Charles Russell and the date 1874

About this time I received a copy of the "Herald of the Morning," Bro. B. was its publisher; I read with interest how he and others had been looking for (to use his own expression) "a bonfire"; how scriptural arguments pointed to the autumn of 1874 as the time it was due; how that as the disappointment connected therewith began to abate, he and others had re-examined the scriptural proofs that appeared to teach that the end of the world was due at the time supposed; how clear and firm all those proofs still seemed; etc.; how that then, they began to examine what was due to take place at the end, and found that instead of a bonfire, scripture taught that "The harvest is the end of the world" (or age), and that though the age ended, the earth remained and a new age unfolded in which "All the families of the earth shall be blest."

At midnight, or during the night (the Greek word is not definite, like ours), there was a cry made: “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.” Who made the cry is a matter of no consequence. The cry was made before morning too; i.e., the announcement and preaching that the Bridegroom was due to be here in 1874, was made, as is well known by many of our readers. (We understand that morning began to dawn in 1873, where the 6,000 years from Adam ended.) It was made first among the Second Advent denomination.

“Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” Their lamps once pointed them to 1844, but He “tarried.” A cry is now made that the tarrying time was thirty years (from ’44 to ’74), as paralleled by the thirty years of the Jewish age, from the birth of Jesus until He “came,” being thirty years of age. This cry proclaimed to the virgins that the “2,300 days” did end in 1844, but that the thing expected was wrong. Instead of the “sanctuary cleansing” meaning the burning of the world, it is now seen that the sanctuary, or God’s dwelling-place, is the church, and therefore it is the church that is to be cleansed. It is to be cleansed by the separation of the wise and foolish virgins at the end of the tarrying time—1874—when the Bridegroom came. When the cry is heard, the virgins begin to awaken. Some have of the oil (the spirit) in their vessels (themselves), as well as in their lamps (the word). These are able to see. To see what? That the Bridegroom is coming merely? No, they all knew that, but it enables them to see the time of his coming and to again go forth by faith as before.

As the lamp shed forth light on time at the first going forth, so it shed light again on the same subject—the time—and that time was 1874. And bear in mind that the cry is made before morning—in the night, and that it announces the “Bridegroom” and further, if at all right—if it was the true cry, “the Bridegroom came” as it had announced.

All of this has been wonderfully fulfilled, it seems to us. It was first seen that the night (6000 years) would end with 1873. There the Millennial morn began to dawn. And the monthly, called the “Midnight Cry” ceased because the name was no longer applicable when the morning had begun to dawn. The editor of that magazine tersely remarked (p. 30), “Will some one inform me how a “Midnight Cry” can be made in the morning?” The division between the wise and foolish virgins, the one part seeing the 1874 time as taught in God’s sure word of prophecy, and the others interested at first, but unable upon examination of the word to see any light on the subject, is illustrated by the fact that the 15000 readers of the “Midnight Cry” dwindled down to about 2000. The others went to the “Eastern Question,” &c., to look for light, confessing that they no longer had light from the sure word of prophecy on the time of the Bridegroom’s coming. They took the paper, examined the arguments and apparently sought to get oil or light from the wise, but it must be an inward oil (the indwelling Spirit) that will reveal some of the deep things of God. Of this Spirit the wise can have enough for themselves but never enough to spare. Each virgin must buy for herself.

While the advent people have been used to a large degree as representatives in the movements of the parable, yet we do not think that it is confined to them, nor to people who were interested in the movements prior to the coming of our Bridegroom. (1874.) The writer, among many others now interested, was sound asleep, in profound ignorance of the cry, etc., until 1876, when being awakened he trimmed his lamp (for it is still very early in the morning.)

Has not this been to a great extent your experience, since you came to recognize as a fact that the bridegroom came in 1874, and that since then we are going in (into a condition of readiness,) to the marriage during these years of His presence, since you awoke to knowledge of the fact that the various great, grand, bright revelations of God’s plan contained in “the word,” have been seen by you? Yes, I think that this is the experience of all; we have not seen Him, but the enlightening influence resulting from His presence, we have seen.

We speak of His coming or manifestation as Bridegroom and Reaper between the Autumn of 1874 and the Spring of 1878, in the same sense as He was so spoken of during the three years and a half between His baptism and His entry into Jerusalem as King. His coming as Bridegroom was first expected and recognized by the watchers, and His work as Reaper afterward seen. In this case, as in the pattern, His manifestation to the watchers was not a coming from heaven, but a manifestation in his official relationship. In either case there was but one coming from heaven—the most holy—and that coming at the beginning of the tarrying. The tarrying in either case is the period of time after He had come, before entering upon His work.

Another prophetic proof is that of the 1335 days (yrs.) of Daniel to the time Jesus was due to be present—"the harvest,” or end of this age—during which harvest time, Daniel was told that he should stand in his lot, or be resurrected with his class, the Prophets. The angel adds by way of comment: “Blessed is he that waiteth (remains alive) until (the 1335 days) 1874. Those days surely end there, but what blessing did any of us who live realize? We are blessed by the “Bright shining of the present one.” (The literal rendering of last clause of `2 Thes. 2:8`.) Jesus as the lightning is present, unseen, and is causing bright light of truth to shine into our minds. Wonderfully bright, and sweet, and precious, indeed, has been this light, on the presence of the Son of Man, separating between wheat and tares and preparing his chaste Virgin for glory. He is making up His jewels, finishing the work by selecting those who are alive and remain, that we may be caught up, together with those who sleep in him, to meet him in the air.

As Jesus said to His disciples at the first advent, “Blessed are your eyes and your ears, etc., for I say unto you many prophets and righteous persons have desired to see these things and have not seen them”—So the angel said to Daniel—Blessed are they who will live to 1874, for they shall see, (not with natural eye, but by faith) and hear (not with natural ear but through the sure word of Prophecy) and know (but not by worldly wisdom to which these things are hid, but by the Spirit of God freely given unto us “that we might know”—(`1 Cor. 2:11 and 12`,) see, hear and know things which in times past God had not made known. Yes, truly blessed, we have found it—

“To be living is sublime.”

Again we have found the word to teach that the Jewish age was given as a pattern, or shadow, or illustration of the Gospel age, and we have found it so. The latter being on a higher plane than the former, but otherwise its exact counterpart. It was 1840-1/2 years from the beginning of the age to their harvest when Jesus was present in the flesh to that fleshly house. And it was 1841-1/2 years from the commencement of our Gospel age at Pentecost (A.D. 33,) to the commencement of our “harvest” in the autumn of 1874, when our “sure word of prophecy” announces him as again present, but now on the higher plane, a spiritual body unseen, reaping, or harvesting the spiritual house. To the fleshly house the harvest work was on the fleshly plane and the chief reaper, Jesus and the other reapers, His disciples, were seen. Now there are under reapers, also, but they are “the angels,” [`Matt. 13`] also spiritual bodies unseen, and so with the afterpart of the harvest.

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Such has been the result; these who once rejoiced in the light of “The sure word of Prophecy” which shows us the presence of our Lord as the “Bridegroom,” “Reaper” and “King,” that proves to us that the “times of restitution of all things began in 1874,” and that consequently “the heavens” which were to receive Him until that time, now no longer receive him, but that He is present, and that soon when the separation of wheat and tares is complete, “we shall be changed to His glorious likeness and see Him as He is. All, all this light they have lost, and have now reached the condition of outer-darkness, the condition of darkness on the subject of the Lord’s presence

As to the time of our change, that it is at, (or during) the sounding of the “last trump,”—the “seventh,” `Rev. 10:7`, and `11:15-18`—and after the Lord himself has descended is plainly stated. We need not here repeat the evidences that the “seventh trump” began its sounding A.D. 1840, and will continue until the end of the time of trouble, and the end of “The times of the Gentiles,” A.D. 1914, and that it is the trouble of this “Great day,” which is here symbolically called the voice of the Archangel when he begins the deliverance of fleshly Israel. “At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince. (Archangel) which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” `Dan. 12:1`. Nor will we here, again present the conclusive Bible proof that our Lord came for his Bride in 1874, and has an unseen work as Reaper of the first-fruits of this Gospel Age, (`Rev. 14:16`) in separating between wheat and tares and gathering the living into a condition of readiness for their change. The final preparation is made when the Bridegroom comes, and they that are ready for union, go in with him to the marriage—into the “guest chamber” where they may finish the last touches of personal adornment. Then comes the inspection and casting out of one not having on a wedding garment; after which the marriage takes place, for his wife will have “made herself ready.” (`Rev. 19:7`.)

