THE 
 
 PRE-MILLENNIAL 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY M. KIMBLE. 
 
 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorent of this mystery, 
 (lesl ye should be wise in your own conceits.) that blindness in part is 
 happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.— Row. 11 ; 25 . 
 
 LIMA, N. Y. 
 
 A. TIFFANY NORTON, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, RECORDER OFFICE. 
 
 1881. 
 
r 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the spring of 1879 my attention was called to the 
 Word of Godwin connection with his works among the 
 Jews. I could not understand very well, but I saw 
 enough to convince me that these must be momentous 
 times, and that if the Bible be true, there must soon be 
 a' great change of some kind. In the light which the 
 realization of this truth brought to bear I saw that I was 
 at a perilous distance from God, if the Lord Jesus should 
 suddenly appear. How could I meet him ? I called on 
 God for light and help. O! how worthless I seemed, 
 what had I ever done tor Christ who had done so much 
 for me ? I resolved to follow the leadings of the Holy 
 Spirit, and asked for direction. I thought if I could write 
 about these things, perhaps it might help somebody to 
 see the truth. I prayed God to show me if it was his 
 will that I should do so. It seemed to me that I ought 
 to write to the Jews concerning the matter, and al- 
 though I did not see the reason, yet because I had promis- 
 ed to follow my convictions of duty I determined to write, 
 remembering that Abraham obeyed and went out not 
 knowing whither he went. I thought perhaps this might 
 be all, but I soon found it was not. I could not go 
 to God in prayer without this question presenting itself : 
 “ Did you not say you would be guided by the Holy 
 Spirit? ” and when I began to feel that I could not fol- 
 low and commenced to waver, a sense of great darkness 
 and condemnation came over me, I felt that I was griev- 
 ing the Holy Spirit by not doing what I ought. I cried 
 to God for help, and said I will try to follow whitherso- 
 ever Thou leadest. I then commenced a most thorough 
 
4 
 
 search of the Scriptures. I could understand that a Re- 
 storation of a peculiar and glorious kind was promised 
 to the children of Israel, and that God was now without 
 doubt moving in that direction, (concerning which things 
 I wrote to the Jews) but about the Gentiles I could not 
 understand. In Acts. 15, 14-17 James says : “ Simeon 
 
 hath declared, how God at the first did visit the Gentiles 
 to take out of them a people for His name, and to this 
 agree the words of the prophets, as it is written : After 
 this I will return and will build again theltabernacle of 
 David which is fallen down, etc. Here the times of the 
 Gentiles are referred to as belonging to the New Testa- 
 ment, but for the Restoration the reader is carried into 
 the Old Testament, thus making in an important sense, 
 the New Testament a Gentile dispensation. From this 
 quotation I could see no reason for supposing that the 
 Restoration should begin before the taking out of this 
 people, but I could not see clearly, my mind was con- 
 fused ; if the present Gospel conditions continued until 
 the end of time I failed to see how there could be any 
 Scriptural Restoration of Israel, which there must of a 
 necessity be if the doctrine of a millennium by spiritual 
 progression be true. I could not make a reconciliation, 
 and the more closely I studied the more these things 
 seemed to clash. I therefore took them before God in 
 fasting and in prayer, saying if it be Thy will that I work 
 in this department of thy Word, then it is needful that 
 I understand these things. I besought Him to enlighten 
 my mind by some means and show me the truth. Before 
 the day of fasting was gone, some one came to my room 
 and asked me if I had seen an article concerning a change 
 in the present Gospel Dispensation. I was very much 
 surprised, and said I had not. This seemed like an an- 
 swer to my prayer, but did not satisfy me. Not long 
 after by a peculiar train of circumstances I was called to 
 go some distance from home among entire strangers in 
 a manner that seemed to me unnecessary. I resolved 
 to ask the Lord to show me whether it really was His 
 
