Some Statements and Corrections Regarding Christian Science
By Editor
In the latter part of 1911 we published a series of articles by Mr. Walter Clair Thompson on Christian Science. In the issue of November 14 a quotation was made, to which Mr. Olcott Haskell, Christian Science publicist of San Francisco, took exception in a letter dated November 14, which was forwarded to Mr. Thompson. Mr. Haskell's letter was as follows:
"In printing the contribution by Walter Clair Thompson in your paper of the 14th, Mrs. Eddy's name is placed in a way which would indicate that it was the intention to credit her with being the author of the sentence quoted at the head of the article, while farther on this same quotation is followed by the words 'Christian Science Journal,' 1885, and there is a bracketed statement showing that Mr. Thompson took the prophecy to refer to Mrs. Eddy. The 'Christian Science Journal' from which this sentence was taken, shows however, that this 'prophecy' appeared in the 'Lily of Israel' and there is nothing to indicate that its author had ever heard of Mrs. Eddy or of Christian Science.
"On the same page of the 'Christian Science Journal' with this quotation from the 'Lily of Israel' is one from 'Ram Chandra Bose,' in which it is stated that the sacred books of the Hindus profess to teach science as well as religion and that 'no science could be more obviously, more egregiously false than that embodied in its sacred books.' This is held to prove 'the glaring absurdity of Hinduism.'
"It is not strange that a woman of foreign birth reared among Hindu surroundings, should fail to understand the teachings of Christian Science. Would our critic give much weight to such casual assertions as might be made by this noted Hindu lecturer concerning his own religion?
"Those who are acquainted with the history of Christian Science know that the Bible was Mrs. Eddy's only text-book during those years of search which led to her discovery of the spiritual facts upon which Jesus' teaching and practise were founded."
This letter was forwarded to Mr. Thompson, who replied in part as follows:
"In regard to Mr. Haskell's criticism, will say that the placing of Mrs. Eddy's name to the quotation to which he refers, was not intended, but was an error which came about in transcribing the manuscript. The original manuscript which I have here credits the quotation to the 'Christian Science Journal.' I noticed that this mistake had been made, as soon as the number of the 'Signs' containing the article reached me, and I can not understand why I did not discover the mistake in the manuscript I sent to the Press. However, in regard to the application of the quotation, it applies with equal force to the Christian Science of the West as to the philosophy of the East, and as it was sent out with the endorsement of the official organ of the Christian Scientists, it is a little late in the day for them to repudiate it. I endeavored to make the common identity plain in the first and second articles, and the force of the argument has evidently not escaped them.
"I am fully aware that Christian Scientists loudly protest that there is no relationship between Christian Science and the India philosophy, but the fact of their common identity remains nevertheless. . . . I notice also that Mr. Haskell calls attention to an article on the same page as that from which my quotation is taken, that denounces the sacred book of the Hindus. That is quite characteristic of the 'Christian Science Journal.' Its columns, while uncompromisingly closed to historic Christian religion, are always open to occultism, and as they smack so strongly of the East, its editors frequently ingeniously insert in an adjoining column something to allay the fears of the initiated.
"I am sorry, of course, for the error of attaching Mrs. Eddy's name to the quotation, which is unintentional; but as the 'Lily of Israel' quotation was taken from an article that had their full endorsement, I feel that my application of it is both just and correct. In preparing my articles on Christian Science, I endeavored to use the utmost care in making quotations, and am confident that investigation will prove them so. However, if I do make any mistakes, I am glad to rectify them.
"Sincerely, W. C. Thompson, "508 E. Everett St., Portland, Oregon."
In a letter of January 2, Mr. Haskell declares that the series "contained many statements concerning Christian Science which are absolutely untrue, nor is their untruthfulness lessened where in some instances the writer has given disconnected quotations from Mrs. Eddy's writings, which when taken from their context and quoted with a misapprehension of their purport have been construed into meaning the very opposite of what was their writer's intent." Mr. Haskell then cites the following:
"As used in Christian Science, the phrase 'self-immolation' means self-sacrifice, and suggests nothing in connection with the Hindu philosophy 'nirvana.' Mrs. Eddy writes, 'Man is not absorbed in Deity, and man can not lose his individuality.' 'Science and Health,' page 259."
