Miller’s Reply to Stuart’s “Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy”

LETTER III

DEAR BR. HIMES: — My time has been so much taken up of late, I have not been able to finish my remarks on Professor Stuart’s “Hints on Prophecy.” I will now examine him on Revelation. MRSH 52.1

His first argument is, that this prophecy was all, or nearly all, fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, from the first chapter to the 21st verse of the 19th chapter. The main and only proof he has produced is from the texts, Revelation 1:1, 3, and 22:7, 12, 20, — “Behold I come quickly;” and then says, page 106, — “The coming of Christ is the main subject of the book; so that the declaration here is, that what the book contains, will be speedily accomplished.” Yet he has not come, as the professor implies in his remarks on pages 137,138. And now I ask, what shadow of evidence has he produced, that the things here spoken of were accomplished at Jerusalem? When the main subject of the book is the coming of Christ, and that yet future, I see no common sense, at least, in such arguments; and if the coming of Christ is prophesied of, as he says, then the time which intervenes between the prophecy and his coming, would naturally be filled up, as in other cases in MRSH 52.2

Old Testament prophecies, and in the twenty-fourth of Matthew. MRSH 53.1

Surely the writer must know that the evidence preponderates strongly in favor of this book being written more than twenty years after Jerusalem was destroyed; and if so, then his Hints ought to be taken as mere hints, not worth minding. His effort to destroy the figurative meaning of time in this book is like the mountain in labor; for, 1st, on the text Revelation 11:2, — “But the court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months,” — he has put this treading under foot of the holy city by the Gentiles, forty-two months, at the very time when the Jews held possession solely of the city of Jerusalem, until the last week of the time which he has specified, which, after all, lacked a number of weeks of fulfilling the time specified in the prophecy. But never mind that; prophecy had better bend or break than Professor Stuart lose his popularity. And he has provided an armor for self-defence in this case; for he says, page 142, — “But let him who interprets these passages remember well that they are poetry.” If this expression had come from any other quarter, standing in connexion as it does, in Professor S.’s book, the whole Christian world would cry out, Shame on such an author! But we live in a strange time; Bible can be changed to fiction, and fiction to reality. MRSH 53.2

Again; the professor, at the same time he calls Jerusalem the “holy city,” has another event transpire in which Jerusalem is called “spiritually Sodom and Egypt.” Here is a plain and palpable contradiction; and if a common man had made a blunder so visible and easy to be detected, the world would have called him in dotage, or insane. How inconsistent are the views of such writers as Professor S., at the same breath to call Jerusalem the holy city, and spiritually Sodom and Egypt! We know that the house of God and the city of Jerusalem had been made desolate by Jesus Christ more than thirty years before its destruction by the Romans. Matthew 23:38: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” We know, again, if Jerusalem is meant by the “holy city,” then the treading it down by the Gentiles is since its destruction, rather than before, and must continue to the end of the gospel dispensation. See Luke 21:24: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Now see the inconsistency of this writer; the forty-two months, or three and a half years, Revelation 11:2, is the time when the Romans besieged Jerusalem, and trod the holy city under foot, and persecuted the Jews, the holy people; when it is a well-known fact, that the Jews had possession of the city, and kept out the Romans during the time he has specified, except a few weeks, which he acknowledges is wanting to fill up the time. He then tries to prove that God is not very particular about time; if, in giving three and a half years, he comes within a few weeks, he does well! MRSH 53.3

Then, Revelation 11:3, the 1260 days of the two witnesses prophesying, clothed in sackcloth, is at the same time. He intimates that these two witnesses are two Christians, who could not obey their Lord, and flee to Pella or the mountains, but staid in the city, and were persecuted by the Jews. In this he is very unfortunate, having neither history, common sense, nor the resurrection of Nero to help him out of his difficulty; for, if the reader will notice, it is Nero coming up out of the abyss, which, according to Professor S., is to make war with the two witnesses, Revelation 11:7, — “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them;” — and, as he has failed to prove that Nero did come up out of the pit or abyss at the close of the siege of Jerusalem, his construction of this passage in Revelation must fall into the abyss of forgetfulness with his Nero, and remain only as a memento of the folly of our would-be great men, and the insanity of the wisdom of this world. MRSH 55.1

Again, the church in the wilderness, Revelation 12:6-14: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon: and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. MRSH 55.2

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Wo to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” This was fulfilled at the siege of the city of Jerusalem. The Christians fleeing to the mountains is the church in the wilderness; but who is the dragon making war with the church? Not the Jews, for their persecution of the church ceased, as the professor says, when they left Jerusalem. Did the Romans cast out water as a flood, after those few Christians who fled from Jerusalem? There is no account of such a war. Verse 17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” And the professor, instead of giving us facts on which to build his theory, is forced to bring in his vain and foolish traditions, and to suppose cases which history has not given, to give any color to his exposition of these texts; and when he has done all he can do, he evidently leaves himself and us in total darkness, and with this impression, — that Christ, who gave this revelation, and John, who wrote it, for fear of being prosecuted for treason, made use of old wives’ fables to represent facts which were coming upon the earth, and which facts never did exist, nor ever will; for Nero’s head never was healed nor ever will be, before the three and a half years, as he applies it, are fulfilled. MRSH 56.1

