The Jubilee Standard, vol. 1
May 29, 1845
Vol. I, NEW YORK CITY, THURSDAY, No. 12
“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him; and the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from transgression in Jacob.” JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.1
Vol. I.] NEW YORK CITY, THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1845. [No. 12 JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.2
THE JUBILEE STANDARD. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.3
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AFTERNOON, JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.4
By S. S. Snow and B. Matthias, Editors. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.5
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All communications for publication, or on the business of the paper, should be addressed, post-paid, to S. S. Snow or R. Matthias, N. Y. City. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.8
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THE LAST PRAYER
When the ‘warfare is o’er,’ the favored ‘time come,’
Then the people of God shall sigh for their home!
From mountains, and hills, and the isles of the sea,
From forests and caves, one petition shall be:
Avenge, O avenge thy people opprest,
And take them unto thee, O Savior, to rest,
Almighty, majestic in terror descend,
The poor and forsaken with judgment defend,
The harvest is dried, let the reapers be seen
With sharp flaming sickles the vineyard to glean;
The grapes in thick clusters hang ripe for the press,
In anger and fury with shoutings oppress!—
Thy garments be-crimson with blood and with gore,
Bring joy to thy friends, and pour shame on thy foes.
Creation doth groan—all nature’s in pain:
The ‘Valley of Vision’ now teems with thy slain;
The tyrant grim Death thy redeem’d now enslaves,
Their fetters melt off, rend the bars of the graves!
From hill-top and plain, and the deep’s coral bed,
Awake, and bring up, the slumb’ring, just dead.
The ashes of martyrs restore from the gale,
O’er the rack, and the sword, and faggot prevail,
The free light of heaven burst the patriarch’s cell,
And Death with the Devil be banished to hell!
To fathers their children in gladness return,
And children to fathers in triumph be borne.
O restore to the meek their lot, their reward,
Grant Eden’s green fields to the loved of the Lord!
For the sake of thy truth, thy glory we pray,—
Dispel the dark night with the bright endless day.
JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.10
LETTER FROM BRO. J. W. RUTLEGE
Dear Bro. Snow:—In this perilous moment, all the light that can be drawn from the Word, and from facts which exist showing the truth of the Word, ought to be before the waiting people of God; they need it to confirm their faith, and to enable them successfully to vanquish the enemy when he comes in like a flood to carry them away. He temptations are numerous, and his reasonings specious. The disappointments with which we have met, by the passing by of different points of time at which we particularly expected to see our King, and the fact that so many, to whom we have looked as leaders in Israel, and in whom we have reposed so much confidence, have gone back, are eagerly seized by the adversary against us. Then again the extremes into which some among us have run, and the fanciful notions that have been embraced by others, and the fanaticism that has sprung up, are brought forward to prove we are wrong. But if we will stick to the Word, and watch the occurrences of the day which show its fulfilment, all these, and a thousand things like them, will not move us. For one, though I have been disappointed in not actually seeing the Lord by the 16th of the first month, yet I have reached a point in my experience where I am scarcely tempted to doubt the correctness, in the main, of the positions we have taken. By positions I mean that the preaching of ‘43, the 7th month, and the shut door, were correct, and entered into God’s plan. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.11
I have a new argument, at least I have not seen or heard it by any body else, which, to me, shows demonstratively where we are. What is it? The third woe [original illegible]. This I cannot prove in the judgment of the world,—this I cannot prove in the judgment of the nominal churches; they are left too far in the rear to see the force of the argument. And I design it not for them. Nor do I expect that many professed Adventists will admit the force of the argument, though I believe it irrefutable. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.12
Every Adventist will admit that the first and second woes of Revelation 9., are past. The first covered a period of time 150 years long, reaching from the rise of the Ottoman Empire to its conquest of the Greek empire. Soma, perhaps, may suppose the period closed in 1449, others in 1453, when that empire lost the dependant existence it maintained up to that point. However it is no difference to me [original illegible] which of those points of time the 150 years, the five prophet rear months of Revelation 9:10, ended. The 1st woe trumpet ceased to sound—the first woe ended. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.13
That the second woe is also past is equally clear. At the point of time where the fifth angel ceased to sound, the sixth commenced. At the point of time where the first woe ended, the second commenced. At the point of time where the five months, or 150 years, ended, the hour, and day, and month, and year, or 391 years 15 days, commenced. There was where the bare power of the locusts to hurt men, not to kill them, Revelation 9:5, ended—the four angels bound in the great river Euphrates were loosed. It was these that were prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, 391 years, 15 days. When these were loosed the 6th angel began to sound. Here commenced the second woe: that point of time was without dispute either in 1449 or 1453. Then the period did end either in 1840 or 1844, it makes no difference to me which. Were not all the Asiatic, African, European, and American wars, which occurred within that period, a part of that woe? Did not the earthquakes, famines, pestilences, fearful diseases, and various disastrous occurrences in the world during that period, belong to that woe? Or does any one suppose the geographical boundaries which limited the ravages and depredations of the Ottoman empire set limits to that woe? To me it appears clear such was not the fact. But that period, with the power with which it is associated in the prophecy, and which is so minutely described, is only given to mark the beginning, duration, and end of that woe, and not to limit the territory over which that woe should extend. Well, then, the second woe embraced, as a part of itself, all the dreadful events that occurred in the world during a period of nearly four hundred years last past,—and that woe is past. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.14