This must suffice, regarding a series of articles so far in the past that most of our readers have forgotten the points at issue. We correct, and are willing to correct, statements of fact, and we greatly regret that through pressure of work and oversight, the above correction was not sooner made, but we can not open the columns of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for a debate over the teachings of Christian Science. It would be endless. We, with many others, believe that its teachings are contrary to the Bible and to Christianity. Christian Scientists contend that they are in harmony with the Bible, and with Christianity rightly understood, which must be after Mrs. Eddy's explanation.
It is very unfortunate, to say the least, that Mrs. Eddy's utterances lend themselves so readily to double meanings, that she says so many things that can not be taken to mean what the language used would ordinarily mean. If we had a blanket-sheet newspaper, we would print all that Mr. Haskell, a very pleasant and capable gentleman, sends us; but as before remarked, the discussion of the interpretation, or misinterpretation, of the teaching of Mrs. Eddy, we have not space to publish.
Take, for instance, the last paragraph in Mr. Haskell's letter above. There are those who very strongly dispute it, that the Bible was Mrs. Eddy's only text-book, and they seem to give very strong proofs to the contrary; but we have no space for the discussion of this in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES at the present.
The Greatest Saloon-Keeper.
The Quincy (Illinois) Herald of May 20 has an elaborate article showing that the czar of Russia "owns a larger number of wine stores and spirit saloons than any other individual in the universe." He has over 30,000 drinking saloons ("kabaks"), controls 4,000 spirit factories, and gathers in nearly $400,000,000 yearly. The increase in his income for 1910 was $6,000,000 more than the year before. The lowest license to sell the miserable stuff is $200 a year. The czar has the monopoly in manufacture and sale. Kabaks are opened by royal decree; there must be at least one in every village. In some communes where part of the saloons were closed and schools opened, the police closed the schools and opened the saloons. No wonder that gospel Christian missionaries are persecuted or driven out. But Russia reaps drunkenness and crime in her army, suicides among the people, squalor and poverty, an unmitigated curse in every way.
Our Saviour and Lord
By George W. Reaser
Christ as Creator
THAT Christ, the Anointed One, was before the fall of Adam a member of the Godhead who filled the office of Creator, is evident to the Bible student. Whether the thing to be created was a mighty sun, or a tiny plant, or animal life in infinite variety, from the tiniest living creature to the mightiest leviathan, the execution of the design was His handiwork.
Of the infinitude of His created works the prophet speaks when he says, "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth." Isa. 40:26.
Modern astronomers, in lifting up their eyes on high to try to compute the vast number of shining orbs, have placed the total as high as sixty-six thousand million and more. Yet, gazing upon these scintillating orbs, the old emir of Idumea said: "Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him!" But the Creator has a name for each star that He has created, for it is written, "He calleth them all by names."
These myriads of suns doubtless have their respective worlds. Over each of these worlds possessing inhabitants, Christ doubtless placed a head, created in His own image, the father, the progenitor, to replenish his world with his own family. At least this would be His plan if we reason from the analogy of our own world; for the expression given us of the counsel between the Father and Son, relative to the creating of the first man of our world and to the peopling of our globe, was, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness," and to the man He said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion . . . over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1:26, 28.
In passing, it may be worthy of note that in one respect our world occupies a unique position among the whole galaxy of worlds. Because of sin, and the consequent loss of eternal life to the many, the multiplication of the race was vastly increased in order to secure the perfect number, to fill the earth with "a righteous seed." This increase was declared immediately after the calamity of the fall, in these words addressed to Eve: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception." Gen. 3:16.
That Jesus made provision, in the creation of all worlds, for their complete replenishing, each with a race of beings in His own image of character, is further suggested in the following inspired words: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev. 4:11. His "pleasure" is in making others happy; and proving that He finds His joy in inhabited spheres, He says, speaking of Himself, "Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men." Prov. 8:31. And again: "Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people" (Isa. 65:18, 19), "in whom is all My delight" (Ps. 16:3).
Proof that Christ Was Creator
But the one who wisely bases his faith upon the living Word of God, will naturally expect additional proof-texts to support the statement that Jesus was the active agent in the work of creation. John bears witness to this truth in the introduction of the Gospel which bears his name. He says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:1, 3. That it may be clear to our minds as to whom he is introducing under the title of "the Word," he explains, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Verse 14. Paul adds his testimony by stating that "by Him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Col. 1:16, 17.