We see too that not only are the harvests of Jewish and gospel ages parallel in point of beginning, but also in length of duration; theirs being in all 40 years from the time of Jesus anointing [at beginning of their harvest, A.D. 30,] to destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. So, ours, beginning in 1874 closes with the end of the “day of wrath” and end of the “times of the Gentiles,” 1914—a similar and parallel period of 40 years. The first seven years of the Jewish harvest was especially devoted to the gathering of ripe wheat from that church; three and one-half of it was while he was present as the Bridegroom and three and a half of it after he had come to them as king and had entered into glory, but it was all under his supervision and direction.

As John had said, he purged his floor, gathered his wheat and burned the chaff. So here the parallel is being fulfilled: We find, [as heretofore shown—see “Day Dawn"] the law and the prophets declaring him present at the culmination of the “Jubilee cycles” in 1874. And the parallels show us that then the harvest began, and that the gathering of the Bride into the place of safety, will occupy a parallel seven years of time, ending in 1881. But how, when, and why did the “house of servants” stumble over Christ? If we can ascertain this it should give us a clue to how, when, and why, the Gospel house stumbles, especially in view of the fact that in so many particulars the closing work of that age is the exact pattern of this.

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This last class is to be the bride. Careless of the opinions, smiles or frowns of the world, she cares only to be in favor with her beloved—the heavenly bridegroom. And these are to recognize him now, the others are to stumble and not recognize Him until these have all gone in to the marriage and the door to that high position is closed. Our understanding is that the Bridegroom came in 1874; and this little company is being brought to a knowledge of his presence, and in that sense, being separated from other true Christians who either are overcharged with the affairs of this world or bound by chains of denominationalism, are making void the word of God through their traditions, etc., and still others, who, not being in condition of heart to receive Him on the evidence of His word, but who turn to seek light on His presence in other directions and find it not until the door to that high calling is shut. `Matt. 25:10`.

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So also here, during the first three and a-half years, from 1874 to 1878, the opportunity was given to the general Gospel Church to receive Christ the present one, but they stumbled similarly to the fleshly house. Because they knew not the time of their visitation—being unready—and are similarly cast off—given over to destruction (as an institution)—a visitation of wrath.

Let us take A GLANCE BACKWARD at the steps of progress, and let all notice that the progress is not only forward but upward; i.e., the tendency is from the natural to the spiritual. We will look, not at any one person’s experience, but at what serves to show the advance of the knowledge of truth for ten years past. Looking back to 1871, we see that many of our company were what are known as Second Adventists, and the light they held briefly stated, was that there would be a second advent of Jesus—that he would come to bless and immortalize the saints, to judge the world and to burn up the world and all the wicked. This, they claimed would occur in 1873, because the 6,000 years from the creation of Adam were complete then.

Well 1873 came, the end of 6,000 years, and yet no burning of the world, &c.; but prophecies were found which pointed positively to 1874 as the time when Jesus was due to be present, and the resurrection of Daniel was also due as proved by the ending of jubilee cycles and the 1335 days of `Dan. 12`. The autumn of 1874 anxiously expected, finally came, but the earth rolled on as ever; “all things continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” All their hearts were sad; they said, surely we have been in error—but where? Surely it is clearly taught that Jesus will come again; perhaps our calculation of time is at fault. Carefully they examined the chronology but it seemed faultless and positively declared that the 6,000 years ended in 1873. Then the prophetic arguments were carefully re-examined: Was an error found? No, they stood the test of all investigation and the jubilee argument and “1335 days” of Daniel could not possibly be prolonged beyond the fall of ’74 or spring of 1875 and these periods were both past.

Dark indeed seemed the outlook; all were discouraged. It had seemed as though the Lord had been leading in the past, and yet now all these things which had been thought light seemed to be proved darkness.

Just at this time Bro. Keith, (one of our contributors) was used of the Lord to throw another beam of light on the subject which brought order out of confusion, and caused all of the former “light” to shine with tenfold brightness. Brother K. had been reading carefully `Matt. 24` chapter, using the “Emphatic Diaglott,” a new and very exact word for word translation of the New Testament; when he came to the `37th and 39th verses` he was much surprised to find that it read as follows, viz: “For as the days of Noah, thus will be the presence of the Son of Man. For as in those days, those before the deluge they were eating and drinking, marrying and pledging in marriage till the day that Noah entered the Ark, and understood not till the Deluge came and swept them all away; thus will be the presence of the Son of Man.”

His surprise was, at finding that the Greek word parousia which signifies presence, had in our common version been improperly rendered coming, but the new rendering showed, that it was not the act of coming that resembled the days of Noah, but that as in Noah’s days the masses of the people “knew not” so it would be in the time of Jesus’ presence at the second advent. Humanity will go on eating, drinking, marrying, etc., as usual and “know not” that he is present. The next step was, to see whether the account of the same discourse as recorded by Luke, would harmonize with this new idea of a presence unseen, except by the eye of faith, until the “little flock” typified by Noah had gone from among men into the condition of safety (from the coming storm) represented by the Ark—"one taken and another left.”

Luke’s account was in perfect accord with Matthew’s, though in different words—"As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.” (`Luke 17:26`.)

This was communicated to others of the disappointed ones, and with the remembrance that the time arguments above referred to had been found faultless and unalterable and proved that Jesus was due here in the fall of 1874, came the thought—can it be possible that Jesus does not come in a fleshly body at His second advent? Can it be possible that His presence began at the time indicated in those prophecies and yet we went on eating and drinking, etc., and “knew not” of His presence?

A careful examination of the word was begun by all deeply interested, to see whether it, as a whole, would be in harmony with this new thought. It was found to be in perfect harmony and opened up and made clear many scriptures hitherto dark: For instance the differences between natural, earthly bodies and spiritual, heavenly bodies; how that the things which are seen are temporal, natural, but the things that are not seen are eternal, spiritual; that spiritual beings could not be seen by mortals, (without a miracle) and that the object and scope of the Gospel age was, the taking out of the world of mankind a “little flock” to be associated with Jesus in the work of the future—destroying evil and blessing all the families of the earth; that God’s plan was not, to destroy all mankind after the gathering of the Gospel church but to “restore all things” and destroy only the evil which now rules in the world; that the fire supposed to be literal, was really symbolic and signified a great time of trouble which would be the close of the Gospel age and dawn of the Millennial in which all evil principles of governments and society would be manifested and destroyed, as a necessary preparation for the coming blessing.

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Thus “He came to his own, but his own received him not” excepting the few. The parallels of these two ages showed that the time of harvest had come for this Gospel Age, that it was due to begin in 1874, just the place the Prophets and the Law had already shown Jesus as due to be present. And when it was remembered that this age is higher than the fleshly Jewish Age, it seemed perfectly proper that the harvesting in the end of this age, should be an unseen work. And so we are taught that it is an invisible work, by invisible, because spiritual beings—Jesus, the chief reaper (`Rev. 14:14-15`) and angels, the under-reapers (`Matt. 13:39`) quietly, and invisible, separating wheat from tares, etc.

The day of vengeance of our God is the time of fire, or purifying trouble, in which the world and all the church, except the “little flock,” are to be tried and purged, and made ready for the blessings of the Millennial Age. [It is this Day of the Lord,” in which, from prophetic evidences, we believe we have been, since 1874, and which we believe will continue with increasing severity—first, on nominal Zion, and secondly, upon the world, until 1914, the first seven years of which, as heretofore shown, are years of favor and end in October of this year.]

This “day of vengeance” began chronologically in 1874, but the first seven years of it seem marked off upon the nominal church here, as a time both of trial and favor, just as the parallel period of seven years, was to fleshly Israel. Seven years there, (the seventieth week of Daniel 9:27) of favor—trial and separation of “Israelites indeed in whom was no guile” from nominal Israel. Seven years here, (the exact parallel) of favor —trial and separation of the Christians indeed (entirely consecrated) from the nominal church of professors.

As the former movement in the parable had been represented by Miller and others, so to this second movement we give a similar application. A brother, B__________ of Rochester, was, we believe, the chosen vessel of God through whom the “Midnight Cry” issued to the sleeping virgins of Christ, announcing a discrepancy of thirty years in some of Miller’s calculations, and giving a rearrangement of the same argument (and some additional), proving that the night of the parable was thirty years long, and that the morning was in 1873, and the Bridegroom due in that morning in 1874.

