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The Great Controversy 1888
know that period, whilst he himself exhorteth not only to read Daniel
the prophet but to understand him? And in that very Daniel where it
is said that the words were shut up to the time of the end (which was
the case in his time), and that ‘many shall run to and fro’ (a Hebrew
expression for observing and thinking upon the time), and ‘knowledge’
(regarding that time) ‘shall be increased.’ Besides this, our Lord does
not intend to say by this, that the approach of the time shall not be
known, but that the exact ‘day and hour knoweth no man.’ He does
say that enough shall be known by the signs of the times, to induce us
to prepare for his coming, as Noah prepared the ark.”
Concerning the popular system of interpreting, or misinterpreting,
the Scriptures, Wolff wrote: “The greater part of the Christian church
have swerved from the plain sense of Scripture, and have turned to
the phantomizing system of the Buddhists; they believe that the future
happiness of mankind will consist in moving about in the air, and sup-
pose that when they are reading Jews, they must understand Gentiles;
and when they read Jerusalem, they must understand the church; and
if it said earth, it means sky; and for the coming of the Lord they must
understand the progress of the missionary societies; and going up to
the mountain of the Lord’s house, signifies a grand class-meeting of
Methodists.”
During the twenty-four years from 1821 to 1845, Wolff traveled ex-
tensively: in Africa, visiting Egypt and Abyssinia; in Asia, traversing
Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokhara, and India. He also visited the United
States, on the journey thither preaching on the island of St. Helena.
He arrived in New York in August, 1837; and after speaking in that
city, he preached in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and finally proceeded
to Washington. Here, he says, “on a motion brought forward by the
ex-President, John Quincy Adams, in one of the houses of Congress,
the House unanimously granted me the use of the Congress Hall for a
lecture which I delivered on a Saturday, honored with the presence of
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all the members of Congress, and also of the bishop of Virginia, and
the clergy and citizens of Washington. The same honor was granted to
me by the members of the Government of New Jersey and Pennsylva-
nia, in whose presence I delivered lectures on my researches in Asia,
and also on the personal reign of Jesus Christ.”
Dr. Wolff traveled in the most barbarous countries, without the
protection of any European authority, enduring many hardships, and