Then where are we? Under the third woe. But how do you prove this? Every Adventist who believes the second woe to be past must take one of two positions. Either that the startling occurrences of these times are the beginning of the third woe, or that they are no part of any woe. But, will any take the ground that they belong to no woe at all? Hardly. But, have there been any occurrences since the 7th month to mark the period as pregnant with woe to men? Let us see. If the preaching of the 7th month told the truth, then truly the 10th of that month brought to this world the greatest woe it ever had. The end of the gospel age. But this is disputed ground. Let us look at facts: a writer in the Day Star says, ‘immediately following the great voices of the 7th month, Revelation 11:15, and when a silence ensured, our sea-coast, from New England on the north, to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, was smitten with an afflicting and unheard of plague—the waters upon almost the entire coast were discolored, and unnumbered millions of fish of all kinds were thrown dead upon the shore.’ Look at the inundations in Europe. In one of the papers of this city, a few days ago, I saw, as an item of foreign intelligence, the following: ‘Floods in Germany.—The entire Germanic Confederation, a part of Austria and Poland, have been literally under water since the 30th of March. The Rhine, the Maine, the Neckar, the Danube, the Elbe, and the Vistula, have, in succession, overflowed their banks, not in a day, but in an hour, Frankfort, Mentz, Cologne, Dresden, Prague, and a number of other towns and several thousand villages, were covered with water. The magnificent bridge of Dresden has been carried away, and many other edifices have been destroyed.’ It has been stated that some 50 or 60,000 lives were lost in these floods though I cannot now command the document. But what wonder [original illegible] poverty and wretchedness must follow these floods? But they will be forgotten in the following, cut from the Ledger and Transcript of this city: JUBST May 29, 1845, page 89.15
‘Flood and dreadful Inundation.—A letter from Macao, published in the foreign papers, gives an account of the overflowing of rivers in the north of China, before which the European inundations that have been recorded during the last few years, shrink into relative insignificance. On the shores of the Yellow Sea the phenomenon took the character of a second deluge. Whole provinces, with populations respectively larger than some of the second class kingdoms of Europe, were almost entirely submerged. The retreat of the [original illegible] left corpses in thousands. Touching episodes are given as pictures of this awful calamity. On the river Yang Tse were found large floating casks, which, when examined, were discovered to contain the bodies of young children, whose mothers, when all hope for themselves was gone, had committed them to these floating arks, as a last slender chance of salvation. Upwards of seventeen millions of human beings, escaped from the inundation, have poured themselves over the adjacent provinces, beggared of all things, and crying for bread. Think of that, besides the dead, 17 millions crying for bread, a number but little short of the entire population of the United States! Does this belong to no woe? Earthquakes shaking the metropolis of a sister republic, laying low to the ground a number of her edifices, and leaving its mark upon every door and house, the second, extending its effects to the distance of several hundred miles. Storms and tornadoes have lent their aid in the work of this woe. We have an account of one in the west that either blew down or injured every building within an extent of country five miles wide and 30 long, besides property of other kinds, and life, it destroyed. We read in the paper the accounts of fearful ravages of fatal diseases. Then what mean all these fires? They have done and are doing their work. They have been too numerous and destructive to need a particular notice here. Then see the murders, riots, faction fights, and carnage that the papers record. In Switzerland 3 or 4000 massacred in a moment; 50,000 unoffending Persians have fallen by the sword in a brief space. Besides the general disposition to war and bloodshed. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.1
Now, then, I ask you, has not the third woe commenced? Then the seventh trumpet has sounded, and the mystery of God is finished. So we need not be in the dark about our own whereabouts. It is all plain. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.2
What then is our duty? Watch and keep your garments. Let no man’s faith fail. There is no cause why it should. He must be blind indeed who cannot now see. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.3
Yours, in hope of soon seeing Jesus, J. W. Rutledge.
Kensington, Philippians, May 20, 1845.
LETTER FROM BRO. JOSEPH BATES
Dear Bro. Snow:—Our Bro. J. Pearson, from Portland, will hand you this. He has been with us a few days, and is now about leaving for your city: I pray God his coming to you may be like that of Titus: he has refreshed us much. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.4
Notwithstanding the late, to me unlooked for, proceedings at Albany, and the endorsements they received since in your city, in Philadelphia, and now in Baltimore, and still further anticipated in Boston, I cannot help believing still that our position is right respecting the cry at midnight, and that we have been to the marriage and the door is shut—not half or three-quarters of the way—but effectually. And our fallen brethren will soon see their sad mistake! JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.5
‘Well,’ say they, ‘we have done the best we could for the Advent cause.’ I doubt that very much, and must continue to doubt until they convince me, from the Bible, connected with the late movements, that Babylon has not fallen, and that God’s people have not responded to the cry, ‘Come out of her my people,’ and then another cry to go out and meet the Bridegroom on the 22nd day of last October. All this I see, so far as their proceedings have been made public, is passed over in silence. Well, I cannot tell how much these messages, and especially the last one, affected their hearts; but this I do know, I could as readily forget that God ever pardoned my sins. If I could ever be convinced that organizations and a creed were necessary for God’s waiting people at this last moment of time, I should immediately move an addition of two more articles, viz., the fall of Babylon, and the cry at midnight, connected with our experience, to the articles already published. But it seems to me all these things are uncalled for if we are, and have been, perfectly honest in the sight of God. It does appear plain to me that the next organization for God’s people, after leaving Babylon, will be in the air with our glorious King. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.6
I firmly believe that our Lord, as in Daniel 7:13, 14, received his kingdom last October, and that the Advent people sang the coronation song, as in Revelation 19:5-7, ‘Let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come,’ etc. Bro. Matthias, what think you about that song you taught us to sing, JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.7
‘Rejoice my friends the Lord is King?’ JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.8
Well, so with our lamented Bro. Fitch and Bro. E. Hale;—think ye that they understood how they were fulfilling Habakkuk’s prophecy when they wrote the vision made it plain on tables? Not then, but afterwards. Why, every time I sing that song now, I am reminded of the marriage, and am glad and rejoice. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.9
May the God of Jacob speed you onward, brethren. I believe we are in the path of the just, which shines more and more unto the perfect day,—not less and less. No, no, God be praised, we stand on the Rock. If we overcome we shall have the new name. My prayer is, God help the little flock to grasp and hold fast the truth. Yours, striving to overcome, JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.10
Fairhaven, Mass., May 21. Joseph Bates.