The North America Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus, or the Swan, in the far north, remarkable for its peculiar shape. It is not visible to the eye through a telescope, but the eye of the camera caught it. This was taken by the 10-inch Bruce telescope at Yerkes Observatory, by an exposure of four hours
Astronomy informs us that Arcturus is one of the mightiest suns yet discovered, being immensely greater in volume than our sun. God's question addressed to Job, "Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" has peculiar force, when we learn that this mighty giant, Arcturus, is called by astronomers "a runaway," that is, his volume is so vast, his velocity so great (ninety-two miles a second), that he seems to spurn the combined attraction of all the systems known to science, as he sweeps majestically through our universe "for the first time." Altho "a runaway" so far as the science of astronomy is developed, he is safely under the perfect control of the Master Builder of the universe, Jesus Christ.
Where our dim, unaided vision may see but a point of light, a high-power telescope will perhaps reveal twenty thousand suns. Where we see but a pale mist or haze of light, the science of astronomy unfolds the indescribable glories of apparently another universe, with its vaulted chambers ablaze with the glory of God, it would seem leading up to His throne, the glory center of the universe. And all these proclaim the matchless, the incomprehensible glory of Christ our Saviour, for "by His Spirit He garnished the heavens." Surely "help for fallen humanity" has been "laid upon One who is mighty to save." "Our wildest dreams and conceptions of the power of the Creator shame us with their insignificance."7
Things Terrestrial
Coming down to our own little sphere, let us observe a few of the manifestations of His creative genius, power, and love, displayed in our planet home. First of all, the Garden of Eden contained "every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." Whoever delights his eyes for the first time in beholding the surpassing beauties of a primitive tropical forest, with its myriad variety of trees, plants, fruits, flowers, and brilliant orchids, has a vividly thrilling object-lesson of the infinite fertility of the mind of Christ expressed in the picture before him. He who from a smoothly gliding, glass-bottomed boat, beholds the wonders and marvelous beauty of "the sea gardens" in the mighty deep, is impressed with the thought that "His ways are past finding out."
As we travel from continent to continent, from ocean to ocean, we are surprised to discover entirely distinct varieties of plants and animals in each. The domesticated trees, plants, and flowers of America not indigenous to the land, are borrowed from other continents. To illustrate, Australia is the only native habitat of about one hundred fifty varieties of the eucalyptus, and of some seventy varieties of the marsupial family, of which the giant kangaroo is the largest. Mexico has approximately one hundred varieties of the banana; Africa, thirty varieties of the antelope, each entirely distinct from those found in any other portion of our globe. America has its bison; Africa, India, Madagascar, and the Philippines each their own varieties of the ox or buffalo; Tibet, "the roof of the world," its useful yak, perfectly adapted to the needs of the country; South America, its llama; and the extreme north, the musk-ox. But why multiply, when it would require volumes to list them all!
It would seem that no continent, nor even the world, was large enough for the full expression of the conceptions of the mind of Christ, in plant and animal life. Botanists, zoologists, ichthyologists, have busied themselves for generations in discovering, classifying, and naming the infinite number of species and varieties in plant and animal life in our little world, but have found no end to the task. The instincts of self-preservation, of selection of suitable food, often of conserving the same, and of home-building, of perpetuating their own kind, and of protection of their offspring, were planted in the animal kingdom by a divine mind, in the day that they were created.
The infinitude of fauna and flora in our world, altho shorn of much beauty, and (Continued on page 9)
Our Saviour and Lord
(Continued from page 6)
robbed by sin of qualities to delight our senses, should ever remind us of Him who said, "Consider the lilies of the field [uncultivated], how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." He who pointed to the lily was the One who designed and painted it.
The magnitude and the color of each star,—"for one star differeth from another star in glory,"—as well as the form, coloring, and perfume of each flower, was a conception formed in the mind of Christ, before He spoke it into existence. The glory-rings of Saturn were in His mind before He spoke them into being. As His genius is unsearchable, so His love is boundless.
In contemplating the creative works of Christ, the overflowing praise of the psalmist is, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork."
And, Jehovah be praised, He that telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by name, is the same as He that "healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." Ps. 147:3, 4.
But the subject is boundless, even as He is infinite. "It was Christ that spread the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space and fashioned the flowers of the field. It was He that filled the earth with beauty and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father's love."
"Let the distant stars, with their attendant worlds, whirl, and wheel, and roll, and shine in the boundless empire of space, while a new light—the light of God's universe—shines upon His Word, that carries us backward to the time when 'in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,' and when 'the morning stars sang together,' and forward to the time when there will be 'a new heavens and a new earth,' and 'the overcomers shall inherit the kingdom.'"
