God's messengers : showing the hand of God in Christian union as revealed in prophecy

Author's Preface

In presenting this little volume to the public, I do it with much anxiety but not without some hope that it may leave

" Footprints on the sands of time, Footprints, that perhaps another

Seeing shall take heart again."

That it will be satisfactory to all I cannot expect. But if it is the means of bringing hope to some lone pilgrim, who has long been praying " Thy Kingdom come," and weeping over the desolation of Zion, and her long apostasy in sectarian bondage, I shall feel amply paid for my labor. To all, of every clime, denomination, or color, this book is affectionately dedicated, hoping that in the hands of Him who prayed that all his people might be one, it may do something to advance the great movement for Christian union, which is now agitated with so much zeal.

I feel conscious that we are on the threshold of some great revolution in the Christian world, and wish to throw my mite into this great work.

I think we may already hear the sound of a going i v A UTHOR 'S PREFACE.

in the tops of the mulberry -trees, that God is going before us to remove the greatest obstacle to the advancement of His Kingdom.

If we look back a single decade we can see a great change in the moral world. Infidelity is assuming an aggressive form. It has made its attack on the church in every land. It is organizing for battle. There is no discord in its ranks. Where can you find anything more at variance than materialistic infidelity and spiritualism, but they unite their forces to overthrow Christianity. We may be near the battle of the great day, which I think is not a battle of carnal weapons, but a moral conflict of infidelity against Christianity. Kevelation says, " He shall gather them together, Gog and Magog." This implies organic union. Infidelity has been abroad in the land from the earliest Christian era.

England had a Bolingbroke, France a Yoltaire, Germany a Baur, and America a Payne, but it has been only a few years since organic union has commenced. We find those of the most antagonistic sentiments, from the spiritualist to the materialist, from the most subtile philosopher to the agnostic, all in this army, and presenting a solid front against the Christian religion. This should teach the Christian soldiers to unite their forces against this subtile foe.

The oncoming years have in store for us much of good or evil for the church. Christianity must either conquer or go down in the vortex. We have a valiant host marshaled in the field, and if there is unity of action and concentration in our work victory will turn on Israel's side.

A UTHOti % 8 PREFACE. v

" To-day the noise of battle And then the victor's song."

The last decade has wrought a great change in favor of union. Christians now feel not only the policy, but the necessity of organic union, and are looking about for means to carry it out.

The subject of Christian union has rested on my mind for many years. In youth I hoped for the day to come when all denominations would give up their distinctive creeds, and come together in one grand organic union. What a glorious day that would be ! But 1 have now abandoned the dream of my youth. I begin to think such an event will never occur, at least in our day. The moral inertia of these great Christian denominations is too strong for the moral force that can be brought against it.

Great reforms seldom begin in this way. They often have a very small beginning, and appear to the world insignificant. This makes the hand of God more visible in the movement.

Some tell us when the old fogies die the young generation will be more liberal, and more favorable to union, but this does not seem to be realized, for the old fogies indoctrinate the young fogies so that when they grow up they become old fogies. Children are taught that all that is good and noble is inherent in their own denomination and is found in no other. A mother in San Francisco heard her little daughter saying some hard things about the Jews, and she rebuked her, telling her she should not say such things about the Jews, for Jesus was a Jew. " Why," said the little girl, " I did not know that, I thought he was a Congregationalism"

v l A UTHOR '8 PREFACE.

Christians have long been praying and laboring for union and died without the sight, but their prayers and tears have been remembered.

This is one of the greatest reforms in the Christian church. "We are led to ask the question, " Will not so great a reform be noticed in prophecy ?" The fall of Babylon was foretold hundreds of years before it was destroyed, and Cyrus the conqueror was even called by name. Will not the destruction of mystic Babylon also be foretold ? We think this is done in Daniel and Revelation.

We have been holding conventions, and writing and theorizing about Christian union for more than half a century. But in the eve of the nineteenth century there is a loud and urgent call for action. , Horace Greeley said the way to resume specie payment was to resume, so I think the way to promote union is to unite.