But the disappointment had served an intended purpose in casting a reproach on the subject of “time,” and the prudent ones had reached the worldly-wise conclusion that having been disappointed once and consequently had the finger of scorn pointed at them, they would be more prudent in future, and not expose themselves to contempt; so there was a division of the company; some could see it and others could not. (“Thou hast hid these things from the (worldly) wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”) Some rejoiced in the midnight message that the Bridegroom was due in 1874, and were able to find the evidences in the light of their lamps; others admitted that though Scripture contained a great deal of “time,” yet they were so fearful and prudent that their lamps would give no light. Thus they said: “Our lamps are gone out.” Thus one separation took place.

When 1874 came and there was no outward sign of Jesus in the literal clouds and in a fleshly form, there was a general re-examination of all the arguments upon which the “Midnight Cry” was made. And when no fault or flaw could be found, it led to the critical examination of the Scriptures which seem to bear on the manner of Christ’s coming, and it was soon discovered that the expectation of Jesus in the flesh at the second advent was the mistake; that the human nature had been taken for the purpose of giving a ransom for humanity, and that the human nature remains a sacrifice forever; that Jesus, though put to death in the flesh, was quickened or made alive in spirit—Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body, &c., and that all spiritual bodies can be present unseen. Soon too, under critical examination `Matt. 24:37` and `Luke 17:26,30` were seen to teach positively that “in the presence” of Christ, “in his days,” the world would be ignorant of the fact, and be attending to their affairs as usual. Then the words of Paul: “Ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should come upon you as a thief,” indicated that the church should possess a light on the subject while the world would be in ignorance. Peter’s words, too, were in harmony: “Take heed to the sure word of prophesy, which shines as a light in a dark place.”

It was evident, then, that though the manner in which they had expected Jesus was in error, yet the time, as indicated by the “Midnight Cry,” was correct, and that the Bridegroom came in the Autumn of 1874, and he appeared to the eyes of faith—seen by the light of the lamp—the Word. Afterward it was seen that the thirty years of tarrying between 1844 and 1874 was the exact parallel to the thirty years of tarrying at the first advent, from the time the wise men visited the babe until Jesus stood on Jordan and was anointed with the Holy Ghost for his work, at thirty years of age. (`Acts 10:38`.)

The next step in the parable, after the Bridegroom comes, is an assembling in his presence of those who are to be united to him and to become his bride. “The Bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage” (`verse 10`.) The going in, like all other features of the parable, is a work of time, and we understand that it has been in progress during the seven years from 1874. Those who went in with him must all have recognized his presence; they include, we believe, saints out of all denominations who had made themselves living sacrifices to God (not sacrifices to sectarian churches and creeds—so many do this and call it sacrificing to God). Such as sacrificed self and became as little children, we believe the Lord has led during the past seven years, to a knowledge of the Bridegroom’s presence, and as they accepted it, they “went in with him to the marriage.” The marriage has not yet taken place. It could not until all had gone in.

The year Sabbaths as types ceased first; they ceased at the Babylonian captivity, and there the great cycle of fifty times fifty years commenced, which reached to the anti-typical or real Jubilee time, the Millennial age—"Times of restitution of all things.” This cycle carried us 1874 years into the Christian era, and showed us when the work of restitution was due to begin—beginning by breaking in pieces and removing the rubbish of error and bad government, preparing for the blessings of all the families of the earth.

So short a time ago as 1870 we saw, in addition to the first principles of the Gospel, only the two bare facts—the Lord’s second coming and the Restitution—and these but vaguely; for though we then saw restitution taught in Scripture, we were much in doubt as to its comprehensiveness, questioning often whether it would include all the billions of the dead whom the god of this world had in the present life blinded. And concerning the Lord’s second coming, while we realized that he is no longer a man, but is now the new creature—the express image of the Father’s person—a quickening spirit, yet we failed somehow to make a proper application of this to his second coming, and unthinkingly and ignorantly, rather expected his coming to be as a glorified man, than as a spiritual being. It was not until about 1874 that these things became clearer, so that we realized that when Jesus should come, it would be as unobserved by human eyes as though an angel had come; and that it could be known only by some miracle, by some manifestation or demonstration.

When, however, the manner of our Lord’s coming was seen in the light of what he is—a spiritual, and no longer a human being—then we saw that our Father had provided TIME in the Bible, that thus we might know, or see with the eye of our understanding, what we could not see with our natural eyes—viz., the Lord’s presence. A careful study of times and seasons taught in Scripture convinced us that the Lord was due to be present in 1874, and other time teachings of the Word showed that in the spring of 1875 the restitution of all things was due to commence.

As we find the forty years, from 1874 to 1914, A.D., prophetically marked out as the time for the change of earth’s administration, it would seem not unreasonable to suppose that the proper physical changes might occur during the same period. “Not that we expect all changes to be completed in the specified forty years, but that by that time the new systems and arrangements will be thoroughly introduced, which will be gradually improving, and will reach absolute perfection at the same time that mankind in general will reach absolute perfection by restitution. Thus the perfect earth and its perfect Lord (man) will both be prepared to enter upon the ceaseless ages of perfection into which shall never enter sin, death, pain or sorrow.

This passage seems to be a repeat from the previous month.

As we find the forty years, from 1874 to 1914, A.D., prophetically marked out as the time for the change of earth’s administration, it would seem not unreasonable to suppose that the proper physical changes might occur during the same period. “Not that we expect all changes to be completed in the specified forty years, but that by that time the new systems and arrangements will be thoroughly introduced, which will be gradually improving, and will reach absolute perfection at the same time that mankind in general will reach absolute perfection by restitution. Thus the perfect earth and its perfect Lord (man) will both be prepared to enter upon the ceaseless ages of perfection into which shall never enter sin, death, pain or sorrow.

So the Gospel dispensation is the anti-type of all this. Its harvest also is seven years, plus thirty-three, beginning in 1874, where another line of Scripture proves Christ’s presence to be due, and continuing seven years, in which the ripe wheat is being garnered and separated from tares, and thirty-three of consuming and removing the nominal system. The fullness (the elect number and membership) of the Gospel Church was due to come into covenant relation with God in 1878, when Israel’s time of favor was due to begin; and yet, although the nominal Church was then cast off, and that house left desolate, the chosen vessels yet in that house must be separated and gathered into the barn, a position of safety and security, above the trouble which is coming on the Church nominal. That favor, ending in the fall of 1881, found all true wheat separated, at least in spirit, from the rejected, lukewarm, fallen, nominal Church. And all such gathered into this separate condition, will be ready to separate from it in name and person as they discover this to be the Lord’s will.

Look again, but in another direction; Note the increase of special healing of diseases since 1874. Some are in answer to prayer, some in answer to anointing with oil and prayer, and some without prayer, or oil, or anything. Thus in various ways to-day, ye see increasingly that the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, blind eyes are opened, and the Gospel (good tidings) of a “restitution for the groaning creation, of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets” (`Acts 3:21`.) is preached.

Monday following, all day was spent in an examination of the prophetic time proofs, which show that we are living in the Day of the Lord’s presence since 1874—that there, the times of restitution, the Millennial Age, began—that the forepart of that age is the “day of vengeance” or “day of trouble,” a period of forty years from 1874 to 1914, and that the grand blessings of restitution are really begun in this trouble, which is a blessing in disguise, breaking in pieces and removing the present governments and systems represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s image (`Dan. 2:31-33`), as incidental to the establishment of the Kingdom of God for which we have long prayed, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” The matter was illustrated by charts, and will be given in full in Millennial Day Dawn (not yet ready; but of which notice will be given in the TOWER).

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Since then, nothing now prevents, the question is, What proofs are there to show that we are now in the day of the Lord’s presence? We cannot here give the prophetic proofs, but hope to soon lay before you these Scriptural demonstrations that we are in the day of the Lord since 1874, and that his taking of his great power as King to judge and break in pieces present unrighteous systems, as well as to exalt to honor and glory the faithful members of his “body”—the true church—dates from 1878; at which time we understand that the sleeping members of his body were due to awake to immortality. And since that date those of this class alive, need not sleep even a moment; but in the instant of dying are changed to spiritual beings—swallowed up of life.

