“Let no one hastily conclude that there are no evidences of Restitution about us, nor that the Sun of Righteousness is not already gilding the watch towers (the prophets and others so appointed) of Zion and enlightening the world. Let him, on the contrary, reflect that we are already in the day when the hidden things are being made manifest (lies and corruption both in the public and government don’t go long hidden and undisclosed); and let him remember that the first work of Restitution is properly a breaking down of the old and decaying structure which stands in the place which the new is to occupy.Remember that the first work of the tenderest physician is often to open the wounds, and to cleanse and amputate according to the necessities of the patient, in order to make thorough work of the healing. That such service causes pain and is seldom appreciated by the patient at the time, none need be told; and so, it is with the work of the great Physician, the Restorer, the Life-giver: He wounds to heal, and the trouble and sifting in the Church and the world are but the lancing and cleansing needful, and a most important part of the Restitution work.
In the type, the Trumpet of Jubilee was to be sounded when the Jubilee Year began, to proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. (Lev. 25:10) The antitype is ushered in with the sounding of the (symbolic) "Seventh Trumpet," the "Trump of God," the "Last Trump." It is indeed the great trumpet: it announces liberty to every captive; and while at first it means the surrender of many expired claims and privileges, and a general time of disturbance and unsettling of usages, habits, etc., its full import, when rightly appreciated, is "good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people."
In the early commotion, each one who hears the Jubilee Trumpet of the new dispensation is forcibly struck by some one of its many features and heeds no other. One sees the propriety of, and calls for, governmental reforms, the abolition of standing armies and their burdensome tax. Another calls for the abolition of titled aristocracy and the recognition of every man by his manly qualities. Others call for the abolition of landlordism, and demand that landholding shall be as at first, according to necessity, and ability and willingness to use. Others call for temperance reform, and by prohibitory and other laws, by Law-and-Order Societies, seek to chain this great evil, and begin to restrain men who for the love of money would ensnare, enslave and destroy fellowmen, and who, fastening their fangs into their weaknesses, would fatten and luxuriate upon their blood. Others form Humane and Anti-Cruelty Societies, to prevent those who have the ability from injuring the weak and dependent. Others form societies for the suppression of vice and of demoralizing literature. Others form Anti-Adulteration Societies to examine into adulteration's of food, and to expose and prosecute and punish those who for love of greater gain adulterate food and make it even injurious to health.
Laws are enacted for the protection of the lives and the health of the people. Miners must have pure air, no matter what the cost; they must have two ways of escape in case of fire. Working people, powerless to help themselves or to choose their places of work, are cared for by the public laws. They can no longer be paid when the employer may please, and in store-orders, but the law now demands that pay-day shall be at least every two weeks. They can no longer be crowded into buildings where in case of fire they would be liable either to burn to death or to maim themselves for life by jumping; for "fire-escapes" are compulsory, and for any death or injury traceable to carelessness on the part of the employer, he is held responsible, and is punishable, either by fines, damages or imprisonment. Wealthy corporations, such as own railroad and steam-ship lines, are compelled to care for the lives and interests of the people, the poor as well as the rich.
These reforms are the result of the awakening of the people by the Jubilee Trump of knowledge and liberty, and are not traceable to pure benevolence on the part of the more favored class. For though all in the favored or wealthy class who are benevolent, and such as love righteousness, can and do rejoice in these beginnings of reform, others, and the majority, regretfully yield from necessity. True, such laws and arrangements are not yet perfected, nor are they universal; but the beginnings noticed rejoice our hearts, and give evidence of what may be expected in the exalting of the humble and lowly, and the abasing of the proud, when the Jubilee regulations are fully in operation.
All these things are parts of the reform commotion ushering in Earth's Great Jubilee; and though much has been demanded, and much has been gradually conceded, yet kings, and emperors, and queens--political, social, ecclesiastical and financial --will not submit to the great leveling process of this Jubilee or Restitution age without a great and severe struggle, such as the Scriptures point out as just before us, and which, though severe, is unavoidable, and will work out ultimate good.
The spirit of "liberty throughout all the land" is indeed sometimes carried to an unreasonable extent by the ignorant and the hot-headed; and yet it is all part of the great unavoidable Jubilee excitement, occasioned by the ignorance and oppression of the past. (This last, we see most notably in our day, sometimes going a bit too far)
None but the Lord's "little flock" is fully and correctly informed as to the grand scope of the Restitution. These see the minor changes, the straightening out of the lesser affairs of men, but they see also what can be seen from no other standpoint than God's Word--that the great enslaver, Sin, is to be shorn of his power, that the great prison house of Death is to be opened and a release presented to each prisoner, signed in the precious blood of the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world, the great Redeemer and Restorer. Glad tidings indeed it shall be to all people, not only to the living, but also to all that are in their graves. Before the end of this great Jubilee every human being may go entirely free—may get back to man's first estate, "very good," receiving back through Christ all that was lost in Adam. (B196-200)
For more on the Jubilee prophecy please see our blog post entitled, "God's Great Sabbath Day"