The reformation in the sixteenth century had long been working — agitated by godly men, who had given their lives for Christianity. The sacrifice and devotion of these heroes of the cross was the foundation work of the great reformation. Their prayers and tears and blood were to be rewarded, but the time had not yet come. All was ready when God sent his messenger in the person of the undaunted Monk of Wittenberg to begin the practical work of reformation.

The great work of the union reform has been done, or clearly marked out. The paper called the Church Union and other agencies have been at work for twenty years, and they have achieved great results. The doctrinal basis has been settled,

A UTHOR 'S PREFACE. v ii

which is in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty. The theory and .discussion about any other basis is useless, for there can be no other doctrinal basis for Christian union.

The evils of a divided church cannot be denied. The rivalry and strife between the different denominations is the source of great evil to the cause of Christ, and the waste of money, and ministerial labor in sustaining so many supernumerary churches is immense. It is safe to say that in our own country the labor of three thousand ministers is useless, and the expenditure of three millions of dollars a year is worse than wasted.

In this book I have used all possible brevity consistent with a fair development of my subject. I have not dwelt at length on the evils of disunion, nor the blessings of union, only sufficient to illustrate my subject.

Let us come together on the common basis of the essential doctrines of the Gospel plainly revealed in the Bible, and a glorious day will dawn on the Christian world.

May God grant me length of days to see the work of Christian union on the highway to success. When .til who love Christ will be one in name, and one in heart, valiant in the defense of the Christian faith, and waiting for the Lord's appearing. Then can I say, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

E. O. Bennett.

Kogers, Ark., May, 1897.

GOD'S MESSENGERS.

CHAPTER I. Daniel's prophecy

In all the prophecies of the Bible there is none so full of interest to us as the prophecies of Daniel ; none that gives us so clear an insight to the world's history. Too little attention is paid to these wonderful visions of that inspired prophet, to whom God gave the message reaching down to modern times.

Some of these prophecies were to be sealed up until the latter days, when " Many shall run to and fro "and knowledge shall be increased." These prophecies pointed out so clearly the time when the Messiah should appear that the Jews were looking for him at the time when He appeared. John says, " Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another % n

It gives an epitome of the great events to take place in the world. And history abundantly attests the truth of these predictions.

Daniel was taken captive in the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, when he was probably about twenty years old. His wisdom in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream first brought him into notice by the king. He was exalted in the empire, and so highly was he favored that succeeding kings made him prime minister of their kingdoms.

The great burden on his mind was to know the future welfare of his people the Jews, and the final triumph of God's people. He gave an outline of the national events to take place in the world, the rise and fall of empires as landmarks to show God's dealings with his people. Thus Babylon is first brought to view when she took part in the captivity of the children of Israel.

If we bear in mind the leading theme of the prophecies of Daniel we can better understand the language. We have no evidence in all his writings that he was anxious to know the destiny of the world nor the time of its end. Thus when he speaks of the " time of the end " he evidently does not mean the end of the world, but the time of the end of these things of which he is speaking, as it relates to the church or his people, or the sanctuary, and not the end of the world as some are inclined to think. This is clearly seen in his wonderful prayer recorded in the ninth chapter. He had been reading the prophecies of Jeremiah, and had found that the time of the captivity of his people was near an end. And in his prayer he confessed the sins of his people, and the justness of their punishment. Then he prayed for light, and information in regard to their future, and before the prayer was ended an angel was sent to give him the needed information.

His interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's image to represent the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Eoman empires, history tells us followed each other

DANIEL'S PROPHECY. 11

just as predicted. This vision is repeated in the seventh chapter with some additional information.

At the close of the eighth chapter Daniel records a vision of great importance to the Christian world in our day. In all the visions, which embraced four hundred years and more, no mention is made of time. He does not tell the time occupied, in the rise and fall of these four great empires. Bat in the thirteenth verse we have a change in the style. Time is brought to view. He says, " Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary, and the host to be trodden under foot. And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The subject here brought to view is not one of succession, but how long? when will these things be ?

