The investigative judgment, the finishing of the work of human probation, the close of Christ's priesthood, and his coronation upon his own throne, are events which transpire in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he begins to sound. They precede the revelation of Christ in the clouds of heaven, and are preparatory to that grand event. The field of vision during this closing period of human probation is not simply the earth, where indeed the fierce battle between truth and error is being fought, but the temple of God in heaven is opened to our view, and becomes the theme of prophetic discourse. Rev. 11 : 19 ; 15 : 5.
We have learned that the priesthood of Christ must continue until he has secured the acquittal of his people at the tribunal of his Father, where their sins are blotted out, and themselves accounted worthy of eternal life. It is at this very timé and place that the Saviour changes from his priestly, to his kingly, office. Hence, wherever our Lord closes his priestly office, there must be the place of the judgment session described in Dan. 7.
The finishing of the mystery of God involves the opening of the second apartment of the temple in heaven, wherein is the ark of God's testament. This is the place where our Lord finishes his priesthood, and hence this apartment of the heavenly temple must be the place of that tribunal at which the righteous are acquitted, their sins blotted out, and themselves accounted worthy of the kingdom of God. The temple of God in heaven, and especially its second apartment, is therefore worthy of our most attentive study. The Scriptures contain many explicit testimonies to the existence of the heavenly temple.
Ps. 11:4 : "The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven ; his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men."
2 Sam. 22 : 7, 8 : "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God ; and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth." See also Ps. 18 : 6, 7.
Isa. 6 : 1-4 : "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims ; each one had six wings ; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke."
Micah 1 : 2, 3 : "Hear, all ye people ; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is ; and let the Lord God be witness against you ; the Lord from his holy temple, he cometh forth out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth."
Rev. 11 : 19 : "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament ; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
Rev. 14 : 17, 18 : "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire."
Rev. 15 : 5 : "And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened."
Rev. 16 : 17 : "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air ; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done."
Many other texts might be quoted in which this building is mentioned either as God's temple, tabernacle, sanctuary, or holy habitation. To some of these texts we shall refer in the further study of this subject.
The heavenly temple consists of two holy places. This is proved by many conclusive arguments. The first of these is drawn from the statements respecting the tabernacle erected by Moses. When God called Moses into the mount to receive the tables of the law (Ex. 24 : 12), he first bade him make a sanctuary that he might dwell among them, and that the priests might minister in his presence. Ex. 25 ; 26 ; 27 ; 28. He also bade him make an ark to contain the tables of the law, to be placed in the second apartment of the sanctuary. This building consisted of two holy places (Ex. 26), and both itself and its sacred vessels were made like the pattern showed in the mount.149
Ex. 25 : 8, 9 : "And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."
Heb. 8 : 5 : "Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle ; for, See (saith he) that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." See also Ex. 25 : 40 ; 26 : 30 ; Acts 7 : 44.
The tabernacle thus constructed was a pattern of the heavenly temple. Thus Paul bears testimony :—
Heb. 9 : 23, 24 : "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true [the images of the true holy places, Macknight's translation] ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."
This establishes one plain, incontrovertible argument that the heavenly temple has two holy places. The temple erected by Solomon furnishes the second argument, and it is of the same character as that drawn from the tabernacle. The temple was a larger and grander building than the tabernacle, and differed from it in being an immovable structure ; but it was constructed on the same plan in that it was an edifice consisting of two holy places, with sacred vessels of the same kind, and occupied with the very same ministration, as that which had previously served in the tabernacle. 1 Kings 6 ; 7 ; 2 Chron. 3 ; 4 ; 5. This building with its two holy places was a pattern of the heavenly temple, as the words of David and of Solomon declare :—
1 Chron. 28 : 11, 12 : "Then, David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things."
Verse 19 : "All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern."
Wisdom of Solomon 9 : 8 : "Thou hast commanded me [Solomon] to build a temple upon thy holy mount, and an altar in the city wherein thou dwellest, a resemblance of the holy tabernacle which thou hast prepared from the beginning."
This is a second decisive argument that the heavenly sanctuary has two holy places. The third is drawn from the fact that the plural term "holy places" is used in the designation of the greater and more perfect tabernacle.