5 
 
 will that I should go on with His work to which His 
 Spirit seemed leading by so ordering events that I need 
 not go to that place and made it a subject of fasting and 
 prayer ; the next morning being still irrdoubt I said, O! 
 Lord I do believe that Thou answerer my prayer ! but 
 just at that moment this question came to my mind with 
 so much force it seemed as if somy one near me asked 
 it : “ Would you proceed with this work if you were 
 
 obliged to go to this place ?” I said Thy will, Oh, God, 
 be done ! and felt that the Lord would make it plain in 
 His own way. While there the article to which my at- 
 tention had been called on the day of fasting and prayer 
 came into my possession in so providential a manner I 
 could not but feel that the Lord was endorsing it. The 
 leading topics were : The Set Time to Favor Zion ; Can 
 it be Known When ? — Jerusalem in Prophecy ; — Close of 
 the Christian Dispensation; — Concurring Testimony of 
 the Great Pyramid. The treatment of these topics was 
 in substance, that though the day and hour of Christ’s 
 coming may not be revealed yet no reasonable mind 
 can doubt that the sacred numbers were given, to teach, 
 at least, the approximate time of that event so that those 
 who. properly study God’s Word in connection with his 
 works may know when it is nigh, even at the do.or. 
 There is overwhelming evidence that we are already in 
 the incipient stages of a new Dispensation — “Jerusalem in 
 Prophecy.” The reader need not be told that a very 
 large proportion of the prophetic Scriptures have a direct 
 reference to the final return of scattered Israel to their 
 own land. The one question now is, are they in process 
 of fulfillment. To this there can be but one answer. 
 Those who are familiar with the present current of affairs 
 must know that in place of a few hundred Jews which 
 heretofore dwelt in Jerusalem there are now many 
 thousands, but though God has set His hand to the work 
 of restoring Israel, yet are they to pass through the ap- 
 proaching time to Jacob’s trouble before their full deliv- 
 ance shall be wrought out. It is in view of this time of 
 trouble which is doubtless much nearer than most people 
 
6 
 
 are willing to believe, that Jesus says: “Watch ye 
 therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted 
 worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass 
 and to stand before the son of Man.” This appears to be 
 the next event in the course of prophecy. The Great 
 Pyramid seems wonderfully to accord with the Bible in a 
 prophetic point of view. If, as seems to be the c^se, it 
 is the result of Divine inspiration, then what was its in- 
 tent ? Let the Bible answer. Both doubtless had a com- 
 mon origin and can bear solemn witness to each other. 
 
 “ In that day there* shall be an altar jin the land of Egypt. 
 
 * * * And it shall be for a sign and a witness unto 
 
 the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt.” * * * Nu- 
 
 merous spirituabsymbolisms are found in its interior pas- 
 sages and chambers. Many of the oldest scientists and 
 divines concur in the belief that the grand gallery sym- 
 bolizes the Christian dispensation. If this be true the 
 year 1881-2 must in some important sense terminate the 
 Gospel age. This chamber is so constructed that the 
 measurements in inches, coincide exactly with the years 
 discovered long before by able Bible students as closing 
 periods of three very important prophecies, namely : 
 First, 1875 as closing the count of the Jewish Sabbatic 
 system ; Second, 1878 as completing the double curse, 
 at which time the Jews were granted liberty to return to 
 Palestine and rebuild Jerusalem ; Third, the year 1881 
 marking the end of the Gospel harvest.” 
 
 This did not, however, answer the query in my mind 
 concerning the relation which the Gospels sustain to the 
 Old Testament prophecies ; and I studied more critically 
 and prayerfully and found that Christ in all His teaching 
 endeavored to impress upon the minds of His disciples 
 that he came to fulfill all that was written concerning 
 Him ; saying : “ Think not that I am come to destroy 
 
 the law or the prophets ; I am not come to destroy but 
 to fulfill.” Therefore when Christ said to his disciples : 
 “ If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again 
 and receive you unto myself,” He points out the time of 
 His coming by referring them to the fulfillment of the 
 prophecies concerning the completion of the curse. 
 
7 
 
 If through temptation or otherwise I have thought to 
 leave this work there has come over my soul great dark- 
 ness and trouble. This passage of Scripture is pressed 
 home to my mind with great force : “ Whosoever shall 
 be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son 
 of Man be ashamed.” I, therefore, feel it my duty to in- 
 vite serious attention to the coincidence of the events of 
 this present time with the Word of God. 
 
 §he %nst or §onbh §unse of Jferad. 
 
 Men have but to open their eyes to see events trans- 
 piring of a very peculiar character ; among them are the 
 works of God among the Children of Israel, such as has 
 never before occurred since it was said of them that 
 they should be led away captive into all nations. The 
 nature of this captivity is defined in Deut. 2 8 ; 63-66. 
 “Ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou 
 goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee 
 among all people from one end of the earth even unto 
 the other. And among these nations shalt thou find 
 no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest. 
 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou 
 shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance 
 of thy life.” 
 