Daniel heard two celestal beings talking with themselves, intended no doubt for his instruction. They were talking about time. These celestial beings were talking about the future of the church as connected with the world's history. Daniel, and through him the whole world, may listen to these messengers of God concerning the great events brought before us in these visions.

This seems to be a general statement concerning the longest period of time on record, without giving the date of the beginning of the period. It merely covers the whole time in which he was to give the events taking place in the intermediate time of which he was soon to speak. Thus Macaulay be-

12 GOD f S MESSENGERS.

gins his history of England by saying, " I propose to write the history of England from the accession of King James II. down to time which is within the memory of men still living." So the angel announces his subject, giving the scope of the vision, and the event to take place at the end of this period. Then Daniel heard a voice between the banks of Ulai which said, " Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision, so he came near where I stood and when he came I was afraid and fell upon my face, but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Now as he was speaking with me I was in a deep sleep, my face toward the ground, but he touched me and set me upright. And he said, Behold I will make thee know what shall be in the end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be. "

Here it is important to notice that the angel was commanded to make Daniel understand the vision. Then if he did not do it he failed to fulfil the celestial command, which we cannot believe he would do. Then if he did not understand the vision this time we must expect the explanation to be made at some subsequent time. But did he make Daniel understand at this time ? He had given the length of time of this prophetic period reaching down to modern times, and told the event to take place at the end of the two thousand and three hundred days, which was the cleansing of the sanctuary. The angel had just begun to make Daniel understand what should take place at the end of this prophetic period. He had given him

DANIEL'S PROPHECY. 13

the outlines of the vision, when Daniel was overcome by the strain of excitement which he had been under, and fainted, so the angel could make no further revelations to him at this time. The angel had given no date for the beginning of this long period, by which he could reckon the time of the end and understand the vision. He says at the end of this communication with the angel, "And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick certain days ; afterward I rose up and did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." And this closes the vision. If then he was not made to understand the vision, and he himself acknowledged that he did not, the angel did not obey the celestial command, unless ne made him to understand in some subsequent vision. He was told that the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true. There can be no doubt that this refers to the twenty-three hundred days, as this is the only place where time is spoken off. The language is similar to that used in Genesis, where in giving an account of the creation it is said " the evening and the morning were the first day." Here this term evening and morning is used to denote a period of time, perhaps a very long period. So here it must refer to a period of time, which he says is true, showing the great importance he attached to this long prophetic period. As this vision closes with a confession from Daniel that he did not understand the vision, we must look for the needed information in the next chapter relating another vision.

Daniel was commanded to shut up the vision. The reason given was that " it should be for many days." How did he obey this command ? He did not do it by leaving no record of the vision; on the other hand he recorded the exact words of the angel so plain that any one for these thousand years could read it. Did Daniel then obey the angel's command ? We think he did. The term shut up, or seal up, in the Bible means to make obscure so that it could not be easily understood. A book that is obscure or hard to understand is called a sealed book. In Isaiah xxix.ll we have this language, "And the vision of all is become unto you as a sealed book which men deliver to one that is learned saying, Eead this, I pray thee." In this case the book, or the parchment roll as the books were then, was not sealed, but it was hard to understand. This then was the command given to Daniel to make it obscure or hard to understand. The reason given for sealing it up was " for it shall be for many days." Now if Daniel was obedient to this command he did this.

In the next vision the angel gave another period allotted to his people reaching to the coming of the Messiah, which was to be seventy weeks, but he did not leave this period in obscurity, but told just when it should begin, which was from the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem so that any one could reckon the time when Christ should come. And the Jews did compute the time very exactly, and were looking for the Messiah just at the time when he appeared. Daniel was not told to seal up this vision, because it was soon to take place, and it was important that the Jews should knew the time of his appearance.

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"We must conclude that the angel did make Daniel understand the vision, for we cannot believe that the angel would be disobedient to the celestial command ; then why did he not record it so that all could easily understand just as he did the vision about the coming of Christ ? "We reply the reason was because he was commanded to " shut up the vision."

