General Conference Bulletin, vol. 5
OUR TIME, OUR WORK, AND OPENING PROVIDENCES
A. G. Daniells
Evening after Sabbath, March 28.
It will be remembered that we are now studying the message we have to give, the field we are to occupy, and the special providences of God by which we are to do the work. The points I wish to emphasize to-night are the time, the movement, and the providences. GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.1
OUR TIME
The Scriptures very clearly guide us in our study with reference to the time in which we live, and the great movement with which we are connected. We find in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians two different warnings: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10. GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.2
Now it appears that the Thessalonians obtained a wrong view regarding their time as related to the second coming of Christ; so, in his second letter to them, Paul warns them, and gives them further instruction: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.3
It is clear from this that it has not always been proper for men to look for Christ to come in their day. It has always been clearly taught by the church that Christ would come. Enoch taught this; Abraham taught it; all the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles taught it most clearly and emphatically; but none of them taught that Christ was to come and establish His everlasting kingdom of glory in their generation. And when the Thessalonian church obtained the idea that they were to see Christ come in glory, Paul promptly corrected them. But a generation will come upon the stage of action that will see Christ come in His glory. That generation will be justified in looking for Him. The church living at that time will be commissioned of God to give the world warning regarding that event. GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.4
We as a people believe that the hour has come for Christ to close His work and return to the earth for His church. We believe that the evidence is abundant, and clear, and unmistakable, and we believe that we are commissioned by God to take up this evidence and herald it to all the world. Are we right in this claim? (Voices, “Yes, sir.”) Is this the truth? or have we followed cunningly devised fables? That is the question we are to face here as we have never faced it before. Are we on solid ground? Have we the truth? Has the hour struck for the church of God to arise and proclaim to the world that her King is coming? GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.5
I wish to spend a little time to-night on the time phase of the question. The Scriptures tell us about a period called “the time of the end.” They tell us about a day called “the day of His preparation.” They tell us about an hour called “the hour of His judgment.” They tell us about a work called “the finishing of the gospel.” Do all these mean the same thing? Do all these periods and features apply to the same time? Do they focus on the same spot?—They do. It can be demonstrated as clearly as a sunbeam that all these references apply to one and the same thing, to the same period, to the same generation, to the same movement. It can be clearly demonstrated that this is the generation to which they apply, and that the third angel’s message is the precise movement to which they refer. GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.6
Now the apostle says that Christ can not come except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed. The apostle here refers to the prophecy of Daniel. The man of sin is the same as the little horn of the seventh chapter of Daniel. The facts concerning that man of sin are these: The church will turn away from God, and put a man in the place of God. It will usurp the place, the authority, and the prerogatives of God in the world, among men. It will become a supreme power; and it will hold that supremacy for twelve hundred and sixty years. At the termination of that period its supremacy will be broken, and this will mark the beginning of the time of the end. GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.7
The beginning of the supremacy of the Papacy was in 538 A. D. Its supremacy was broken in 1798 A. D. At that time the prophetic period came to an end. The year 1798 marks the beginning of the definite, specific period called “the time of the end.” Notice the meaning of the expression “the time of the end.” It is not “the end of time,” but “the time of the end,”—the time leading up to the end; the time of preparation for the end; the time that will usher in the end. This is the meaning of this expression which is used to designate the period just preceding the second advent. Thus we understand that, beginning with 1798, the world and the church entered upon a period during which every preparation would be made for the end of all things, a period when God would take charge of affairs, and marshal them after His own divine will, guiding His church, restoring His gifts, and taking command of affairs on the earth to such an extent that He shall finish His work, and cut it short in righteousness, thus consummating the great plan and purpose that He has been working out for so many centuries. There is abundant evidence that in 1798 God very definitely took charge of the affairs of men, to prepare the way for His closing work. GCB March 31, 1903, page 22.8
In this period known as the time of the end, we have the termination, the focal point, of a number of other important prophetic periods. I will refer to one or two that were mentioned in the discourse last evening. First, in the period known as the time of the end, we have the termination of the sixth trumpet of the book of Revelation. That came on the 11th of August, 1840. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.1
‘We have in this period, also, the opening of the seventh trumpet, which came in 1844. This event marked the beginning of the hour called “the hour of His judgment.” The opening of the seventh trumpet marked also the beginning of that work called “the finishing of the mystery of God.” This was about a half a century after the time of the end began, and about a half a century ago,—about midway between the beginning of the time of the end and the present hour. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.2