LETTER FROM BRO. EDSON
Dear Bro. Snow:—The Lord Cometh! so says the law and the testimony. I believe it is a point generally conceded, that the lot in which Daniel is to stand, at the end of the 1335 days, will be the redeemed ‘purchased possession,’ the land which the righteous shall inherit and dwell therein forever. Therefore the Lord may come, raise the dead and change the living saints, cut off the wicked, root out the transgressors, before or by the ending of the days; see Isaiah 34:1-10, especially the 8th verse; also 63:4. And we believe we have good evidence that the 1335 days end this year, and I cannot extent them beyond August next. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.11
Our Lord swore to the time, and that when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. Has not that come? Is not our power gone? Deuteronomy 32:35, 36. Have we not gone ‘even to Babylon?’ Knowledge shall be increased, the wise shall understand, and the path of the just is to shine more and more unto the perfect day. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.12
I need not pause to present evidences that the year of God’s redeemed is come, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. Has not the trumpet of alarm been sounded in all God’s holy mountain, and given a certain sound? Have not the inhabitants of the land trembled in consequence of the evidence presented, showing the day of the Lord at hand? Have we not had the midnight cry, the antitype of the Jubilee trumpet in the 49th year? There have been voices saying ‘the kingdoms of this world are become,’ etc. ‘And the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that reward should be given,’ etc. Also the marriage of the Lamb is come, and it has been written,—‘Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And He says, these are true sayings of God; hath He said and will he not do it? Hath He promised and will not He make it good? We have had all these in chronological order, perfectly agreeing with the Word; and the Lord has no where warned us of a counterfeit currency of this kind. And as these voices were to be heard under the seventh trumpet, does it not follow of necessity, that the seventh trumpet has sounded? And the Lord has condescended to mark out the signs of the times of these last days with so much exactness, that his people might know their whereabouts, when they were nearing the haven of eternal rest. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 90.13
The ‘times of the Gentiles’ are fulfilled; we have come to ‘the dispensation of the fullness of times,’—‘the times of restitution of all things,’ and the time of blotting out of sins, when the ‘refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord,’ and the time of the Covenant, when He ‘shall take away their sins;’ Romans 8:23; 11:25-27; Ephesians 1:14; 4:30; Acts 3:19-21. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.1
We came up to the types of the 7th month, and was not the Lord in it? Is not the cloud between us and our enemies? We came upon the types of the passover in the first month, and was not the Lord in it? Was not the passover the day-dawn, and is not the day-star arising? Are we not in the morning watch? The Lord has been looking through the pillar and troubling our enemies, taking off their chariot-wheels, ‘that they drave them heavily,’ burning their cities and land. Have not the servants of God been sealed in their foreheads? The destroying angel has commenced hurting the earth. The four winds are being loosed, and speedy preparations, are being made for the slaughter, and soon the Lord shall rise up a great whirlwind from the coasts of the earth. On rushes the time of trouble, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and deliver them out of it. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.2
We come next, in chronological order, not to mount Sinai, to receive the law on tables of stone, but the anniversary of the Lord’s descent thereon, I believe, to receive the law written on our hearts and in our minds, no more to teach our neighbor or brother, saying, Knowing the Lord, for then all shall know him from the least unto the greatest. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.3
The third, and next, order of types, claims our present attention. Please examine with care the following scriptures: Exodus 34:22-24; 22:16, 17; Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Numbers 28:26; Matthew 13:39; Leviticus 23:15-21; Isaiah 18:7, and make the application. The first fruits are a very prominent feature in the quotations on types. Paul says, ‘Christ the first fruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming.’ It was on this anniversary that the Holy Ghost descended and sat upon the Apostles like unto cloven-tongues of fire, and they spoke ‘with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ This is the anniversary of the Lord’s descent on mount Sinai, ‘whose voice,’ Paul says, ‘then shook the earth, but now hath he promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven,’ thus connecting the second shaking, and the removing of those things that are shaken with this anniversary. And I think we have not had the antitype of the two-wave loaves baken with leaven, which are the first fruit unto the Lord. If so, where and when? ‘Till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass, till all be fulfilled.’ ‘Thou shalt number from the morrow after the sabbath,’ (in the passover week,) ‘from the day ye brought the first fruits of the wave offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete.’ The number seven is an important number in the Bible, and brings us to important points. And in this case it is expressly said to be ‘complete,’ at the end of which the two wave loaves [Jews and Gentiles, both houses of Israel,] are to be brought out of their habitations, baked with leaven. These are expressly declared to be the first fruits unto the Lord. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.4
Now we understand that Christ’s resurrection is the antitype of the first fruits on the morrow after the sabbath, in the passover week; and from that point, when the passover is being fulfilled in the kingdom of God, I believe seven sabbaths will complete the first fruits unto God, even they which are Christ’s, at his coming.’ ‘Then shall the present be brought unto the Lord,’ Isaiah 18:7. Paul, after exhorting us to certain duties, in Hebrews 10., assures us if we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. And exhorts not to cast our confidence, for we have need of patience after we have done the will of God, that we might receive the promise, ‘For yet a little while and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.’ Then in the 12th chapter, presents the example of Esau, to the intent we should not do as he did, for ‘when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected, for he found no place repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.’ There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; 2 Esdras, vi. 8, 9, says, ‘Esau is the end of the world, Jacob is the beginning of it that followeth.’ JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.5
Paul, after this admonition, goes on to tell us we ‘are not come to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and the voice of words,’ etc.; but we ‘are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,’ and to the receiving the kingdom which ‘cannot be moved.’ Paul connects this event with the anniversary of the Lord’s descent on mount Sinai, and with the ‘yet once more’ shaking, not the earth only, but also heaven, and the removing of those things that are shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.’ And he has connected it with the receiving of kingdom. And who can separate them? I dare not; see 26-28 verses. Now I think no one will contend that this event was arrived at in Paul’s day, or any time in the gospel dispensation, or in the times of the Gentiles. Examine with care the following quotations, and I think they will set the matter in its clear light; Daniel 2:44; 7:13, 14, 18; Revelation 21:10 and onward; Isaiah 51:11; 63:4;Psalm 102:13-18; Isaiah 34:8; Romans 11:25-27; Ephesians 1:4; 4:30; Acts 3:19-21. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.6
May the Lord help all his people to watch and be like men waiting for their Lord, grit about with truth, and their lights burning that when he cometh and knocketh we may open to him immediately. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.7
Yours, waiting,
Manchester, May 2. Hiram Edson.
