"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. 24:34.
Greenfield defines the original genea thus: "A family, generation, descent, Matt. 1:17, also an age, race, generation of men, including, upon the average, a space of fifty years. Luke 1:50; 7:31."
Liddell & Scott's Greek lexicon also defines the word as race, generation, etc.
Smith's Bible Dictionary is very explicit in defining the word generation: "1. Abstract:—time, either definite or indefinite. The primary meaning of the Hebrew dôr is revolution: hence, period of time. From the general idea of period comes the more special notion of an age or generation of men, the ordinary period of human life. In the long-lived, patriarchal age a generation seems to have been computed at one hundred years (Gen. 15:16; comp. 13, and Ex. 12:40); the latter reckoning, however, was the same which has been adopted by other civilized nations, viz., from thirty to forty years (Job 42:16). For generation in the sense of a definite period of time, see Gen. 15:16; Deut. 23:3, 4, 8, etc. As an indefinite period of time:—for time past, see Deut. 32:7; Isa. 58:12; for time future, see Ps. 45:17; 72:5, etc. 2. Concrete:—the men of an age or time. So generation equals contemporaries (Gen. 6:9; Isa. 53:8); posterity, especially in legal formulæ (Lev. 3:17, etc.); fathers or ancestors (Ps. 49:19). Dropping the idea of time, generation comes to mean a race or class of men. In A.V. of N. Test., three words are rendered by generation. For the abstract and indefinite, see Luke 1:50; Eph. 3:21 (A.V. "ages"); future: Acts 15:21 (A.V. "of old time"); Eph. 3:5 (A.V. "ages"), past. For concrete, see Matt. 11:16."
It will be seen that the above definitions favor the idea of indefinite time, and that we are not now to look for a generation to last a hundred years or as long as it did in the patriarchal age. Mr. Barnes in commenting upon Matt. 24:34, says: "A generation is about forty years. The destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after this was spoken." But the question before us is, and it is certainly a very important one, Do the words, "this generation," etc., refer exclusively to the generation living before the destruction of Jerusalem, or do they refer to the one now living which has witnessed certain signs in these last days? These words of our Saviour are certainly very remarkable, and demand our serious attention, for he says, in truth or most certainly this generation, or as the original reads, hee genea autee, the same generation, etc. Therefore the same generation which witnesses the signs "will not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." And to make the language yet more forcible he says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
The objector to the doctrine of Christ's soon coming says that "this generation refers exclusively to the one living before the destruction of Jerusalem;" but this must depend upon what is included in the words "till all these things be fulfilled." Mr. Barnes in commenting upon "all these things," says: "The words of Christ in describing the destruction of Jerusalem had a fullness of signification that would meet also the events of the Judgment, and which meaning would not be filled up till the world was closed." Admitting then that by "these things" Christ meant those signs which were to precede the destruction of Jerusalem, it would only prove the two-fold meaning of his words, making that wicked and almost faithless generation, typical of the last generation, and Jerusalem, the doomed city, of the defiled and destined earth.
If it can be shown that all of "these things" were not fulfilled before the destruction of Jerusalem, then most certainly the words apply to the last generation on the earth, or to the one which witnesses the signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On page 48 of Exposition of Matthew Twenty-Four, we read: "The phrase, 'all these things,' does not embrace the mourning of the tribes of the earth, and the sign of the Son of man. Neither does it embrace the shaking of the powers of the heavens; for that does not take place until the seventh vial is poured out." If it can be shown that "all these things" of the 34th verse does not include "these things" spoken of in the 3d verse, then most certainly Christ spoke of the signs which the last generation would witness, instead of those which would be witnessed by the one which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. "And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." "These things," in this connection, refer to the destruction of the buildings of the temple, and also of Jerusalem. Moses and the prophets also predicted this (Deut. 28:49–53; Lev. 26:29–33; Jer. 25:17, 18; 26:29; Dan. 9:26).
After Christ uttered this prediction he crossed the brook Kedron with his disciples and ascended the Mount of Olives. "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?" (When shall the buildings of the temple, or when will Jerusalem, be destroyed?) "And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Christ had plainly told them what would take place, but he had not told them the time of these calamities. It is, therefore, quite natural for the disciples to inquire as they did. They wished to know when "these things" would come, or when all these calamities would come upon the Jews. It is evident that there are but two questions, and that Christ answered both of them. If the subject under consideration (or the passing away of "this generation") is not a full, answer to the first question then it must be of the second. Therefore, in order to fully understand the answer to the second, we must find what is included in the answer to the first. The answer to the first will include what was fulfilled before, and in, Jerusalem's destruction.
