"Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [margin, he] is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:32-35)
In this scripture our attention is directed to the time when it is possible to learn that the coming of Christ is "at the doors" with the same assurance that we know that summer is near when we see the first tender young leaves putting forth. It may also be known that we have come to the generation which shall not pass off the stage of action until Christ himself shall come. When the time comes to learn the parable, it is emphatically true that it is the Lord's time to raise up teachers to teach the parable. The inquiry of the apostle on another occasion is equally applicable here, "How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent?" (Rom. 10:14-15)
The Time for the Signs
In the previous chapter we saw how knowledge was obtained concerning the termination of the twenty-three-hundred-day period, and that it extended to the "hour of his judgment." In the parable here introduced we are brought to the Lord's time for this parable and the "judgment" message to be proclaimed to the world.
After speaking of the great "tribulation" which was to come upon his people which should be "shortened," the Saviour said, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." (Matt. 24:29-30)
Mark, it does not say of the last sign mentioned that it is a sign of his coming; but a sign that the Son of man is there, is seen coming. The events given in this text as signs on which to base faith in his near coming, are the signs in the sun, moon and stars. The other events which follow take place in connection with his actual coming in the clouds of heaven. So immediately after the third of these signs-the one in the stars-comes the Lord's time to raise up his teachers to teach that Christ's coming is at the doors.
Now as to the time of the appearance of these signs: It was to be immediately after the tribulation that the sun was to be darkened. (Matt. 24:29) As Mark records, it was to be "in those days, after that tribulation." (Mark 13:24) Our Saviour had said that the days should be shortened. By the decree of Maria Theresa, and the Acts of Toleration from 1773 to 1776, the rage of persecution against the church was shortened. Although the persecuting power retained control of the civil arm until 1798, its persecutions were closed about 1773. Comparing the statements of the Saviour would place the first of these signs between 1773 and 1798.
The Dark Day and Night
On the 19th of May, 1780, the sun was supernaturally darkened. It was no eclipse, as the moon had fulled the day before. Notwithstanding this there was a darkness over all the northeastern portion of the United States from eleven o'clock in the morning until eleven o'clock at night. On that occasion not only was the sun darkened, but the moon refused to reflect the light of the sun. It was a darkness that prevented the sun from shining on the disc of the moon. And as expressed by Noah Webster, many years after, "No satisfactory reason has ever been assigned for this darkness."
Of this dark day Herschel, the astronomer, said: "The Dark Day in North America was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read of with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss to explain."
Those describing the darkness of the night of May 19, 1780, said, notwithstanding there was a full moon, that "if every luminous body in the universe had been struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete."
The Falling Stars
The third of these signs, the falling of these stars, was fulfilled on the 13th November, 1833. On that night, or rather from five hours previous to the day dawn, there was a meteoric shower com-pared by some to streams of fire coming down from heaven; by others, to sparks of fire flying off of some great piece of fire-works. This phenomenon covered all North America, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to Hudson's Bay on the north, and from the Sandwich Islands on the west to within a few hundred miles of Liverpool on the east. Wherever observed, it was the same continuous shower of stars, falling as thick as snowflakes in a snow-storm.
Concerning this star shower in 1833, we further quote from the Connecticut Observer of Nov. 25, 1833:-
"The editor of the Old Countryman makes a very serious matter of the 'falling stars.' He says, 'We pronounce the rain of fire, which we saw on Wednesday morning last, an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when the sixth seal shall be opened. The time is just at hand, described not only in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament; and a more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its fruit when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold."
Thomas Burnett's Prediction
The people had been taught by those of former times to look for a literal fulfillment of this sign. Thomas Burnett, in his "Theory of the Earth," printed in London, A.D. 1697 said of Matt. 24:29:-
"No doubt there will be all sorts of fiery meteors at that time; and amongst others those called falling stars, which, though they are not consider-able, singly, yet if they were multiplied in great numbers, falling, as the prophet says, as leaves from the vine or figs from the fig-tree, they would make an astonishing sight. . . . We need not look upon these things as hyperbolical and poetic strains, but as barefaced prophecies, and things that will literally come to pass."
Olmstead's Testimony Professor
Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, Mass., who has been called "America's greatest meteorologist," said of the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833:-
"The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth's surface, from the middle of the Atlantic on the east to the Pacific on the west; and from the northern coast of South America to undefined regions among the British possessions on the north. The exhibition of shooting stars was not only visible, but everywhere presented the same appearance."
Of this display, which began about 11 P.M., Nov. 12, and continued until about 4 A.M. of the 13th, the professor says:-
"Those who were so fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars on the morning of Nov. 13, 1833, probably saw the greatest display of celestial fireworks that has ever been seen since the creation of the world, or at least within the annals covered by the pages of history."