LETTER FROM BRO. BUNTING
Dear Bro. Snow:—I love the name of your paper. O how charming is the sound of liberty to the sighing captives. And blessed be the name of the Lord, we have conclusive evidence that this is the year of rest and delilerence for all his waiting people. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.8
This, we understand from his own chronology, given us in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew, particularly in the parable of the virgins. They went forth to meet the Bridegroom—the Bridegroom tarried—and at midnight there was a cry made. Have we heard that cry? Yes, that cry was the preaching of the 7th month, which most certainly was of God, unless we take the ground of Geo. Storrs and others, that it was a delusion; or, in plain English a lie. Well, if we take his own words for it, first and last, they certainly amount to this, that the Lord has attended the preaching of a delusion or lie, by the power of the Holy Ghost. He told us then that word was attended by the outpouring of the Spirit. Has the power of the Holy Spirit turned out to be a delusion? Merciful Father! has it come to this, that the watchman can prove a thing so clearly by the Divine testimony to-day; and to-morrow turn about and tell us it was a delusion? JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.9
‘But,’ says one, ‘has not the message proved itself false? And how, I ask, has it proved false? ‘Oh! Your time has gone by.’ Well then, the objector has precisely the same proof that the preaching of ‘43 and the 7th month was not of God, that the men of Nineveh had that the preaching of Jonah was not. When the 40 days were out, and the city was still standing, ought not Jonah, as an honest man, to have confessed that he was deluded, and that God never sent him? If some of our ‘Adventist’ confessors had been in his place, they would, no doubt, have been as ready to ‘confess’ as they now are. Yours, in the blessed hope, R. G. Bunting. Cincinnati, April 28. THE JUBILEE STANDARD. ‘Lift up a standard for the People.’ NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1845. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 91.10
PROPHETIC CHRONOLOGY.—Continued
We come now to an examination of chronological dates. And let it not be forgotten that, as we have proved, the 70 weeks must have commenced on the 10th day of 7th month. The date of the year assigned for their commencement is B. C. 457. There has been some diversity of opinion among chronologists, as to the correctness of that date; but the majority of standard writers on chronology have agreed on that as the true date. Not only so, but recent investigations have resulted in its confirmation. Among other testimony on this point, we give the following, from an article on prophetic chronology, by N. N. Whiting, published in the Advent Shield, No. 1: JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.1
“According to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, there was an ‘Eclipse of the sun, April 30, B. C. 464, which was followed by the assassination of Xerxes by Artabanus.’ Artaxerxes succeeded Xerxes. Hence we may fix his accession to the throne between the months which have been named, (July and November,) in the year B. C. 464. His first year would, therefore, embrace part of 464 and part of 463 B. C. Nisan (the first month) in his year consequently, falls in B. C. 463. His seventh year would commence in B. C. 458, (not earlier than Ab, the fifth month,) and end B. C. 457. And, therefore, the first day of the first month, (Nisan) when Ezra left Babylon, was in the same year, B. C. 457.” JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.2
“The commencement of the reign of Artaxerxes can be ascertained by another process. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.3
“The battle of Arbela put an end to the Persian monarchy. This battle was preceded by an eclipse of the moon, which occurred September 20th, B. C. 331, eleven days previous to the battle. See Arrian’s Life of Alexander, B. III., chap. 7; Quintus Curtius, B. IV. chap. 39; Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, and Fugreson’s Table of Eclipses, in his Astronomy. The Canon of Ptolemy furnishes a history of the kings of Persia, with the period of each reign. He omits those who did not hold the throne a full year, by reckoning the months of their reign partly to the preceding and partly to the succeeding monarch. Thus Xerxes II. and Sogdianus began to reign B. C. 224. The former reigned two months, and the latter seven. Neither are named by Ptolemy; still these nine months, being applied to the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus and Darius Nothus, no time is actually lost by his computation. Availing ourselves of the date of the battle of Arbela, which has been noticed, we can employ the Canon, and ascertain the era when Artaxerxes took the crown, by reckoning backward. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.4
| Darius Codomannus | reigned | 4 years | to B.C. 331. |
| Arses, | do. | 2 | do. |
| Darius Ochus, | do. | 21 | do. |
| Aetaxerxes Mnemon, | do. | 46 | do. |
| Darius Nothus, | do. | 19 | do. |
| Sogdianus, | do. | 00 | 7 months. |
| Xerxes II. | do. | 00 | 2 months. |
| Artaxerxes Longimanus, | do. | 40 | 3 months. |
| 133 | 00 years from B. C. 331, |
to the beginning of the reign of Artexerxes. If we add 133 to the year B. C. 331, we learn the result 464 B. C.”
