"Misty fogs so long concealing All the hills of mingled night Vanish, all their sin revealing, For the "evening shall be light"
"Lo, the ransomed are returning, Robed in shining crystal white, Leaping, shouting, home to Zion, Happy in the ev"ning light."-_Sel._
Chapter I. The Apostasy In Two Days.
In our introduction we gave a number of texts which spoke of the whole of the gospel dispensation as one day; but any period of time distinguished by some extraordinary historic event may be and is also termed a day. The apostasy or dark noonday being under two forms is marked in Bible history as two days. The first form of the apostasy, namely, Catholicism, is called by the Scriptures a "dark day."
A Cloudy Day.
The second form of the apostasy was not such utter darkness as the first, and is therefore called a cloudy day. "For thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."
Ezek. 34:11, 12. The cloudy day was a day of the scattering of G.o.d"s people. This has been true of Protestantism. G.o.d"s own people have been divided and scattered among the various organizations of man. The time of the seeking out refers to the evening, when G.o.d is going to gather his children together that "were scattered abroad," and they shall be "one heart and one soul" as in the morning.
One more text refers to the cloudy day. "And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pa.s.s, that at evening time it shall be light." Zech. 14:6, 7. This day of Protestantism was neither "clear nor dark"; was neither "day, nor night."
It was a mixture of light and darkness, truth and error, and therefore is fitly termed a cloudy day.
A Revival.
After those two days there shall be a great revival caused by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."
Hos. 6:1-3.
The two days of beastly power come to an end. The time comes when they shall no longer govern G.o.d"s true people. It was true of literal Babylon, that had taken captive the children of G.o.d, that the time came when they returned from their captivity. The same is true of spiritual Babylon. The children of G.o.d have long been taken captive in her. In the evening time, after two days, they shall say, "Come, let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he will revive us in the third day, he will raise us up," etc. Praise G.o.d! Then shall we know the Lord. "His going forth is prepared as the morning." Just as G.o.d was known in the morning in his holiness and power, just so he will be known in the evening. Throughout the "two days" (apostasy) the Lord in his power to save to the uttermost, to heal, and to exclusively control his church was unknown. Therefore he says: "Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of G.o.d." Micah 3:7.
Such is the ignorance of the seers of Babylon. They are educated in the wisdom of the world, but know little of G.o.d. Their sermons are the theories of man, and not the pure Word of G.o.d. For this reason there is a great spiritual famine in Babylon.
The evening time is called the third day, when G.o.d shall send copious showers of rain. The first day is a "dark day," and relates to the reign of the Catholic power. The second or dark and cloudy day relates to the reign of Protestantism. The third day is the "time of the end," when there shall be a consumption of the beast powers. Dan. 7:26. Daniel was told that the fourth beast he saw in his vision was a fourth kingdom. This was the Roman kingdom. Three had preceded-the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Grecian. This beast had ten horns. Ver. 7. These ten horns were ten kings, or kingdoms, which were created out of the Roman empire by the barbarians of the North. History records the overrunning of the Roman empire from A.D. 376 to A.D. 476 by the different "powerful and warlike nations of the North; namely, the Huns, Goths, Vandals," etc. Thus in one century of time the kingdom of the Caesars gave rise to ten different minor kingdoms.
In verse twenty-four of Daniel seven the prophet was told that another horn should arise after these ten. From the description of this horn we at once learn it to represent the Roman hierarchy, or to be the same as the first beast of Rev. 13. In verse twenty-six the prophet says, "Judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." The apostasy is being consumed by the powerful and sharp judgments of G.o.d"s Word being executed by the faithful and true who are proclaiming, "Fear G.o.d, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come." This is in the time of the end, this glorious evening hour.
