shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” Miller, as has been stated, adopted the
generally received view that the earth is the sanctuary, and he believed
that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the purification of the
earth by fire at the coming of the Lord. When, therefore, he found that
the close of the 2300 days was definitely foretold, he concluded that this
revealed the time of the second advent. His error resulted from accepting
the popular view as to what constitutes the sanctuary.
In the typical system, which was a shadow of the sacrifice and priesthood
of Christ, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service performed
by the high priest in the yearly round of ministration. It was the closing
work of the atonement,—a removal or putting away of sin from Israel. It
prefigured the closing work in the ministration of our High Priest in
heaven, in the removal or blotting out of the sins of His people, which
are registered in the heavenly records. This service involves a work of
investigation, a work of judgment; and it immediately precedes the coming
of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; for when He
comes, every case has been decided. Says Jesus, “My reward is with Me, to
give every man according as his work shall be.”(589) It is this work of
judgment, immediately preceding the second advent, that is announced in
the first angel’s message of Rev. 14:7, “Fear God, and give glory to Him;
for the hour of His judgment is come.”
Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the right
time. But as the early disciples declared, “The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand,” based on the prophecy of Daniel 9, while they
failed to perceive that the death of the Messiah was foretold in the same
scripture; so Miller and his associates preached the message based on Dan.
8:14 and Rev. 14:7, and failed to see that there were still other messages
brought to view in Revelation 14, which were also to be given before the
advent of the Lord. As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the
kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, so Adventists were
mistaken in regard to the event to take place at the expiration of the
2300 days. In both cases there was an acceptance of, or rather an
adherence to, popular errors that blinded the mind to the truth. Both
classes fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message which He
desired to be given, and both, through their own misapprehension of their
message, suffered disappointment.
Yet God accomplished His own beneficent purpose in permitting the warning
of the judgment to be given just as it was. The great day was at hand, and
in His providence the people were brought to the test of a definite time,
in order to reveal to them what was in their hearts. The message was
designed for the testing and purification of the church. They were to be
led to see whether their affections were set upon this world or upon
Christ and heaven. They professed to love the Saviour; now they were to
prove their love. Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes and
ambitions, and welcome with joy the advent of their Lord? The message was
designed to enable them to discern their true spiritual state; it was sent
in mercy to arouse them to seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation.
The disappointment also, though the result of their own misapprehension of
the message which they gave, was to be overruled for good. It would test
the hearts of those who had professed to receive the warning. In the face
of their disappointment, would they rashly give up their experience, and
cast away their confidence in God’s word? or would they, in prayer and
humility, seek to discern where they had failed to comprehend the
significance of the prophecy? How many had moved from fear, or from
impulse and excitement? How many were half-hearted and unbelieving?
Multitudes professed to love the appearing of the Lord. When called to
endure the scoffs and reproach of the world, and the test of delay and
disappointment, would they renounce the faith? Because they did not
immediately understand the dealings of God with them, would they cast
aside truths sustained by the clearest testimony of His word?
This test would reveal the strength of those who with real faith had
obeyed what they believed to be the teaching of the word and the Spirit of
God. It would teach them, as only such an experience could, the danger of
accepting the theories and interpretations of men, instead of making the
Bible its own interpreter. To the children of faith the perplexity and
sorrow resulting from their error, would work the needed correction. They
would be led to a closer study of the prophetic word. They would be taught
to examine more carefully the foundation of their faith, and to reject
everything, however widely accepted by the Christian world, that was not
founded upon the Scriptures of truth.
With these believers, as with the first disciples, that which in the hour
of trial seemed dark to their understanding, would afterward be made
plain. When they should see the “end of the Lord,” they would know that
notwithstanding the trial resulting from their errors, His purposes of
love toward them had been steadily fulfilling. They would learn by a
blessed experience that He is “very pitiful, and of tender mercy;” that
all His paths “are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His
testimonies.”
20. A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING.
[Illustration: Chapter header.]
A great religious awakening under the proclamation of Christ’s soon
coming, is foretold in the prophecy of the first angel’s message of
Revelation 14. An angel is seen flying “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.” “With a loud voice” he
proclaims the message, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of
His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of waters.”(590)
The fact that an angel is said to be the herald of this warning, is
significant. By the purity, the glory, and the power of the heavenly
messenger, divine wisdom has been pleased to represent the exalted
character of the work to be accomplished by the message, and the power and
glory that were to attend it. And the angel’s flight “in the midst of
heaven,” the “loud voice” with which the warning is uttered, and its
promulgation to all “that dwell on the earth,”—“to every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people,”—give evidence of the rapidity and
world-wide extent of the movement.
