The existing state of things will not always last. The end will come. The apostle assures us “that there shall come in the last days scoffers,” who will boastfully inquire, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” But the chariot wheels of the Coming One will not be delayed by the skepticism of the religious skeptic, or the scoffing of the religious scoffer.
The end will come. Prophetic fulfillments in the past, and the present signs of the times, justify the most literal application of these fearful words of the prophet to our time. “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2 : 1. Another prophet, looking forward to the close of the present state of things, exclaims: “An evil, an only evil, behold is come. An end is come, the end is come. It watcheth for thee. Behold it is come.” “The time is come. The day draweth near. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.” Eze. 7 : 5, 6, 12.
The end to an unbelieving world will be terrific beyond description. But to the just it will be a day of glory, of release, and reward. With longing eyes and quickly beating hearts they will be looking forward to it. And when it shall have come, and their adorable Redeemer shall be seen coming down the blazing vault of Heaven, their glad voices will unite in the triumphant shout, “Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and we will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25 : 9. We give the following paragraphs from the Christian, under the caption of the end :—
“The fleeting nature of this word, and the solemn fact of its approaching end, has occupied the thoughts of God's people for ages past. Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of a coming Lord and a coming judgment on all that are ungodly among men. Abraham was content to wander a houseless dweller in tents, in an uncertain world, looking for his permanent inheritance to the heavenly country, and the city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Job foresaw the day when the heavens should be no more, and his Redeemer should appear and stand upon the earth in the latter day. David was a stranger and sojourner here, and foretold the time when the God of glory should appear in flaming fire. Isaiah exclaimed, ‘O, that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence.’ Daniel foresaw the dissolution of all the pomp and glory of a sinful world, and heard the solemn word, ‘At the time appointed, the end shall be.’
“Malachi predicted the coming of the day ‘that shall burn as an oven,’ when all the proud, and they that do wickedly, shall be given to the flames. Jesus foretold the time when the wicked, like the tares among the wheat, shall be gathered in bundles and burned, in the end of the age. Paul declares, ‘Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.’ John on Patmos exclaims, ‘Even so come, Lord Jesus!’ James exhorts the saints to be patient, because the day of their deliverance draweth nigh. And Peter says, “the end of all things is at hand.”
“Living, then, in a fleeting and uncertain world, we are to ‘pass the time of our sojourning in fear.’ All things which we covet, love, and long for, shall soon pass forever from our grasp, and every earthly joy on which our hearts and hopes repose, shall glide away like a forgotten dream. We must learn hence to hold this world with a loosened grasp, and to let no idolatrous love of earthly things becloud our spiritual vision and keep back our hearts from purer and more enduring joys.
“The Christian’s hope is anchored within the vail. Not here, but hereafter, will his desire be realized, his aspirations satisfied. He has something in view better than earth’s ideals, something that eye hath not seen nor ear heard, only as God hath revealed it by the Holy Spirit and in his living word. He has no lack of hope, joy, and consolation, but it reaches beyond the toss of earthly storms and the surge of earthly billows. ‘The end of all things is at hand,’ but he shall not be a loser by the change. His treasures are in Heaven. His heart is there also; and in due time he shall rest from his labors and reap his great reward. ‘Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ,’ what are the trifles of earth, the pomps, the pleasures, and the pride of a departing world, compared with the eternal gladness that is waiting for him, the eternal glory that he so soon shall share?
“But let not the vain and godless take courage at judgment’s long delay. Let not the scoffer exult in sinfulness and pride. ‘The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;’ the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved; the elements will melt, and the works of man shall perish in the dissolving flames; and only for the saints of God shall home or hope remain, in that ‘New Heaven and New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.’
“Let us make their blessed portion our own. Let us resolutely spurn the enticements of a sinful world. Let us take heed, lest like Esau, for ‘one morsel of meat’ we sell our priceless birthright. Let us watch, and wait, and hope, and work; and with the passing months and fleeting years, the changes, chances, convulsions, and tumults that rack the world, let us hear forever these words of solemn omen and of joyful cheer, ‘The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.’”