Thus we see that by two different methods, including both Astronomical and Historical proof, we arrive at the same result, viz., that Artexerxes began his reign in the year B. C. 464, and, consequently, that his seventh year commenced in the year B. C. 458, and embraced a part of the following year. It follows, therefore, that Ezra left Babylon in the first month of B. C. 457, and the commandment went forth in the seventh month of the same year. From that point, 2300 years terminate in the seventh month, A. D. 1844. The next point to be considered is the date of the commencement of our Lord’s public preaching. This is a point of great importance, as it marks distinctly the termination of the sixty-nine weeks and the beginning of the last week of the seventy. And if, after a careful examination, we find it to harmonize with B. C. 457, which has been ascertained to be the true starting point, it will serve to confirm that date, and make ‘assurance doubly sure.’ JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.5
In arriving at that date several steps are necessary. And first we will notice the fact that there was a difference of about six months between the ages of John the Baptist and our Lord. As proof of this, see Luke 1:24-37. In the next place let it be understood that John was a Levite, and of the order of the priesthood, Luke 1:5. According to the Law his ministry could not commence until he was thirty years of age: see Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43, 47; 1 Chronicles 23:3. As the birth of Jesus could not have been later in the year than December, the birth of John could not have been later than the preceding June. He was, therefore, thirty years old in the spring or in June, when he must have begun his ministry. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.6
This was in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Casar—not of his sole reign, but of his administration, reckoned from the time when he was associated with his uncle Augustus in the government. The following remarks on the subject are from Horne:—’We learn from the Roman historians that the reign of Tiberius had two commencements: the first, when he was admitted to a place in the empire, (but without the title of Emperor,) in August, of the year 764, from the foundation of the city of Rome, three years before the death of Augustus; and the second, when he began to reign alone after that Emperor’s decease. It is from the first of these commencements that the fifteenth year, mentioned by St. Luke, is to be computed, who, as Tiberius did not assume the imperial title during the life of Augustus, makes use of a word which properly marks the nature of the power exercised by Tiberius, namely, “In the fifteenth year tés hégemonias [i.e. of the administration] of Tiberius Casar,”’ etc. Intro. B. I. p. 564. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.7
Augustus died August 19th A. D. 14. And as Tiberius was united with him three years before, his administration must have commenced in August A. D. 11. From that point fourteen full years extend to August A. D. 25, when, of course, his fifteenth year began, which, reaching to August A. D. 26, would necessarily embrace that point of time at which John began his ministry. We come, then, to this result, that the ministry of John the Baptist began in the early part of A. D. 26. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.8
Our Lord, being about six months younger that John, was thirty years of age in the autumn or in December following. About that time he was baptized; see Luke 3:21-23. After his baptism he attended a passover feast at Jerusalem; see John 2:3, 23. This was in the Spring, and, as it was the first spring after his baptism, must certainly have been in A. D. 27. After this he came into the land of Judea with his disciples, where he tarried and baptized. At the same time John was baptizing in Enon, not being yet cast into prison; see John 3:22-24. We may, therefore, rest assured that as late as the summer or autumn of A. D. 27, John’s imprisonment had not taken place. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 92.9
But Jesus did not commence the confirming of the covenant, by his public preaching and his public miracles, until after the imprisonment of John. Matthew 4:12, 17, ‘Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Mark 1:14, 15 ‘Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and the believe the gospel.’ Acts 10:37, ‘That word I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached.’ Thus Matthew, Mark, and Peter, all testify that the public proclamation of the gospel by our Lord, began soon after the imprisonment of John. As that must have occurred in the summer or autumn of A. D. 27, the public preaching of Christ, accompanied by the confirmatory. Proofs of miracles publicly wrought, by which he was fully manifested to Israel and proved to be the true Messiah, did not commence till the autumn of A. D. 27. And that, it is very evident, must have been the true date. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.1
But will this harmonize with the date B. C. 457? Let us see. From one point to the other there must be 69 weeks, i.e. 483 years. Suppose, then, the period to have embraced the whole of B. C. 457, there would then be needed 26 full years to make it complete. It would then extend from the first day of B. C. 457 to the first day of A. D. 27. But, as we have clearly proved, the period began on the 10th day of the 7th month. A part of B. C. 457 is not, therefore, to be included in the reckoning, and this deficiency must be made up by the addition of a part of A. D. 27. We see, then, that these two dates agree, and the 69 weeks which commenced in the 7th month B. C. 457, terminated in the 7th month A. D. 27. Then Jesus began to ‘confirm the covenant,’ and on the 10th day of the first month of A. D. 31, he caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and four days after that the nailed the hand writing of ordinances to his cross. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.2
The argument of Ferguson, that the death of our Lord must have occurred in A. D. 33, is not valid. It is based upon the assumption that the Rabbinical Jews are correct in their mode of reckoning the year. Were that true, the argument would be perfect and irrefutable. The crucifixion was evidently on Friday, the day before the Sabbath. See John 19:31; Mark 15:42. It was also on the day of the Passover; John 18:28. Now, admitting the Rabbinical Jews to be correct, we find by astronomical calculation, that the Passover full moon occurred on Friday, in the year 33, and not for several years before or after. But the Caraite Jews accuse the others of corrupting the Law in this matter, in other words, of adopting the customs of the heathen in their mode of reckoning time. And on examination we find the charge to be just. The Law imperatively required the presentation of the first-fruits’ sheaf, or handful, as a wave-offering, on the 16th day of the first month. But if the year be commenced, according to the Rabbinical Jews, with the new moon in March, it would be impossible to obey this requisition of the Law. For the grain would not be ripe in the first month. The Caraites, who adhere rigidly to the Law, usually commence the year one moon later than do the others; the one class regulating their year by the vernal equinox, after the manner of the Romans,—the other by the ripening of the barely harvest, according to the requirements of the Mosaic Law. The Caraite computation is consequently correct; and the argument of Ferguson, based upon the Rabbinical reckoning, falls to the ground. The death of our Lord was not, therefore, in A. D. 33. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.3
But let us see if it was not in A. D. 31. In the first place let us understand and remember, that the passover was always either on the day in which the moon came to the full, or the day following. This would depend upon the point of commencement of the month. The Jews began their months with the first visible appearance of the new moon. When its change took place early in the morning it would be visible the same evening, and the first day of the month, would be the day following. And as there are between fourteen and fifteen days from the change of the moon to the full, and the passover was always the fourteenth day of the month, it would, in this case, occur on the very day of the full moon. But when the moon changed at a later hour in the day, it could not be visible the same evening. In that case the first day of the month would be the second day after the moon’s change, and, consequently, the fourteenth day of the month would be the day following the full. We find upon examination that this must have been the case with the Caraite first month, A. D. 31. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.4
We find also, that in A. D. 33 the full moon was on the 3rd day of April. From one full moon to another are about 291/2 days. The Caraite passover in that year would be on the 3rd day of May. As the lunar months fall behind the solar 11 days every year, so, in reckoning backward from A. D. 33 to A. D. 31, there must be an addition of 11 days to each year, making, for the two years 22 days. We see, then, that as in A. D. 33 the full moon was on the 3rd of May, it must have occurred on the 25th of May in A. D. 31. The true passover day must therefore have been either the 25th or 26th of May in that year. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.5
Again, in the Appendix Townsend’s arrangement of the New Testament will be found a very accurate table, exhibiting the time of the occurrence of the passover (according to the Rabbinical Jews,) during our Saviour’s life. In that table it is placed for A. D. 31, Tuesday, April 25th. Assuming this as undoubtedly correct, we shall find that 291/2 days, which make a lunar month, extend to Thursday, May 25th. And as there is a small excess over 291/2 days in a lunar month, and also over 11 days to a year in the precession of the moon’s changes, it came to the full in the latter part of the day. Consequently the passover was on the day following, which was Friday. We come, then, to this conclusion, that our Lord was crucified, on Friday, May 26th, A. D. 31. S. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.6
(To be continued.)