It is astonishing with what rapidity matters are shaping themselves for the great time of trouble predicted in the Scriptures. When, some fourteen years ago, we presented the Scriptural declaration that the Millennium of peace and blessing would be introduced by forty years of trouble, beginning slightly in 1874 and increasing until social chaos should prevail in 1914—few believed, some scoffed; for the whole cry then was Peace! Arbitration! Harmony!—hoped for through increasing intelligence.

Gradually the storm-clouds have been gathering since 1874—so gradually that many have failed to notice the great changes of public sentiment already accomplished. Yet many are now waking up, and the inquiry is heard, “Where will matters end if present conditions continue?” Ah! the answer to this query can be given from no earthly source. The Word of God is the only revelation of what lies behind the vail of futurity. It declares trouble, more general and greater than the earth has ever yet known (`Dan. 12:1`); that troubles financial, political and religious will fill the earth with distress; that there will be no hire for man nor hire for beast, nor any peace to him that goeth out or to him that cometh in, because every man’s hand shall be against his neighbor. (`Zech. 8:10`.) Yet this is not all; for in connection with these changes, necessary to prepare for the Millennium Kingdom, will come some physical changes to the earth, incidental to its preparation for increased fertility and for rest from storms and cyclones, that it may be more suitable for the race in the “times of restitution.”

While it was an agreeable surprise to us (in view of the contrary sensational accounts so often published) to find the situation in Europe as we here describe it—in harmony with what the Scriptures had led us to expect—yet so great is our confidence in the Word of God and in the light of present truth shining upon it, that we could not have doubted its testimony whatever had been the appearances. The date of the close of that “battle” is definitely marked in Scripture as October, 1914. It is already in progress, its beginning dating from October, 1874. Thus far it has been chiefly a battle of words and a time of organizing forces—capital, labor, armies and secret societies.

...

Our first observation in studying any prophecy should be as to the time when its predictions will be realized, and when, therefore, its warnings should be specially heeded. The division into chapters and verses, it will be remembered, is merely an arbitrary arrangement in modern times for the sake of convenience. Glancing back to `Isa. 26:21` and `Isa. 27:1` we see that a definite time is marked—"In that day.” What day? In the day when “the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity” (`Isa. 26:21`); the same day which Daniel foretold, saying, “And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time” (`Dan. 12:1`); the day of which Malachi said, “Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble” (`Mal. 4:1`); and again, “Who may abide the day of his [Christ’s] coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap.” (`Mal. 3:2`.) Ah! yes: it is the harvest time of the Gospel age, the day of reckoning, the very day in which we are now living—from 1874 to 1914—the latter part of which is to witness the great conflict foretold, and the preparations for which are now going on in the world. The wheat and tares of nominal Christendom are now being separated, and the latter bound in bundles—tied up tightly in great organizations—preparatory to the symbolic burning or trouble of the closing days of this age and the ushering in of the Millennial day.

Thus, in this last day, the harvest of the age, this day of the Lord’s invisible presence in the world, the truth concerning the divine plan, which he has been revealing since 1874, and which is now being widely testified for the sealing of the elect, is doing its separating work; and the saints, who understand the present situation and watch with interest the progress of the harvest work, can see clearly where the lines of judgment are drawn between the faithful and the unfaithful. And often with astonishment they mark the divisions which the truth makes when some prominent church-member, whom they had always judged to be faithful and true, manifests no affinity for the truth, but turns from it and hugs the error more tightly than ever; or, when some other one, touched by the power of the truth, awakes to earnest self-sacrifice in its service.

The Lord has been preparing me for years for these Millennial truths. In 1874 I left (resigned) the Primitive Methodist ministry in England, where I had been for nine years, on account of sympathy with the doctrines of the Kingdom and conditional immortality. Since then I have been led to the study of prophecy; and your volumes afford me a richness, a fulness, in this branch of study, beyond anything I have before seen. Reading them is indeed to me as sitting down to a banquet of “meat in due season”—predicted truths on becoming due being just this to the household of faith. The Lord must be invisibly present, as you say, being proven by the time prophecies and emphasized by the Master when he said, “The Kingdom cometh not with observation or outward show,” and referred to the days of Noah before the flood as a type of the day of the presence of the Son of Man. —JOHN L. LAWSON

In view of all this in the past, as well as in view of our own experience since the present harvest began in 1874, we feel specially solicitous for the Lord’s sheep every Spring; and this Spring is no exception. What may be the character of the temptations, we may not clearly discern until they are upon us; for if we knew all about them in advance they would be but slight temptations. Watch, therefore, and pray always; for the only safe way is to be prepared; because your adversary, the devil, is seeking whom he may devour. He knows your weak points, and is ready to take advantage of them. We will each need the graces of the spirit in our hearts, as well as the Lord’s “grace to help in time of need” if we would overcome. “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation!”

It is interesting to look back and note the accuracy of the fulfilment of God’s Word, so that our hearts may be established with the greater confidence respecting the future,—the things coming upon the earth. For instance, as we look back and note that the Scriptures marked 1873 as the end of six thousand years from Adam to the beginning of the seventh thousand, and the fall of 1874 as the beginning of the forty-year harvest of the Gospel age and day of wrath for the overthrow of all the institutions of “this present evil world [or order of affairs],"* we can see that facts have well borne out those predictions of Scripture. We see that the present world-wide distress had its beginning there; that it has been progressing with increasing momentum every year since; and that, as the Apostle Paul declared it would be, so it has been, and so it is—"As travail upon a woman with child.” Each spasm of pain is more intense; and so it evidently will continue to be until the death of the present order of things and the birth of the new.

Even more widely known is Mr. Powderly, for years at the head of one of the chief labor organizations of this country: he places the date of the beginning of present labor disturbances as 1874—just following the financial strain of 1873 noted by Mr. Strong. Thus both gentlemen and both of their dates agree with the Scriptures. Mr. Powderly says: “Go back twenty years [to 1874], and you will find that the employer and employee had interests in common.”

This was all of the commission that was due in the beginning of the age. It was not yet time to proclaim—"the day of vengeance of our God,” nor to comfort all that mourn—the whole “groaning creation” (`Rom. 8:22`), nor “to grant unto the mourners in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Had he read the entire commission, he could not have added the words, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” This latter part of the commission was not due until the harvest or end of the age; and while the entire commission belongs to the whole body of the Anointed—the Christ, head and body,—the latter part must of necessity be declared by those members of the body living in the last times—the harvest or end of the age, from A.D. 1874 to A.D. 1915.

...

The gospel net was first cast into the sea (the world, where no distinction was recognized between Jew and Gentile) at Pentecost; and from the day of Pentecost to the present harvest time it has been gathering in all sorts of fish; and together they constitute the great nominal Gospel church, or, as it is sometimes termed, the Christian world, and Christendom. But all of these fish are not of the kind desired of the Lord to constitute the true Christendom—Christ’s Kingdom—which is to be set up in glory and power at the end of the Gospel age and dawn of the Millennium. Therefore, in the harvest or end of the age (a period of forty years—from 1874 to 1915, See MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. I., page 223,224), a separating work is to be accomplished, and those of the kind desired are to be carefully gathered out and preserved, while the remainder are cast away as unworthy of the Kingdom honors to which they were called.

Such a work has been in rapid progress since 1874. The sickle of truth has been the instrument in doing the separating work, and the angels or messengers sent forth to do the gathering are those of the Lord’s people whom he has graciously brought to a knowledge of his glorious plan and its appointed times and seasons. This is the harvest message which was not previously due nor known; and it is accomplishing the great harvest work. Those who love the Lord and who partake of his benevolent and gracious spirit readily recognize the divine source from which the harvest message springs, and accept it. Such are the desired kind of fish, but they are few in comparison with the great number in the net.

In the two harvests we see a remarkable correspondence, not only in the exactly equal time allotted to each—40 years—but also in the character of the work to be done and the methods of doing it. The present harvest work has now been in successful operation for twenty years (1874-1894), and the methods which the Lord’s providence has indicated and blessed have been very similar to those of the Jewish harvest. Though the Lord is not visibly present here, as he was there, we have the assurance of his Word, as above cited, that the work is his—under his direction, supervision and full control; and he who does not believe this has no authority for engaging in it; he is not sent. But he who is sent, and who goes under the Lord’s direction, is appointed to one of the grandest privileges that was ever offered to any man, although now, as in the Jewish harvest, the present reward is nothing that the world would envy.—`Matt. 10:16-28,34-36`.