Star Shower Seen Also in Europe
In a book published by Leonard Heinrich Kelber, in Stuttgart, Germany, in the year 1835, we learn that this sign was repeated on that side of the Atlantic, in the same month, but a few days later. He says:-
"On November 25, 1833, there was a fine display of falling stars on the continent of Europe," and "in Minsterburg, Silesia, stars fell like a rain of fire. With them fell balls of fire, making the night so light that the people thought that the houses near them must be on fire.
"At the same time in Prin, Austria, there was a falling of stars that covered a space of over five hundred square miles. It was described by some as like streams of fire coming down from heaven. Some called it a rain of fire. Horses were frightened by it, and fell to the ground. Many people were made sick through fear."
Application of the Parable
Coming down in this line of prophecy past the fulfillment of the third sign,-the falling of the stars, -our Saviour says, "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree." This language does not apply to the generation that was living when our Lord gave this discourse, but to the generation that was to see these things fulfilled-not fulfilling, but fulfilled. The things to be fulfilled as tokens that Christ is at the door do not include the shaking of the heavens when he will be seen actually coming. These signs of his near coming include this third sign, the one in the stars. The Lord's appointed time for the people to learn a parable of the fig-tree dates this side of 1833. Here is the Lord's time for the world to be aroused to the great truth that his coming is at the doors, and that his coming will be before the generation who hear that parable shall pass away. So we see how the time is marked out in this prophecy when the great advent proclamation should be given to the world.
A World-wide Proclamation
In fulfillment of this prediction we find that right then and there in 1833, the Lord was raising up his messengers or ministers in various parts of the world, who from 1833 to 1834 sounded the cry of Christ's coming near, "even at the doors;" and these taught the parable of the fig-tree, pointing to these signs of his coming, even as he had instructed them to do. This message, either by the living teacher or through the agency of the printed page, went to every missionary station in the world, and to every seaport on the earth.
The extent of the message has been plainly set forth by the editor of the Voice of Truth, of Rochester, N.Y., in an issue of January, 1845:-
"The everlasting gospel, as described in Rev. 14:6, 7, has been preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.' No case can be more clearly substantiated with facts than that this message has been borne to every nation and tongue under heaven, within a very few years past, in the preaching of the coming of Christ in 1843 [1843, Jewish time-our time, 1844], or near at hand. Through the medium of lectures and publications, the sound has gone into all the earth, and the words to the end of the world."
Some people, unacquainted with the facts, have looked upon the second advent movement as limited to a certain locality, supposing it a work connected with William Miller and a few hundred ministers associated with him in the northern portion of the United States. To such it may be a surprise to learn that the movement in America, in which Elders Miller and Himes were prominent leaders, was but a small part of a great movement that, as stated above, went "to the ends of the earth."
How the Movement Started in Various Nations
The Lord's time came for this proclamation to go forth to the world, and in a score or more of different parts of the earth, at about the same time, men were raised up, who, without a knowledge of one another's work, went forth to sound this message to all parts of the earth. Those mentioned in chapter IV, who received the light respecting the close of the twenty-three hundred days, with one exception,-A. Camp-bell,-were moved upon to engage in the proclamation of the first angel's message of Revelation 14; this also by direct agency of the Spirit of God, and not by communicating the light to one another.
Compared with the Reformation
If we apply the same rule to this movement that D'Aubigné applied to the rise of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, it must surely be counted as the Lord's message and in the Lord's time. Of that Reformation as a whole the historian said:-
"Germany did not communicate the truth to Switzerland, nor Switzerland to France, nor France to England. All these countries received it from God, just as one part of the world does not transmit the light to another part; but the same shining globe communicates it directly to all the earth. Christ, the day spring from on high, infinitely exalted above all mankind, was, at the period of the Reformation, as at the establishment of Christianity, the divine fire which gave life to the world. In the sixteenth century, one and the same doctrine was at once established in the homes and churches of the most distant and diversified nations. The reason is, that the same Spirit was everywhere at work producing the same faith.
"The Reformation of Germany and that of Switzerland demonstrate this truth. Zwingle had no intercourse with Luther. There was, no doubt, a link between these two men; but we must search for it above the earth. He who from heaven gave the truth to Luther, gave it to Zwingle. God was the medium of communication between them. 'I began to preach the gospel,' says Zwingle, 'in the year of grace 1516, in other words, at a time when the name of Luther had never been heard of in our country. I did not learn the doctrine of Christ from Luther, but from the word of God. If Luther preaches Christ, he does what I do; that is all.' " [1]
Speaking of the work of Farel and Lefevre in France, the historian says:-
"The Reformation in France, therefore, was not a foreign importation. It had its birth on the French soil; it germinated in Paris; it had its first roots in the university itself, which formed the second power in Roman Christendom. God placed the principles of the work in the honest hearts of men of Picardy and Dauphiny before its commencement in any other country.
