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shall proclaim, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still;” Revelation
22:11; that is, until probation is closed and the ministry of the gospel is ended.
Among the first who taught the third message and the open door,
was the author of this book. By her untiring zeal, her earnest appeals,
and the clear light of the testimony which she bore, she did much to
advance the cause, to correct the errors of fanaticism, to renew the
hopes of the desponding, and to cheer the hearts of the “little flock”
who loved the appearing of their soon-coming Saviour.
Note 7. Page 275.—For a brief examination of important points
in the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-12, see note 8. This message contains the last warning that men on probation will ever
receive, as it is followed by the coming of the Son of man to reap
the harvest of the earth,—to “gather the wheat into his garner,” and
to cast the clusters of the vine of the earth into the winepress of
the wrath of God. See verses 14-20. It is for this reason that it is given in such strong, such terrible language of threatening. The
wrath which it denounces upon the worshipers of the beast and his
image is contained in “the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up
the wrath of God.” Revelation 15:1. Compare chap. 16:1, 2. That wrath “is poured out without mixture;” for then judgment falls upon
the incorrigible without mercy, because our Saviour will then have
finished his priestly work, and he will come, not to offer salvation,
but to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9.
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But the throne of God will be clear, and si
excuse; for the warnings of the scriptures are given in no uncertain
language. To the impious the Lord says: “Because I have called, and
ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but
ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I
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also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh
as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me
early, but they shall not find me.” Proverbs 1:24-28. And the warning of the last message is going to all the world. It also is clear and
decisive in its utterance. “The commandments of God,” which it
enforces, are not obscure or hard to be understood. The fourth says,
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” This was
the Lord’s day—his holy day—from the creation of the world. He
claims no other as his; he sanctified no other; he never commanded
any other to be observed. They who turn away from a truth so plain,
who reject a warning so solemn, will have no answer to make when
the Lord commands them to depart.
But terrible as these words of threatening are, the message is
given in mercy. It is a last effort on the part of the Lord to arouse
men to a sense of their danger; to induce them to turn from their evil
ways—from their transgressions of his holy law—that they may have
eternal life. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked;
but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11. But if they will not come unto him that they may have life; if they choose
to follow the multitude to do evil, rather than to walk in the way
of God’s commandments, then they must bear their iniquity. Their
blood will be upon their own heads. God gives them the power to
choose, and warns them against the evil which lies before them.
Against all his entreaties, they do despite to the spirit of grace, and
trample on the precious blood of Christ which was shed for their
redemption.
Note 8. Page 396.—These words are based upon the prophecy
of Revelation 13 and 14. The people with whom the author stands co
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flock” will unite to exalt the sunday and enforce it upon all by
stringent laws. It may assist the reader in understanding the points
in the latter part of chapter XXX. To notice the facts of the prophecy
on which this idea is based.
1. The beast of Revelation 13:1-10 is understood to refer to the papal power. This has been the general opinion of Protestants.
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2. “The sea” out of which this beast arose is the same as “the
waters” of Revelation 17:15, explained to be “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” The papacy was upheld by many
nations.
3. This beast has the characteristics of the four beasts of Dan 7,
which represent the four empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and
Rome. It is the inheritor of the power held by these four empires
successively.
4. The beast with two horns, Revelation 13:11-17, is in a different locality, “Coming up out of the earth;” not by the conquest of
nations and peoples, but growing as a plant, out of the earth. This
represents the united states, a locality outside of the dominion of
“All the world,” as known to the ancients.
5. This beast has two horns, the civil and the ecclesiastical. That
a church is represented by a horn is proved in Daniel 7, the “little horn” representing the Roman Church, even before it was possessed
of civil power. So also in Revelation 13. The dragon (pagan Rome) gave the beast (the church) his power (civil power), and seat (city of
Rome), and great authority.
6. The two-horned beast appears in two phases,—with the gen-
tleness of a lamb and the fierceness of the dragon. This has, to some
extent, already been shown, in the inconsistency of sending forth
to the world the doctrine of the equality of all men in respect to
natural rights,—the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness,—and upholding by law all the evils of American slavery. Also,
by professing to grant the privilege to all to worship God according
to the dictates of their own consciences, and then persecuting the
Baptists and Quakers for following their conscientious convictions.
But this will be shown more fully in the future, when Congress shall
be called upon to make laws concerning religion.
7. The identity of the “two-horned beast” is further shown by its
wonder working; by its deceiving “them that dwell on the earth by
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those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.”
Revelation 13:14. Spiritualism arose in the United States, and has gone to all the world by means of American mediums.
8. This beast causes both “the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast.” This can be easily referred to laws
compelling the observance of the Sunday instead of the Sabbath
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of the Lord,—the seventh day. The Sunday-Sabbath institution is