The more thoroughly to appreciate the force of this 
 prediction, we will give a hasty glance at their history. 
 “ At the taking of Jerusalem, it is said, one million, one 
 hundred thousand perished by severe famine and pesti- 
 lence. In other places, it is said, two hundred and fifty 
 thousand were cut off, besides great numbers being sent 
 into Egypt to labor as slaves. The Emperor, Adrian, 
 published an edict, forbidding them upon pain of death, 
 to set foot in Jerusalem, or even to approach the coun- 
 try round about. In the sixth century twenty thous- 
 and of them were slain, and as many sold as slaves. In 
 Spain, A. D., 700, they were ordered*to be enslaved. In 
 the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries, their miseries 
 increased. It is shocking to think what multitudes of 
 them the eight crusades murdered in Germany, Hun- 
 gary, Lesser Asia and elsewhere. About 1349, the ter- 
 rible massacre at Toledo, forced many of them 
 to kill themselves or change their religion. In Persia 
 they were universally murdered, 4 very few escaping to 
 Turkey. They have at different times been expelled 
 from every part of the world. From age to age they 
 have been exposed to miseries, persecution and mur- 
 der ; yet they exist in spite of ignominy and hatred. 
 Their land itself has been under a never-ceasing curse ; 
 Pagans, Christians, Mohammedans, in a word, almost 
 all nations have seized and held Jerusalem. The whole 
 history is a standing proof of the word of God ; it so 
 'signally and beyond all contradiction, fulfills even to 
 minute particulars its numerous predictions. The long- 
 protracted existence of the Jews as a Separate people, 
 is not only a standing evidence of the truth of pro- 
 phecy, but is of a kind which defies hesitation, imitation 
 or parallel.” 
 
 It is quite possible that the Jews might have said, as 
 many at this day do concerning the fulfillment of the 
 prophecies, that they were to be spiritually understood, 
 but if they did they found themselves most fearfully 
 mistaken, as all will who try to make the truth of the 
 
9 
 
 inspired Word a spiritual myth. Now since in the past 
 so much care has been bestowed upon the fulfillment of 
 the Word, what authority has any one for believing that 
 God will be less particular about the literal fulfillment of 
 His Word in the future as regards both Jews and Gen- 
 tiles ? 
 
 JERUSALEM is a place around which a large propor- 
 tion of the prophecies cluster ; when the God of Jacob 
 unfolded His plan to the prophet Daniel, this among 
 other things was in it : that on account of the great 
 wickedness of the Children of Israel their beloved city 
 should be delivered over to the abomination of desola- 
 tion until those things which God had determined upon 
 them should be accomplished. When the disciples ask- 
 ed the Lord Jesus about those things He explained the 
 prophecy in this way : “ Jerusalem shall be trodden 
 
 down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are 
 fulfilled.” The fulfillment commenced about forty years 
 after the crucifixion of Christ, when Jerusalem was 
 seized and the whole city, except three towers and a 
 small part of the wall, w&s razed to the ground. Vespa- 
 sian ordered the whole land to be sold, thus transferring 
 Jerusalem and its vicinity into the possession of the 
 Gentiles to be trodden under their feet. When God 
 curses, man cannot annul or reverse it. The Emperor 
 Julian proved the truth of this assertion when in A. D. 
 360, being sensible that the evident accomplishment of 
 our Lord’s prophecy concerning the Jewish nation made 
 a strong impression upon the Gentiles and was the prin- 
 cipal means of their conversion,' he resolved to deprive 
 Christianity of this support by bringing the Jews to oc- 
 cupy their own land and by allowing them the exercise 
 of their religion. For this purpose he resolved to re- 
 build Jerusalem and to rear the temple upon its ancient 
 foundations, because he knew that only there they would 
 offer sacrifices. In the prosecution of this design he 
 wrote to the Jews a letter, which is still extant, inviting 
 them to return to their native country, and for their en- 
 couragement he said to them : “ The Holy City, Jerusa- 
 