LETTER FROM BRO. MATTHIAS
Middletown, Pa., May. 19, 1845. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.7
Dear Bro. Snow:—I have been to the city of Philadelphia, and preached to the band, and had a good time, and they are doing well. I came to this place on Saturday, and preached three times on Sunday in the house of Bro. Walborn, and expect to again this evening. The Lord blessed the Word, and the brethren received it with favor, and none disputed, contradicted, or caviled, and I praise the Lord. I am quite disappointed in not finding the Standard here,—it comes but occasionally. This morning, however, I have seen the Morning Watch, which contains a great deal about the conferences,—resolutions, experiences, confessions, (properly drawings back,) all of which, under the circumstances, I exceedingly deprecate; for these conferences, creeds, and organizations, are of the evil one, and the real fruit of unbelief, and are really and truly calculated to shake the faith of God’s children in their past experience; for they act upon the avowal that there is a contingency of from three to four years in the chronology. This once admitted, and God would not bless any period within this circle of chronology as the definite time; and certainly could not have blessed us in ‘43 and in the sounding of the midnight cry. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.8
O! my Lord, have mercy upon thy little flock! How awful and shocking to bring up our speculations upon chronology, or our hypothesis in offset to the Spirit of God,—making the experience of ten thousand witnesses in ‘43 and the 10th day of the 7th month, (all professedly inspired by the Holy Ghost) all a delusion. And what ground for doubting, this experience? Did we not take the very course to secure a Divine experience, if there be truth in God’s Word? Then the devotion of God’s people to his Word, and to himself; their humiliation and self-denial, their sacrifices, fasting, praying, and giving of alms, that characterized them, must be rewarded with sanctification and a satisfactory answer and a divine experience. ‘If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.’ Will he give a stone for bread? JUBST May 29, 1845, page 93.9
But these conferences are got up to counteract what they would call, if they should speak out plain, the delusions of ‘43 and the 10th day of the 7th month. What else can it be? The motive they avow is, to put down dreams, visions, fancies, and so on. Why this? Because, having no confidence in the past, they are suspicious of all that may be presented for truth. And inferential arguments have lost all credit with them also; and yet resort to them, and allow them on their side. Take two instances, recorded in the last Watch: Bro. Whiting, in giving his testimony, (as given in the Watch,) says, ‘Before time proved his arguments wrong, in reference to the coming of Christ in ‘43, he thought them irrefutable; but now he concludes that the 2300 days did not commence in the year B. C. 457, for if they had commenced there the Lord would have come.’ Here is an inferential argument, and yet the conclusion is not a fair one. In order that it should be a fair inference, the premises should be clear and well defined. No where is there any Scripture that says that Christ will come to this earth at the precise end of those days, (yet that is the way we preached it, and that was the mistake.) In 2300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. To come to the conclusion that our brother arrives, at there must be another inference allowed,—that the cleansing of the sanctuary is the coming of Christ; and then the first conclusion world be fair and logical. Daniel says the vision should be understood at the time of the end; and that, as we understand it, is 45 or 46 years. So then, allowing that the Professor is right, he is as much liable to be disappointed in 1847 as now, allowing that to be the set time, there being no promise that the Lord will come at the precise time of the end of the 2300 days. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.1
If this is true, then there is no necessity for their shifting their ground and commencing a new campaign, and abandoning their experience. For to doubt the correctness of the chronology that God has blessed, and to dispose themselves for ‘waking up a sleeping church, and a wicked world,’ is a practical abandonment of the whole, except the naked idea of the second advent with indefinite chronology. To adopt such a position is to comply with the wishes of a sleeping church and wicked world, and surely this is no way to wake them up. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.2
Who would have thought Adventists should exceed in unbelief all others—even be capable of the temerity of sacrificing their most glorious experience, given by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. And this, too, after God had fortified us against unbelief by his Word, that comes in for our support like a powerful reserve, when faith is weak and our ranks thinned, and the enemy coming in like a flood. Just now they lift up a standard and stop the desolations of unbelief. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.3
Here follows some of those precious words that witness at this time to the truths we preach, and publish in our little sheet. ‘Behold the Bridegroom cometh!’ These words were to be in the mouths of somebody down at the time of the end. Has it not been fulfilled? Again, in Revelation 10. account is given of an angel, clothed with a cloud (denoting glory) and a rainbow (hope); his face was as the sun, (denoting light, clearness, and penetration); his feet as pillars of fire,—wherever he placed them he burnt an impression,—indeed he burnt his way through the world. This angel was the type of the messengers that gave the midnight cry. The angel stood on the sea and land,—this denotes the unconfined nature of the message. ‘All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth; see ye when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet hear ye,’ Isaiah 18:3; see also Joel 2:15-17. And then his declaration, how positive! This was a prophecy; it was to be fulfilled, (Revelation 10. ‘Must shortly come to pass;’ and Revelation 4. i.,) and when fulfilled the mystery of God should be finished. The angel is very positive, he ‘sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and things which are therein that time shall be no longer,’ 6th verse. See, God, and all that he had made, is pledged for the fulfillment of this message. Such was the character of our preaching the midnight cry, and if we had not so preached, the Scriptures would have been broken. Again, another witness in the 11th chapter, ‘And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Here, we see what was accomplished on the tenth day of the 7th month. The Lord’s enemies became his footstool; Hebrews 10:13. And the Son of Man went to the Ancient of Days, and received from him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom. Hence the saying, ‘I saw a Lamb stand on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand;’ Revelation 14:1. ‘But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; Hebrews 12:22. It was prophesied that with great voices the kingdoms of this world should be proclaimed to be the Lord’s; that is what was to be said, and it was read and uttered in every meeting for two or three months. Now the question is, was it true? Yes, it was true, for it was responded to in heaven. Bless God! on earth, with mighty voices, Christ is proclaimed King over all the earth, and all heaven rejoice! The harpers harp, the 144,000 sing a new song, Revelation 14:2, 3, and the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, ‘saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned;’ Revelation 11:16, 17; and the next verse gives additional proof that Christ has the kingdom, and the nations were angry. The nations have their power from the dragon, and they are angry because their patron is about to be dethroned and go down to the sides of the pit. And his wrath is come. His enemies have become his footstool; 110th Psalm; Isaiah 63. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.4