Before telling the disciples what would take place, Jesus cautions them saying, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Before the destruction of Jerusalem, there is no history of any false christs. Josephus mentions one, but he is not considered a false christ by the best writers. Barnes in his notes on Matthew 24 mentions only Doritheus, the Samaritan, and Simon Magus. The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge names twenty-four, all of whom appeared between the time of Emperor Adrian and the year 1682. As one or two are not many, consequently this prophecy extends beyond the fall of Jerusalem. We will admit that there were "wars and rumors of wars" before the destruction of Jerusalem as history records these events, but they were not special signs of the doom of that city, neither are they of the end of the world, as wars are calamities which have been in all ages. The language of Christ implies this, as he says in connection, "All these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Why is the end not yet? "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." If these things were only the beginning of sorrows, then certainly much more would come before the end; therefore they were not special signs that the end was near.
We will further admit that the prophecy concerning the rising of nations and kingdoms against each other, and also concerning famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, were fulfilled in the period intervening the prediction and the fall of the city. The prophecy in regard to wars, was not fully fulfilled in those times; for what were large armies, a few battering-rams, bows, arrows, slings, and darts, in comparison to the tremendous machinery, and implements of the present day, or of modern warfare? The invention of gunpowder and fire-arms, which are modern inventions, have added much to the honors of war. The aggregate of national expenses in Europe, as well as in the United States, is the result of the cost of war, and of preparations for war. These facts show that we are living in the time of the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong." Joel 3:9, 10. Look at the wars of Europe, and those of Napoleon, who caused the death of 6,000,000 of people; the wars of the Crimea, and the late Franco-Prussian war. The late American conflict was probably, in some respects, the most terrible war which has ever been. Is it not wonderful that the leading nations of Christendom are still equipping large armies for the work of death and destruction, sending them forth with their chaplains, supplicating the same God to aid them in butchering each other? We therefore conclude, that the prophecy concerning wars, has a wider fulfillment this side of Jerusalem.
Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, are not mentioned by Christ as signs of his second coming, but he taught that they would occur all the way down the stream of time, to the end. It is said that these also occurred between the ascension of Christ and the destruction of the Jewish temple; but it is certain that they were not developed in an extraordinary manner, until since that time, as facts will prove. (See "Brief Exposition of Matthew Twenty-four.") The great earthquake at Lisbon, November 1, 1775, was no doubt the fulfillment of Rev. 6:12. By this earthquake, 50,000 were killed in the city of Lisbon. This must be the most extensive that ever occurred or of which we have any record, as Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean, were affected by it. Over 15,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface were disturbed by it.
In a work entitled, "The Coming Earthquake," the author gives a table, showing the increase since A. D. 58, to 1850. Before A. D. 58, only four disastrous ones were recorded in 1700 years. From A. D. 58 to end of 9th century 197 in 900 years, of these 15 disastrous. From 9th to end of 15th century 532 in 600 years, 44 destructive. From 15th to 18th century 2,804 in 300 years, and two destructive. From 18th century to 1850, 3,240 (50 years), 33 disastrous. This is a wonderful increase. It may be said, "Are not all of these convulsions in nature the result of natural causes? and can they not be accounted for on philosophical and scientific principles? In answer to this question, let me say, Is there not an overruling Providence over these natural causes, so that they become subservient to the will of the great Author of these laws, and are the agents through which he accomplishes his great designs? Most certainly the prophecy concerning earthquakes has a fulfillment this side of the fall of Jerusalem.
(To be Continued.)
RESURRECTION AT DEATH.
By R. F. Cottrell
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL.
A recent writer, a minister of an enlightened denomination of Christians, takes his stand, with Spiritualists, that there is no resurrection of the body to be hoped for in the future, but that the resurrection takes place at death. He gives the following comment on 1 Cor. 15 : 51, 52:—
" 'The mystery' explains the true ideas and facts of the anastasis, or future life. 'We shall not all sleep.' Death is not sleep at all—not soul-sleeping, unconscious state of the dead—but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we, myself and you to whom I am writing, shall be changed, anastasised, from our natural to our spiritual life. 'For the trump shall sound'—the event of death must take place—'and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed,' from our earth life to our heavenly life." Again he defines: "The trumpet signifies the ushering in of some great event. Here it refers to the event of death, and passing away of mankind from their earth life to the spirit world, the Judgment, and the awards of the eternal world."