The apostle Paul gives a description of the apostasy in 2 Thes. 2. In verse eight he speaks of its consumption, which is being effected in this evening of time. Babylon is being consumed. Hear her cries of pain. The prophet Isaiah foretells the consumption of the apostasy in these words: "And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." This is being accomplished in this present day. The gospel truth is being held up as a "lamp that burneth," and Babylon is consumed. The Lord is washing "away the filth of the daughter of Zion, ... by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." Isa. 4:4.
"Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul."
Morning And Evening Light Compared.
How light shall be the evening? Will G.o.d "revive us and raise us up" in the third day to the apostolic plane? The answer is, "His going forth is prepared as the morning." "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward." Isa. 58:8.
By these two texts we are given to understand that in the evening the light shall shine as bright as in the morning. The church of G.o.d will be raised to the same plane from which it was dragged down by ecclesiastical lords. G.o.d"s people shall enjoy the same degree of holiness in the evening as they did in the morning. They shall enjoy the same blessed unity-"one heart and one soul," "and all speak the same thing." They shall possess apostolic faith. They shall have power with G.o.d to heal the sick, to open blinded eyes, to cause the lame to walk and the deaf to hear, to cast out devils, and to raise the dead the same as did the saints in the morning.
Why shall they be given such power? Because they believe, experience and practise the whole truth. They are free from all manism. G.o.d has absolute control in each and every heart. Every hindrance to faith is removed, every barrier between them and G.o.d is taken away, and the Lord works with them, "confirming the word with signs following." Glory to his name!
Chapter II. The Time Of The Evening.
The morning was of 270 years" duration. The first form of the apostasy lasted, as we have shown, 1260 years, bringing us to the Lutheran reformation in 1530. Now when we ascertain the duration of the second beast power we will know the time the sun, moon and stars reappear in the evening. One especial text that gives us information on this subject is found in Revelation. In speaking of the two witnesses the Revelator says: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from G.o.d entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." Rev. 11:10, 11.
In this we learn the duration of the power of Protestantism and the breaking forth of the evening light. We have before proven that a day in Scripture is used to represent different lengths of time, sometimes the whole of the Christian era, sometimes a thousand years, sometimes a hundred years, and sometimes a year. In this text a day represents a century. Three days are three centuries, and a half day is a half century.
After three days and a half, which are three centuries and a half, or 350 years, of the reign of Protestantism, the Spirit of life from G.o.d entered into them. This is the dawning of the evening, when the whole and entire Word of G.o.d is believed and experienced and the Holy Spirit has the same power in governing the church of G.o.d as he did in the days of the apostles. The downfall of the first beast, or Romanism, and the arising of the second beast, or Protestantism, was in the year 1530. The duration of Protestant power is 350 years, which added to 1530 brings us to the year 1880 A.D., at which time the dark noonday closes and we emerging hail with joy the peaceful glowing evening light.
Prior to the year 1880 it was, with rare exceptions, universally conceded that to gain heaven we needs must unite with some religious denomination.
About this time G.o.d by his Holy Spirit gave to men everywhere (whose hearts were prepared) an intuitive knowledge that we could be saved and live a Christian life outside the walls of sectism. Just to lean upon G.o.d alone and be guided solely by his Word and Spirit, they discovered to be their blessed privilege. We are not alone in thus interpreting Rev. 11:11.
We will quote from other authors. "Cloudy day (Protestantism). Length of period 350 years." Rev. 11:9.-_S. L. Speck in Bible Readings_, p. 104.
"The two witnesses [Word and Spirit] lie dead three days and a half [three and one-half centuries]. Rev. 11:7-9. The church dwells in a wilderness, which is neither dark nor light. Period 350 years. Time from 1530 to 1880."-_W. G. S. in Bible Readings_, p. 69.
"Time of reign of second beast, from the year 1530 to 1880, making 350 years."-_H. C. Wickersham in Holiness Bible Subjects_, p. 178.
This same author on page 244 in quoting Rev. 11:11 encloses in brackets the words: "At the end of three hundred and fifty years of Protestant sectism the true children of G.o.d come out of Babylon and are sanctified."
