over the earth.

The Prophecy Unsealed

The angel's words to Daniel were,

"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4.

"The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Verse 9.

This means that as the time of the end came, men would be impelled to
search diligently for light in the prophetic word. Events taking place
in fulfilment of the prophecy would be recognized, and with the coming
of the time there would come the opening up, or unsealing, of the
prophetic scriptures, with their message for men in the last days.

As the time drew near, Bible students were led more and more to search
the word of prophecy. Sir Isaac Newton, called "the greatest of
philosophers," wrote of prophetic study:

"The giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of
the true church. For God has so ordered the prophecies, that in
the latter days 'the wise may understand, but the wicked shall
do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.' Dan.
12:9, 10."--_"Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel"
(London, 1733), part 1, chap. 1._

Again, this man who had delved so deeply into the laws of nature, but
who bowed his heart in childlike faith to listen to the voice of
Inspiration, declared his hope that the time of the end was near at hand
in his day (he died in 1727). Of this prophecy of the unsealing of the
book he wrote:

"'Tis therefore a part of this prophecy, that it should not be
understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it
makes for the credit of the prophecy that it is not yet
understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these
things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late
interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than
ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the
gospel be approaching, it is to us and to our posterity that
those words mainly belong: In the time of the end the wise
shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand....
'Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein.'"--_"Observations on the Apocalypse" (London, 1733),
chap. 1._

True to the word of the angel, the events of the ending of the twelve
hundred and sixty years of papal