Fellow God
Jesus said, "I and My Father are one." In nature, in power, in spirit, in glory, in righteousness, in love, in counsel in regard to the creation and operation of the universe, Jehovah and His Son are one; and yet in personality, two distinct beings. Jehovah employs these expressions in speaking of His Son: "The mighty God," "The everlasting Father," "The Man who is My Fellow;" and again, "Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. . . . And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands." It was a "determinate counsel" between the Father and the Son which settled the matter of Christ the Creator being given to redeem the world that He had created.
The oneness, the unity, the harmony, between the Father and the Son, is a guarantee of the stability of the universe and of the eternal peace which will persist when "all things are put under Him" (Christ), for the "counsel of peace shall be between Them both," and "then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."
The Missionary's Pattern
By Mrs. E. G. White
By Mrs. E. G. White
"Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth."
There is need for every soul to study the Pattern, Christ Jesus. Those who follow His methods of labor will have freedom in utterance and earnestness in manner. They will be inspired by the sacred themes of truth. Christ understood the needs of all classes, and was successful in preaching the gospel to the poor. He understood all their temptations. We need to study methods whereby we may preach the gospel to the poor and downtrodden and degraded of humanity. But let no one think that God will approve of a method which will require a man to act the part of a clown, or like a man who has lost his senses. Such methods as these are wholly unnecessary and inappropriate.
Take your text from the Word of God, and make use of the scenes of nature, and of events and objects about you, to make the meaning plain, and find your way to the hearts of the people, and angels of God will make a personal application of the truth to the hearts of those who are ignorant. You need not be formal or mechanical. You need not depend upon notes, neither need you be rough and uncouth, and use coarse language and slang expressions, thinking that in this way you will reach the uneducated classes. Look at the manner in which Jesus addressed the poor. His language was pure, but it was simplicity itself, and through the imagination and the heart He reached the hearts of the people. Boisterous gesticulation, jumping up and down, and pounding on the desk, is not after the order of Christ, and the good that has been accomplished has not been on account of these things, but in spite of them.
Personal Labor
Personal labor is far more effective than is preaching, and yet this essential feature of the work has been strangely neglected. The ministers of different denominations do little personal labor; but we should not wait for needy souls to come to us. We should go forth to seek and to save that which is lost. We should seek individual intercourse with the wealthy as well as with the poor; for generally the rich are poorer in spiritual knowledge and experience than are the poor. The sermons that they hear do not touch them, and laborers are needed who will dare not only to seek out the jewels from among the low and degraded, but who will also go to the rich, and bring to them a knowledge of the Word of the Lord. There are some who have had a knowledge of the Word of God who have once been in high position, but have become poor through misfortune and failure, and are obliged to occupy a position among the very poor. In circumstances of this kind some are seeking to keep alive the feeble flame that they have kindled at the divine altar. There are also souls who, through intemperance, have been brought very low, who are in misery hardly to be conceived of by those who have never acted the part of a true missionary. There are souls in the strongholds of sin who have nothing to give them a ray of hope, or inspire in them a spark of courage that they may live a better life.
O, that all who claim to be Christians might have a view of the misery, the destitution, of those who are low down in the scale of humanity, and might realize at the same time that these are souls for whom Christ died! God understands every wo. His heart is touched with human wo and sorrow, and it is time that all Christians should wear His yoke, and work in His line, identifying themselves with human sympathy in the way in which He identified Himself with our fallen race.
Whatever may be your office, your position, your wealth, if you are a laborer together with Christ, you will seek out the needy and the distressed, the bereaved and afflicted, and will make their interests your own. You will possess the spirit of self-sacrifice and self-denial which led Jesus to yield up His life as a sacrifice for man on Calvary's cross. You will carry forward His work, and walk in His footsteps, and will look upon all as the purchase of the blood of the Son of God. Jesus died for every son and daughter of Adam, that "whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The love of Christ in the heart will be manifested in unselfish missionary labor, and will be more mighty to deal with the evil-doer than will the sword and the courts of justice. These are necessary to strike terror to the heart of the law-breaker, but the loving missionary can do more than this. The medical missionary can take up his appointed work, and relieve not only the physical maladies, but, through the grace and love of Christ, can lead the sinner to the great Physician, who can heal the soul of its leprosy of sin.