The message itself sheds light as to the time when this movement is to
take place. It is declared to be a part of the “everlasting gospel;” and
it announces the opening of the judgment. The message of salvation has
been preached in all ages; but this message is a part of the gospel which
could be proclaimed only in the last days, for only then would it be true
that the hour of judgment _had come_. The prophecies present a succession
of events leading down to the opening of the judgment. This is especially
true of the book of Daniel. But that part of his prophecy which related to
the last days, Daniel was bidden to close up and seal “to the time of the
end.” Not till we reach this time could a message concerning the judgment
be proclaimed, based on a fulfilment of these prophecies. But at the time
of the end, says the prophet, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased.”(591)
The apostle Paul warned the church not to look for the coming of Christ in
his day. “That day shall not come,” he says, “except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed.”(592) Not till after the
great apostasy, and the long period of the reign of the “man of sin,” can
we look for the advent of our Lord. The “man of sin,” which is also styled
the “mystery of iniquity,” the “son of perdition,” and “that wicked,”
represents the papacy, which, as foretold in prophecy, was to maintain its
supremacy for 1260 years. This period ended in 1798. The coming of Christ
could not take place before that time. Paul covers with his caution the
whole of the Christian dispensation down to the year 1798. It is this side
of that time that the message of Christ’s second coming is to be
proclaimed.
No such message has ever been given in past ages. Paul, as we have seen,
did not preach it; he pointed his brethren into the then far-distant
future for the coming of the Lord. The Reformers did not proclaim it.
Martin Luther placed the judgment about three hundred years in the future
from his day. But since 1798 the book of Daniel has been unsealed,
knowledge of the prophecies has increased, and many have proclaimed the
solemn message of the judgment near.
Like the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Advent Movement
appeared in different countries of Christendom at the same time. In both
Europe and America, men of faith and prayer were led to the study of the
prophecies, and tracing down the inspired record, they saw convincing
evidence that the end of all things was at hand. In different lands there
were isolated bodies of Christians who, solely by the study of the
Scriptures, arrived at the belief that the Saviour’s advent was near.
In 1821, three years after Miller had arrived at his exposition of the
prophecies pointing to the time of the judgment, Dr. Joseph Wolff, “the
missionary to the world,” began to proclaim the Lord’s soon coming. Wolff
was born in Germany, of Hebrew parentage, his father being a Jewish rabbi.
While very young, he was convinced of the truth of the Christian religion.
Of an active, inquiring mind, he had been an eager listener to the
conversations that took place in his father’s house, as devout Hebrews
daily assembled to recount the hopes and anticipations of their people,
the glory of the coming Messiah, and the restoration of Israel. One day
hearing Jesus of Nazareth mentioned, the boy inquired who He was. “A Jew
of the greatest talent,” was the answer; “but as He pretended to be the
Messiah, the Jewish tribunal sentenced Him to death.” “Why,” rejoined the
questioner, “is Jerusalem destroyed, and why are we in captivity?” “Alas,
alas!” answered his father, “because the Jews murdered the prophets.” The
thought was at once suggested to the child, “Perhaps Jesus was also a
prophet, and the Jews killed Him when He was innocent.”(593) So strong was
this feeling, that though forbidden to enter a Christian church, he would
often linger outside to listen to the preaching.
When only seven years old, he was boasting to an aged Christian neighbor
of the future triumph of Israel at the advent of the Messiah, when the old
man said kindly, “Dear boy, I will tell you who the real Messiah was: He
was Jesus of Nazareth, ... whom your ancestors have crucified, as they did
the prophets of old. Go home and read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah,
and you will be convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”(594)
Conviction at once fastened upon him. He went home and read the scripture,
wondering to see how perfectly it had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
Were the words of the Christian true? The boy asked of his father an
explanation of the prophecy, but was met with a silence so stern that he
never again dared to refer to the subject. This, however, only increased
his desire to know more of the Christian religion.
The knowledge he sought was studiously kept from him in his Jewish home;
but when only eleven years old, he left his father’s house, and went out
into the world to gain for himself an education, to choose his religion
and his life-work. He found a home for a time with kinsmen, but was soon
driven from them as an apostate, and alone and penniless he had to make
his own way among strangers. He went from place to place, studying
diligently, and maintaining himself by teaching Hebrew. Through the
influence of a Catholic instructor, he was led to accept the Romish faith,
and formed the purpose of becoming a missionary to his own people. With
this object he went, a few years later, to pursue his studies in the
College of the Propaganda at Rome. Here his habit of independent thought
and candid speech brought upon him the imputation of heresy. He openly
attacked the abuses of the church, and urged the necessity of reform.
