1881: Closing period of the Gospel favor of the High Calling

1891 ❧

The ending of the high calling to joint-heirship with our Lord Jesus in the Kingdom of God, it should be distinctly understood, is not the shutting of the door in the parable of the virgins. Though the general "call" to this favor ceased in 1881, the "door" is yet open. The call is the general invitation of God to all justified believers in the Redeemer to follow in his footsteps of self-sacrifice, even unto death, and thereby prove their worthiness to reign with him in glory. This favor had a definite time for beginning: it began on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33. And it has a definite time of ending, viz., October 1881, as already shown. The closing of the "door" in the parable of Matt. 25, on the other hand, marks the full end of all opportunity for any, even of the "called" ones, thereafter to attain the prize of the high calling ;—it marks the end of all opportunity to prove worthiness of the prize by faithfulness in the service ; all opportunity for service will there terminate, in the "night" wherein no man can work. (John 9:4.) It is manifest, therefore, that the door, or opportunity, to thus make our calling and election sure, does not necessarily close when the call, or general invitation to all believers to enter, ceases to go forth. And while the door stands open, it indicates that any believer who is anxious to enter and ready to comply with the conditions, may yet do so, even though the general "call" or invitation to enter is no longer sent out. As a matter of fact, the door or opportunity to labor and sacrifice has not yet closed, though the general call ceased in 1881.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol.III, Thy Kingdom Come (1st-ed - 1891), page 212 and page 213

As a matter of fact, then, the only ones who see clearly the peculiarly high and grand features of the call of the Gospel age—the only ones therefore who could announce or explain this calling, are the very ones who are also shown from God's Word that the time limit of this call expired in October 1881. [...] But though the general "call" has ceased, the "door" is not yet shut. The end of the "call" and the shutting of the "door" are distinct and separate. The "door" stands open for some to enter the race, for the great prize of joint-heirship in the Kingdom, after the general "call" has ceased. Since God had predetermined a fixed number to constitute the church, "the body of Christ" (And there can neither be one member superfluous nor one lacking. See this typically taught in Lev. 21:17-23.), it follows that he could not call or invite to that honor more than would complete the number he had determined. And this, his Word shows, had been accomplished in October 1881.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol.III, Thy Kingdom Come (1st-ed - 1891), page 219

Charles Taze Russell (illustration) — Charles Taze Russell

1881 was based on measurements from the Great Pyramid of Giza:

Remember, too, that the Scriptures proved to us in various ways—by the Jubilee Cycles, the 1335 days of Daniel, the Parallel Dispensations, etc.—that the "harvest" or end of this age was due to begin in October, 1874, and that the Great Reaper was then due to be present; that seven years later — in October, 1881 — the "high calling" ceased, though some will be admitted to the same favors afterward, without a general call being made, to fill the places of some of the called ones who, on being tested, will be found unworthy. Then look at the manner in which the stone "Witness" testifies to those same dates and illustrates the very same lessons. Thus : — The floor line of the ''Grand Gallery" from the north to the south wall has been twice very carefully measured in recent years, and three distinct sets of measures have been obtained. One measure (a) is from the wall at the north end, measured to the step and then—omitting its riser or front— along its upper surface, the walking surface of the "Grand Gallery's" floor; another measure (b) shows the length measured through the "step" as though the "step" were not there ; another measure (c) gives the entire surface of the floor and up the front or riser of the step and along its top surface. Prof. Smyth found the first of these measures (a) to be 1874 Pyr. inches; the second (b) to be 1881 Pyr. inches, and the third (c) to be 1910 Pyr. inches, while Mr. Flinders Petrie reports these measures eight-tenths of an inch longer.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol.III, Thy Kingdom Come (1st-ed - 1891), page 357 and page 358

[...] and give the dates (a) October, 1874, (b) October, 1881 and (c) October, 1910, A. D. This threefold ending is in full accord with what we have found taught in the Scriptures : that the "harvest, the end of the age," was reached in October, 1874, and that the "call" proper ended in October, 1881, while a period would follow during which, though the general call had ceased, the same privileges would be extended to some worthy ones, in order to supply the places of some already among the called who, under trial, will be found unworthy of the crowns allotted to them when they accepted the call. How long this sifting of the consecrated will last, during which some will be granted the crowns of those adjudged unworthy, and their names written instead of some whose names will be blotted out (Rev. 3:5, 11), [...] Is not this a most remarkable agreement between this stone "Witness" and the Bible ? The dates, October, 1874, and October, 1881, are exact, while the date 1910, though not furnished in the Scriptures, seems more than a reasonable one.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol.III, Thy Kingdom Come (1st-ed - 1891), page 359 and page 360

Now if we adopt the clearly marked close of the special call and favor of the Gospel age, 1881, as the date at which the call to restitution blessings was due to have a beginning, and if we regard the lower terminus of the "Well" as marking that date (1881), we find something of interest by measuring back along that "Entrance Passage" to the original entrance of the Pyramid. This distance we find to be 3826 pyramid inches, thus representing 3826 years. And if our supposition be well founded, 3826 years before 1881 A. D. some notable event must have occurred. And as we search the historic records of God's Word to see if any notable event occurred at that time, we find a remarkable confirmation of our supposition ; for, just 3826 years before 1881 A. D., which would be 1945 B. C., Isaac, the typical seed of promise, became the heir of all his father Abraham's wealth, and was thus in position to bless all his brethren — Ishmael, the son of Hagar (type of fleshly Israel), and the many sons and daughters of Keturah, Abraham's second wife (typical of the world in general). Thus the "Entrance Passage," from the outside edge down to the nearest edge of the passage connecting with the "Well," marks in year-inches the period of time from the day the typical Isaac (in whom typically centered the promise of blessing to the world) became heir of all, B.C. 1945, to A. D. 1881, when the blessing was actually due to the world through the antitypical Isaac—the Christ, the heir of all things.—Gal. 3:16, 29.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol.III, Thy Kingdom Come (1st-ed - 1891), page 362

We measure the time from the date of Isaac's inheritance, and consequent privilege of blessing his brethren, to the year A. D. 1881, thus: Isaac came into possession of his inheritance at the death of his father Abraham, [...] And this 1945 years B. C. added to the 1881 years A. D. makes the 3826 years indicated in the Pyramid inches as the length of time that must elapse between the typical blessing of his brethren by the typical seed Isaac and the blessing of the whole world through the antitypical Isaac, the Christ. Does the question arise with any, What beginning of restitution work was marked by October, 1881 ? We answer, Nothing occurred which the world could discern. We still walk by faith and not by sight. All the preparatory steps toward the great restitution work since the date 1881 are to be reckoned as droppings of the great shower of blessing which shall ere long refresh the whole earth. That which occurred in 1881, like that which occurred in 1874, can be discerned only by the eye of faith in the light of God's Word. It was the date of the close of the highcalling, and hence the date for the beginning of the restitution call to mankind in general.

Source : MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol.III, Thy Kingdom Come (1st-ed - 1891), page 363