...

In the present harvest the same course is manifest. Since its beginning in 1874, the Lord has been instructing his consecrated disciples in the truths of another new dispensation, revealing the glorious harmony and beauty of his plan in outline and detail, and also its orderly times and seasons; and as they have become prepared he has been sending them out—generally two and two, where they have been able to give their whole time to the work—to declare, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (in its glory and completeness now, as, at the time of the Jewish harvest, it was at hand in its embryo condition) and to explain and prove the truth of the message.

“It may be expected that I should make some reply to Prof. Morehead’s strictures upon my publications, called MILLENNIAL DAWN. When the gentleman says that these deny the bodily resurrection of our Lord, etc., and that they teach that Christ ‘was here in 1874 and will be here again in 1914,’ he greatly errs, and, no doubt unwittingly, bears false witness against his neighbor, as the thousands who have read MILLENNIAL DAWN could testify. But his charge, that our Lord Jesus Christ was created, has enough truth in it to require an explanation.

THE TIME OF THE PAROUSIA.
—————

It will doubtless surprise many to learn that there is much Scripture proof that we are already in the time of the presence (parousia) of the Son of Man,—that we are already living “in the days of the Son of Man.” At first some will be inclined to say, “Where is the promise of his [parousia] presence, while all things continue as they were from the beginning?” Peter foretold that some would thus question and be surprised at this information, that we are living in the days of the Son of Man, while there is as yet no outward manifestation of his presence, but the affairs of the world continue in their ordinary channels. (`2 Pet. 3:4`.) The answer to the question is, as we have just pointed out, our Lord’s own declaration that in his days of presence the world would be eating, drinking, planting and building, and know not. That is the promise of his presence, while all things continue as they were. Could it be more explicit? A totally different question, however, is—

WHAT ARE THE PROOFS OF HIS PRESENCE?
—————

This is a reasonable inquiry. We would not be justified in believing that the Lord is present upon any slight evidence, even tho we know in advance that he is a spirit being, whose presence would be invisible without a miracle;—and even tho we know in advance, from the parables, that he will be present, but invisible, in the harvest time of this age, in the time of reckoning with his servants, preparatory to their glorification. We have a right to expect clear, reasonable ground for faith, before accepting any matter which implies so much. We are not, however, to ask or to expect evidences to natural sight: if we are of the Watchers, who have “the eyes of their understanding opened” to see wonderful things in the divine Word, then these eyes of our understanding must also be the eyes of our faith. Hence, the true Watchers are to expect reasonable, satisfactory evidence for faith, and not ocular demonstrations of an invisible parousia. As the Apostle explains, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

To our understanding there are strong proofs that our Lord’s parousia began in the Autumn of 1874. We have seen nothing with our natural eyes; only with the eyes of the understanding, only in the light of “the more sure word of prophecy,” do we know this, which we sincerely believe and affirm, and which is important news to all who claim to be Watchers. The fact that any Watcher should have remained in ignorance of this important event for now twenty-four years would seem of itself to be an indication that he had not been properly awake to the use of his privileges and opportunities—that he had not been sufficiently watchful of the sure word of prophecy to which he was instructed to take heed; and that therefore he had been left at least partially ignorant of the important things transpiring throughout the world during these years. To this extent many of the Lord’s people have been with the world and similarly ignorant: and yet we may reasonably assume that the Lord did not expect all of his watching servants to discern the matter at the same instant of time. True; those who saw early have had special blessing for the longer time; but, as we saw above, the preparation for the knowledge of the time lies largely in the right attitude of heart—in its humility and possession of the various graces of the spirit of Christ.

...

Is the question asked,—What portions of the sure word of prophecy indicate that the presence of our Lord began in the Autumn of 1874? We answer that there are several lines of prophecy which interlace and corroborate each other in this testimony; but, as might be expected, since the entire matter was to be hidden from the world, and “none of the wicked,” but only the “wise” are to understand (`Dan. 12:10`), and these wise only to understand when the due time would come,—for these reasons, it must be evident to all that these prophecies, while clear and forcible and positive, are nevertheless somewhat under cover. We cannot here attempt to give a complete and comprehensive statement of these prophecies; that has already been done in four volumes aggregating eighteen hundred pages.* Here we can only give a very brief resume, leaving it for the true Watchers to seek that they may find; to knock if they would have the door of divine revelation opened to them; to use the keys which God has provided, if they are interested in penetrating into “the deep things” of the divine Word, now due to be understood; to eat of the meat of present truth, “things new and old,” if they hunger and thirst after righteousness and true knowledge.

...

Now note the time correspondencies. The Jewish age, from the death of Jacob to the death of Christ, was 1845 years long—to the beginning of our Lord’s ministry 1841-1/2 years long, and to the time of the utter destruction of their nation, in A.D. 70, 1881-1/2 years long. Notice how the Gospel age corresponds to this. The Gospel age did not begin with our Lord’s birth: it began after our Lord’s death and resurrection, when he commissioned his disciples to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Our Lord’s previous work during the three and a half years of his ministry was the offering of the Kingdom to the fleshly house, to test them, and to prove that they were unready to receive the true Kingdom.) Applying the foregoing measurements of the Jewish age to the Gospel age, beginning it at the time of our Lord’s death and resurrection and the Pentecostal blessing, in the Spring of A.D. 33, we find that the period of 1841-1/2 years from the death of Jacob to the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, would measure from the Spring of A.D. 33 to the Autumn of 1874; and the 1845 years of the Jewish age, from the death of Jacob to the rejection of fleshly Israel, applied here, measuring from the Spring of A.D. 33, would reach to the Spring of 1878; and the 1881-1/2 years from the death of Jacob to the full destruction of Israel’s polity in A.D. 70, finds its correspondence in this Gospel age, by measuring 1881-1/2 years from the Spring of A.D. 33, which would bring us exactly to (Autumn) 1914 A.D.—the very year and time shown us by Daniel’s prophecy to be the full end and limit of the “Gentile times.” Can this be accidental? Nay; it is design. What stronger testimony could be asked by the eye and ear of faith. Surely, anything plainer or clearer would be sight and leave no room for faith.

...

We find that Israel’s Jubilee years, in which every person and family had restored to them every lost possession and all personal liberties, was intended to be a type of the coming time of restitution, when a full opportunity for attaining freedom from sin and from Satan, and from the hereditary weaknesses of the flesh, shall be presented to all, and when the earth shall again revert to the human family in general, for whom it was created, and for whom it was redeemed by Christ, after being lost through Adam’s transgression. We find that the Scriptures indicate, in connection with these jubilees, a system of counting by multiples; and that a Jubilee of Jubilees, or fifty times fifty years (2500 years) constitutes a Great Jubilee cycle and that such a cycle began to count after fleshly Israel had observed her last typical Jubilee. We find from the Scriptures that Israel’s nineteenth Jubilee year was her last, in the year B.C. 626. Knowing that the Jubilee was a part of the Law, and that no feature of that Law, not one jot or tittle, can pass away without reaching a fulfilment or antitype, we measure the cycle of the Great Jubilee 2500 years from the date when the last typical Jubilee was kept, 626 B.C., and find accordingly that the antitypical Jubilee or Great Jubilee of Jubilees should have begun in October, 1874. Thus,—625 years B.C. plus 1875 years A.D. are 2500 years, which would include the Jubilee year: consequently, with the end of the year 1874, Jewish time, October, the antitypical Jubilee of 1,000 years instead of one year was due to begin.

Watchers will note carefully the correspondency of this date, and the character of the event to be expected, with the finding of our previous examinations (1 and 2), which showed us this very same date, October, 1874, was the time when the “harvest” of this age was due to begin, and when the Lord himself, as the Chief Reaper, was due to be present. The only thing necessary to connect this Jubilee prophecy with the others is the statement of the Apostle Peter in `Acts 3:21`, which shows that our Lord must be present (at his second advent) at the beginning of the times of restitution of all things, and as already seen, these restitution times are the Antitypical Jubilee times typified by Israel’s Jubilees. Thus we have two very simple but clear and very important lines of Scripture testimony which indicate clearly that the parousia of our Lord was due to begin in October, 1874, and both show us the character of the work which we should expect would be in progress during the time of his presence, preceding his open manifestation to the world, his epiphania, his apokalupsis.

THE DAYS OF WAITING ARE FULFILLED.