"What would have been the probable result if he had plainly given us the date of the beginning of the twenty-three hundred days when the sanctuary should be cleansed ? They would have computed the time when this would take place, just as they did the coming of the Messiah. How the world would have been convulsed about the event of cleansing the sanctuary ! They would have wondered and theorized, and worried, about the great event soon to take place. Volume after volume would have been written on the subject, and all this labor and anxiety would have been of no avail, for with all their wisdom they could not have found out what the cleansing of the sanctuary referred to, without the facts in history to guide them as we now have.

But it was wisely sealed up to the time of the end — that is, to near the end of this long time of prophecy. But when the end came the vision was opened, and we think the opening of this book is noticed in the Apocalypse, which we think is a sequel to the book of Daniel.

But we must now notice the length of time indicated by the twenty -three hundred days. First we can see that it was not literal days, for that would make only a little more than six years, a time far too short for the accomplishment of any great work, so we must conclude that the language is figurative. The next period to days measured by the sun is years, so we conclude that years are meant, each day for a year, making twenty-three hundred years. For this mode of interpretation we have ample proof in the Bible. In Num. xiv. 34 it is said, "After the days io which ye searched the land, even forty days each day for a year." And in Ezek. iv. 6, " And when thou hast accomplished them lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Juda forty days. I have appointed thee each day for a year." Ezekiel also symbolizes a year by days in the Babylonian captivity. Bishops Newton, Kirby, Scott, Keith, and others adopt this mode of interpretation. But the most conclusive proof of the correctness of the year-day principle is that when it is applied to the seventy weeks it exactly tallies with the account of the appearance of Christ.

KEY TO THE VISION, 17

Chapter II. Key To The Vision

Fifteen years had passed away since the last vision recorded in the eighth chapter. Revolution had shaken the empires of the world. Another king had taken the place of the proud King of Babylon. Cyrus had long since been called as God's messenger to do this work, and the prophet had even called him by name. The Medo-Persian king had usurped the throne of proud Belshazzar. The time was near when captive Israel was to be released from bondage, and permitted to return to their beloved land, for which their hearts had yearned for so many long years. While Daniel was burdened with the labors of prime minister of one of the greatest nations on earth, he still found time to study God's promises, as revealed by his prophets. Seventy years of captivity had not weakened his zeal and longing for the restoration of his people to their beloved city, Jerusalem. Not fearing the king nor the watchful eye of his enemies, his window was open toward Jerusalem when he prayed for their deliverance from bondage.

He had found out, by studying the prophecies of Jeremiah, that the time of the deliverance of his people from bondage was near at hand. Jeremiah had said (chapter xxv. 12) : "And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished that I will punish the King of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquities." This had been accomplished and the end was near. Daniel was God's messenger to proclaim this decree of the Almighty to the people. Thus, when any great event in fulfilment of prophecy is about to take place, God has raised up some messenger to announce it to the world. Sometimes they are chosen from the great and renowned of earth, sometimes from the humble walks of life. John was called to announce that the time had come for the Messiah to appear, and he knew well his mission. The unlearned fishermen of Galilee were God's messengers to bear the gospel to the world.

Daniel knew by the study of books that the time had come to vindicate God's promises to his people in their deliverance from bondage. His strong faith in God's promises and his zeal for the welfare of his people may be the reason why he was so often "called dearly beloved."

In the last vision the angel had communicated a long and important period, at the end of which the sanctuary should be cleansed. As the angel had as yet given him no date from which to calculate the twenty-three hundred days, and as the sanctuary was spoken of, and he did not yet understand the vision, it would be natural for him to suppose that this referred to the restoration of the temple service, for the sanctuary had been desolate and the temple laid waste. But he could not reconcile the long period of twenty-three hundred days with that

IEY TO THE VISION, 19

event, which according to prophecy was so near at hand. And in this perplexity, and his ardent desire to know what was allotted to his people in the future, we find him making that remarkable prayer recorded in the ninth chapter. He begins by confessing his sins and the sins of his people. Then, in reviewing God's care and signal deliverance of his people in times past, pleads for his aid in restoring them again to their favored land and worship at Jerusalem. In this prayer he remembers the sanctuary, which had been made desolate.