I do not intend to review the writer. An able minister of his own denomination has set forth some of the scripture testimonies for resurrection, which blows away his air-built theory as the chaff. But I make a remark or two. He says, "Death is not a sleep at all." This is true if his theory is true. For if nothing reposes in death that is to be awakened, there is no propriety in calling death a sleep. But this very scripture calls death a sleep. That "we shall not all sleep," implies that some of us shall sleep. And we are instructed by the prophet Daniel that "them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." And in the case of Lazarus, Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Again we are told that "Jesus spoke of his death," and that he "said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead."53
But I wish to call particular attention to the words of Jesus to Martha: "Thy brother shall rise again." Lazarus had been dead four days. There had been time enough for that work of a moment, of the twinkling of an eye, which our writer says takes place at death, to be fully accomplished. He was a friend of Jesus, and we are expressly told that Jesus loved him. Why then did Jesus say, "Thy brother shall rise again?" Why did he not say, The trumpet has sounded—death has taken place—and thy brother has risen to the spiritual life in the spiritual world? And then how sad the thought, that the liberated soul, one that had been "changed—anastasised," from his natural to his spiritual life, whose corruptible body, according to our writer, has been "exchanged for the incorruptible, spiritual body," after spending four days in "the spirit world" should be remanded back to his prison life again. But we are not informed that he expressed his regret; so we must not complain.
In conclusion, I express my firm conviction that Martha was sound in faith. In reply to the assurance that her brother should rise again, she said, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus did not correct her by telling her that there was to be no such time and event in the far future, but that the event took place at death.
CONTINUANCE.
It is a good thing to stick, if one only has something to stick to. Stubbornness on the wrong side is a great fault, but steadfastness in the right is most praiseworthy. The psalmist said, "I have stuck unto thy testimonies; O Lord, put me not to shame." The man who takes God's testimonies for an heritage and who sticks to them in health and in sickness, in wealth and in poverty, in prosperity and in adversity, will never be put to shame. It is when men forsake the law and word of God, that they involve themselves in trouble. So long as they abide in him, and stick to the word of God, there is nothing else on which to build our faith and hope. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.—The Armory.
THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE.
By H. W. S.
As to what it is—it is simply letting the Lord carry our burdens and manage our affairs, instead of trying to do it ourselves.
Most Christians are like a man who was toiling along the road bending under a heavy burden, when a wagon overtook him, and the driver kindly offered to help him on his journey. He joyfully accepted the offer; but when seated continued to bend beneath his burden, which he still kept on his shoulder. "Why do you not lay down your burden?" asked the kind-hearted driver. "Oh!" replied the man, "I feel that it is almost too much to ask you to carry me, and I could not think of letting you carry my burden too." And so Christians, who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus, still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burden, and often go weary and heavy laden through the whole length of their journey.
I knew a lady who had a very heavy burden. It took away her sleep and her appetite, and there was danger of her health breaking down under it. One day, when it seemed especially heavy, she noticed lying on the table near her a little tract called "Hannah's Faith." Attracted by the name, she picked it up and began to read it, little knowing, however, that it was to create a revolution in her whole experience. The story was of a poor woman who had been carried triumphantly through a life of unusual sorrow. She was giving the history of her life to a kind visitor on one occasion; and at the close the visitor said, feelingly, "O Hannah! I do not see how you could bear so much sorrow." "I did not bear it," was the quick reply, "the Lord bore it for me."
"Yes," said the visitor, "that is the right way. We must take our troubles to the Lord."
"Yes," replied Hannah, "but we must do more than that; we must leave them there." Most people," she continued, "take their burdens to Him, but they bring them away with them again, and are just as worried and unhappy as ever. But I take mine and I leave them with him, and come away and forget them. And if they come back, I take them again; and I do this over and over, until at last I just forget I have any troubles, and am at perfect rest."
My friend was very much struck with this plan, and resolved to try it. The circumstances of her life she could not alter; but she took them to the Lord, and handed them over into his management, and then she believed that he took them, and she left all the responsibility and the worry and anxiety with him. As often as they returned, she took them back; and the result was that, although the circumstances remained unchanged, her soul was kept in perfect peace in the midst of them. She felt that she had found out a blessed secret; and from that time she never again tried to carry one of her own burdens, nor to manage anything for herself.—H. W. S.
The Mount of Private Prayer
THE longer you are with God on the mount of private prayer and secret communion with him, the brighter will your face shine when you come down.
IS GOD DEAD?
By S. B. Whitney
BY ELD. S. B. WHITNEY.