—————

(4) Take another line of prophecy: we find that the 1260 days, and the 1290 days, and the 1335 days, so particularly set forth in Daniel’s prophecy, and corroborated in Revelation, have had fulfilments,—the 1260 days ending in 1799, the 1290 days ending in 1829, and the 1335 days ending in 1874. Our friends known as “Second Adventists” were wont to use these “days of Daniel,” and once applied them as we do here: but they abandoned them after 1874 passed and they failed to see Jesus with their natural eyesight, in a body of flesh and with Calvary’s scars. They have dropped these “days of Daniel” entirely because they find no way of applying them which would prolong them beyond 1874. The fault is not with the days nor with their application as above; but with the wrong things expected. They, in common with others who look for the Second Advent, err in expecting that the Gospel age which has been a spirit and faith epoch will end with a flesh and sight deterioration—in expecting that the spiritual kingdom of Satan will be followed by a fleshly kingdom of Christ. But the Watchers amongst the Adventists as well as in other denominations, are getting the eyes of their understanding opened by the anointing of the promised eyesalve.—`Rev. 3:18`.

It was concerning this last period that the angel declared to the Prophet, “Oh, the blessedness of him that waiteth, and cometh to the 1335 days....Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” What blessedness? We answer, a joy of heart and rejoicing to the Watchers is what is here intimated. It is since this date, October, 1874, where Daniel’s 1335 days intimated that a great blessing would begin, where the Jubilee types indicated that the restitution of all things would begin, (which implies the second presence of the great Restorer), and where the parallelism of the two houses of Israel shows that the second presence of our Lord as the Great Reaper is due,—from this date a great blessing has come to the Watchers. Since then the Word of God has opened before us in a most marvelous manner. Since then the sure word of prophecy as a lamp to our feet has shown us many evidences that we are in the end of the age. Since then the day-star has been rising in the hearts of the Watchers, and has illuminated our minds, releasing us from the terrible nightmare of error respecting eternal torment, revealing to us the true character of our Heavenly Father, making plain to us the necessity of the great atonement for sin, and showing us distinctly the object of the permission of evil and revealing, one by one, various features of the divine plan,--the high calling of the Church to the divine nature, and to joint-heirship with Christ in his Millennial Kingdom; and the resulting blessing of restitution to human perfection for the world of mankind in general. Ah yes! all who have been brought "out of darkness into this marvelous light" can appreciate the words of the angel, and heartily say, Blessed are our ears, for they hear, and our eyes, for they see, for many prophets and many righteous persons have desired to know these things, and have not known them.

Respecting the “Sifting” at __________: It should not surprise us to hear of “siftings” in every direction. That which we have reiterated for the last eighteen years becomes daily more strikingly manifest; viz., that the harvest-time of the Gospel age, which began in the Autumn of 1874, and will end with the Autumn of 1914, is to be not only a period of great spiritual enlightenment and refreshment to some, but also a period of sifting and testing to the same class. And it is but reasonable to expect such sifting to follow such blessing: for where much light is given much responsibility follows. It was just so in the “harvest” of the Jewish age; the blessings of the new dispensation, and the light from the Lord’s presence (subsequently represented in his apostles), were accompanied with trials, siftings, testings, proportionate to the blessings then enjoyed.

To our understanding there are strong proofs that our Lord’s parousia began in the Autumn of 1874. We have seen nothing with our natural eyes; only with the eyes of the understanding, only in the light of “the more sure word of prophecy,” do we know this, which we sincerely believe and affirm, and which is important news to all who claim to be Watchers. The fact that any Watcher should have remained in ignorance of this important event for now more than twenty-seven years, would seem of itself to be an indication that he had not been properly awake to the use of his privileges and opportunities—that he had not been sufficiently watchful of the sure word of prophecy to which he was instructed to take heed; and that therefore he had been left at least partially ignorant of the important things transpiring throughout the world during these years. To this extent, many of the Lord’s people have been with the world and are similarly ignorant; and yet we may reasonably assume that the Lord did not expect all of his watching servants to discern the matter at the same instant of time. True, those who saw early have had special blessing for the longer time; but, as we saw above, the preparation for the knowledge of the time lies largely in the right attitude of heart—in its humility and possession of the various graces of the spirit of Christ.

...

Is the question asked,—What portions of the sure word of prophecy indicate that the presence of our Lord began in the Autumn of 1874? We answer that there are several lines of prophecy which interlace and corroborate each other in this testimony; but, as might be expected, since the entire matter was to be hidden from the world, and “none of the wicked,” but only the “wise” were to understand (`Dan. 12:10`), and these wise only to understand when the due time would come,—it must be evident to all that these prophecies, while clear and forcible and positive, are nevertheless somewhat under cover. We cannot here attempt to give a complete and comprehensive statement of these prophecies; that has already been done in five volumes aggregating twenty-three hundred pages.* Here we can only give a very brief resume, leaving it for the true Watchers to seek that they may find; to knock if they would have the door of divine revelation opened to them; to use the keys which God has provided, if they are interested in penetrating into “the deep things” of the divine Word, now due to be understood; to eat of the meat of present truth, “things new and old,” if they hunger and thirst after righteousness and true knowledge.

...

Now note the time correspondencies. The Jewish age, from the death of Jacob to the death of Christ, was 1845 years long—to the beginning of our Lord’s ministry 1841-1/2 years long, and to the time of the utter destruction of their nation, in A.D. 70, 1881-1/2 years long. Notice how the Gospel age corresponds to this. The Gospel age did not begin with our Lord’s birth: it began after our Lord’s death and resurrection, when he commissioned his disciples to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Our Lord’s previous work during the three and a half years of his ministry was the offering of the Kingdom to the fleshly house, to test them, and to prove that they were unready to receive the true Kingdom.) Applying the foregoing measurements of the Jewish age to the Gospel age, beginning it at the time of our Lord’s death and resurrection and the Pentecostal blessing, in the Spring of A.D. 33, we find that the period of 1841-1/2 years from the death of Jacob to the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, would measure from the Spring of A.D. 33 to the Autumn of 1874; and the 1845 years of the Jewish age, from the death of Jacob to the rejection of fleshly Israel, applied here, measuring from the Spring of A.D. 33, would reach to the Spring of 1878; and the 1881-1/2 years from the death of Jacob to the full destruction of Israel’s polity in A.D. 70, finds its correspondence in this Gospel age, by measuring 1881-1/2 years from the Spring of A.D. 33, which would bring us exactly to (Autumn) 1914 A.D.—the very year and time shown us by Daniel’s prophecy to be the full end and limit of the “Gentile times.” Can this be accidental? Nay; it is design. What stronger testimony could be asked by the eye and ear of faith. Surely, anything plainer or clearer would be sight and leave no room for faith.

...

We find that Israel’s Jubilee years, in which every person and family had restored to them every lost possession and all personal liberties, was intended to be a type of the coming time of restitution, when a full opportunity for attaining freedom from sin and from Satan, and from the hereditary weaknesses of the flesh, shall be presented to all, and when the earth shall again revert to the human family in general, for whom it was created, and for whom it was redeemed by Christ, after being lost through Adam’s transgression. We find that the Scriptures indicate, in connection with these jubilees, a system of counting by multiples; and that a Jubilee of Jubilees, or fifty times fifty years (2500 years) constitutes a Great Jubilee cycle and that such a cycle began to count after fleshly Israel had observed her last typical Jubilee. We find from the Scriptures that Israel’s nineteenth Jubilee year was her last, in the year B.C. 626. Knowing that the Jubilee was a part of the Law, and that no feature of that Law, not one jot or tittle, can pass away without reaching a fulfilment or antitype, we measure the cycle of the Great Jubilee 2500 years from the date when the last typical Jubilee was kept, 626 B.C., and find accordingly that the antitypical Jubilee or Great Jubilee of Jubilees should have begun in October, 1874. Thus,—625 years B.C. plus 1875 years A.D. are 2500 years, which would include the Jubilee year: consequently, with the end of the year 1874, Jewish time, October, the antitypical Jubilee of 1,000 years instead of one year was due to begin.

