Part 70

A hundred years later, at the close of its first centenary, the British and Foreign Bible Society was able to report a total distribution of Bibles, Testaments, or portions thereof, by that society alone, to the number of 186,680,101—a total that, in 1910, had grown to upwards of 220,000,000 copies, in nearly four hundred distinct tongues.

To these totals must be added the millions of copies of the Scriptures or portions thereof, in many languages, distributed by other Bible societies and by various commercial agencies. The American Bible Society,—the greatest of the daughters of the British parent society,—during the first ninety-four years of its work, reported a total distribution of 87,296,182 copies. (See Bible Society Record, June, 1910.) According to conservative estimates, about six million copies of the Bible are printed annually by commercial houses, which, added to the combined output of the Bible societies, gives a total yearly circulation of more than fifteen million copies.

The Scriptures, in whole or in part, have been printed in more than five hundred distinct tongues; and the work of translation into new languages and dialects is still carried forward with unflagging zeal.

Page 288. FOREIGN MISSIONS.—Dr. G. P. Fisher, in a chapter on “Christian Missions” in his “History of the Christian Church,” outlines the beginnings of the missionary movement, which, in “the later years of the eighteenth century, ushered in a brilliant era of missionary activity, an era which, in the history of missions, is only less remarkable than the first of the Christian ages.” In 1792, “the Baptist society was founded, with Carey as one of its first missionaries. Carey sailed for India, and there, with the help of other members of the same society, founded the mission of Serampore.” In 1795, the London Missionary Society was founded; in 1799, there was formed “the organization which in 1812 became the Church Missionary Society.” Soon afterward, the Wesleyan Missionary Society was founded.

“While the missionary activity was growing up in Great Britain, the Christians of America were becoming animated with a like zeal.” In 1812, they founded the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; and in 1814, the American Baptist Missionary Union. Adoniram Judson, one of the first missionaries to go out from America, sailed for Calcutta in 1812, and reached Burmah in July, 1813. In 1837, the Presbyterian Board was formed. (See Fisher, “History of the Christian Church,” period 9, ch. 7, par. 3-25.)

Dr. A. T. Pierson, in an article published in the Missionary Review of the World for January, 1910, declares: “A half-century ago, China and Manchuria, Japan and Korea, Turkey and Arabia, and even the vast continent of Africa, were sleeping—hermit nations, locked in the cell of long seclusion and exclusion. Central Asia was comparatively unexplored, as was Central Africa. In many lands, Satan’s long occupation was undisputed and his empire unmolested. Papal countries were as intolerant as pagan; Italy and Spain imprisoned a man for daring to sell a Bible, or preach the gospel. France was practically infidel, and Germany permeated with rationalism; and over a large part of the mission field, the doors were shut and locked by a more or less rigid exclusion and caste system. Now the changes, on every side, are so remarkable and so radical that, to one who should suddenly come out of this middle period of the last century, ... the world would be unrecognizable. He who holds the keys of the two-leaved gates has been unlocking them, opening up all lands to the Messenger of the Cross. Even in the Eternal City, where, a half-century ago, a visitor had to leave his Bible outside the walls, there are Protestant chapels by the score, and a free circulation of the Scriptures.”

Page 327. PROPHETIC DATES.—See note for page 329.

Page 329. PROPHETIC DATES.—The historical and chronological facts connected with the prophetic periods of Daniel 8 and 9, including many evidences pointing unmistakably to the year 457 B.C. as the proper time from which to begin reckoning these periods, have been clearly outlined by many students of prophecy. See Stanley Leathes, “Old Testament Prophecy,” lectures 10, 11 (Warburton Lectures for 1876-1880); W. Goode, “Fulfilled Prophecy,” sermon 10, including Note A (Warburton Lectures for 1854-1858); A. Thom, “Chronology of Prophecy,” pp. 26-106 (London ed., 1848); Sir Isaac Newton, “Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John,” ch. 10 (London ed., 1733, pp. 128-143); Uriah Smith, “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,” part 1, ch. 8, 9. On the date of the crucifixion, see Wm. Hales, “Analysis of Chronology,” Vol. I, pp. 94-101; Vol. III. pp. 164-258 (2d London ed., 1830).

Page 335. FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.—For further details as to the predicted fall of the Ottoman empire during the month of August, 1840, see J. Litch, “The Probability of the Second Coming of Christ about A.D. 1843” (published in June, 1838); J. Litch, “An Address to the Clergy” (published in the spring of 1840; a second edition, with historical data in support of the accuracy of former calculations of the prophetic period extending to the fall of the Ottoman empire, was published in 1841); the Advent Shield and Review, Vol. I (1844), No. 1, article 2, pp. 56, 57, 59-61; J. N. Loughborough, “The Great Advent Movement,” pp. 129-132 (1905 ed.); J. Litch, article in Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, Aug. 1, 1840. See also article in Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, Feb. 1, 1841.

Page 340. WITHHOLDING THE BIBLE FROM THE PEOPLE.—On the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church toward the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, in vernacular versions, among the laity, see Catholic Encyclopædia, art. Bible; also G. P. Fisher, “The Reformation,” ch. 15, par. 16 (1873 ed., pp. 530-532); J. Cardinal Gibbons, “The Faith of Our Fathers,” ch. 8 (49th ed., 1897, pp. 98-117); J. Dowling, “History of Romanism,” b. 7, ch. 2, sec. 14, and b. 9, ch. 3, sec. 24-27 (1871 ed., pp. 491-496, 621-625); L. F. Bungener, “History of the Council of Trent,” pp. 101-110 (2d Edinburgh ed., 1853, tr. by D. D. Scott); G. H. Putnam, “Books and Their Makers during the Middle Ages,” Vol. I, part 2, ch. 2, par. 49, 54-56.