Win Souls
However much we may deserve rebuke, the heart will harden under reproof; but it will melt under the love of Christ. It is to manifest His love to the fallen that Jesus has enlisted every follower of His, that the transgressor may be brought back to allegiance to God. Jesus accepts all who will give themselves to His service, who will cooperate with heavenly agencies, as they seek to restore the moral image of God in man. The work we are given is to bid the sinner hope in God, and not feel that he is an outcast in the world, a discouraged, desperate sufferer, but that he is a prisoner of hope. Let your words to him be, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Present before him a love that can not be measured, and bring the lost back to faith in God.
He who is actuated by the love of Jesus will see in every soul, whether rich or poor, a value that can not be computed, in comparison with which the world sinks into insignificance. O, the love that God has revealed for the soul is infinite, beyond estimation! He who is a partaker of the divine nature will love as Christ loved; he will work as Christ worked, and will manifest sympathy and compassion. He will not fail nor be discouraged. This love can exist and be kept pure and refined and elevated only by continual communion with Jesus Christ. All coldness and hardness of heart will pass away from those who come into the sunshine of Christ's presence; and those who abide in Him, and let Him abide in them, will naturally, willingly, obey His injunction, "Love one another as I have loved you."
So Saith the Word
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
O, for a vision of love
Truly revealing the Word!
O, for the Man from above,
Jesus, the Saviour and Lord!
Teaching, we get what we give;
Nothing comes in from afar.
Just in the manner we live,
So we become what we are.
We may be knaves if we will,
Hate or be false, if we can,
Walk in the bitterness still,
Shaping our lives to our plan.
Yet, as we sow we shall reap —
True to the seed is the grain;
Greater the harvest shall sweep,
Sown for the loss and the gain.
"Give and forgive" is God's way —
Simple the measure, and clear;
Kindness hath definite sway;
Motives by actions appear,
Actions are habits at length,
Molding the words and the deeds,
Cordons of absolute strength
Grown from the tiniest seeds.
Destiny tarries at last,
Bears us afar to our place,
Out of the storm and the blast,
Out of the reach of the grace,
Into the prison of Hate,
Into the doom of Despair,
Into the splendors that wait —
Garnered with infinite care.
Over it all is the Christ
Saving the sinners that call.
Fully His love hath sufficed
In a redemption for all,
Healing the hearts that are wrong,
Changing the sowing for ay,
Turning the sorrow to song,
Dawning the darkness with day.
Filling the future with light,
Lifting the burden of years,
Sealing the secret of sight,
Moving the soul for the tears,
Cleansing the seed as it falls
Free from the hand to the sod
Where the Christ-virtue enthralls,
White with the glory of God.
San Francisco, California.
The Bible, Law, and Grace
THE Bible contains the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, or man's salvation, faith, and life.
The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect to the authority of God, the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation.
Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God revealed in the law, requireth to be done.—Presbyterian Confession of Faith, articles 5 and 7.
The Coming of Our Lord
By George W. Rine
The Manner of His Coming
AS the first advent of Jesus accomplished mystically, insensibly? Did He come in only a purely spiritual or esoteric sense? No. "The Word [the eternal Logos] was made FLESH, and dwelt among us, and we BEHELD His glory." John 1:14. Was it not prophesied of Him that He should be the seed of the woman? Gen. 3:15. And was He not actually "made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law"? Gal. 4:4, 5. Isaiah was led by the Holy Spirit to predict, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." We all know that these remarkable Messianic forecasts were literally realized in the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. All who are acquainted with the gospel narratives know that nineteen centuries ago Jesus appeared and dwelt among men personally, corporeally.
His Second Coming Will Therefore Be Personal and Sensible
The very fact that the first advent of our Lord was visible and personal is the earnest that His second advent will be equally so. He Himself declared, "I will come AGAIN." John 14:3. The word "again" is an implied reference to His first coming, and is, therefore, a tacit assurance that His second appearing would be literal and personal, as was His first. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, under divine inspiration, wrote in retrospect and prospect: "So Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation." Chapter 9:28, A.R.V. The two advents are here placed in balanced juxtaposition. Are we not, therefore, logically driven to conclude that as the first coming was personal and corporeal, so likewise will be the second coming?
Anticipating the sad fact that false theories in respect to His second advent would abound in the latter days, our Lord graciously addresses the following warning to His church: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. . . . Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Matt. 24:23-27. Could Jesus have been mistaken when, by this picturesque verisimilitude, He enunciated the manner of His second coming? Impossible! If that coming will not be palpable to human senses, then this illustration, given by the Master Himself, is not only misleading but strikingly inept.