lem, which of many years ye have desired to see inhab- 
 ited, I will rebuild by mine own labor,” and he began to 
 rebuild the temple, but his workmen were soon obliged 
 to desist by an immediate and evident interposition of 
 God. Terrible balls of fire bursting forth near the foun- 
 dations with frequent explosions, oft times burning the 
 workmen, rendered the place inaccessible and put a stop 
 to the work. Thus while Jews and heathen -under the 
 direction of the Roman emperor united their whole 
 force to baffle our Lord’s prediction they did but the more 
 conspicuously accomplish it. This miraculous interposition 
 is attested by many credible witnesses and historians, in 
 particular by Marcillinus, a heathen and friend of Julian, 
 and by Zemuth David, a Jew, who honestly confesses 
 that the emperor was hindered by God in this attempt. 
 Socrates wrote his account within fifty ^years of the 
 transaction and while many of the eye witnesses were 
 living. In the crusades all the power of Europe was 
 employed to rescue Jerusalem from the heathen, but in 
 vain. The Jews have been even more zealous to gain pos- 
 session of their city, and amid all the degradation, insult 
 and injustice heaped upon them for more than eighteen 
 hundred years their love for the City of David has been 
 undying, no distance of time or space can alienate it, 
 and though they have made repeated efforts to recover 
 it, they have never been able to enter it by right until 
 1878, when through England, by a Jew, God opened a 
 door of great possibilities to this people. Does any one 
 presume to believe that a Divine interposition would 
 hinder the building of Jerusalem to-day ? If that 
 part of the Scriptures bearing on this subject were 
 distinctly understood, there would be occasion for sur- 
 prise, for between the removal of the curse and the 
 coming of Christ there is no intervening event in 
 prophecy ; the one follows close on the other. 
 
THE RELATION THAT THE GOSPELS BEAR TO THE OLD 
 TESTAMENT IN THE FULFILLMENT OF 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 Just where the close of the indignation or the lifting 
 of the curse forms a dividing line between two great 
 periods is a pivotal point on which balances a matter of 
 great moment, not only to the Christian but also to the 
 unchristian world. At this point we meet a difficulty; the 
 Gospel writers do not mention the Restoration, whereas 
 a large portion of the prophecies of the Old Testament 
 have reference to the final return of scattered Israel. 
 Nov/ if the coming of Christ, spoken of in the Gospels, 
 be at the end of time and this present Gospel dispensa- 
 tion is to continue, then must the Restoration described 
 by Ezekiel and Zechariah, also the Revelation be useless 
 and superfluous prophecies ; one of two things must be 
 true, either there is a monstrous contradiction or this 
 Gospel is a dispensation to the Gentiles ending with the 
 times therein mentioned. Christ makes this point clear 
 by declaring that He “ came not to destroy but to fulfill 
 the law and the prophets ; ” this declaration, then, is the 
 foundation and keystone of the whole structure. The 
 Gospels, in the fulfillment of the prophecies, carry the 
 church to a fixed and definite period in the Old Testa- 
 ment ; this period as shown by the prophet is the end or 
 consummation of the indignation poured out upon the 
 Jews. History, as well as the Bible, proves that the 
 Gentiles were the instruments for accomplishing the in- 
 dignation ; it is therefore evident that now when God 
 has removed this great curse from Jerusalem, that the 
 times of the Gentiles have begun to end, and a new 
 order of things has commenced ; had the Restoration be- 
 longed to the Gentile or Christian administration, it 
 would most surely have been so stated in the Gospel, 
 for there is no deceit or variableness in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. It is well known that between the beginning 
 of the Christian and the ending of the Jewish dispen- 
 sation there was no sudden separation or distinct line 
 of demarkation, the one was merged into the other, and 
 
12 
 
 in like manner this Gentile dispensation is passing into 
 the incoming one. All who are acquainted with the 
 history of the Mosaic and Christian eras, know that 
 they began with the Lords order of re-construction : mir- 
 acles, wonders and great upheavals of the nations. The 
 greater the blessing the greater the trouble that ac- 
 companied it. As this last and crowning period of the 
 world’s history just commencing will be the most glori- 
 ous, so the trouble and struggle that'usher it in will be 
 the greatest that the world has ever known. Indeed, 
 this transition period contains, according to Scripture, 
 not only a re-construction of the moral world, but al- 
 so of the earth itself. Isa. 66 ; 22. For SI the new 
 heavens and new earth which I will make shall remain 
 before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your 
 name remain. This being the case, reason must support 
 the prophecies of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel, con- 
 cerning the great distress of this re-construction pe- 
 riod. Jer. 25 ; 33. And the slain of the Lord shall be 
 at that day from one end of the earth even unto the 
 other end of the earth, they shall not be lamented, 
 neither gathered nor buried. Isa. 24 ; 3. The land 
 shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled. Isa. 24 ; 
 12. In the city is left desolation and the gate is smit- 
 ten with destruction. So severe will be this judgment 
 that of the remaining inhabitants it is said in Isa. 24 ; 
 13 : “ When thus it shall be in the midst of the land 
 