While he was yet speaking, we are told, Gabriel appeared to him, and again assured him that he was greatly beloved.

Fifteen years had passed since his last visit, but Daniel knew him to be the same angel who had appeared to him in the first vision. He says, " It is Gabriel, whom he had seen in the vision at the beginning," doubtless referring to the communication recorded in the eighth chapter. This is the next vision of which we have any record, which the prophet had with the celestial visitor. Hence, we may expect him to explain to him that which he did not understand in his last visit. He had now come to give him skill and additional knowledge. Gabriel speaks, and says, " O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding," as if he had said, " In my last visit, I was obliged to leave you without making you to fully understand the vision, because you could not endure more, hence you were perplexed, and I did not make you understand as I was commanded to do, therefore

20 GOJ) 'S MESSENGERS.

I am now come, O Daniel, greatly beloved, to give you understanding, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision."

This could have reference to nothing but the vision recorded in the eighth chapter. If Gabriel had come to make him understand the vision in the eighth chapter we may expect him to begin with that part of the vision which he did not understand, namely, that relating to time.

He begins by saying "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." He says nothing about the empires of the earth, as represented by the image and the beasts, but begins with time, just the thing Daniel did not understand. He begins with a statement precisely similar to that of the twenty-three hundred days recorded in the eighth chapter, where he was broken off by Daniel's sickness, but giving a different period of time, and telling what should be at the end of this period, just as he had done at the end of the twenty -three hundred days, when the sanctuary should be cleansed.

This shorter period would end with the time when God's covenant with the Jews as his peculiar people should end, and the Gentiles be brought in.

This time was given very definitely, but as yet there was no key given by which he could understand this period any more than the twenty-three hundred days.

They both stand in the same relation, for there was no starting point given from which to compute the end. So the angel's message was not complete.

But in the twenty-fifth verse he gives the key to unlock all these periods of prophetic time.

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He says, " Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, the streets shall be built again and the walls even in troublous times."

Here, then, we have the grand starting point of all these lines of prophecy. Then if we can find out the time of the going forth of the commandment we can easily compute the termination of the twenty-three hundred days, when the sanctuary is to be cleansed.

%<% GOD >S MESSENGERS.

Chapter III. Date Of The Prophetic Time

Having shown in the last chapter that the ninth chapter of Daniel is an explanation of the eighth chapter, as well as giving additional information in regard to the future history of the world, and that all these lines of prophecy started at the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, it will now be in place to ascertain the time of the going forth of this commandment. On this point we have abundant testimony. There are many events mentioned in this prediction to test the correctness of our chronology.

There are three events which have been claimed by different writers as the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. First, the decree of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the house of God, b.c. 536, Ezek. i. 4 ; second, the decree of Darius for the prosecution of the work which had been hindered about seventeen years ; third, the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus to Ezra, b.c 457, Ezra vii. There was also a permission given to Nehemiah to assist in the work, or a letter of introduction which could not be called a decree, which we may suppose would be written and signed by the king.

DATE OF THE PROPHETIC! TIME. %%

The decree of Cyrus could not be the commandment in question, for that pertained simply to the temple at Jerusalem, but the commandment was to restore and build Jerusalem, not the temple only, but the whole city. This decree was b.c. 536.

If we take sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years, which was to extend to the Messiah the Prince, it falls short fifty-three years of reaching even to the birth of Christ. The work which Cyrus did was dictated by the Lord. He was called to do this work a hundred years before his birth, and his decree was a step in the work of restoration, but it was too limited to meet the requirements of prophecy. Seven years after this Cyrus died, and was succeeded by Cambyses, called in Ezra iv. 6 Ahasuerus.