But to return. Our position is explainable. God does not say any where that the time is appointed for the coming of the Son of Man. The event that was to transpire was the giving the kingdoms of this world to Christ; and that was the cause of joy both in earth and heaven: and this is a matter that few apprehend; and it makes another text important and interesting at this time, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ And an other—and may God send it home to the heart of every Peter and Thomas,—‘If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him.’ JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.5
But the time was appointed for the vision to speak—and it was to be written plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. It was not to lie. If this is true we must have rested upon the right date; for it is distinctly added: though he may tarry wait for him. Now though we are apprised of the possibility of a disappointment by the prophet, and exhorted to wait if he tarry, which circumstance is a proof that the right chronology was to be understood; else how could he tarry? But because the Lord did not appear at that time, contrary to any prophecy or promise, the professor infers that his data and arguments were all wrong. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.6
I for one see no necessity for doubting the chronology that has led us out so far; for, by the hope of it we have come up to Mount Zion, and are waiting at its gates, and soon they will open and the righteous nations that keep the law of God shall enter in. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.7
And then we have other advantages that our positions and faith give us, that our opponents have not. 1st. We have sought and found and explanation of our difficulty. 2nd. We have the privilege and pleasure of learning new lessons. They are unlearning and repairing the mischief they have done to the devil’s kingdom, reciting their old lessons. This may be severe truth,—but it is truth to the life; and their light will become darkness. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.8
Again, if they should possibly prove to be right, we could go to them at any time, but if we are right they cannot always come to us. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.9
The other case I refer to is that of Bro. Curry’s confession, as reported in the Watch. He says he was favorable to our views until he heard some one say, ‘The door was shut and he was glad of it.’ In relation to this I ask, what intelligent lover of Christ would not be glad? I am sure the Lord himself is; does not this scripture teach the doctrine? ‘Henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.’ Must he not be glad? What means the harping and the singing of the new song? And that mighty move around the throne of God, the four and twenty elders falling on their faces, and saying, ‘We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, because thou has taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned’? See also Revelation 4:10. I am sure it cannot be wrong to agree with these worthies, and with Jesus our King. Again, this brother made his faith conditional; when he saw the Lord did not come at the passover, he gave it up. Good Lord have mercy upon us! When I see brethren bartering and speculating with their faith it looks to me as if they wanted to put it to a hard test, that they might have a pretext for getting rid of it. What! Make a disappointment a reason for giving up so glorious a faith that makes the kingdom sure in a little while. Faith should not be liable at all. It ought not to be the faith of contingency; it should be like the faith of Abraham, who hoped against hope, and staggered not. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 94.10
Everlasting praise be to God, I am being daily confirmed in the most holly faith. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 95.1
Finally, one of two things is true. Either God has directed our general movements, or he has not. Or has approbated or condemned. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 95.2
If God directed our movements or barely approbated them, then either by his direction, or with his approbation, we have been the means, indirectly, of a rank harvest of infidelity. The nominal church has fallen and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul sprit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful birds, as the reward of rejecting our message, and all Christendom besides have become unbelievers in the judgment and personal advent of our Lord. And we are not o be blamed. On the other hand, if God did not direct or approve either, then we not only are not innocent, but the worst people on God’s footstool. Having disaffected the people to their churches and towards their ministers,—exposed their errors and fables; and if these churches are the medium under God for bringing souls into the kingdom of heaven, and their preachers God’s true ministers, then of all people that ever lived in any one generation, we have been the most mischievous and injurious.—Thirty years would not suffice to restore things as they were, though we retire into obscurity, or even oblivion. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 95.3
And now, since these conferences think we have done wrong, they had better call another, and make their humble confession to God, and the clergy, and the churches. I see no other way to get the door open, for they have shut it; they have effectually destroyed the confidence of the people in the popular preaching, and the clergy will not let the people believe them; and so, between them both, the door is shut—jambed and barred. Now let there be an ingenuous confession on one side or the other. Who shall do it? The clergy have not confessed they were wrong yet; but the conference has. Now let them confess to the injured party. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 95.4
It cannot be that we have done all our work at the suggestion of the devil—impossible! No, we humbled ourselves—we prayed—we read and searched the Bible—we communicated—we trembled at God’s Word. And now all this abandonment of the church and the world is retributive and judicial. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 95.5
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, for he reigneth!
Yours, with a good hope and faith on the increase,
B. Matthias.
For the Jubilee Standard.
TO THE “HIDDEN ONES.”