The Temptation of Christ.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. And he has been successful in tempting man to indulge appetite, regardless of the result. He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God, and to his fellow men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body. If the perceptive faculties become benumbed through intemperance of any kind, eternal things are not discerned.45God gives no permission to man to violate the laws of his being. But man through yielding to Satan's temptations to indulge intemperance, brings the higher faculties in subjection to the animal appetites and passions. When these gain the ascendency, man, who was created a little lower than the angels, with faculties susceptible of the highest cultivation, surrenders to be controlled by Satan. And he gains easy access to those who are in bondage to appetite. Through intemperance, some sacrifice one half, and others two thirds, of their physical, mental, and moral powers, and become playthings for the enemy.
Those who would have clear minds to discern Satan's devices, must have their physical appetites under the control of reason and conscience. The moral and vigorous action of the higher powers of the mind are essential to the perfection of Christian character. And the strength or the weakness of the mind has very much to do with our usefulness in this world, and with our final salvation. The ignorance that has prevailed in regard to God's law in our physical nature is deplorable. Intemperance of any kind is a violation of the laws of our being. Imbecility is prevailing to a fearful extent. Sin is made attractive by the covering of light which Satan throws over it, and he is well pleased when he can hold the Christian world in their daily habits under the tyranny of custom, like the heathen, and allow appetite to govern them.
If men and women of intelligence have their moral powers benumbed through intemperance of any kind, they are, in many of their habits, elevated but little above the heathen. Satan is constantly drawing the people from saving light, to custom and fashion, irrespective of physical, mental, and moral health. The great enemy knows that if appetite and passion predominate, that health of body and strength of intellect are sacrificed upon the altar of self-gratification, and man is brought to speedy ruin. If enlightened intellect holds the reins, controlling the animal propensities, keeping them in subjection to the moral powers, Satan well knows that his power to overcome with his temptations is very small.
In our day people talk of the dark ages, and boast of progress. But with this progress wickedness and crime do not decrease. We deplore the absence of natural simplicity, and the increase of artificial display. Health, strength, beauty and long life, which were common in the so-called "dark ages," are rare now. Nearly every thing desirable is sacrificed to meet the demands of fashionable life.
A large share of the Christian world have no right to call themselves Christians. Their habits, their extravagance, and general treatment of their own bodies, are in violation of physical law, and contrary to the Bible standard. They are working out for themselves, in their course of life, physical suffering, and mental and moral feebleness.
Through his devices, Satan has, in many respects, made domestic life one of care and complicated burdens, in order to meet the demands of fashion. His purpose in doing this is to keep minds occupied so fully with the things of this life that they can give but little attention to their highest interest. Intemperance in eating and in dressing has so engrossed the minds of the Christian world that they do not take time to become intelligent in regard to the laws of their being, that they may obey them. To profess the name of Christ is of but little account, if the life does not correspond with the will of God, revealed in his word.
In the wilderness of temptation Christ overcame on man's behalf on the point of appetite. His example of self denial, and self control, when suffering the gnawing pangs of hunger, is a rebuke to the Christian world for their dissipation and gluttony. There is at this time nine times as much money expended for the gratification of appetite, and to indulge foolish and hurtful lusts, as there is given to advance the gospel of Christ. Were Peter upon the earth now he would exhort the professed followers of Christ to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And Paul would call upon the churches in general to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. And Christ would drive from the temple those who are defiled by the use of tobacco, polluting the sanctuary of God by their tobaccoized breaths. He would say to these worshipers, as he did to the Jews, "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." We would say to such, your unholy offerings of ejected quids of tobacco defile the temple, and are abhorred of God. Your worship is not acceptable, for your bodies which should be the temple for the Holy Ghost are defiled. You also rob the treasury of God of thousands of dollars through the indulgence of unnatural appetite.