Though at first treated with special favor by the papal dignitaries, he
was after a time removed from Rome. Under the surveillance of the church
he went from place to place, until it became evident that he could never
be brought to submit to the bondage of Romanism. He was declared to be
incorrigible, and was left at liberty to go where he pleased. He now made
his way to England, and professing the Protestant faith, united with the
English Church. After two years’ study he set out, in 1821, upon his
mission. While Wolff accepted the great truth of Christ’s first advent as
“a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” he saw that the prophecies
bring to view with equal clearness His second advent with power and glory.
And while he sought to lead his people to Jesus of Nazareth as the
Promised One, and to point them to His first coming in humiliation as a
sacrifice for the sins of men, he taught them also of His second coming as
a king and deliverer.
“Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah,” he said, “whose hands and feet were
pierced, who was brought like a lamb to the slaughter, who was the Man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, who after the scepter was taken from
Judah, and the legislative power from between his feet, came the first
time; shall come the second time in the clouds of heaven, and with the
trump of the Archangel,”(595) “and shall stand upon the Mount of Olives;
and that dominion, once consigned to Adam over the creation, and forfeited
by him (Gen. 1:26; 3:17), shall be given to Jesus. He shall be king over
all the earth. The groanings and lamentations of the creation shall cease,
but songs of praises and thanksgivings shall be heard.... When Jesus comes
in the glory of His Father, with the holy angels, ... the dead believers
shall rise first. 1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15: 23. This is what we Christians
call the first resurrection. Then the animal kingdom shall change its
nature (Isa. 11:6-9), and be subdued unto Jesus. Psalm 8. Universal peace
shall prevail.”(596) “The Lord again shall look down upon the earth, and
say, ‘Behold, it is very good.’ ”(597)
Wolff believed the coming of the Lord to be at hand, his interpretation of
the prophetic periods placing the great consummation within a very few
years of the time pointed out by Miller. To those who urged from the
scripture, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man,” that men are to know
nothing concerning the nearness of the advent, Wolff replied: “Did our
Lord say that that day and hour should _never_ be known? Did He not give
us signs of the times, in order that we may know at least the _approach_
of His coming, as one knows the approach of the summer by the fig-tree
putting forth its leaves? Matt. 24:32. Are we never to know that period,
whilst He Himself exhorteth us not only to read Daniel the prophet, but to
understand it? and in that very Daniel, where it is said that the words
were shut up to the time of the end (which was the case in his time), and
that ‘many shall run to and fro’ (a Hebrew expression for observing and
thinking upon the time), ‘and _knowledge_’ (regarding that time) ‘shall be
increased.’ Dan. 12:4. Besides this, our Lord does not intend to say by
this, that the _approach_ of the time shall not be known, but that the
_exact_ ‘_day_ and _hour_ knoweth no man.’ Enough, He does say, shall be
known by the signs of the times, to induce us to prepare for His coming,
as Noah prepared the ark.”(598)
Concerning the popular system of interpreting, or misinterpreting, the
Scriptures, Wolff wrote: “The greater part of the Christian church have
swerved from the plain sense of Scripture, and have turned to the
phantomizing system of the Buddhists, who believe that the future
happiness of mankind will consist in moving about in the air, and suppose
that when they are reading _Jews_, they must understand _Gentiles_; and
when they read _Jerusalem_, they must understand the _church_; and if it
is said _earth_, it means _sky_; and for the coming of the _Lord_ they
must understand the progress of the _missionary societies_; and going up
to the mountain of the Lord’s house, signifies a grand _class-meeting of
Methodists_.”(599)
During the twenty-four years from 1821 to 1845, Wolff traveled
extensively: in Africa, visiting Egypt and Abyssinia; in Asia, traversing
Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokhara, and India. He also visited the United
States, on the journey thither preaching on the island of St. Helena. He
arrived in New York in August, 1837; and after speaking in that city, he
preached in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and finally proceeded to
Washington. Here, he says, “on a motion brought forward by the
ex-president, John Quincy Adams, in one of the houses of Congress, the
House unanimously granted to me the use of the Congress Hall for a
lecture, which I delivered on a Saturday, honored with the presence of all
the members of Congress, and also of the bishop of Virginia, and of the
clergy and citizens of Washington. The same honor was granted to me by the
members of the government of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in whose
presence I delivered lectures on my researches in Asia, and also on the
personal reign of Jesus Christ.”(600)
Dr. Wolff traveled in the most barbarous countries, without the protection
of any European authority, enduring many hardships, and surrounded with
countless perils. He was bastinadoed and starved, sold as a slave, and
three times condemned to death. He was beset by robbers, and sometimes
nearly perished from thirst. Once he was stripped of all that he
possessed, and left to travel hundreds of miles on foot through the
mountains, the snow beating in his face, and his naked feet benumbed by
contact with the frozen ground.