By these prophecies we are brought to that definite time. No one can gainsay these lines of prophecy. I have preached them many times, in many parts of the world, to many different congregations, and I have never had a man come forward to seriously question or disprove the position that we take regarding the termination of the sixth trumpet on the 11th day of August, 1840. I have never had a man seriously question our position regarding the opening of the seventh trumpet in 1844. Have you? (Voices, “No.”) GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.3
Once, at the close of a talk on the seventh trumpet, its meaning, and the events that were to take place under it, a gentleman came to me, and said: “Mr. Daniells, I am very deeply stirred by the facts that have been brought out regarding this prophecy and this time. While sitting here to-night, I said to myself, If this is true; if it is a fact that the seventh trumpet began to sound in 1844: if, under its sounding, the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be finished, and the Kingdom is to be given to the saints of the Most High, this is the most thrilling period the world has ever seen, and there is given to the church the most solemn message ever committed to men.’ You people,” said he, “who understand this, and who believe it, and claim to be called out by this message, ought to be the most tremendously earnest people on the face of the earth.” (Congregation, “Amen.”) GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.4
I have never had a man stand up and seriously question our position on these prophecies; but I have seen many men surrender to the facts set forth in these prophecies. But many of us have gone over them, and have treated them indifferently and as common things, until they have lost, to a large extent, their thrilling and mighty power upon our hearts. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.5
O my brothers, is it true that the seventh trumpet has begun to sound? and that under its sounding, and in the very beginning of its sounding, the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be finished? Is it true? (Many voices, “Yes.”) Have we not a message, then, to bear to men? Ought we not to be a serious people, an earnest people, weighted with the grave and solemn responsibilities resting upon us? (Congregation, “Yes.”) May God show us the meaning of our position and our work at this time. This is not the time to trifle with mighty problems such as we have. This is not the time to go light-loaded. This is the time, in view of the message we have, that should weigh us down, and make us mightily in earnest, and very sincere and upright in our living. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.6
OUR WORK
I desire now to notice the movement for this time. What is it? It is brought to view in Revelation, chapters ten, fourteen, and eighteen; also in Daniel, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, and in many other places. The threefold message of Revelation is more than a theory. It is a great system of truth, and a great body of believers, and a great gospel missionary movement. The system of truth is God’s message to the world, the body of people are those whom the truth saves, and the great missionary movement is the proclamation of the truth to the world by those whom it saves. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.7
You can not think of this message without seeing its truth stirring men and women to action. You see them tremendously in earnest. You see them commissioned to go from place to place. Their movement is represented by an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Study the map of the world; look upon all the countries of the earth,—America, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Persia, India, China, Japan, Australasia, all the islands of the sea,—look upon all these countries, and all the places where men dwell, and there you see God’s messengers earnestly proclaiming to the people in all these places the message God has given to them. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.8
You can not think of this message without seeing that picture. The message if a great message of truth to the world. It is a loyal church, proclaiming that truth. It is a people that goes forth throughout the length and breadth of the land to the uttermost parts of the earth, to take possession of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever and ever. And they will take it under the sounding of the seventh angel. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.9
Now let us look at the movement. When did the time for this great movement arrive?—1844. What about the movement itself? Did it begin then?—It certainly did. It is truly gratifying to the earnest student of God’s Word, as he traces his way through the prophecies to this hour, and finds the work beginning at that very time that fulfills that prophecy. Brethren, our fathers started that movement when the hour came for it to start. There was no such movement in the world when the hour came. But God gave His Spirit to humble men, to guide them. They found their way. Without precedent, or predecessors, they began a new movement. They began to proclaim a new message. No one had been giving it before, for the time for it to be given had not come. But in 1844 the hour struck for an entirely new truth to be given to the world,—“The hour of His judgment is come!” And our fathers began to give it. We have come along fifty-eight years, and now we see what we can really call a world-wide movement, in perfect fulfillment of these lines of prophecy. We see it before our eyes. What more do we want to give us assurance? We have the Word of the living God. We have the lines of prophecy laid out as clearly as so many sunbeams. We have the movement on foot. We have sixty or seventy thousand believers in the message. What more do we want? Our hearts ought to fill with courage; they ought to thrill with enthusiasm. GCB March 31, 1903, page 23.10
We ought to make a new consecration to-night of our lives regarding the finishing of this work. GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.1
OPENING PROVIDENCES