If we would see the standard of virtue and godliness exalted; as Christians, we have a work devolving upon us individually to control appetite, the indulgence of which counteracts the force of truth, and weakens moral power to resist and overcome temptation. As Christ's followers we should, in eating and drinking, act from principle. When we obey the injunction of the apostle, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," thousands of dollars which are now sacrificed upon the altar of hurtful lust will flow into the Lord's treasury, multiplying publications in different languages to be scattered like the leaves of Autumn. Missions will be established in other nations, and then will the followers of Christ be indeed the light of the world.
The adversary of souls is working in these last days with greater power than ever before to accomplish the ruin of man through the indulgence of appetite and passions. And many who are held by Satan under the power of slavish appetite are the professed followers of Christ. They profess to worship God, while appetite is their god. Their unnatural desires for these indulgences are not controlled by reason or judgment. Those who are slaves to tobacco will see their families suffering for the conveniences of life, and for necessary food, yet they have not the power of will to forego their tobacco. The clamors of appetite prevail over natural affection. Appetite, which they have in common with the brute, controls them. The cause of Christianity, and even humanity would not in any case be met, if dependent upon those in the habitual use of tobacco and liquor. If they had means to use only in one direction, the treasury of God would not be replenished, but they would have their tobacco and liquor. The tobacco idolator will not deny his appetite for the cause of God.
It is impossible for these to realize the binding claims and holiness of the law of God. The brain and nerves are deadened by the use of this narcotic. They cannot value the atonement or appreciate the worth of immortal life. The indulgence of fleshly lusts wars against the soul. The apostle in the most impressive language addresses Christians, "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." If the body is saturated with liquor and the defilement of tobacco, it is not holy and acceptable to God? Satan knows that it cannot be, and for this reason he brings his temptations to bear upon men upon the point of appetite that he may bring them into bondage to this propensity and thus work their ruin.
The Jewish sacrifices were all examined with careful scrutiny to see if any blemish was upon them, or if they were tainted with disease. The least defect or impurity was sufficient reason for the priests to reject them. The offering must be sound and valuable. The apostle has in view the requirements of God upon the Jews in their offerings when he in the most earnest manner appeals to his brethren to present their bodies a living sacrifice. Not a diseased, decaying offering, but a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.
How many come to the house of God in feebleness, and how many come defiled by the indulgence of their own appetite! Those who have degraded themselves by wrong habits, when they assemble for the worship of God, give forth such emanations from their diseased bodies, as to be disgusting to those around them. And how offensive must this be to a pure and holy God.
A large proportion of all the infirmities that afflict the human family are the results of their own wrong habits, because of their willing ignorance, or of their disregard of the light which God has given in relation to the laws of their being. It is not possible for us to glorify God while living in violation of the laws of life. The heart cannot possibly maintain consecration to God while the lustful appetite is indulged. A diseased body and disordered intellect, because of continual indulgence in hurtful lust, make sanctification of the body and spirit impossible. The apostle understood the importance of the healthful conditions of the body for the successful perfection of Christian character. He says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." He mentions the fruit of the Spirit, among which is temperance. "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Men and women indulge appetite at the expense of health and the enfeebling of the intellect, so that they cannot appreciate the plan of salvation. What appreciation can such have of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, and the victory he gained upon the point of appetite. It is impossible for them to have exalted views of God, and to realize the claims of his law. The professed followers of Christ are forgetful of the great sacrifice made by him on their account. The Majesty of Heaven, in order to bring salvation within their reach was smitten, bruised, and afflicted. He was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. In the wilderness of temptation he resisted Satan, although the tempter was clothed with the livery of Heaven. Christ, although brought to great physical suffering, refused to yield on a single point, notwithstanding the most flattering inducements that were presented to bribe and influence him to yield his integrity. All this honor, all this riches and glory said the deceiver, will I give thee if thou wilt only acknowledge my claims.