Watchers will note carefully the correspondency of this date, and the character of the event to be expected, with the finding of our previous examinations (1 and 2), which showed us this very same date, October, 1874, was the time when the “harvest” of this age was due to begin, and when the Lord himself, as the Chief Reaper, was due to be present. The only thing necessary to connect this Jubilee prophecy with the others is the statement of the Apostle Peter in `Acts 3:21`, which shows that our Lord must be present (at his second advent) at the beginning of the times of restitution of all things, and as already seen, these restitution times are the Antitypical Jubilee times typified by Israel’s Jubilees. Thus we have two very simple but clear and very important lines of Scripture testimony which indicate clearly that the parousia of our Lord was due to begin in October, 1874, and both show us the character of the work which we should expect would be in progress during the time of his presence, preceding his open manifestation to the world, his epiphania, his apokalupsis.

THE DAYS OF WAITING ARE FULFILLED.
—————

(4) Take another line of prophecy: we find that the 1260 days, and the 1290 days, and the 1335 days, so particularly set forth in Daniel’s prophecy, and corroborated in Revelation, have had fulfilments,—the 1260 days ending in 1799, the 1290 days ending in 1829, and the 1335 days ending in 1874. Our friends known as “Second Adventists” were wont to use these “days of Daniel,” and once applied them as we do here: but they abandoned them after 1874 passed and they failed to see Jesus with their natural eyesight, in a body of flesh and with Calvary’s scars. They have dropped these “days of Daniel” entirely because they find no way of applying them which would prolong them beyond 1874. The fault is not with the days nor with their application as above; but with the wrong things expected. They, in common with others who look for the Second Advent, err in expecting that the Gospel age which has been a spirit and faith epoch will end with a flesh and sight deterioration—in expecting that the spiritual kingdom of Satan will be followed by a fleshly kingdom of Christ. But the Watchers amongst the Adventists as well as in other denominations, are getting the eyes of their understanding opened by the anointing of the promised eyesalve.—`Rev. 3:18`.

It was concerning this last period that the angel declared to the Prophet, “Oh, the blessedness of him that waiteth, and cometh to the 1335 days....Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” What blessedness? We answer, a joy of heart and rejoicing to the Watchers is what is here intimated. It is since this date, October, 1874, where Daniel’s 1335 days intimated that a great blessing would begin, where the Jubilee types indicated that the restitution of all things would begin, (which implies the second presence of the great Restorer), and where the parallelism of the two houses of Israel shows that the second presence of our Lord as the Great Reaper is due,—from this date a great blessing has come to the Watchers. Since then the Word of God has opened before us in a most marvelous manner. Since then the sure word of prophecy as a lamp to our feet has shown us many evidences that we are in the end of the age. Since then the day-star has been rising in the hearts of the Watchers, and has illuminated our minds, releasing us from the terrible nightmare of error respecting eternal torment, revealing to us the true character of our Heavenly Father, making plain to us the necessity of the great atonement for sin, and showing us distinctly the object of the permission of evil and revealing, one by one, various features of the divine plan,--the high calling of the Church to the divine nature, and to joint-heirship with Christ in his Millennial Kingdom; and the resulting blessing of restitution to human perfection for the world of mankind in general. Ah yes! all who have been brought "out of darkness into this marvelous light" can appreciate the words of the angel, and heartily say, Blessed are our ears, for they hear, and our eyes, for they see, for many prophets and many righteous persons have desired to know these things, and have not known them.

Our Lord’s presence, as shown in MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. II., dates from October, 1874, where the forty years’ harvest began, of which he is the great Chief Reaper. The date for the final anarchy in no sense affects it. April, 1878, marks the date of the establishment of the Kingdom, as shown in the same volume. At that date was due the resurrection of the sleeping saints who died "overcomers." Thus the establishment of the Kingdom commenced: it has since progressed as one after another of the same class have since died and been "changed" in the moment of death. The Kingdom will be fully established or "set up" by October, A.D. 1914, as already pointed out; for that date closes the forty years of "harvest" and accomplishes its design--the gathering of all the wheat into the garner of the heavenly condition.

When Moses came to his own people they rejected him, and he fled for his life to the land of Midian, from whence he came to them a second time. So Christ came to his own, and his own received him not (`John 1:12`); and he went into a far country, even heaven itself, from whence he has now, a second time, come, and will deliver all who are true Israelites indeed from the bondage of sin and death. Moses was forty years in coming to the point where he offered himself to Israel the first time; then he was absent from them an equal period of time, forty years, and came again and delivered them. There is a type or parallel in this time feature also; it illustrates the length of the Jewish and the Gospel ages, as being equal. From the time of the beginning of typical Israel as a nation, waiting for the coming of Messiah, down to the time when Jesus actually presented himself, was a period of 1845 years, and from that time, when he died and left them, until the period which the Scriptures show us marked his second coming (October, 1874) was a like period of 1845 years,—corresponding exactly to the two periods at which Moses offered himself in the type.*

Emphasizing this change which he will bring about, the Lord through the Prophet declares that he will not forever plow the field and sow, but in its appropriate season he would do a reaping work. We perceive that the entire field was not sown with the good seed of the Gospel, but only a small, limited area, and that for now nearly nineteen centuries the Lord has watered and harrowed this sowing, and that the harvest time of the Gospel Age is come. True to our Lord’s parable the Adversary was permitted to do a contaminating work—to over-sow the field with tare seed, and as a consequence the acceptable crop now to be gathered is a small one in comparison with what would be expected by those who have not been able to distinguish between wheat and tares, between consecrated believers and nominal Christians. To our understanding of the Bible, as set forth in the volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES, this harvest work has been in progress since October, 1874, and will be completed within forty years—by October, 1914. Within that time we fully expect that all the wheat will be gathered into the garner, glorified, and that the tares will be gathered into bundles, if indeed by that time their burning will not have commenced. We do not understand the burning of the tares will be with literal fire, nor that their destruction will mean the destruction of the individuals, but merely that they will cease to exist as imitation wheat and take their true stand with the world as members thereof, without part or lot in the inheritance of the “saints in light.”

NOTWITHSTANDING all that we have written on this subject, some appear not to fully comprehend it; as, for instance, is implied in a query just received: If the Church must “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” (`Col. 1:24`); if every “member” must finish the work of presenting his “body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” through Jesus (`Rom. 12:1`); if the blood of the New Covenant will only then be sprinkled on the antitypical mercy-seat “for the sins of all the people,” before the great antitypical Priest comes forth to bless the world, would not this prove that the parousia of our Lord did not begin in October 1874; that we are not now living in the days of his parousia? Our answer is, No, it would not.

To the very best of our ability we have endeavored to make clear that the parousia of our Lord is wholly different from his epiphania. Both of these Greek words are translated coming in our common Bible, but in the Greek they have very different significations. The word parousia signifies presence, but does not signify any outward manifestation of that presence. It is used in respect to the first stage of the Second Advent, in which our Lord is said to come “as a thief in the night” to reckon with his own servants and to take the faithful of them with him to the heavenly mansion or condition prepared for them.

Our Lord’s parousia and the gathering of the elect, we understand, has been in progress since October, 1874. It will continue until all of the “elect” shall have been gathered and glorified. In one sense our Lord will continue to be present as the world’s King to the conclusion of the Millennial Age; but his parousia, in the sense of secrecy of presence, will terminate when, as the Scriptures declare, “He shall be revealed in flaming fire (judgments), taking vengeance on all who will not obey the Truth,” but enlightening and revivifying all who will hear and, to the extent of their opportunity, obey his message. The parousia is to the Church and for the Church only. The epiphania or apokalupsis of the Lord in power and great glory is not to the Church nor for the Church, but to the world and for the world. “When he shall thus appear we also shall appear with him in glory,” the Apostle declares.—`Col. 3:4`.

THE ANTITYPICAL JUBILEE BEGINNING

Some of our readers have been disturbed by one item relative to the beginning of the antitypical Jubilee in the September number of the Overland Monthly. Nothing in that article is intended to be different or contradictory to our presentations in the SCRIPTURE STUDIES showing the year 1875 A.D. as the opening year of the antitypical Jubilee of a thousand years. In the Overland article we merely showed that the seventy years destruction of Jerusalem in the days of Daniel represented Israel’s entire Jubilee system. We showed two ways of counting it:—

• (1) Seventy times fifty equals 3,500 years;
• (2) Nineteen times fifty plus fifty-one times forty-nine equals 3,449 years ending with 1874, marking 1875 as the first year of the antitypical Jubilee.

The latter is, to our understanding, the proper method of counting the Jubilee and agrees perfectly with our presentation of the matter in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Volume II.