Now a word with reference to the providences of God for this work. Any one who will study the condition of the world must see that a group of remarkable providences clusters around the period of time called “the time of the end.” I shall read a few statements which I have gathered from persons who have studied the meaning of these providences. I remember reading from ex-President Harrison a very impressive statement that he made at the Ecumenical Council of the missionary conference in New York, about three years ago. Speaking of the wonderful inventions and the discoveries of this age, he inquired what they were for. Were they to serve only the purposes of men, merely for the benefit of commerce, and politics, and science? After surveying the vast field, he said. “No; all these are facilities that God Himself has brought into existence to harness into His chariot, that He may drive gloriously through the length and breadth of the world.” That was the view he took of it. There are godly men in the churches doing missionary work, who are deeply impressed that all these things are so many providences of God, designed for a mighty gospel work at this time. GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.2
Believing as we do regarding the time in which we are living, and the work that has been given us to do, what shall we say regarding these remarkable providences? GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.3
“Exploration,—The achievements of the last century in the discovery and exploration of the unknown countries of the world are truly wonderful. At the present time ‘there are not less than 83 geographical societies, with a membership of 50,000, and 153 geographical journals. A hundred years ago nearly one-third of the globe was absolutely unknown. At the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign, practically nothing was known of the interior of China and Japan, Central Asia, Tibet, and Afghanistan. As late as 1880, the interior of Africa was almost a blank.’ ‘To-day practically all of the inhabited portions of the earth are known to civilization.’” GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.4
Why has God, during the last century, thus brought the whole world into clear view? Is it not that His church may go to the whole world with the message He has given them for the whole world?—Most certainly. All this has been done in the time of the end. GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.5
Open Doors.—“At the beginning of the last century, the doors of nearly all of the heathen nations were closed to Christian missionaries.” But it is not so to-day. “For the first time in the history of the church, practically the whole world is open. The marvelous orderings of Providence during the nineteenth century, and notably during the past fifty years, have set before the church the open doors for which Christians for generations have been praying.” GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.6
When I was in Mexico recently, a certain missionary represented it thus: “It is not merely an open door; the whole side of the house is knocked out,” he said. That is the attitude and the position of heathen lands to the church of God to-day. Why is this?—Plainly that this church may rise up and enter in. We ought to look into these open doors, and gaze on the needs of these nations, until it will be absolutely impossible for us longer to refrain from entering these open doors in such numbers and masses that we can do the work committed to our hands. GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.7
Means to Travel.—In order to carry on this world-wide movement, and finish the work in a single generation, facilities for transportation must be specially prepared. Who can take account of the vast possibilities of the railway and steamship facilities of to-day without being impressed with the thought that these are special providences for this time? “Of the 454,730 miles of railway in the world, a considerable mileage is already to be found in non-Christian lands. It is possible, for example, to go by rail to many parts of India, Japan, and South America. The greatest railway enterprises of the time are those now building or projected in non-Christian lands. The Siberian Railway has brought hundreds of millions of people of the Far East a month nearer to the Christian nations of Western Europe. The Cape-Cairo Railway and the lines being stretched from the east coast of Africa will afford easy access to the peoples in the interior of that continent.” GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.8
“The extension and improvement of the steamship service have benefited the church as well as secular enterprises. Europe is twenty days nearer America now than sixty years ago, five days nearer than twenty years ago, and two days nearer than ten years ago. Sixty years ago it required sixty days for the mails to go from Bombay to London; now it requires considerably less than one-third that time. It took Carey nearly five months to go from Dover to Calcutta in 1793. One can make the trip now in three weeks. Judson’s trip from Salem to Calcutta, in 1812, consumed eleven months; and as late as 1859, it took Bishop Thoburn four months to go from Lynn to Calcutta. Now one can go from New York to Calcutta in a month. Moffat was three months, in 1817, on the way from Gravesend to Cape Town; now the voyage lasts less than two weeks. These developments mean an immense saving of time to the missionary force.” GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.9
“The Transmission of Knowledge.—In the loud cry of the third angel’s message, when the earth is to be lightened with the glory of God, and when the great controversy has reached the climax of all time, and one long, loud, last appeal is to be given to all the world, there will be required some means by which knowledge can be quickly transmitted to the uttermost parts of the earth. Who can not see that this means has been provided in the electric telegraph and cable systems, which are being used constantly by the missionary societies, and which are of great service? ‘There are 170,000 miles of submarine cables, which have cost at least $250,000,000. All the grand divisions of the earth are connected by them. They skirt the South American continent, save the southern extremity. They unite the islands of the West Indies and the Central American States. Three lines stretch from Europe and Africa to South America. Cables completely encircle Africa. Four lines connect Europe with the Far East. Along the eastern coast of Asia the lines loop from port to port, and reach on to Japan, to the Philippines, the East Indies, Australia, and New Zealand. The benighted nations of Asia and Africa are in constant communication with enlightened Europe and America. Over 6,000,000 cable messages are transmitted annually. Any important event which takes place at the antipodes in the morning we hear of in the afternoon. The land telegraphs are far more extensive. These and the cable system serve the church, not only by promoting general intelligence, but also in facilitating the financial transactions and administrative work of the missionary societies. GCB March 31, 1903, page 24.10