 among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an 
 olive-tree, and as the gleaning-grapes when the vintage 
 is done.” For the reason of this, listen to the word of 
 the Lord : Isa. 24 ; 5, 6. “ The earth also is defiled un- 
 der the inhabitants thereof, because they have trans- 
 gressed the laws, and changed the ordinance. Therefore 
 hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell 
 therein are desolate, therefore the inhabitants are burn- 
 ed and few men left.” Let no one deceive himself con- 
 cerning the nature of that period following the close of 
 the Gospel harvest. All through the inspired Word, 
 from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of 
 
3 
 
 
 Revelation, wherever it is mentioned, it is styled a day 
 of judgments, wherein God will draw nigh and visit them 
 that dwell upon the earth and will make inquisition of 
 *-hem that have hurt unjustly with their unrighteousness 
 the harvest will be past ; this is made very plain by all 
 those parables of our Lord where He represents the 
 wicked being separated from the just and as the refuse 
 from the net and harvest is destroyed, or burned, such 
 will be the condition of the impenitent at the close of 
 the Gospel harvest. This destruction will not be, as 
 many think, an instantaneous, but a gradual work, as is 
 shown by the stone smiting the image on the feet, 
 breaking it in pieces and it becomes like chaff, which the 
 wind carries away ; so earthly kingdoms are first broken 
 and cease to exist and then the stone fills the whole 
 earth. Although this is a gradual work it will be none 
 the less fearful ; it will be a day of mourning and lamen- 
 tation. Amos 8; u, 12. “Behold the days come 
 saith the Lord God that I will send a famine in 
 the land, not a famine of bread nor of thirst for 
 water, but of hearing the words of the Lord and 
 they shall wander from sea to sea, from the north 
 even to the east- they shall run to and fro to seek 
 the word of the Lord and shall not find it.” This time 
 of moral re-construction wherein the land will be 
 cleansed from sin and sinners is also Jacob’s great day 
 of trouble, through which he must pass before he can 
 come to his time of promised good. This, saith the 
 Lord, in Jer. 30 ; 11. “Though I make a full end of all 
 nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not 
 make a full end of thee.” Jere. 23 ; 7, 8. “ Behold the 
 
 days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say 
 the Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel 
 out of the land of Egypt. But the Lord liveth, which 
 brought up and which led the seed of the house of 
 Israel out of the north country and from all countries 
 wherein I had driven them ; and they shall dwell in 
 their own land.” 
 
14 
 
 The Prophet Daniel speaks of this period in plain 
 terms, bringing in at the same time another important 
 event. Dan. 12 ; i. “And at that time — the close of the 
 indignation — shall Michael stand up, the great prince 
 which standeth for the children of thy people, and there 
 shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since 
 there was a nation, even to that same time and at that 
 time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall 
 be found written in the book.” In .Luke, 21 ; 25, the 
 Saviour referring His disciples to the prophecy of Daniel 
 enlarges and illuminates it. He tells them that “ Jeru- 
 salem shall be trodden down until that which is deter- 
 mined shall be finished and then there shall be signs in 
 the sun and in the moon and in the stars ; and upon the 
 earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the 
 waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear and for 
 looking after those things which are coming on the 
 earth ; for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” 
 Then Christ specifies the first great event which is to 
 transpire in the era now upon us. “ Then shall 
 they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power 
 and great glory.” What is He coming for ? “ Watch 
 
 ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be account- 
 ed worthy to escape all these things that shall come 
 to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.” Dean Al- 
 ford says, and almost every one bows to him in the mat- 
 ter of interpretation, that he must insist that this com- 
 ing of Christ to take the church to himself is not the 
 same event as the general judgment. The deliverance ot 
 the church is one thing and the judgment is another. This 
 separation or gathering out is plainly taught in the Gos- 
 pels, Luke 17 ; 34-36. “ I tell you in that night there 
 
 shall be two men in one bed ; the one shall be taken 
 and the other left. Two women shall be grinding to- 
 gether ; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two 
 men shall be in one field ; the one shall be taken and 
 the other left. In Acts. 1 5 ; 14-17, James says : “Simon 
 hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gen- 
 tiles to take out of them a people for his name.” And 
 