We understand from the words of our Saviour, that the type of the Passover must have its ultimate fulfillment in the Kingdom of God. As the sacrifice of the paschal lamb was fulfilled in the crucifixion, we are led to inquire what feature remains to be accomplished in the kingdom of heaven. The parables teach that many things preparatory are fulfilled in this kingdom before the translation of its subjects, and the personal appearing of the King. In carefully examining the typical shadows, which point to the final consummation, we see our present position in its true light. In referring to the type in Exodus, we find that its most striking feature is the hiding of the people of God, and the punishment of his enemies. Of this Moses says, ‘none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians.’ Our saviour also shows the case of Noah and Lot, as typical of the final deliverance of the true Israel. When Noah and his remnant entered into the Ark, ‘the Lord shut him in,’ while the waters prevailed, ‘and all flesh died, that moved upon the earth.’ Of Lot we read that the angels ‘put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door,’ while those without were struck with blindness, preparatory to their destruction. The Scriptures cannot be broken, therefore every jot and tittle in these shadows will be fulfilled. Isaiah, speaking of the travail of Zion, the resurrection and destruction of the wicked, distinctly shows the antitype of the shutting in of Noah, Lot, and the keepers of the first passover, and exhorts us, in the name of the Lord, ‘Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy door about thee, hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast, for the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall discloses her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.’ The true people of God will be willing, in the day of his power to be separate, and have their entire sympathy with Christ. In the parable of the virgins, the door shut before the knocking of many for admittance. Also in Luke the Master is represented as rising up and shutting in those who have entered the strait gate, while without they are still expecting admittance, and before the weeping and gnashing of teeth. In the Scriptures we have many prophetic allusions to this separation before and while the final sentence is executed upon the enemies of God. At the time of the fearful judgment on Ahab and his people, by dearth and famine, the Lord commanded Elijah (a type of his translated one) thus, ‘Get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan, and it shalt be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.’ By Amos we learn that there will be a famine in the land of hearing the word of the Lord, when men shall run to and fro to seek, and not find it. Also by David when there is no more any prophet, neither any that knoweth how long. When the cloudy pillar shall stand between the world and the escaping remnant, and their path be hidden from their adversaries,—a time when the Lord will say to his elect, by his Word and Spirit, as he did to Ezekiel, ‘Go shut thyself within thy house,’ ‘and I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they are a rebelious house.’ Zephaniah, speaking of ‘the great day of the Lord,’ when he ‘shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land,’ says, ‘seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgments, seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be ye shall be hid in the days of the Lord’s anger.’ We also read ‘in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me,’ ‘thou shalt hide them in them in the secret of thy presence, from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.’ Also in the first ‘little while’ of the disciples’ grief, when the doors were shut, for fear of the Jews, ‘came Jesus, and stood in the midst.’ We perceive that this time of separation from the word, this second ‘little while,’ is a time of trial, and mourning for Jesus, a time when the children of the bride chamber shall fast, because of absence of their Lord. Zechariah sees, with a prophetic eye, when the spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured out, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, ‘All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.’ At the time when the Lord ‘will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried, and they shall call on my name, and I will hear them, I will say it is my people, and they shall say the Lord is my God.’ It is evident that we are in this hour of separation and scattering, and let every true child seek unto the Lord, and trust in him alone. The ending of prophetic times, the testimony of the Word and Spirit, our own experience, and the commencement of the pouring out of judgment, and the burning day, all speak, in language well appreciated by those who watch and wait, that the hour of deliverance is come. Let us see to it, that we follow the ark, understand the order of the Spirit, and stand in the counsel of God. If we do this we may rest assured that, in this last battle, earth and hell, and all the sympathies and technicalities of this lower world, will be against us, but ‘fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ C. S. M. Philadelphia, May 22. For the Jubilee Standard. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 95.6
THE HOUSE FINISHED
In Hebrews 10:21 we read that there is a High Priest over the house of God. Chap. 3. ‘Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus: who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some man: but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after: but Christ as a Son over his own house: whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.’ JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.1
Here a house is presented in the process of building—when it is completed, the last stone is added to the building, and the number of His Israel is perfect. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.2
We read, in Hebrews 8:10, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel,’ etc. ‘The house’ is then finished when the covenant is made. This will be evident when we consider the materials of which it is composed, viz., ‘lively stones built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; 1 Peter 2. The following references show at what time this is fully applicable to the people of God: Hosea 1:10, 11; 2:23; Zechariah 2:12. At that day when the Lord comforts all that mourn,—when he appoints unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, (Isaiah 61:3-6); then, in the day that God’s people are ‘cleansed’ from all sin, and when ‘the wastes are builded,’ ‘all things’ being ‘restored,’ the promise is to the house of Israel, ‘Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God,’ verses 7, 8, ‘For your shame ye shall have double,’ etc, ‘For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and will make an everlasting covenant with them.’ What this everlasting covenant made with the house of Israel is, appears from reading Isaiah 55:3, 4, ‘And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. That Jesus is referred to, is evident, for the promise was made that ‘the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the houses of Jacob forever;’ verse 4 is an explanation of the sure mercies of David, ‘Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.’ JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.3
From the moment Jesus receives the kingdom, he is Son over his own house, even High Priest over the house of God after ‘the order of Melchisedec;’ which is both King and Priest. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.4
The comparison has been made between Moses and Jesus, who is now leading his people; for the children of Israel, who were led by Moses, were the type of the people who are speedily to have a glorious deliverance, in being brought into the heavenly Canaan. We are in ‘the wilderness of the people,’ and have entered into the bond, or delivering of the covenant; Ezekiel 20:35. ‘We are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words: which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. But we are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, [since Jesus has been married to this, the metropolis of his kingdom,] and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written [margin, enrolled] in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.’ ‘For behold the Lord hath laid in [the building of] Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation,’ and on this is built the house of God, ‘whose house are we, if he hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.’ Let then the rains descend, let the floods come, and beat upon this house; it cannot fall, for it is founded upon a rock. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.5
When the Lord spake from Sinai the earth was shaken by his voice (Hebrews 12:26, 27;) but now ‘He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.’ The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the lord will be the hope [Heb., place of repose or harbor] of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord. Your God, dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more;’ Joel 3:16, 17. ‘Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace [margin, let us hold fast] whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.’ ‘For here we have no continuing city; but we seek one to come.’ E. C. C. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.6
Portland, May 22.
“THE GROANING CREATION.”
An excellent and timely Sermon, with the above title, has been published by Bro. Matthias. At can be obtained at this office, and at 336 1-2 Bleecker St.; and 88 Fulton St., Brooklyn. Price 10cts. per copy, or $1 per dozen. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.7
“Voice of the Shepherd.”—We have received the third No. of a paper, published by Orlando Squires, bearing the above title. We have examined it carefully, and find it the voice of him who is ‘transformed into an angel of light.’ It advocates the dangerous and delusive doctrine that the coming of Jesus, our glorious King, is mystical or spiritual, and has already taken place! Let the sheep beware of that ‘voice.’ It is not of the Good Shepherd. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.8
We intend next week, if the Lord will, to speak more fully on this subject. S. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.9
Our beloved brother John Pearson has recently made a visit the ‘flock of slaughter’ in this city and Philadelphia, and his labors have been blessed in comforting and strengthening the waiting remnant. He left us yesterday morning for the East. May God’s blessing rest upon him. S. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.10
Why is it that we do not receive the Day Star? Has Esau been laying hands on Jacob’s substance? S. JUBST May 29, 1845, page 96.11