STUDY I.

SPECIAL TIMES AND SEASONS DIVINELY

APPOINTED.

THE TIMES AND SEASONS OF DIVINE APPOINTMENT.WHY NOT MORE PLAINLY STATED. IN DUE TIME REVEALED.-EARNEST DESIRre to Know THE TIMES AND SEASONS COMMENDABLE.-MISTAKES OF ADVENTISTS-THE REAL OBJECT OF TIME PROPHECIES.-OUR PRESENT POSITION. THE OBJECT OF SUCCEEDING CHAPTERS.

A

S in "THE Plan of the AGES" we endeavored to set forth the prominent outlines of the divine arrangement for human salvation from a purely Scriptural standpoint, so it is the purpose of this volume to show, on the same authority, that the various features of that plan have defnitely appointed times and seasons for their accomplishment; that, so far as that plan has progressed, each succeeding feature of it has been accomplished exactly on time; and that the time is now at hand for its culmination in the blessing of all the families of the earth.-Gen. 28: : 14; Gal. 3: 16.

During the long centuries of the Gospel age, the Church, as instructed by her Lord, has prayed, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." But, like drowsy children, because the time was long, many have almost forgotten the import of the words that now seem to die upon their lips. To all such whose hearts are still loyal to the Lord, we call in the words of the Apostle

Paul, "It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the [Millennial] day is at hand." Yea, it is even at the doors. The kingdom of heaven is now at hand, not in its mere embryotic or incipient stage, as at our Lord's first advent (Matt. 3: 2), but in the sense in which he declared it was yet to come (John 18: 36, 37)—"in power and great glory."

Only those, however, who have made a careful study of the Plan of the Ages will be prepared to appreciate the teaching of this volume concerning the divinely appointed times and seasons for the development of the various features of that plan, and for its final consummation. It is hoped that none will undertake this study, therefore, before they have thoroughly comprehended the lessons of the preceding volume. Otherwise it will not be meat in due season to them. Truth is only meat in season when we are prepared to receive it. A child is not prepared to solve a mathematical problem until he has first been instructed in the use of figures and of language. So also with divine truth: it is built up step by step, and to gain an understanding of it we must ascend by the steps provided-carefully, of course, proving by the Scriptures every advance step we take, yet not fearful to take the steps as we thus find for them sure footing. Only those who have implicit faith in God, and to whom a "Thus saith the Lord" is the end of all doubt and controversy, can be led by the Spirit of God into advanced truth as it becomes due-led into things new, as well as confirmed in things old and proved true by the same authority.

Only such, God proposes so to lead. In the end of the age, which is the harvest time, much truth is due to be uncovered, which God did not make known in times past, even to his most faithful and devoted children. It was in the

time of the end that the Prophet Habakkuk (2 : 3) declared that the vision, concerning the glorious consummation of God's plan, should speak and not lie; and that to some of God's children it should speak so plainly that they would be able, as directed, to make it plain on tables; that through their instrumentality others might be enabled to read it clearly: and then Daniel also (12:4, 9, 10) declared that knowledge should be increased, and that the wise (through faith) should understand the vision.

Our object here is not to prophesy out of the abundance of human imagination, nor in any sense to be wise above what is written in the sacred Scriptures. Therefore, discarding all human inventions, we keep close to the fountain of divine truth, endeavoring to read prophecy in the light of prophecy and its manifest fulfilment; and to make plain upon tables that which God said would be sealed up, and which therefore could not be understood before this time of the end, but of which he gave assurance that it should then be understood.

In this volume we offer a chain of testimony on the subject of God's appointed times and seasons, each link of which we consider Scripturally strong, while the whole of it when viewed together, in the relationship which one part bears to another, gives evidence of a plan so broad and comprehensive, a design so deep, and a harmony so perfect, as to clearly manifest to the studious and reverent inquirer that it is beyond the breadth and depth of human thought, and therefore cannot be of human origin.

We find that the end of the Gospel age, like the end of the Jewish age, is called a harvest (Matt. 9:37; 13:24, 30, 39); that like that also, it is a period of forty years; and that upon the harvests of the ages the rays of prophetic testimony are specially concentrated, particularly upon the harvest of this age, where even all the light of the Jewish

age-because of its typical character-converges in a glorious focus. In this light we may now distinctly see the stately steppings of our God, not only in the long vista of the ages past, but also in the present outworkings of his plan. And not only so, but according to his promise to show us things to come (John 16: 13), we see, with wonderful distinctness of vision, his wise policy for the blessing of all in the incoming Millennial age-even down to its glorious consummation in the restitution of all things. We find that many great and wonderful events center in this harvest that in it occur the great time of trouble, the day of Jehovah; the final and complete overthrow of Antichrist and the fall of Great Babylon; the beginning of returning favor to the Jew; the second advent of our Lord and the establishment of his kingdom; and the resurrection and reward of the saints.

We find in prophecy the beginning and the ending of this harvest period clearly marked, as well as the events due to occur in it. And to call attention to and trace the various lines of prophetic time to the events in which they culminate is, in substance, the object of this volume. To receive its testimony, the reader will need to have an ear to hear (Rev. 2:7; Matt. 11:15), and must expect meekly to cast away many preconceived opinions as fast as he comes to see their lack of harmony with God's Word. To such as are thus minded, and who pursue the lessons of this volume with patience and care, and in the order of their arrangement, we doubt not it will be a great blessing. If its lessons are received into good and honest hearts, we trust it will be a power to separate them from the world and to ripen them as wheat for the garner. To thus quicken and ripen and separate the saints, as wheat from tares, in this time of harvest, is the object for which, we apprehend, these prophecies now unfolding were designed by our Lord.