Page 373. ASCENSION ROBES.—The story that the Adventists made robes with which to ascend “to meet the Lord in the air,” was invented by those who wished to reproach the cause. It was circulated so industriously that many believed it; but careful inquiry proved its falsity. For many years a large reward has been offered for proof that one such instance ever occurred, but the proof has not been produced. None who loved the appearing of the Saviour were so ignorant of the teachings of the Scriptures as to suppose that robes which they could make would be necessary for that occasion. The only robe which the saints will need to meet the Lord is the righteousness of Christ. See Rev. 19:8.

Page 374. THE CHRONOLOGY OF PROPHECY.—Dr. Geo. Bush, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in the New York City University, in a letter addressed to Mr. Miller, and published in the Advent Herald, and Signs of the Times Reporter, Boston, March 6 and 13, 1844, made some important admissions relative to his calculation of the prophetic times. Mr. Bush wrote:

“Neither is it to be objected, as I conceive, to yourself or your friends, that you have devoted much time and attention to the study of the chronology of prophecy, and have labored much to determine the commencing and closing dates of its great periods. If these periods are actually given by the Holy Ghost in the prophetic books, it was doubtless with the design that they should be studied, and probably, in the end, fully understood; and no man is to be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently makes the attempt to do this.... In taking a day as the prophetical term for a year, I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Kirby, Scott, Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to substantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John do actually expire about this age of the world, and it would be a strange logic that would convict you of heresy for holding in effect the same views which stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent divines.” “Your results in this field of inquiry do not strike me as so far out of the way as to affect any of the great interests of truth and duty.” “Your error, as I apprehend, lies in another direction than your chronology.” “You have entirely mistaken the nature of the events which are to occur when those periods have expired. This is the head and front of your expository offending.”

Page 399. PROPHETIC DATES.—See note for page 329.

Page 435. A THREEFOLD MESSAGE.—Rev. 14:6, 7, foretells the proclamation of the first angel’s message. Then the prophet continues: “There followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, ... and the third angel followed them.” The word here rendered “followed,” means, in constructions like that in this text, “to go with.” Liddell and Scott render the word thus: “To follow one, go after or with him.” Robinson says: “To follow, to go with, to accompany any one.” It is the same word that is used in Mark 5:24: “Jesus went with him; and much people followed Him, and thronged Him.” It is also used of the redeemed one hundred and forty-four thousand, where it is said, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” Rev. 14:4. In both these places it is evident that the idea intended to be conveyed is that of going together, in company with. So in 1 Cor. 10:4, where we read of the children of Israel that “they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them,” the word “followed” is translated from the same Greek word, and the margin has it, “went with them.” From this we learn that the idea in Rev. 14:8, 9, is not simply that the second and third angels followed the first in point of time, but that they went with him. The three messages are but one threefold message. They are three only in the order of their rise. But having risen, they go on together, and are inseparable.

Page 447. SUPREMACY OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME.—Some of the leading circumstances connected with the assumption of supremacy by the bishops of Rome, are outlined in Mosheim’s “Ecclesiastical History,” cent. 2, part 2, ch. 4, sec. 9-11. See also G.P. Fisher, “History of the Christian Church,” period 2, ch. 2, par. 11-17 (1890 ed., pp. 56-58); Gieseler, “Ecclesiastical History,” period 1, div. 3, ch. 4, sec. 66, par. 3, including note 8 (N.Y. ed., 1836, tr. by F. Cunningham); J.N. Andrews, “History of the Sabbath,” pp. 276-279 (3d ed., rev.).

Page 574. EDICT OF CONSTANTINE.—See note for page 53.

Page 578. THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.—On the observance of the Bible Sabbath in Abyssinia, see Dean A.P. Stanley, “Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church,” lecture 1, par. 15 (N. Y. ed., 1862, pp. 96, 97); Michael Geddes, “Church History of Ethiopia,” pp. 87, 88, 311, 312; Gibbon, “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” ch. 47, par. 37-39; Samuel Gobat, “Journal of Three Years’ Residence in Abyssinia,” pp. 55-58, 83, 93, 97, 98 (N. Y. ed., 1850); A. H. Lewis, “A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday in the Christian Church,” pp. 208-215 (2d ed., rev.).

Page 581. DICTATES OF HILDEBRAND.—See note for page 57.

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES.

GENESIS

1:2; 658 2:1-3; 455 2:2, 3; 52 3:1; 531 3:2-5; 532 3:4, 5; 561 3:5; 554 3:15; 505 3:19; 532 3:24; 534 6:5, 11; 543 15:1; 86 22:9, 16-18; 18 28:12; 19 32:24-30; 616 32:30; 622

EXODUS

5:2; 269 20:8-11; 434 20:10, 11; 437 25:8; 411 25:9, 40; 413 31:17; 437 32:33; 483 34:6; 19 34:6, 7; 500, 541, 627

LEVITICUS

10:17; 418 16:8, 21, 22; 419 16:16, 19; 419 16:17; 428 16:21; 658 16:22; 485 16:29-34; 400 17:11; 418 19:31; 556 20:27; 556

NUMBERS

14:34; 324 23:8, 10, 20, 21, 23; 529 24:9; 529 25:1-3; 556