THIS question, once propounded by Sojourner Truth to Mr. Douglass when he gave evidence of declining faith in Providence, was recently suggested to my mind by a very different circumstance, as the following will clearly show:—
A few days since, while in conversation with a no-day Adventist upon the law and covenants, the seventh chapter of Romans was alluded to, and I asked him what he understood the first husband to be. He replied, "God; for he says he was an husband unto them." Now Paul says, "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband." Rom. 7: 2. Then if God was the first husband, and we are loosed from the law by the death of the first husband, it follows that God is dead. This is a new way of proving the abolition of the law of God, but it shows the terrible extremity to which the opponents of that law are driven to find something with which to support their theory.
Another evidence on the same point is the contradictory nature of the positions taken by them. For instance, one man in this place says, in opposing the Sabbath, that the ten commandments are so strict that no man can keep them an hour. Another says they are so slack that they were designed, and were only fit, for a civil code for the Jews, and were altogether of too low a type as a rule for the Christian. Thus it would almost seem that the opposers of God's law are bereft of their reason, and in their insane attacks upon it are left to devour one another's positions. At least, the lovers of that law have nothing to fear from such efforts, and may labor with courage and earnestness for the propagation of its principles, and wait patiently for God to vindicate his own cause.
AMUSEMENTS.
THE law of Christianity is not an iron-clad asceticism. Holiness signifies wholeness, wholth, or health; and health breeds innocent mirth. Recreation is not only innocent, it is absolutely indispensable. Martin Luther relieved his stern battles with the Pope by cheerful songs, and by decorating Christmas trees for his children. Gladstone, the king of living statesmen, recreates with his axe; Spurgeon, the king of living preachers, recreates with his games; the saintly McCheyne with his gymnastic poles and bars. These were men, not angels.
No man lives who must not work, and who may not play. But what is recreation? We reply: It is everything which re creates what is lost in life’s daily frictions or fatigues. Whatever makes the body healthier, the mind clearer, and the power more vigorous, is Christian recreation. To deny ourselves this is hazardous; to restrain others from it is an infringement on Christian liberty. We lay down this principle, that whatever pleasure or play tends to improve the body, mind and spirit, is right; but whatever play or pleasure inflames the evil passions of our nature, is a sinful amusement. The one is right; the other is wrong. The one, like pure water, refreshes and strengthens; the other, like alcoholic beverages, excites a morbid appetite, inflames the passions, and poisons the soul. Recreation is the Creator’s pure water; sinful amusement is Satan’s branded beverage.
The theatre, in these days, asks for the suffrages and support of church members. But its advocates always present to us, in argument, an ideal play-house, whose actors are virtuous people, whose dramas conform to Christian morality and which rigidly excludes every kind of sensual temptation. Such a Puritanic theatre would be entitled, at least, to respectful treatment from the church. But every person of common sense knows that the actual average American theatre is no more like this ideal play-house, than the average Pope is like St. Peter, or the average politician is like Abraham Lincoln. A Puritanic theatre would become bankrupt in a twelve-month.—Rev. T. L. Cuyler, in the Evangelist.
Preaching to One Hearer
Dr. Lyman Beecher, the well-known American Presbyterian minister, once engaged to preach for a country minister on exchange, and the Sabbath proved to be one excessively stormy, cold, and uncomfortable. It was in mid-winter, and the snow was piled all along in the roads, so as to make the passage very difficult. Still the minister urged his horse through the drifts, put the animal into a shed, and went in. As yet there was no person in the house, and after looking about, the old gentleman—then young—took his seat in the pulpit. Soon the door opened, and a single individual walked up the aisle, looked about, and took a seat. The hour came for commencing service, but no more hearers.
Whether to preach to such an audience was a question, and it was one which Lyman Beecher was not long in deciding. He felt that he had a duty to perform, and he had no right to refuse to do it because only one man could reap the benefit of it, and accordingly he went through all the services, praying, singing, preaching, and the benediction, with only one hearer. And when all was over, he hastened down from the desk to speak to his congregation, but he had departed.
A circumstance so rare was referred to occasionally, but twenty years after it was brought to the doctor's mind quite strangely. Traveling somewhere in Ohio, the doctor alighted from the stage one day, when a gentleman stepped up and spoke to him, familiarly calling him by name.
"I do not remember you," said the doctor. "I suppose not," said the stranger; "but we once spent two hours together in a house alone in a storm."
"I do not recall it, sir," added the old man; "pray, when was it?"
"Do you remember preaching, twenty years ago, in such a place, to a single person?"
