The Pioneers and Daniel 11 The Papacy is the King of the North We read from James White's sermon at the General Conference around 1878, Review and Herald, October 3, 1878. There is a line of historic prophecy in chapter 11 where the symbols are thrown off, beginning with the kings of Persia and reaching down past Grecia and Rome to the time when that power shall come to his end and none shall help him. If the feet and ten toes of the metallic image are Roman, if the beast with ten horns that was given to the burning flames of the great day be the Roman beast, if the little horn which stood up against the prince of princes be Rome, and if the same field and distance are covered by these four prophetic chains, then the last power of the eleventh chapter, which is to come to his end and none shall help him, is Rome. The glorious land is the United States. We read from Hiram Edson's article in the Review and Herald, February 28, 1856, these words, It is in this American land that the great body of the Church has chiefly shared her glorious triumph and prosperity since 1798. It is here that the wilderness and the solitary place have been made glad for them, and the desert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. It is here that the loud voice of preparation, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, has been chiefly given. From this American land the advent message has sounded forth to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. This land and people are recognized by the name of Zion and Jerusalem, of whom it is written, The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. See Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1, 2, and 3, Isaiah 41 verse 9, and Micah chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. This is now being literally fulfilled in the proclamation of the third angel's message, Revelation 14, 9-12, advocating the perpetuity and obligation of God's ten moral precepts, the constitution and foundation of his moral government. We have reached the appointed time when the great body of God's living professed people are to be found in such a land as above described. And there is no people or country on the habitable globe at this time that will answer the above description but the people and country of this American land. This American land, so far as the ancient history of the world is concerned, has been always waste and desolate, an uncultivated, desolate, waste-howling wilderness unknown to the civilized world until the time of the promise drew nigh, when God was about to fulfill his word and set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people from the land of their captivity and bring them into the wilderness of preparation. It was just in due time that God permitted this American continent to be discovered, and without doubt the Lord sent his angel to stir up the spirit of Columbus to engage in the enterprise and guided his bark across the trackless deep to the discovery of this new world. The dreadful and terrible beast, Daniel 7, 7 and 19, which devoured, breaking pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet, thought also to cause this American land to feel his iron stamp. But in due time God removed his brazen hoof by bringing back these United States from the sword in the American Revolution as predicted in Ezekiel 38, verse 8, and thus opened here, just in due time, an asylum of civil and religious liberty for the remnant of his people to be gathered into. From the foregoing considerations we learn the important truth that God does literally gather the remnant of his people out of the countries wherein they have been scattered and does literally bring them from the land of their captivity into a literal wilderness of woods, a place of preparation prior to their entering the land of Israel, the promised eternal inheritance of the earth made new. It is after Jerusalem's appointed time, which was accomplished A.D. 1798, that in the wilderness the voice of preparation is heard sounding. Inasmuch as the remnant were to be gathered out of all places and countries wherein they were scattered and were to be brought from the land of their captivity into the wilderness of woods, a place of preparation, the question arises, how much territory does the land of their captivity embrace? Answer, it embraces the ancient Assyrian, or Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and Roman empires. It embraces all territory over which the seven heads of Gentile rule have exercised their supremacy, the land of Canaan not accepted. Hence, we are driven entirely from the eastern continent to find the wilderness of preparation into which the remnant are gathered to prepare the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God, and hence we are unavoidably confined to this American continent. From the above, it is clear that this wilderness of preparation is the pleasant land brought to view in Daniel 8 verse 9. It is called in chapter 11 verses 41 and 45, the glorious land, and the glorious holy mountain, or goodly land, land of delight, or ornament, end of quote. The glorious land is not the glorious holy mountain. We read from J. N. Andrews book, The Sanctuary and the 2300 Days, pages 33 to 45, these words. We have found that the earth is not the sanctuary, but simply the territory where it will finally be located, that the church is not the sanctuary, but simply the worshippers connected with the sanctuary, and that the land of Canaan is not the sanctuary, but that it is the place where the typical sanctuary was located, end of quote. Closing thoughts. But because the people are disobedient, unthankful, unholy, as were ancient Israel, time is prolonged that all may hear the last message of mercy proclaimed with a loud voice. The Lord's work has been hindered, the sealing time delayed. Many have not heard the truth, but the Lord will give them a chance to hear and be converted. That's from The Faith I Live By, page 288. Those who wait for the bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, Behold your God. The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of his character of love. The children of God are to manifest his glory in their own life and character. They are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. Christ's Optical Lessons, pages 414 to 415. Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of himself in his church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in his people, then he will come to claim them as his own. Christ's Optical Lessons, page 69. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy principles, showing in a high elevated sense the line of demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God and those who keep a spurious rest day. When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday. Those who, after having heard the truth, continue to regard this day as holy bear the signature of the man of sin who thought to change times and laws. That's from Bible Training School, December 1st, 1903. Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation? Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast. Those who are distrustful of self, who are humbling themselves before God and purifying their souls by obeying the truth, these are receiving the heavenly mold and preparing for the seal of God in their foreheads. When the decree goes forth and the stamp is impressed, their character will remain pure and spotless for eternity. Testimonies, Volume 5, pages 214-216.