Hundreds of years before the Christian era began, the same glorious event was predictively depicted by the Spirit-filled psalmist, in terms similar to those of our Lord. Thus: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: A FIRE SHALL DEVOUR BEFORE HIM, and it shall be VERY TEMPESTUOUS ROUND ABOUT HIM. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people." Ps. 50:3, 4. If the psalmist's prognostic picture of the Messiah's final appearing means anything, it means that that appearing will be open, obtrusive, literal.
We Shall See Him
In his own tender way, the beloved disciple assures us that when Jesus appears we shall see Him as He is. Here are his simple, lucid words: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall SEE Him as He is." 1 John 3:2. The very fact that we shall see Jesus when He comes, utterly contravenes the widely held theory that His coming is mystical and hidden.
John's testimony is made doubly sure by angelic attestation. When Christ ascended to His Father, the eyes of His sorrow-stricken disciples were fastened wistfully upon His disappearing form. Here is the story: "While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11.
So obvious is the meaning of this language that a child could not mistake it. The disciples had "SEEN Him go into heaven," the cloud had received Him out of their sight. The angels' words, "shall so come in like manner," show unmistakably that the next or second coming will be visible and therefore personal. Jesus went up corporeally, visibly, and "this SAME JESUS . . . SHALL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Such language could convey to the disciples no other thought than that the Jesus whom they had so often heard, seen, and touched, would again come in His own palpable person.
That grand old patriarch Job cherished and testified to the same hope. He trusted in a personal Redeemer and in the personal manifestation of that same Redeemer "at the latter day," and he declared that he himself, not as a discarnate spirit, but in his "flesh," his glorified body, would see the Redeemer. Mark Job's protestation: "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and tho after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall SEE for myself, and mine eyes shall behold." Job 19:25-27. The inspired Job certainly gives us no room for believing in an occult and surreptitious coming of the Lord.
Of precisely the same import is the great apostle's perfervid profession of faith, as set forth in 1 Thess. 4:16. We cite: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Note that it is not in the person of His Spirit or of His angels, or through the medium of His providences, that the Lord shall finally "descend," or come; but He HIMSELF, with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, shall descend from heaven. The same solemn truth is divinely attested through the prophet John. Referring to Jesus as the source of his revelation, John exclaims, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM." Rev. 1:7.
As certainly as the words of Jesus, and those of all His holy prophets since the world began, are true, Christ Himself, in glorified humanity, will return to this very world of ours—to this world that once set Him at naught, condemned and crucified Him. Aye, He will come sitting upon the throne of His glory, with all the holy angels with Him.
If, dear reader, you are a Christian believer, you cherish the supreme hope of dwelling sometime in the visible, personal presence of your divine Lord. The object of your hope will somehow, somewhere be realized. When and How? At death? Not if the Scriptures are true. If the Redeemer's children went into His presence at death, there could be no need of His coming again, in order to receive them to Himself. Surely His first coming did not mean death to His people, and the "holy men of God" did not so understand it. Death is an enemy, declares Inspiration. 1 Cor. 15:26. But, on the contrary, the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ is distinctly set forth in the Word as essentially "that BLESSED HOPE." Titus 2:11-13. Nothing is promised us at death except rest from our labors; but we are promised all things in the resurrection, when Jesus comes. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to prepare for death, but we are insistently admonished to watch and prepare for the coming of the great God in the person of the Christ.
Accordingly, we glory in the hope that we shall see Him come "glorious in His apparel, and triumphing in the greatness of His strength."
Because thou sayest, "I am rich,
And all my barns with grain are filled;"
Because thou sayest, "I've no need;"
Because thy boasting is not stilled,—
The Heavenly Counselor now pleads.
O, hear, ye boasters gay and vain!
In love He shows thy crying needs;
In mercy pleads, and pleads again:
"I counsel thee
To buy of Me
Gold tried by fire."
O, hear His plea!
Wouldst know the gold by fire tried,
The wondrous gold that will not burn,
Eternal riches—heed, dear heart—
Enduring Heaven's fires in turn?
Faith is the gold tried in the fire,
Faith—living faith—that works by love!
Again the Counsel's loving voice
Calls sad and pleading from above:
"I counsel thee
To buy of Me
Gold tried by fire—
My one last plea."
Missions Are a Divine Enterprise
“Missions represent not a human service, but a divine enterprise.”
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Judging Others’ Actions
How can men judge rightly of our actions, appearing as they do, but singly or in fragments to them?—Goethe.