Thus when Paul says, as expressed in our common version (Heb. 8 : 2), "A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man," it is literally in the original, "A minister of the holy places." And thus also when we read respecting the heavenly temple, "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing," it is literally in the Greek, "the way of the holy places." Heb. 9 : 8. So also where we read of the greater and more perfect tabernacle in verse 12, that Christ "entered in once into the holy place," it is also literally holy places. Again in verse 24 we read in our common version the same thing, literally rendered, "the holy places made with hands, the figures of the true," which last word is plural in the original, showing that there are holy places in the heavenly temple. And again in Heb. 10 : 19, the term holiest is not, in the original, holy of holies as in chap. 9 : 3, but simply holy places. These passages form a most convincing argument that there must be two holy places of the heavenly temple. A fourth argument is found in the fact that each of the two holy places in the heavenly temple is definitely set forth in the description of that building not made with hands.
The first apartment is identified by the things which it contains. When John was called in vision to ascend to the place of God's throne, the heavenly temple, a door was opened in heaven, and the throne of God was revealed to his view. This is manifestly the door of the heavenly temple, for the throne of God which it discloses to view is within that temple. Ps. 11 : 4 ; Rev. 16 : 17. That it was the first apartment of that temple into which he looked, is evident from what he saw therein. Rev. 4 : 5. "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices ; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." Here is a plain reference to the seven lamps which burned in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary. Lev. 24 : 2-4.
And again, when the seven angels receive the seven trumpets, the scene of vision is still the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. Thus we read :—
Rev. 8 : 2, 3 : "And I saw the seven angels which stood before God ; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne."
The golden altar stood in the first apartment of the sanctuary, i. e., in the same room with the candlestick on which were the seven lamps. Ex. 40 : 24-26. The place of God's throne at the time when the book with the seven seals was delivered to Christ, and also when the seven trumpets were given to the seven angels, is the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. But when the seven vials are delivered into the hands of the seven angels who have the duty of pouring them out, the second apartment of the heavenly temple is opened, and they come out from thence to execute the wrath of God upon men. This opening of the holiest takes place under the seventh trumpet. J. N. A.
Moral Courage
A ZEALOUS reformer was pushing an unpopular but a just measure. His friends urged him to desist, assuring him that all the world was against him. "Then," said he, "I am against all the world!" That man was a moral hero. There is a scarcity of the royal and most important quality of Christian character—moral courage.
Colorado.
By James White
SOME weeks since we suggested through the SIGNS that a mission to the new State of Colorado be immediately opened. We suggested Elder Canright as the leading laborer, and urged that it was highly proper for him to take his feeble wife to that more healthful climate. Our suggestions have called out from Brother Canright the following statement:—
DEAR BROTHER WHITE: The Signs with your proposition about Colorado is just at hand. I had made all my arrangements for the summer. I was to attend the Minnesota and Wisconsin camp-meetings, and then strike for a big effort at Detroit. I never saw a better prospect for an opening in my life, than in Detroit. We secured the most beautiful place you can imagine, right in the heart of the city. If the whole thing had been laid out on purpose for us, it could not have been better.
But on coming home I found that my wife is in a very bad condition. The fact is, she is going right down with consumption; and unless something is done pretty quick, she never will get well. She is beginning to get anxious about it herself for the first time. She proposed that we go to Minnesota, Colorado, or somewhere, and spend the summer, and see if she could not get better. I was very strongly inclined to throw up all my summer's meetings, and go with her. She is just able to be around. I don't know how she would stand the journey, nor how it will effect her when she gets there; but I think we had better try it. I was much pleased to see your proposition. I hope it is in the order of the Lord. I don't know just what to do, to bring everything around in order, but—
1. We must have a tent. It must be shipped by freight, which will take a good while; hence it should be shipped immediately. But where shall we get this tent? How shall it be paid for? How large shall it be? Shall it be larger than 60-feet?
2. I can have the books shipped there by freight in time.
3. I am glad you and Sister White are going to Colorado. I think it will be a good thing for you. And then you can be there to counsel us, and perhaps help us some. I shall be very glad of anything you can do.
4. I shall want Brother Stone to go with me. He can help in almost any way. It is a great help to our meetings to have first class music with a good organ. Brother Stone is a good musician, and then he can preach whenever it is necessary, pray, or write, or visit. Hence, I shall want him to go, unless you raise some objection to it. Mrs. Canright must have somebody to go with her, and take care of her. Of course I can't do it, and run a tent-meeting. Sister Stone is a good hand to do this. Brother Stone thinks that his wife would be willing to go. Now this is the way the thing is in my mind. You are so far away that we shall not have much time to advise about things before we start. D. M. CANRIGHT.
We briefly notice the several points in their order.