"We have seen that the Swiss Reformation was independent of the German Reformation. The French Reformation was in its turn independent of both. The work began at once in these different countries, without any communication with each other; as, in a battle, all the different forces comprising the army move at the same instant, though the one does not tell the other to march, because one and the same command, proceeding from the same Commander-in-Chief, is heard by all. The time was accomplished, the people were prepared, and God began the Reformation of his church in all countries at once. Such facts demonstrate that the great Reformation of the sixteenth century was a divine work." [2]
Of the Reformation in England, under Thos. Bilney, Fryth, Tyndale, and others, D'Aubigné further says:-
"The Reformation of England commenced, therefore, independently of Luther and Zwingle, holding solely from God. There was in all these countries of Christendom a simultaneous action of the divine word. The origin of the Reformation at Oxford, Cambridge, London, was the Greek New Testament published by Erasmus. [Tyndale and Thomas Bilney quitted Cambridge in the year 1519.] There came a day when England was proud of this high origin of the Reformation." [3]
The advent proclamation arose in a similar manner to that above traced in the Reformation. Men were moved out simultaneously in more than four times as many parts of the world, with no knowledge of, or any communication of sentiment with, one another, and began the proclamation of the same Scripture truths, not simply in four nations of the earth, but to the whole civilized world.
Joseph Wolff's Labors
It may be well at this point to call attention to facts respecting the extent of the advent proclamation:-
"In 1831 Joseph Wolff, D.D., was sent as a missionary from Great Britain to labor among the Jews of Palestine. He, according to his journals, down to the year 1845, proclaimed the Lord's speedy advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkey, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Hindostan, Thibet, in Holland, Scotland, Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and in New York City, to all denominations. He declares that he has preached among Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yesedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to pashas sheiks, shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc." [4]
In Yemen, the region inhabited by the descendants of Hobab, Moses' fatherin- law, Joseph Wolff saw a book of which he thus speaks: "The Arabs
102 of this place have a book called 'Seera,' which treats of 'The Second Coming of Christ, and His Reign in Glory!' " [5]
In Yemen he spent six days with the Rechabites, of whom he says: "They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jonadab the son of Rechab. With them were children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Terim in Hatramawt, who expect, in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven."
We see, from the above, that in those fourteen years, Wolff himself had proclaimed the news of Christ's coming at the doors, in more than twenty different nations. During the same time the doctrine was extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the South among the Moravians.
The Message in Germany and Russia
An English writer, Mourant Brock, informs us that "in WĹrtemberg there was a Christian colony numbering hundreds, who looked for the speedy advent of Christ." The doctrine was proclaimed in other parts of Germany by Hengstenberg, at that time said to be the most talented theologian in Germany.
In the Review and Herald of Dec. 13, 1892, Pastor L. R. Conradi of Germany says:-
"Bengel, in Germany, kindled the love for the appearing of our Lord in many a heart, which led thou-sands to study the prophetic word as never before. . . . The light shone in Germany, and publications showing the application of the twentythree hundred days were circulated there. A religious awakening followed, especially in WĹrtemberg, and as persecution arose, hundreds of families went to Southern Russia, and there spread it among their own countrymen who had moved there many years before. As the pastors closed their churches, with very few exceptions they would hold their 'stunden' or 'hour' of meetings, in private houses, and hundreds were converted. Even at that time the Sabbath was discussed among them, but no one making a start, it was smothered. A Russian farmer was converted in the 'stunden,' and then began the same work among the Russians. This finally led to the great 'Stundist' movement of the present day, whose influence extends to the most distant corner of Siberia and the Trans-Caucassus."
In the Review and Herald of July 31, 1891, is a statement from Pastor Conradi respecting Brother Sch"che of Australia, who, at the time of which he speaks, was a resident of Silesia, and labored a part of the time in the interest of the home mission of Father Gosner, a noted German evangelist divine. From Brother Sch"che he gives the following respecting Kelber's book:-
"After 1836, or when Bengel's Computation had expired, there appeared in the Schweidnitz county paper a notice from the bookstore of Mr. Sommerfeldt there, concerning a book from L. Henry Kelber, concerning the great and glad events which were to take place in the years 1843 and 1844. The exact title of the book I do not remember. We procured the said book, and read it with a number of interested persons, with locked doors, in the year 1839-40. The book showed from Daniel, and the Revelation, and Matthew 24, that the end was at hand, and had also a table of computation showing how the above was reached."