"Yes, sir," said the doctor, grasping his hand, "and if you are the man, I have been wishing to see you ever since."
"I am the man, sir; and that sermon saved my soul and made a minister of me, and yonder is my church! The converts of that sermon, sir, are all over Ohio."—Exchange.
What Makes Prayer Effectual
THE effectiveness of prayer does not depend in any measure, upon its fluency, or its grammatical accuracy, or its rhetorical finish, or its length, or the volume or solemnity of voice with which it is uttered. A prayer may be perfect in all these qualities, and yet be utterly ineffective. Effectual prayer is that which is wrung out of the heart by a sense of need, and offered in a spirit of faith—a "belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." The man who has this sense of need, and this spirit of faith, may hesitate and stammer in his utterance; he may be faulty in the grammar and rhetoric which he employs; he may be as brief and informal in his prayer as Peter was when he found himself sinking beneath the sea of Galilee; he may not have voice enough to be heard by any human ear; but he will command the ear of God, and he will have assured to him the sympathy and help of God in that thing for which he prays. That which the psalmist says is eternally true: "Delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give thee the desires of thy heart."
Watch Your Hand
"Oh, mother, I did want one of those big oranges outside Dick's shop-window."
"You did not touch one, I hope, Eddy?" said his mother.
"I did not, mother; but I had to watch my hand hard not to let it grab," replied Eddy.
"That's right, my boy, watch."
Those Who Lean Upon the Lord
YEARS cannot make their strength decay,
Who lean upon the Lord;
Nor age fling shadows o'er the way
That's lighted by His word;
Their path doth bright and brighter shine,
Till perfect in the skies;
And life's soft eve is no decline,
For heavenward still they rise.
CAN WE KNOW OF THE SECOND ADVENT?
By James White
No TRUTH of inspiration can be more clearly stated than that God reveals his designs to his prophets, that men and nations may be warned before their accomplishment. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. Before visiting with judgments, God has sent forth warnings sufficient to enable the believing to escape his wrath, and to condemn those who have not heeded the warning. This was the case before the flood. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world." Heb. 11:7.
At a later period, when the nations had become sunken in idolatry and crime, and the destruction of wicked Sodom was determined, the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" Gen. 18:17, 18. And due notice was given to righteous Lot, who, with his daughters, was preserved; and none, even in that guilty city, perished without due warning. Lot evidently warned the people; and, in thus communing with them, was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." 2 Pet. 2:7, 8. When he warned his sons-in-law, "he seemed as one that mocked." Gen. 19:14. And when "the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter," Lot warned them, and entreated them to desist from their wickedness. And they at once did that which all sinners, since the days of righteous Lot, have been disposed to do to those who faithfully warn them of their sins; namely, they charged him with being a judge.
Before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a forerunner was sent to prepare the way before the Lord. Those who did not receive Christ were rejected, "because," as he said to Jerusalem, when warning the people of the destruction of their city and temple, "thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:44. We have on record the Lord's prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem during the time of the generation that rejected him, which was fulfilled in less than forty years from the time of his crucifixion. And that the Christians in Judea might escape its impending doom, they were told that when they should "see Jerusalem compassed with armies," or, as recorded by Matthew, "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place," they were to flee to the mountains. Luke 21:20; Matt. 24:15. They heeded the admonition, and escaped in safety to Pella.
Such is the testimony of inspiration respecting the dealings of God with his people in past ages. And it cannot be supposed that he will change his course relative to the future, when that future is to realize the crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations.
We accept the Bible as a revelation from Heaven. What God has revealed in that book, let no man call a mystery, or a secret of the Almighty. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Deut. 29:29. If the sacred Scriptures do not designate any period in particular for the second appearing of Christ, then men should at once abandon the search for proofs of his second coming. But if prophecy, in a most harmonious manner, does point to the period of that great event, and if there evidence that "it is near, even at the doors," the subject at once assumes vast importance.
Can anything be learned from the Bible relative to the period of the second advent is a question unsettled in many minds. This is a grave inquiry, and, from the nature of the subject, is worthy of close investigation and a candid answer. How did Christ himself treat the subject? When the disciples inquired, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world?" he did not reprove them for prying into that which was purposely hidden from all men. No, he answered them in the most definite manner. He even states that there should be signs of that event, and adds, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." The simple fact that the Lord mentions signs of his second advent is the best proof possible that his people were not to remain ignorant of the relative nearness of the event. Add to this evidence his declaration that when these signs should be seen, his people should know that it was near, even at the doors, and the case becomes an exceedingly strong one. J. W.