Moses was forty years in coming to the point where he offered himself to Israel the first time; then he was absent from them an equal period of time, forty years, and came again and delivered them. There is a type or parallel in this time feature also; it illustrates the length of the Jewish and the Gospel Ages, as being equal. From the time of the beginning of typical Israel as a nation, waiting for the coming of Messiah, down to the time when Jesus actually presented Himself, was a period of 1,845 years, and from that time, when He died and left them, until the period which the Scriptures show us marked His second coming (October, 1874) was a like period of 1,845 years—corresponding exactly to the two periods at which Moses offered himself in the type.*

IX. We believe that, like the Father and the holy angels, our Lord is a spirit being. We are convinced that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.” We do not believe that our Lord has a flesh and blood body, a “little lower than the angels,” and has thus been out of harmony with His heavenly environment for nearly two thousand years. We believe the Apostle’s statement, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” This is the Jesus who will “so come, in like manner,” quietly and unknown to the world, as He went away. We do not affirm, dogmatically, that He came in 1874, but we say that to us it is the evident teaching of the Scriptures. Our Lord warned us not to expect Him in the flesh; that men might say “Lo, here” or “Lo, there.” The Harvest work in the universal Church Nominal, the Laodicean period of the Church, well corroborates our expectations of what His work will be, as outlined in His parables, etc.

This is the first time (after more than 30 years) that Russell expresses any kind of hesitation about his date of 1874.

Our studies together have led the majority of us to conclude that we are now living in the Harvest time—in the end of this Age. Oh, how glad we shall be if this is true! How glad we are to believe it true! And, we think, on good evidence. If it is true, as we believe, that the forty years “harvest” of this Age began in 1874, the implication is that the trials of the Church are nearly at an end; that the faithful will soon be gathered to the heavenly garner. By the glorious “change” He will cause them to “shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father,” for the scattering of the world’s dark night and the ushering in of the New Day. Messiah’s Day is to bring glorious opportunities for earthly blessings to Israel, and to all the families of the earth through Israel. If our hopes be true, then they mean a blessing, not for the Church alone, but for the entire groaning creation, which, if willing and obedient under Messiah’s reign, will be released from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty appropriate to the children of God.—`Rom. 8:21`.

WWI started on July 28, 1914.

EVIDENCES OF OUR LORD’S PAROUSIA

In what way will the Lord take His great power and reign? The Scriptures show us very clearly. In line with the same chronology the Scriptures teach us that there is a time for the Parousia, or Presence of the Lord. That time, as far as we are able to calculate, began in 1874. Since that date we have been living in the Parousia of the Son of Man. Is there anything to corroborate this? Yes. In the first place, we look for the Lord’s dealing with His people, the Church. We should expect that at the time of our Lord’s Coming His people would hear His “knock”—the knock of the prophecies, and whoever would open his heart and receive the things in a consecrated attitude of mind the Lord would gird Himself as a Servant and would come forth and serve Him.—`Revelation 3:20`.

All of the special blessings that we, as a company of Bible Students, have received during the past forty years have been the result of the Lord’s Presence. He has been our Servant and has been bringing forth things new and old out of His storehouse. These old things have been coming forth in a new way—not because of human ability or skill, but because it is the Lord’s due time for these things to become clear—the doctrine of Redemption, the Ransom, the meaning of the term Body of Christ, the explanation of how the death of Christ is justification for our sins, the imputation of His merit for the Church, the giving of the merit to the world, what the sanctification of the Church really means, the begetting of the Holy Spirit, the begotten ones becoming New Creatures in Christ, and what this term, a New Creature, signifies, how the New Creature differs from the old creature, how the First Resurrection is to bring this New Creation glorious privileges and Divine blessing—glory, honor and immortality.—SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. II., page 103; Vol. V., page 421; Vol. VI., pages 59-84.

Our Lord, present, but invisible, has brought us light along every feature of the Divine Plan, not only respecting those things that were old—justification, sanctification and redemption—but also respecting the philosophy of God’s dealings—how our Lord became flesh and dwelt among us, how He was holy, harmless and undefiled, and yet was born of an earthly mother. All these things which were once confusing to us, but which are now brought to light, are evidences that the Lord is here serving His people. We know that we have received these things. We do not believe that we have received them from any human tongue or pen, but from the Lord, who is giving us “meat in due season.” The result of receiving this spiritual food is that many people have been sanctified—have experienced a transformation of mind that leads them to rejoice in laying down their lives for the brethren and in walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

“He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath One that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last Day” (`John 12:48`)—the Day of Judgment, now present, since 1874. Christendom in general has admitted the righteousness of the Lord’s Word, but those who attempt to live in harmony with that Word are remarkably few. Consequently, when the time shall come that “judgment shall be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet,” and when this judgment shall begin at the nominal House of God, the nominal systems will fall—condemned by that Word.

PASSING OF LAST CHRONOLOGICAL POINT A TEST

We remember that when the Lord would take up Elijah into the heavens He brought certain things to pass that would make a parallel to the taking away of the last members of Christ. We believe that this is a reasonable inference. We have seen how the Lord, upon the day that Elijah was to be taken away, sent him to four successive places—Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan. At each of these different places Elijah evidently thought that the Lord would take him. And so it has been with us. During this Harvest of the Age the Lord, through His Word, has seemed to send His people to four different points of time—1874, 1878, 1881 and 1914. At each of these points of time the watching saints who realized that the end of the Age was upon the Church have thought that the “change” might come. They watched for it. When they came to each of these points, the Lord said, “Go to another place.” Finally we reached the last place of the four—October 1st, 1914. This was the last point of time that Bible chronology pointed out to us as relating to the Church’s experiences. Did the Lord tell us that we would be taken there? No. What did He say? His Word and the fulfilments of prophecy seemed to point unmistakably that this date marked the end of the Gentile Times. We inferred from this that the Church’s “change” would take place on or before that date. But God did not tell us that it would be so. He permitted us to draw that inference; and we believe that it has proven to be a necessary test upon God’s dear saints everywhere.

WHAT SMITING OF THE WATERS MAY MEAN

Did the Times of the Gentiles end by October 1st, 1914? It certainly looks very much as if they did. The great nations of the world there began to go to pieces under the terrible shaking process then begun. The shaking is still going on, day by day, week by week, and will continue until the work of destruction is complete. Do we see anything definite as yet as to when we are to finish our earthly course? We do not see anything positive thus far. If any of you find out anything, we wish you would tell us.

Charles Taze Russell died on October 31, 1916. This edition contained an obituary about his life.

HIS WORK

Seeing that God has such a wonderful Plan for the blessing of mankind, Pastor Russell gave all of his power and energy to making known these great truths to the world. He never took a vacation; he worked until the day of his death.

Like other Christians he was looking for the Second Coming of Christ. Between 1872-6 he discovered that the Scriptures clearly teach that the Lord would not return in a body of flesh, but would return as a spirit being, invisible to human eyes, and that His second presence was due in the autumn of 1874. This led to the publishing of a booklet entitled, “The Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return,” which had a phenomenal circulation.

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HARVEST WORK

Pastor Russell adhered closely to the teachings of the Scriptures. He believed and taught that we are living in the time of the second presence of our Lord, and that His presence dates from 1874; that since that time we have been living in the “time of the end”—the “end of the Age,” during which the Lord has been conducting His great Harvest work; that, in harmony with the Lord’s own statement, this Harvest work is separating true Christians designated as “wheat,” from merely professing Christians, designated as “tares,” and gathering the true saints into the Kingdom of the Lord. It is here interesting to note that Jesus said, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over His Household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing! Verily I say unto you that He shall make him ruler over all His goods.” Thousands of the readers of Pastor Russell’s writings believe that he filled the office of “that faithful and wise servant,” and that his great work was giving to the Household of Faith meat in due season. His modesty and humility precluded him from openly claiming this title, but he admitted as much in private conversation. For a more detailed account of his work, reference is made to THE WATCH TOWER of June 1st, 1916.

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THE DAWNING BEGUN IN A.D. 1874

“Let us not stop now to discuss the darkness of the Night and its weeping. Let us awake, and take note of the fact that the dawning of the New Age is already here. For the past forty-two years we have been in it and enjoying many of its blessings. But those blessings came so stealthily—‘like a thief in the night’—that few recognize their import. Some few have been calling attention to the fact that we have been in the Millennial dawn ever since 1874.