1. A 60-foot tent would probably be large enough for that field. As we first stated the General Conference will pay for the tent, and the publishing association is able to give all the books that could be judiciously used the first year. Elders White, Canright and Haskell are the General Conference Committee. As early as it is decided to open that mission the tent should be ordered from Chicago and immediately shipped. As this campaign depends wholly on the course Brother Canright shall take, he can order the tent as soon as he pleases and Elders White and Haskell will sustain him.
2. Elder Canright can order the books so that they can be shipped with the tent as common freight.
3. Mrs. White has been able to perform a great amount of labor since she came to California, and is not as well as usual at the present time. Then she has her fourth Volume to write, but should the mission be open and we conclude to spend the warmer months in Colorado, we hope that both of us would be able to give some assistance.
4. We fully agree with Elder Canright that Brother and Sister Stone should accompany him to Colorado. J. W.
Denmark.
By John G. Matteson
Alstrup, April 8.—The past week has been an eventful one. The enemies to the truth have assailed us on many sides and in many ways, but the word of God has, nevertheless, had success. The preaching of the word has caused great excitement, and some souls break through and find peace and joy in communion with the Lord.
Last Tuesday the parish priest, from O. Brönderslev came to our meeting again at Nörrehede. Many were present. The conversation, which lasted about two hours, was almost entirely on the subject of baptism. He made many important admissions, which will serve to strengthen our cause here. His defense of infant baptism was very weak, his main point being that in infant baptism no promise is made from man's side, thus trying to prove that there is no agreement entered into in baptism; this he advanced as proof for the statement that 1 Pet. 3:21 does not apply to our time, but to the time of Peter and his cotemporaries. But there is a promise made in infant baptism, for the priest asks: Do you renounce the devil and all his works? To which the person who carries the child, replies, Yes. The priest's argument was therefore based on an entirely false statement.
This week I have had the pleasure of burying nine souls in baptism. Men tried to hinder us; but the Lord helped, so that we had our baptism unmolested by the mob. Our hearts were much encouraged.
I have received a letter from a friend in Christiana, Norway. He has for several years been convinced on many points of the truth. He is general agent for the Union Steamship Line, and runs a fish establishment. He writes that there are some who show an interest in the word of God, and that souls would come into the truth, if the word could be preached there.
I have also received very urgent invitations from Fyen and Sjalland (two of the islands of the Danish archipelago). It pains me that we cannot fill the calls that are made.
Yesterday I held a meeting in the Alstrup meeting-house, which was filled, as usual. One young brother from Svendstrup came twenty-three miles to see me. He has kept the Sabbath for some time, and loves the truth, although he has read only a few copies of the Tidende. He has suffered some for the truth's sake, but he has gained the victory over the enemy and has not become weary. He received a set of our tracts. We also gave a set to another brother who wished to search the Scriptures and become strengthened in the truth. To-day I send another package of books to Norway. There are many who wish to read them, and we hope they may be a blessing to them.
We long for our children and our brethren in the faith, in the far West; but we rejoice that we can be united in spirit, although we are absent in body. We are grateful for Brother White's encouraging words and for all the good will the friends in America have shown us. May the Lord richly bless every good work, and soon gather us to the eternal mansions.
John G. Matteson.
Did He Mean It?
By W. M. Healey
Did God mean what he said and wrote at Sinai, as recorded in the 20th chapter of Exodus, that man should "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it?"
Dear reader, if God meant what he said, he had a Sabbath day and it was the seventh day. If he meant what he said, that day was set apart for a sacred use at the close of creation week. Gen. 2:2-3. The children of Israel were reproved for going out to gather manna upon it. Exodus 16:27-30. Jerusalem was destroyed, partly for the reason that they did not keep the Sabbath. Neh. 13:18. "Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." The Israelites were to be scattered among the heathen, and the Lord says one reason was because they did not keep his Sabbaths. Eze. 28:23-24. It was to be a sign by which the people who worship the true God were to be known. Eze. 20:20; Ex. 31:13.
Paul says, "There are lords many and gods many," almost everything in the world has been worshiped as a god. The city of Athens had over thirty thousand gods at the time Paul visited it, and perhaps an equal number could be found among the heathen nations of to-day. By what mark or sign can those be known, who worship the true God? How shall we know, which among so many, is the true God? Paul to the Athenians defined him as the Creator of all things. Acts 17:24. "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands."