“Printing.—No modern-day invention has done more to disseminate a knowledge of present truth than the printing press. ‘One of the marvels of the success of the church of the first generation is that so much was accomplished without printed books.... The method of spreading a knowledge of the Word of God was almost exclusively by oral instruction.... For centuries after the time of the early Christians, “to own a ‘Bible was the privilege of princes, churches, and monasteries.” It required years to write out a complete Bible. Even sixty years ago printing was done on hand presses, and only from one to two hundred impressions could be taken in an hour. Now there are presses which print, bind, and fold 96,000 papers in an hour. The invention of the lino-type enables one operator to produce several fold as much composed matter as any regular typesetter. This and the many other improvements in the art of printing have, to a remarkable degree, reduced the price of books. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Bibles were very expensive, and consequently were very scarce. Carey’s first Bengali Bible sold at about $20. A Bengali Bible can now be purchased for a few cents. The price lists of the various Bible societies show that in hundreds of languages the New Testament can be obtained for a mere pittance. No mechanical or serious financial difficulty, therefore, stands in the way of giving the Bible at once to every family under heaven.’ GCB March 31, 1903, page 25.1
“Bible Societies.—‘There are no less than 80 separate Bible societies, besides many auxiliaries. A majority of them are interdenominational. Preeminently the largest and most fruitful among them is the British and Foreign Bible Society. It issues annually, exclusive of British and Continental circulation, nearly 4,500,000 Bibles and portions of the Scriptures, and employs over 1,200 colporters and Bible women. Its yearly expenditures are over $1,100,000. It is estimated that, since 1804, all the Bible societies combined have issued over ?? Bibles, Testaments, and portions of the Scriptures. They have accomplished an immense amount of preliminary work. In 1800 the Bible existed in only 66 languages and dialects, or those of but one-fifth of the population of the earth. Dr. Cust states that there are “at least 2,000 mutually unintelligible [languages] spoken,” and adds that, though the Scriptures have been translated into only 330 out of 2,000 languages, “yet all the conquering languages, and a great many of the second-class, or permanent languages, have been dealt with.” GCB March 31, 1903, page 25.2
“‘A still later authoritative statement is that of Mr. J. Gordon Watt, secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who reported, early in 1899, that the Bible or some part of it had been translated into 406 languages and dialects. It is significant that these translations are in the languages which are spoken by 1,200,000,000 people, and that the remaining 1,600 languages are spoken by less than 300,000,000. In view of this fact, the Earl of Harrowby does not exaggerate when he says: “The past fifty years have almost seen a repetition of the gift of tongues, because we have produced translations of the Bible in something like 140 tongues.... [It] is almost miraculous.”’” GCB March 31, 1903, page 25.3
When we look at the time as viewed from the lines of prophecy; when we look at the work as being carried on by this denomination to-day; when we look at the providences of God clustering about this time, and shaped for this work, some of which I have referred to what must our conclusions be? They can not be anything else than that the last generation has come upon the stage of action, that the hour of God’s judgment has arrived, that the last great movement of the church has been started, and that now God calls upon His people to arise, lay hold of all these facilities that His providence has brought into existence, and go forth with His Holy Spirit resting upon them, and finish His work in the earth. GCB March 31, 1903, page 25.4
My earnest prayer is that during this Conference we shall get such great views of this that our hearts shall be so thrilled, and so thoroughly burned with these facts, that this will mark the beginning of a new era; that the church will arise now, and take hold of this specific work as it has never dealt with it before. GCB March 31, 1903, page 25.5
Let us lay aside every weight: let us lay aside every hindrance: let us bury everything that operates against the consummation of this work: let us address ourselves to this solemn work with all our hearts. Let the Holy Spirit of the living God speak to us to-night. Oh. may that Spirit be given here in large measure! May it paralyze every hand that is raised against this great and solemn and blessed work; may it uphold and strengthen and thrill every hand that is raised in behalf of it. May it break every band that holds this church in the dust, and set it free. May it enable the church to arise, shake itself from the dust, and yoke up with Christ, to do, with Him, the work that is to be done in this closing hour. No generation was ever called to do the work this generation is called to do. No such thrilling hour was ever before experienced by any people. How can we touch this work without being thrilled from head to foot? Do you think that we can be too earnest in this work? We may be too ignorant of it, and we may show a zeal without knowledge; but no man can be too intelligently zealous in this work of God. We can be too tame, too lifeless, too spiritless. We are told that the very tameness of our work has turned people away from the message in unbelief. Oh, may the Spirit of God give us the zeal, the devotion, the earnestness that will lead us to conquer in this mighty work! GCB March 31, 1903, page 25.6