i5 
 
 to this agree the words of the prophets ; as it is written: 
 “ After this I wilL return and will build again the taber- 
 b nacle of David, which is fallen down ; and I will build 
 
 again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.” Now we 
 see that instead of the people of God remaining upon 
 I earth during the peril of the re-organizing period, 
 
 which is to open with the coming of the Son of Man ; 
 like Noah and Lot, they are to be taken away, but for 
 those who reject Christ there can be nothing but trouble ; 
 it is said of them : “ Ye shall remain in the plagues, 
 
 for God shall not deliver you because ye have sinned 
 against him.” Oh, that God would open the eyes of the 
 careless in the churches as well as in the world ! 
 
 At that point in the Gospels where Christ in his ex- 
 planations ot the prophecies has defined the close of the 
 Gospel harvest, very many interpreters, leaning on their 
 own understanding, have made a great blunder, becauso 
 they could not reconcile these teachings with their en- 
 deavor to stretch the Gospel over a period for which it 
 was never intended ; they have thrown a spiritual bridge 
 across the chasm and say those things must be “ spiri- 
 tually understood.” It is strange that man cannot see 
 that God’s Word cannot be made over or modified in 
 any way, no matter how much it may be desired with- 
 out the greatest danger. We would most earnestly 
 caution the followers of these bridge builders to take 
 care how they attempt to cross their flimsy and rotten 
 bridge, for when they come to the e'dge of the chasm, 
 J unless they are ready to go up, they will most certainly 
 
 go down, not across. That this doctrine of “spiritually 
 understood,” is not of God may be seen by a very lit- 
 tle observation. Does it tend to soothe and deaden, or 
 to aropse the church to energy and life ? This quiet- 
 ing decoction of the enemy is so potent that many of 
 the churches are sleeping on the very verge of this most 
 solemn event. In the study of the Scriptures, when- 
 ever, through unbelief the help of the Holy Spirit is 
 ignored, the devil takes advantage and influences the 
 mind. Daniel Whitby, D. D., was evidently thus in- 
 
1 6 
 
 fluenced when he developed a theory for spiritualizing, 
 or so changing the meaning of God’s Word concerning 
 the Coming of Christ, and the future prophecies per- 
 taining to him as to make them of no effect, teaching 
 that all that part of Scripture bearing on a new order 
 or dispensation so plainly taught all through the Bible 
 must be “ spiritually understoqd.” Ah, he did not see 
 Satan chuckling over this new dogma which he himself 
 had instigated, to be set afloat among the churches in 
 order to give them that delightful peace and safety 
 feeling which they now have ; but, alas, “when they shall 
 say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh 
 upon them.” Thess. 5, 3. We fear that a great harvest 
 of souls will be garnered for Satan, through the preach- 
 ing of this false and dangerous doctrine ; and what ac- 
 count will those give to God, who teach these hypoth- 
 eses gotten up by man instead of the pure Word of 
 God. In the case mentioned above there is a fallacy, 
 which if enforced against the rest of the Scriptures, 
 would undermine the whole, there is just as much, au- 
 thority for saying that all that has been fulfilled should 
 be spiritually understood, as that what is to come 
 should be thus received. If one part is literally true 
 the rest must be. All the powers of hell are thrown 
 against this door of knowledge, the devil is determined 
 that the churches shall not know the truth concerning 
 the Coming of Christ ; he knows full well what a power 
 for good to the church and of damage to his kingdom 
 this knowledge would be. He has dragged it in the 
 dust and covered it with ignominy and shame, so that 
 Christians are loth to talk about this most beautiful and 
 glorious doctrine. This fact proves it to be God’s truth, 
 for had it been false Satan would not havfe troubled him- 
 self so much about it. 
 
 Since all the prophecies respecting the curse of Israel 
 have been so exactly and literally fulfilled there is no 
 alternative but to expect that all the promises of good, 
 which like brilliant gems, are scattered all through the 
 Old Testament, will be exactly fulfilled. Many ask did 
 
i7 
 
 not Christ command his disciples to go into all the world 
 and preach this Gospel to every creature? This Gospel 
 has not been preached to every creature, therefore the 
 nd of the Gospel harvest cannot be near. It must be 
 borne in mind that this was an instruction, not a proph- 
 ecy. The Lord of the harvest sent his laborers into the 
 field saying unto them : “ go into all the world, carry 
 the G ospel to all classes, Jew, Gentile, bond or free, be- 
 cause the Gospel of the kingdom must be preached in 
 all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then 
 shall the end come.” The Gospel must be published 
 among all nations to fulfill that prophecy which says : 
 “ when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power 
 of the holy people all these things shall be finished.” 
 
 The Saviour says of that day and hour knoweth no man, 
 not even the Son, but the Father ; no two words in the 
 whole Bible have been so unreasonably magnified and 
 misapplied as these same two little words. The Father 
 knew that men would press the Saviour to tell them the 
 exact time of his coming and wisely withheld the day 
 and the hour, but left him free to give the signs of His 
 appearing. “ Now learn a parable of the fig-tree ; 
 when her branches is tender and putteth forth leaves ye 
 know that summer is near ; so ye, in like manner, when 
 ye shall see these things come to pass know that it is 
 nigh, even at the door.” The free translation is, al- 
 though the day and hour may not be known, yet when 
 ye shall see the Gospel published among all nations* and 
 the great curse removed from Jerusalem, then know 
 that the end of the Gospel harvest is nigh. If men 
 would receive the Word of God without adulteration 
 they would have no difficulty in knowing when the time 
 was nigh. There is no instance on record when destruc- 
 tion was determined but the' Lord has given warning by 
 prophets or otherwise Besides the signs given in the 
 New Testament God has revealed to us through the 
 prophets the approximate times by which able Bible stu- 
 dents have discovered the closing period of three im- 
 portant Bible prophecies : “first, the year 1875 as closing 
 the count of the Jewish Sabbatic system which p.oints to 
 the great restitution age ; second, the year 1878 as com- 
 pleting the double or second part of the Jewish chastise- 
 ment ; and third, the year 1881 as marking the end of the 
 Gospel harvest.” Now when the events of 1878 prove it 
 to be a correct date what in the name of reason should 
 be thought of the other ? Oh my God, enlighten the 
 minds of men ! 
 
. ■ f ; 
 
 18 
 
 Many professedly Christian people when 
 their views concerning- the coming of Christ, reply after 
 this fashion : “Oh, I do not think it worth while to 
 trouble myself about these things, if I am only ready 
 that is all that is necessary, I do not believe we can 
 know much about it any way.” This answer implies a 
 virtual rejection of the truth, either from prejudice or 
 dislike and they do not want to hear it. What would 
 such people think of a neighbor who knew their house 
 would soon be burned and should give ho warning ? The 
 church pays a great deal of attention to baptism, yet it 
 is mentioned but “ eleven times, while the Coming of 
 Christ is mentioned fifty times,” being made prominent 
 by the prophets, Christ, and his apostles. 
 
 Some say why is so much said about Jerusalem, it is a 
 poor place, the Jews themselves would not take it as a 
 gift, and more than that, they hate the Lord Jesus and 
 are very bitter against Him. Ah, blindness has happen- 
 ed to them which ages on ages under existing circum- 
 stances could not remove. The New Testament gives 
 no authority for believing l&^t wi±L esa» feffrid ter- 
 
 gsrbsek Je?malsem or that their blindness will be re- 
 moved until the appearing of the Son of Man, but the 
 fact that the curse is so far lifted that Jerusalem could be 
 restored or built is a fact on which all honest and earn- 
 est minds should look with apprehension, for in the 
 course of prophecy all things are now ready. 
 
 SUMMARY. I. All the prophecies in the past concern- 
 ing both Jews and Gentiles being fulfilled even to the 
 minutest particulars, what authority is there for believ- 
 ing that the remaining prophecies will not be as surely 
 and exactly fulfilled ? 
 
 II. The great curse pronounced upon Jerusalem be- 
 ing lifted it can now be rebuilt ; therefore, the time of 
 the Gentiles, as far as the curse is concerned, must be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 III. From the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ the 
 Gospel harvest follows close on the lifting of the curse 
 from Jerusalem. 
 
 IV. The great day of trouble and destruction of sin- 
 ners so clearly shown by the prophets and represented 
 by Christ as a furnace, according to the Scriptures must 
 begin at His appearing. 
 
 V. Notwithstanding people do not believe these 
 things and put the event far away, yet this fact does not 
 change the truth of the Gospel. “ Watch ye, therefore, 
 tor ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Luke, 
 21, 25. 
 
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From a careful and prayerful study 
 of God’ s Wordy in connection with the 
 events of this present time, the writer is 
 forced to the belief that the Coming of