The Sabbath was given that man might remember that his God was the one that created all things. The Sabbath as an institution was given to commemorate God's creative work, and it came on the seventh day because God finished the work, and so rested on that day. Creative power is an attribute of only the true God. There is no other way given us to so fully acknowledge this power in God as by keeping the Sabbath day. If God meant what he said, he requires us to keep that day holy. Comparatively few who claim to believe in the Creator of all things keep his memorial. Most of them, it is true, set apart a day each week for rest and recreation from their ordinary pursuits, but the day thus set apart is usually Sunday, or the first day of the week, and God worked that day. See Gen. 1:1-5. But the reason usually assigned for observing the first day is that Christ rose on that day. Then it is no memorial of creation at all, but of Christ's resurrection. If God meant what he said, a blessing is to be bestowed upon those who keep the Sabbath. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." If God meant what he said; the Sabbath will be kept by God's people after they enter into their rewards. Isaiah 65:22-23.
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Does God mean what he says, in the above declarations and glorious promises? Then let us be very circumspect in all that which the Lord our God hath commanded. W. M. HEALEY.
The Great Soul
By William Ellery Channing
A GREAT soul is known by its enlarged, strong and tender sympathies. True elevation of mind does not take a being out of the circle of those who are below him, but binds him faster to them, and gives them advantage for a closer attachment and conformity to him.
Reports from the Field.
(Condensed from Review and Herald.)
Massachusetts.
DANVERS.—Elder Canright reports that he returned to this place April 26, and spent five days. Besides other meetings some excellent social meetings were held. Eleven were baptized and fifteen united with the church. Elder C. writes: "Brother Haskell was with us over the Sabbath, and Brother Stone all the time. Brother Haskell gave instruction on the tract work, and also on systematic benevolence. Wednesday evening we had our last meeting. After talking on various points, giving the best advice I knew how to give, as I did not expect to see them again for a long time, we elected the proper officers for the church. Brethren Stone and Haines have just closed an interesting meeting at Ipswich, where quite a number have embraced the truth. We are now at South Lancaster, to dedicate their new meeting-house."
Iowa.
WAUKON, FAYETTE AND SIGOURNEY.—Elder E. W. Farnsworth reports labor at these places. At Waukon a special effort was made for the conversion of the youth, eight of whom made a public profession and were baptized. These were young persons of promise. The church was greatly encouraged. At Fayette nine were baptized. A good portion of them were grown up sons and daughters of Sabbath-keepers. Although the notice of this meeting was short, yet the attendance was large. The meeting at Sigourney was not as well attended by the officers of the tract and missionary societies as was desired, thereby the business meeting proved a failure. But much good was accomplished by the labor bestowed for the conversion of old and young. Nineteen were baptized and united with the church. Thus closes the report of one weeks labor, in which time thirty six were baptized and united with the people of God. Nearly all of these were converted during this time.
Georgia.
REYNOLDS.—Elder C. O. Taylor reports the good work moving forward in this State. A hall has been hired in the center of the village of Reynolds, where Sabbath meetings are now held. Elder T. writes: "To those requesting names and addresses for the SIGNS, I would say, I will send them as I get other names. I sent those I had to the first that called for them. I am grateful for the interest the friends are taking in the work South. The thousands of copies of the SIGNS, and the other reading matter sent South, are doing a silent work, of which but few, if any, are aware."
Tennessee.
NASHVILLE.—Brother O. Soule writes that another family have commenced the observance of the Sabbath. He has preached nine times at a house some two miles away, and eight voted in favor of the Sabbath. His P. O. address is Eaton's Creek, Davidson County, Tennessee.
Kentucky.
GLOVER'S CREEK.—Elder S. Osborn writes: "Commenced meetings in this place Sabbath April 20. I found the Sabbath-keepers here had given up tobacco, coffee, and pork, and were ready for organization. I continued my labors until the 25th. Organized a church of ten members, nine of whom I baptized. I go from here to Bullitt county, where another church is to be organized. I then design to go to Tennessee, to start the tent."
Texas.
TERRELL.—Elder R. M. Kilgore and L. Caldwell write: "Since our last report, our tent has been blown down in a midnight gale, ripping some forty-four feet of canvass, but doing little other damage. The seat backs, being pivoted on bolts, fell forward with the center pole without serious damage. We missed two evenings on account of the storm; losing some interest. Sunday evening a large audience gave profound attention to a searching discourse on Matt. 5:17–19; 15:1–9; 19:16–22; Jas. 2:8–12."
Kansas.
CHEROKEE.—Brother Cook writes: "I held meetings with the brethren seven miles from this place. Had temporary organization of ten members. We have now made a permanent organization. Seven were baptized and the same number added to the church."
Nebraska.
SAPPA CREEK.—Brother Boyd reports meetings at this place. A church of eighteen members was organized. Twelve were baptized, and the exercises closed by celebrating the ordinances of the Lords house.