"The three days and a half they were to lie dead is interpreted by the Holy Spirit to mean three centuries and a half. This gives us the length of the Protestant age."-_Biblical Trace of the Church_, p. 143.
In the few years prior to 1880 A.D., there was a great declension in the spirituality of Protestantism. Who can deny this fact? Quite a number of the leading denominations held revivals, where was witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit. People were genuinely converted. They loved and worshiped G.o.d in quite a degree of simplicity and equality. The ministry was of a humbler cla.s.s and more devoted to its charges. In the decade preceding 1880 there was a great change. This change perhaps can be no better described than is done in the following words of Mr. Foster, bishop of the Methodist denomination:
"Worldly socials, fairs, festivals, concerts, and such like, have taken the place of the religious gatherings, revival meetings, cla.s.s and prayer-meetings of earlier days.... Under such worldly performance spirituality is frozen to death.... The early Methodist ministers went forth to sacrifice and suffer for Christ. They sought not places of ease and affluence, but of privation and suffering. They gloried not in their big salaries, fine parsonages, and refined congregations, but in the souls that had been won for Jesus. Oh, how changed! A hireling ministry will be a feeble, a timid truckling, a time-serving ministry, without faith, endurance, and holy power. Methodism formerly dealt in the great central truth. Now the pulpits deal largely in generalities and in popular lectures. The glorious doctrine of entire sanctification is rarely heard and seldom witnessed in the pulpits."
There is not a Methodist minister but knows the truthfulness of these statements, however much they may deny it. In the quoted texts of Scripture from Revelation 11, the ninth and tenth verses say: "And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another."
By the "dead bodies" is meant the two witnesses, the Word and Spirit.
These throughout Protestantism were dead. While they professed to be led by the Spirit and to believe and practise the Word, they did neither. Thus they would not entirely and openly in words deny the power of the Holy Spirit and verity of G.o.d"s Word, yet in works they did deny them. "They profess that they know G.o.d; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." t.i.tus 1:16. These two witnesses were dead, yet they would not allow their dead bodies to be buried: they professed to receive them.
The tenth verse tells of the worldliness of sectism at the time the Spirit of life from G.o.d entered into the Word and Holy Spirit, after the 350 years or the ushering in of the evening light. They were making merry and sending gifts. Sectism is straining every nerve, and adopting most every scheme for money-getting. The fundamental object in the socials, fairs, concerts, etc., is to get money. They adopt these worldly, sensual amus.e.m.e.nts to rob men of their money. We have in possession a clipping from the _New York Sun_ which is a fair sample of the present-day performances and merry making for money, and well explains the rejoicing, merry making and sending of gifts as mentioned in Rev. 11:10. It is as follows:
"_Saved The Church._
"Members Performed Many Services in Turning an Odd Penny.
"From New York Sun.
"Pittsburg, March 5.-The church edifice of the Coraopolis Methodist church was advertised to be sold by the sheriff this week, and the members of the congregation made a heroic attempt all last week to save it. Coraopolis is a few miles below here. One vivacious young woman won a wager by riding a spirited horse without a saddle; other good sisters and brethren cleaned shoes and peddled, while some pushed wheelbarrows in which were conveyed some very staid-looking business men. The whole church community was animated by the common desire to keep the sheriff from the church-door.
Luxuries were denied, and many ludicrous situations were invented until enough money was raised to secure a postponement of the sale.
"n.o.body seemed in the least disconcerted over these unusual exhibitions.
If any one asked Samuel Marshall, the well-known station agent, what he was doing when he was shining the boots of the ex-Burgess, he would have replied: "Raising money for our church. Don"t you want a shine?" Among the most active in the work was Mr. Marshall, and his industry in turning in the most money won for him the prize of a gold watch. The following items from his statement show some of the methods adopted:
"February 20.-Delivered message to F. D. Stickney, 10 cents. H. S.