The Message in Great Britain
In an English publication entitled The Millennium, it is stated that "seven hundred ministers of the Church of England were raising the cry of the return of the Redeemer." Among some of the most talented ministers of the time were those who proclaimed the advent doctrine in England from 1840 to 1844. Of these we will mention the names of Bickersteth, Birks, Brooks, Brock, Habershon, Plyn, Fremantle, Nathan Lord, McNeil, Winters, Cummings, J. A. McCaul, D.D., Dr. Nisbett, Rev. A. Dallas, M.A. [in his book, Look to Jerusalem, page 114, he applies the parable of Matthew 24 to this generation], Burgess, Routon, Gunner, Barker, Bonham, Dealtry, etc.
The Message in Holland
The doctrine of the second advent was proclaimed in Holland by Hentzepeter, said to have been at that time, the ablest minister in that country. He was keeper of the Royal Museum at The Hague, under the appointment of the king. He says of himself, in a letter written to the editor of the Midnight Cry, in June, 1844, that his attention was first called to the subject by a very impressive dream. He investigated the Scriptures on the subject, and in the year 1830 published a pamphlet setting forth the doctrine. In 1841 he published another pamphlet on the end of the world. In the same letter he says the first information he received in regard to William Miller and the others who were proclaiming publicly the doctrine of the near approach of Christ, was in 1842, by conversing with a man who had come to Holland from America.
The Message In Tartary
As early as 1821 the doctrine of the Lord's coming was believed and taught in Tartary. About this time an Irish missionary was sent to that country, and a Tartar priest put the question to him, "When will Christ come the second time?" He made answer that he knew nothing at all about it, whereupon the priest expressed great surprise at such an answer from a missionary who had come to teach them the doctrines of the Bible, and remarked that he thought "everybody might know that who had a Bible." The priest then gave his views, stating that he thought Christ would come about A.D. 1844. This fact is found in the Irish Magazine, 1821.
The Message in America, India, and on the Continent
In Advent Tracts, Vol. II, page 135, 1844, Mourant Brock of England says:-
"It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching 'this gospel of the kingdom;' whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry."
To Every Seaport on Earth
E. R. Pinney, of Seneca Falls, N.Y., a devoted Baptist minister who gave his life to the proclamation of the advent doctrine, in his Exposition of Matthew 24, pages 8, 9, said:-
"As early as 1842, second advent publications had been sent to every missionary station in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, both sides of the Rocky Mountains. . . . The commanders of our vessels and the sailors tell us that they touch at no port where they find this proclamation has not preceded them, and frequent inquiries respecting it are made of them."
Three Thousand Proclaiming the Message
Pastor G. W. Mitchel, of Zanesville, Ohio, another minister who himself proclaimed the doctrine, said to the writer in a conversation at Newark, Ohio, Aug. 8, 1894, that Elder William Miller told him, in a conversation at McConnellsville, Ohio, in September, 1844, that he had the "names and addresses of three thousand ministers in various parts of the globe who were proclaiming, 'Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come,' the greater portion of these being in North America and Great Britain."
William Miller, in speaking of the extensive spread of this "cry," said:-
"One or two in every quarter of the globe have proclaimed the news, and all agree in the time, -Wolff of Asia; Irving, late of England; Mason of Scotland; Davis of South Carolina; and quite a number in this region, are, or have been, giving the cry." [6]
Hutchinson's Voice of Elijah Sent Broadcast
Elder R. Hutchinson, in 1837, was sent from England as a Wesleyan missionary to Canada. He finally settled in Montreal. He had very extensive acquaintance in foreign countries. In the years 1843 and 1844 he published a paper called the Voice of Elijah, in which he treated of the advent doctrine. Having ready access to vessels for foreign countries, and being privileged to send large parcels of his papers with no expense for postage, he sent them in great quantities to all parts of the earth. He said of his own work, that he sent them freely to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Foundland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Constantinople, Rome, and all parts of the British kingdom and its colonies.
In the Sandwich Islands
In the Midnight Cry of Oct. 12, 1843, was a letter from a Mrs. O. S. Burnham, of Kaloa, Isle of Kaui, Sandwich Islands. She, with her husband, were school teachers at that place. They accepted, and were proclaiming, the advent doctrine there, and a company of believers was worshiping with them on the islands.
The Message Compared with that of John the Baptist
Thus we see that the advent doctrine was proclaimed to an extent quite sufficient to fulfil the scripture predictions concerning it.
The message which was to herald the first advent of Christ was stated by the prophet Isaiah in these words: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." (Isa. 40:3-5) This prophecy was accomplished in the labors of "John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 3:1-2)
This man, alone, during six months of labor in the one country of Judea, fulfilled this wonderful prediction. While this prophecy limited John's work as to time and place, it is not so with those prophecies which relate to the heralding of the second advent, for the work was to be with a "loud cry," world wide in its extent.
Thus it is seen, in the light of the facts present, how accurately prophecy concerning the advent message was fulfilled. God's time came for the parable of the fig-tree to be taught, for the first announcement of the first angel's message to be given, and he raised up his messengers to herald the cry to all nations, peoples, and tongues.
Notes: