of these
messengers and receivers out of which were sealed 144,000, in 7th chapter.
This message has gone to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.
“And there followed another angel saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen,”
&c., 8th verse. This fallen city, we say, was the nominal churches,
embracing all of the professed followers of the prince of peace; and they
have fallen, because they rejected this first message at the hour of God’s
judgment, and shut it out of their worshipping assemblies, and out of
their hearts—“they _made light of it_.”
And the third angel followed, saying with a loud voice, “If any man
worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or
in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which
is poured out without mixture,” &c.—9th and 10th verses.
These two last described angels, which follow the first, are only a part
of the flying messengers described in the 6th and 7th verses—for many of
the first class opposed the second and third messengers, and some
absolutely denounced them for saying Babylon, or the nominal churches had
fallen, and for calling God’s people to _come out_ of them and leave them
forever. In chapter xviii, 4th verse, John heard the same voice from the
same people, called the third angel, telling them to come out from
Babylon. In the xiv. chapter, he more particularly describes the condition
of all those who _retain_ or _receive_ again the mark of the beast, or in
any way connect themselves with these churches,—Jer. iii: 3; the plain
English of which is, get clear of this mark, or profession, and _keep
clear_; come out and stay out of this “habitation of Devils.” For a
further explanation of these texts, and definition of the locations of the
heavens, &c., see _Way Marks_.
Any advent believer who undertakes to dispute this, and the two preceding
angels’ messages, with their clear fulfillment in advent history from 1840
to the fall of 1844, is, in my opinion, but a few steps removed from the
gross darkness that surrounds the habitations of Babylon. I will venture
again to reiterate the assertion, that since the days of the Apostles,
God’s people have never witnessed such a simultaneous and righteous
movement, as they did during these three messages. I feel perfectly safe
in saying that I fear no contradiction here, nor condemnation hereafter,
for moving in perfect harmony, as we have done, during these three
messages. Many are writing and preaching that these are, and will continue
to be given, while the world stands. This mistake is as fatal as the
rejection of the first, because in so doing they will not see any work
which God has marked out for them, in this last work for man to fulfill
and finish the history of this prophecy. We say, then, that these messages
closed with the world, when they were condemned by them, at the end of a
cry at midnight, in Oct. 1844. God then had other and more important work
for his church to perform among themselves than they ever had before, and
it is clearly marked out in the verses which follow these messages, and
whoever fails here, fails to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Be
assured, John has not broken the thread of this most interesting narrative
here and left us in confusion, to call the testimony of _Jesus his
commandments_; and our resting from this most laborious work in these
messages, _the resurrection_. If our experience, for more than three years
past, has not taught us that God is fulfilling his word, by having every
thing in its place; one thing following another, then we have failed to
profit by it. Let me entreat you, my brethren, to critically examine the
next three verses: viz. “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—12th verse.
What is the faith of Jesus? Answer,—Chapter 12th, 17th verse says it is
his “testimony;” chapter 19th, 10th verse, says his “testimony is the
spirit of prophecy.” “Teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you.”—Matt. xxviii: 20. Now observe, the faith, or
testimony of Jesus, embraces all his teachings. Now mark, this is what our
opponents call the New Testament _commandments_, or _grace_, which they
say embraces all the commandments that we are bound to believe or keep!
The text says that these people that are in their patience, their _trying
time_, keep the commandments of God, besides the testimony of Jesus. Here
then, we are absolutely directed, not only to the old testament but to the
decalogue—Exo. xx: 1-17, and even before there was any decalogue in the
form of a precept; see Exo. xvi: 27-30. This one text, in itself,
positively overthrows all of their unscriptural teaching about their New
Testament commandments, and clearly demonstrates the perpetuity of God’s
holy Sabbath, because the commandments of God are one thing, and the
testimony of Jesus is another. These are the people, then, and the only
ones too, who abide by the whole word of God, in the Old and New New
Testament teaching, and they that deny the teachings of this text, deny
the word of God, and trample down His Holy Sabbath.
In the three preceding verses, God’s people are called away, and required,
under penalty of their salvation, to continue disconnected from Babylon,
the churches to which the great mass before this belonged. Now the very
next thing after these messages, John declares that they are keeping the
commandments of God; that is, they are keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.
Where is the proof? says the objector. Here it is—when this same people
were making their sacrifice, in 1843 and ’44, expecting the Lord to come,
they were walking out in all the commandments of God, as far as they were
taught or knew them at that time; and we all fully believed then, and do
now, that _all_ the honest ones were in a saved state; and if called away
then, as was brother Fitch and others, the same hope would follow them;
but we know that they could not be honest, nor be saved, if they were
knowingly living in violation of any of God’s commandments; and yet we all
positively know _now_, that with a very few exceptions, we were all living
in open violation of the 4th commandment, which we were taught to do,
(though not always designedly,) in the churches to which they belonged,
and where they are still continued to be taught; and our staying with
them, _we now see_, would not have altered, for they _fell_ for rejecting
the message that came before this, and therefore the subject of this 12th
verse was not presented to them. Our keeping the first day of the week for
the fourth commandment, never was, nor ever will be, fulfilling it, any
more than keeping Friday for the Sabbath. John, who kept the right
Sabbath, and was now describing our real labors and characters, could not
have said that we kept the commandments, unless we were keeping the
seventh-day Sabbath, according to God’s direction and _his_ practice.
This, then, being the only commandment that ever had been objected to,
from the days of the Apostles, by those who pretended to keep them, makes
it clear that John could not have had any reference to either of the
others, but the Sabbath only. Here then, for the first time, they were
_right_ in the keeping of God’s commandments; and the history of God’s
confiding children since the messages of 1844, are fully demonstrating
this point, which clearly proves this exposition to be unobjectionable and
_perfect_. Another point is, that they could not keep the seventh-day
Sabbath, until they were separated and undefiled by the woman, (see 4th
verse,) hence the declaration that they were doing so after the message of
the third angel had separated them from Babylon. John saw the dragon
making war with this remnant, (xii: 17,) and the unclean spirits coming
out of the mouth of the dragon (or devil,) have been, and are now, doing
this work. The very object in sending forth this work, has been to expose
these deceivers, who for the last five months more especially, have been
bearing down upon this remnant in a paper war, with all the power they
could wield. We do not, by any means, expect this is all of it, because we
know that the devil will never yield, nor discharge the volunteer company
which he is so judiciously marshalling out of the second advent ranks,
until every device to destroy the remnant is resorted to, and they are
seen emerging from the smoke and carnage of this unholy warfare, ascending
to the gates of the holy city, under the waving banner of the commandments
of God.—Rev. xx: 11-14.
The judgment hour cry, in 6th and 7th verses, was the only one that was
designed to go to all the nations of the earth; and that of itself was
sufficient to condemn a world of sinners and false professors that
rejected it. Other tests were required, especially in this land, more than
England and other lands, because the light of the church was, and still
is, in these middle and northern states. Here also, is where this doctrine
emanated from; hence the other messages to test and bring out the true.
Then those who reject the messages are the false ones; but the unlettered
slave and those who have been, as it were, enshrouded in moral darkness,
and have been honestly following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, as far
as they knew, have not rejected this light as have the advent believers in
this land; therefore they are not under the same condemnation.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write: Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that
they may rest from their _labors_ and their works do follow them,” 15th
verse.
I understand this verse as still referring to the same messengers and
their adherents, who had been laboring almost incessantly to convince
their friends of the reality of the messages, in an especial manner,
during a cry at midnight, where they closed with the world. If it was not
true of them then as a body, then there is no history since John had this
vision, to show any thing like it; and it looks like making scripture, to
attempt its application in the future, disconnected with the labor in the
preceding verses. The inference is natural, and it is just like God’s
order every where, that these his honest believers, should rest from their
labors with the world, to get their own minds cloudy and calmly fixed on
the great event before them. Isaiah saw it; see xxvi: 20, 21, and xxv: 19.
How can God’s children be shut away in their chambers from the world, and
then say at his coming we have _waited_ for him, if they were not resting
from their labors with the world, doing what he says, in his 40th chapter
1st verse. It is also in perfect harmony with the type.
Do stop here a little while, and turn to Lev. xxii: 27-32, and show, if
you can, where the harmony, anti-type, or clear fulfillment of these
verses are, if they are not found in Revelations xiv: 12th and 13th
verses.
_First_—then, the type in Leviticus: Here the primitive established church
annually, on the tenth day of the seventh month, had a twenty-four hour
day of atonement, to cleanse them from their sins. During these
twenty-four hours they were positively required by the statute or law to
enter into a _Sabbath_ of _rest_ and _day_ of _affliction_, or _trial_,
and rest from all their _labor_, “from even to even,” under penalty of
being forever cut off from his people.—29th and 30th verses. There is one
more peculiar trait in this type which demands our particular attention;
that is, in every other Sabbath or holy convocation _they_ were positively
required to abstain from all _servile work_—but in the tenth day it is not
specified; see also Num. xxix: 7. This shows the perfect order of God that
when the church in the last days should enter upon the anti-type, as in
Rev. xiv: 12, 13, that they would not be required to cease from _servile
work_, (if necessary), because the atonement for them would require more
than twenty-four hours, seeing that them were 144,000 from every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people; whereas those represented by the type could
all be assembled in a few hours. This is also in harmony with the fourth
commandment for _laboring_ the other six days for food and raiment, as
long as we keep the Sabbath even to the gates of the city.—22: 14.
_Second_—the anti-type—Rev. xiv: 12, 13. After passing through the
messages above described they are now out of the Sardis, (or nominal,)
into the Philadelphia state of the church, and commenced their day of
atonement since Oct. 1844, they also enter into the same kind of rest by
keeping for the first time the right Sabbath of the Lord our God in their
_patient waiting_, or _trying time_; resting from their _labors_, in these
messages, from the world: having now done with them; waiting for their
great high priest to finish the cleansing of the sanctuary, which blots
out their sins, and purifies them to enter into the holy city. The reason
of the anti-type in the atonement, being longer than the type (twenty-four
hours) is obvious, because God will give his people sufficient time to
accept or refuse the light presented to them after their labors with the
world, to perfectly fulfill the type, by voluntarily entering into this
Sabbath and resting from their _labors_.
Will this be objected to because it reads “Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord from henceforth;” and must mean such as die a natural death.
Well, Paul says “prove all things,” &c. Suppose then we say this verse was
to have its fulfillment from A.D. 96, when John wrote it, henceforth from
that time. Then the strong and clear inference would be, that Stephen and
James, and all the rest of the disciples who had died before, would not be
blessed—because the blessing here given, is from the time when given,
henceforward. If we move the beginning of this time to Luther’s day, as
some will have it, then we cut off John and all the saints up to that
time; and if we move it to Oct. 1844, then we cut off every saint that has
died in the Lord before.
But to get clear of all this, we are told that this 13th verse evidently
represents the saints at the resurrection. (See Bible Advocate, Sept. 23,
1847.) He refers, (as I have,) to the advent message in 6th and 7th
verses, but avoids the second and third angels’ messages, (8-11 verses) or
leaves them and the 12th verse also, to be fulfilled in connection with
the 13th verse, at the resurrection. Then to make his view clear to our
understanding, we must read it something like this: Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord, from the time the advent message began, (say 1840,)
until Babylon falls, and the statement is being made about what is
recorded in the 12th verse “where is the patience of the saints,” &c.
Well, say then, that one hundred saints, or more, have actually departed
this life, since that time commenced, and they will be blessed at the
resurrection. The question then arises—If this must actually be fulfilled
for these few, where is the blessing for John, who had this vision, and
all the saints who have actually died since 1840? Is God partial? Shall we
find this distinction in the 7th chapter, 9, 10, 15 and 17th verses, where
the great multitude of all the departed saints are represented before the
throne of God with white robes, and palms in their hands? No. Shall we
find it in the 20th chapter? where he says, “Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection;” where not only the departed saints,
but the 144,000 living ones, are brought to view? No—nothing of the kind.
This Revelation was concerning “_things present_, (A.D. 96,) and things to
come.” We see, then, if this 13th verse, as we are told, does represent
the departed saints any where, or time, since A.D. 96, and will be
fulfilled at the resurrection, it is yet incomprehensible. Is it not clear
that it only has reference to all the righteous saints in these messages
from Oct. 1844? How can it mean the literal dead? Is it not clear that the
dead know not any thing; therefore the blessing would not effect them as
this text teaches any more than to bless any other inanimate substance.
The Blessing belongs always to the living. Just look at Jesus’ sermon on
the mount.—Matt. v: 3-11—“Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
my sake” &c. &c. This is now being fulfilled to the letter; see also Rev.
i: 3; xvi: 15; xix: 9; xxii: 7; v: 12, 13; Luke xxiv: 50, 51, “Blessed are
they that hear the word of God and keep it.”—_Jesus._ “Blessed are they
that _do_ his commandments,” they shall be saved,—xxii: 14. Also, Isaiah
lvi: 2, that keep the Sabbath; these two last are to the point, just what
they are doing in our text, 12th and 13th verses of Rev. xiv. John is here
certainly speaking of a _class_, or _company_, of living believers, and
not the literal dead. _Rest_ is opposite to _labor_. He shows that the
seraphim and cherubim, (invisible angels,) _rest_ not day, nor night, but
are continually “saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.”—also v: 11,
12. The sleeping saints at the resurrection have no rest, they serve God
_day_ and _night_ in his temple—vii: 15. Then the _rest_ spoken of here in
the 13th verse is of the living; resting from their labors with the world.