When warned against going unarmed among savage and hostile tribes, he
declared himself “provided with arms,”—“prayer, zeal for Christ, and
confidence in His help.” “I am also,” he said, “provided with the love of
God and my neighbor in my heart, and the Bible is in my hand.”(601) The
Bible in Hebrew and English he carried with him wherever he went. Of one
of his later journeys he says, “I ... kept the Bible open in my hand. I
felt my power was in the book, and that its might would sustain me.”(602)
Thus he persevered in his labors until the message of the judgment had
been carried to a large part of the habitable globe. Among Jews, Turks,
Parsees, Hindoos, and many other nationalities and races, he distributed
the word of God in these various tongues, and everywhere heralded the
approaching reign of the Messiah.
In his travels in Bokhara he found the doctrine of the Lord’s soon coming
held by a remote and isolated people. The Arabs of Yemen, he says, “are in
possession of a book called ‘Seera,’ which gives notice of the second
coming of Christ and His reign in glory; and they expect great events to
take place in the year 1840.”(603) “In Yemen ... I spent six days with the
children of Rechab. They drink no wine, plant no vineyard, sow no seed,
and live in tents, and remember good old Jonadab, the son of Rechab; and I
found in their company children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, ... who
expect, with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in
the clouds of heaven.”(604)
A similar belief was found by another missionary to exist in Tartary. A
Tartar priest put the question to the missionary, as to when Christ would
come the second time. When the missionary answered that he knew nothing
about it, the priest seemed greatly surprised at such ignorance in one who
professed to be a Bible teacher, and stated his own belief, founded on
prophecy, that Christ would come about 1844.
As early as 1826 the advent message began to be preached in England. The
movement here did not take so definite a form as in America; the exact
time of the advent was not so generally taught, but the great truth of
Christ’s soon coming in power and glory was extensively proclaimed. And
this not among the dissenters and non-conformists only. Mourant Brock, an
English writer, states that about seven hundred ministers of the Church of
England were engaged in preaching this “gospel of the kingdom.” The
message pointing to 1844 as the time of the Lord’s coming was also given
in Great Britain. Advent publications from the United States were widely
circulated. Books and journals were republished in England. And in 1842,
Robert Winter, an Englishman by birth, who had received the advent faith
in America, returned to his native country to herald the coming of the
Lord. Many united with him in the work, and the message of the judgment
was proclaimed in various parts of England.
In South America, in the midst of barbarism and priestcraft, Lacunza, a
Spaniard and a Jesuit, found his way to the Scriptures, and thus received
the truth of Christ’s speedy return. Impelled to give the warning, yet
desiring to escape the censures of Rome, he published his views under the
assumed name of “Rabbi Ben-Israel,” representing himself as a converted
Jew. Lacunza lived in the eighteenth century, but it was about 1825 that
his book, having found its way to London, was translated into the English
language. Its publication served to deepen the interest already awakening
in England in the subject of the second advent.
In Germany the doctrine had been taught in the eighteenth century by
Bengel, a minister in the Lutheran Church, and a celebrated biblical
scholar and critic. Upon completing his education, Bengel had “devoted
himself to the study of theology, to which the grave and religious tone of
his mind, deepened and strengthened by his early training and discipline,
naturally inclined him. Like other young men of thoughtful character,
before and since, he had to struggle with doubts and difficulties of a
religious nature, and he alludes, with much feeling, to the ‘many arrows
which pierced his poor heart, and made his youth hard to bear.’ ”(605)
Becoming a member of the consistory of Würtemberg, he advocated the cause
of religious liberty. “While maintaining the rights and privileges of the
church, he was an advocate for all reasonable freedom being accorded to
those who felt themselves bound, on grounds of conscience, to withdraw
from her communion.”(606) The good effects of this policy are still felt
in his native province.
It was while preparing a sermon from Revelation 21 for “Advent Sunday”
that the light of Christ’s second coming broke in upon Bengel’s mind. The
prophecies of the Revelation unfolded to his understanding as never
before. Overwhelmed with a sense of the stupendous importance and
surpassing glory of the scenes presented by the prophet, he was forced to
turn for a time from the contemplation of the subject. In the pulpit it
again presented itself to him with all its vividness and power. From that
time he devoted himself to the study of the prophecies, especially those
of the Apocalypse, and soon arrived at the belief that they pointed to the
coming of Christ as near. The date which he fixed upon as the time of the
second advent was within a very few years of that afterward held by
Miller.
Bengel’s writings have been spread throughout Christendom. His views of
prophecy were quite generally received in his own state of Würtemberg, and
to some extent in other parts of Germany. The movement continued after his
death, and the advent message was heard in Germany at the same time that
it was attracting attention in other lands. At an early date some of the
believers went to Russia, and there formed colonies, and the faith of
Christ’s soon coming is still held by the German churches of that country.