The reader must perceive that the beast in Revelation 13:3-5, is the beast with the deadly wound healed; and, according to Professor S., the forty-two months were all fulfilled before the beast (Nero) was wounded to death. Therefore, what the author of this new theory has said in his book concerning the forty-two months in this chapter, is too silly to need a serious reply. No man can, or will, for a moment believe his exposition of the text. MRSH 57.1

All that Professor Stuart can or will claim, if he is honest, will be a cardinal’s cap, as defender of the Roman faith, from the pope. His writings partake strongly of Puseyism, and he seems to be opening the door for a reconciliation to the mother church. I would therefore advise him to go home, and no longer deceive the public with his Protestant profession. If papacy is not the head healed, and is not the woman sitting on the scarlet-colored beast, then is the Roman Catholic church the only true church on earth; and this he must acknowledge, to be consistent with himself. MRSH 57.2

As it respects the author’s Messianic or Millennium day of which he speaks, pages 130-133, he has not pretended to bring a single proof from the Bible, neither can he bring any. He has blasphemously forbidden the Godhead, the dying love of Jesus, and the precious promises, to have anything but his millennium. He has told us that the close of this world will be a period of great prosperity and glory to the church, in plain contradiction to our Savior’s own words, Matthew 13:40-42: “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this 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.” Matthew 24:38, 39: “For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” How inconsistent it is to suppose, that, after Christ has taken possession of the whole earth, after he has thoroughly purged his floor, conquered death and him that has the power of death, dashed the kingdoms of this world to pieces, and carried them away, that no place is found for them, set up a kingdom under the whole heaven, which shall fill the earth, and that an everlasting kingdom, the subjects to be the same forever, never given to another people, and his tabernacle to be with men, his dwelling with them, and they made kings and priests to God and Christ, and reign on the earth with him — then, after all this, these temporal millennium advocates say that the world is to be burned up, consumed, and annihilated! This, to me, is both inconsistent and absurd, taught neither by Scripture nor reason. I believe the world must be cleansed, purged from the curse, from sin and sinners, before Christ will take possession and set up his glorified kingdom on the earth. I believe this will be done by fire. As the earth was once destroyed by water, so it is reserved to be destroyed by fire, and in like manner. And this is to be when Christ shall descend from heaven in flaming fire; and then he will make all things new, a new heaven and new earth. Can it be supposed that God will annihilate all the material heavens and earth, and make an entirely new work? No, by no means; for if this was the case, then man must be annihilated too; for man must be made new, for he is one of the things that is to inherit the new heaven and earth. Then, before the kingdom of God can be set up on the earth, the same must be made new, as man must be made new before he can be admitted into the kingdom of God; for flesh and blood, in this imperfect state, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So must the earth be purified by fire; and every man’s work must be tried, so as by fire. As the earth was once baptized by water, so it is reserved to be immersed in fire; and then the glory of God will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. MRSH 58.1

I am truly astonished at the ignorance of the word of God manifested by our great men. I find among our common citizens more common sense, intelligence, much more, than in the higher ranks of our learned men. Why is it so? I cannot tell, without the same cause exists now as did when Christ used the words of Isaiah. See Matthew 13:14, 15: “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” See also Isaiah 6:9-11: “And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.” I have come to this conclusion, that in nine cases out of ten our learned men have made the wisdom of this world their god, and they forget their dependence on God and his word; they learn to criticize, and cavil, but not to believe and obey. MRSH 60.1

There is one evidence which they all give. In all their writings not a particle of truth do they admit is furnished by second advent writers. No credit whatever; they oppose every sentiment, however plain, like the judgment, and coming of the Son of man in the clouds, and the kingdom given to him, Daniel 7:9-14; or the resurrection, in Daniel 12:2, 13. This is a strong evidence that the God of this world has blinded their eyes. Many of them are denying the resurrection of the body and a judgment day. These things are strong evidences that there is some blindness on their part, at least among common-sense minds. The learned class, as they call themselves, may puff each other, but this only serves to sink them lower in the minds of all honest thinking people. If Professor S. had only given his rules of interpretation, and there left his cause, he would have done much good; but when he comes to put in practice his own rules, he has shown his object to be, not to get truth, but to darken it by a multiplicity of words without knowledge. Now let any man read his explanation of the little horn in Daniel 7:8, 11, 21-25, and if this writer has got the truth, then I will, and must, acknowledge, that there is no rule binding in the Scriptures; for a greater departure, from the plain, simple meaning of words was never seen. MRSH 61.1

Again, his explanation of Matthew 24:15, — also of the wounded head healed in Revelation 13:3-7, — all these passages, with many more which might be shown, prove that the writer is hard pressed for arguments to support a theory of so feeble a texture that the illiterate and unlearned can demolish it at a blow. MRSH 61.2

Let the Professor beware, lest he puts into the hands of his enemies a weapon which will, if used against his orthodoxy, as he has used it against the figurative meaning of time, sweep his creed and church by the board. But in my mind, he has confirmed me more and more in the principle that God has, for wise purposes, revealed the end of the world by figures in a symbolical sense; and that for the very reason which Christ has given, Matthew 11:25: “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Therefore let us all be careful that we are ready, and no harm can befall us. MRSH 62.1

WM. MILLER.