Once more, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” Paul said the
commandment so affected him that he _died_—Rom. vii: 9. He means that he
died to sin. Again, he says, “I _die daily_,”—1st Cor. xv: 31; “In
_deaths_ oft”—2d Cor. xi: 23; “If ye be _dead_ with Christ,” &c.—“For ye
are _dead_ and your life is hid with Christ in God” &c.—Col. ii: 20; iii:
3, 4; also, see Rom. vi: 8, 11, “_Dead_ indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In all these, and much more, he uses
these terms for himself and others that were actually alive in the church.
But the general term used for such as were literally _dead_, by Jesus and
the apostles, are asleep; _they sleep_; “Our friend Lazarus _sleepeth_.”
He spake of his death; the people did not understand; he explained by
saying “_plainly_ he is _dead_.”—John xi: 11-14. Paul says, “they also
which are fallen _asleep_ in Christ”—1st Cor. xv: 18; “Some are fallen
_asleep_.”—6th verse: “We shall not all _sleep_, but we shall be
changed.”—51st verse: see also 1st Thes. iv: 15, “Them also which _sleep_
in Jesus” &c.; “Since the Fathers fell _asleep_”—2d Pet. iii: 4.
_History._—We prove these, then, to be a part of the same class of the
messengers and their adherents that came out of the churches. Thousands of
living testimonies could be adduced to prove the multitudes who died in
the camp meetings and conferences, about the time that the messengers were
closing up their messages. Why, many were burdened with the cry, die to
sin, and the world; and live unto God. And thousands passed through this
death struggle. Yes, they were blessed by _dying in the Lord_. Those who
deny and make light of this part of our experience, were but little
acquainted with the work of God in the fall of 1844, and need to be
instructed again. But those that died to sin, and the world then; cannot
be in a saved state now, if returned to the world. To be safe, follow
Paul’s example, “_die daily_.”
Then, without destroying one single link of this harmonious chain of
events, these saints will be in the right place to fulfill the next
message in the 15th verse, “crying with a loud voice,” (different from the
preceding ones,) this I understand will be a combination of labor among
the resting ones, to be united in the incessant prayer, or crying to God
day and night in the time of Jacob and Daniel’s trouble (Jer. xxx: 7; Dan.
xii: 1,) for deliverance, and for Christ to come on the white cloud, as
represented in 14th verse, with his sharp sickle and reap the harvest for
all things will appear to be ripe on the earth; see Sam. vii: 8; Jer.
xxii: 4, 5; Mark xv: 34, 37; Luke xviii: 1, 7. Here, I believe, is where
the 144,000 living saints of all nations, are sealed; especially will it
be manifest among the tried ones then, that have passed through these
messages. Then the four angel governments will cease to restrain war and
bloodshed; God will speak as in Joel iii: 16, 17: the Sanctuary will be
cleansed; the sins of God’s people blotted out—in other words, the
atonement finished and their trials ended; their captivity turned. Two
such ones will then put ten thousand to flight. Jesus comes out of the
most holy place, changes his garments, puts on his kingly robes and stands
up to reign over the nations, as in Dan. xii: 1; mounts his cloudy chariot
with his sharp sickle to reap the harvest of the earth. Here the 144,000
are in a state of deliverance, ready for the next and last message in the
17th and 18th verses. This message looks like one united and incessant
prevailing prayer, (differing from all the others, because of the
everlasting union that these messages have at length accomplished with
these sealed saints,) ascending to God, while these messengers who have
now, as it seems, become reapers similar to those in xix: 14, 15, “and are
to gather the vine of the earth and cast it into the great wine press of
the wrath of God,” (19. v.) “to execute upon _them_ (the wicked) the
judgment written; this honor have all the saints. Praise ye the Lord.” Now
return to the 7th chapter, 9-15 verses—“After this,” (when? after the
saints were numbered and sealed,) “I beheld, and lo, a great multitude
which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people and
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands. And they cried saying amen, blessing, and
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be
unto our God forever and ever, Amen.” The 144,000 will then stand on the
Mount Zion.
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“Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.”