Christ was firm. Oh! where would now be the salvation of the race if Christ had been as weak in moral power as man? No wonder that joy filled Heaven as the fallen chief left the wilderness of temptation a conquered foe. Christ has power from His Father to give his divine grace and strength to man--making it possible for him through his name, to overcome. There are but few professed followers of Christ who choose to engage with him in the work of resisting Satan's temptations as he resisted and overcome.
Professed Christians, who enjoy gatherings of gaiety, pleasure and feasting, cannot appreciate the conflict of Christ in the wilderness. This great example of their Lord in overcoming Satan is lost to them. This infinite victory which Christ achieved for them in the plan of salvation is meaningless. They see no special interest in the wonderful humiliation of our Saviour and the anguish and sufferings he endured for sinful man, while Satan was pressing him with his manifold temptations. The scene of trial with Christ in the wilderness was the foundation of the plan of salvation, and gives to fallen man the key whereby he, in Christ's name, may overcome.
Many professed Christians look upon this portion of the life of Christ as they would upon a common warfare between two kings, and as having no special bearing upon their own life and character. Therefore the manner of warfare, and the wonderful victory gained, have but little interest for them. Their perceptive powers are blunted by Satan's artifices, so that they cannot discern that he who afflicted Christ with manifold temptations in the wilderness, determining to rob him of his integrity as the Son of the Infinite, is to be their adversary to the end of time.
Although he failed to overcome Christ, his power is not weakened over man. All are personally exposed to the temptations that Christ overcame, but strength is provided for them in the all powerful name of the great conquerer. And all must, for themselves, individually overcome. Many are assailed and fall under the very same temptations wherewith Satan assailed Christ.
Appeal to the California Brethren.
By California Conference Committee
Dear Brethren and Sisters :—The Lord, in permitting us to see the light of present truth, has laid great responsibilities upon us, to use the utmost of our ability in extending the light of this truth to others. We publish these few lines to call your attention to a few facts, and to appeal to you in regard to duty.
A good work has been done in planting the standard of truth upon this coast. At our camp meeting last fall, the Spirit of the Lord stirred us up mightily to the importance of more extended efforts to spread the truth. Since then it has seemed apparent to your State Committee, and the laborers on this coast, that the time had come when there should be a paper published in the interest of the cause here.
Bro. White made propositions to our State Committee to start a paper here. Our State Committee did not feel like taking the responsibility of starting the paper. Bro. White has since commenced the publication of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, with the understanding, however, that our people here desired such a paper. He has called on the brethren in all parts to send in subscriptions and pledges for the SIGNS. The brethren east of the plains express a willingness to raise means to help in starting the press here, if the brethren on this coast manifest a corresponding zeal in the work. In establishing the press here, of course more in proportion would naturally be expected of the brethren on this coast, than of the brethren in any distant locality.
A great interest has been taken in the establishing of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES here, by our eastern brethren, both in furnishing lists of subscribers, and in pledging means. This, in itself, is a proof of the unbounded confidence of the eastern brethren in Bro. White, and in any moves he may decide to make for the advancement of the cause. Their acquaintance with his past course has given them confidence; seeing that such moves are not made by him without deep thought, humble, earnest prayer, and moving in the fear of God, and seeing the success crowning such movements, gives them confidence.
Brother White, who is now in the East, expresses to us a willingness to return and run the paper here, and spend another winter upon this coast in publishing the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, provided there is a lively interest taken in giving him a list of subscribers on this coast.
A call has been made to know what you are willing to do. A few have responded. There are more that should be acting, and sending subscribers, and making their pledges. Are our missionary officers in each church looking after such cases, and getting pledges of $100 men to establish the press, and pledges and donations to the SIGNS? Are each one of you, individually, active in getting persons to subscribe to the SIGNS, according to the plan proposed in No. 5? Now is our time brethren and sisters to act. If we are not mistaken there are several of our sisters on this coast who would be blessed of the Lord in paying $100 each to establish the press. Let such respond.
Bro. White does not hold the people in California responsible for what he has done in starting the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. He has assumed all the responsibility, and made the fullest promises to California for what they do in the matter whenever we get ready to act in starting a Publishing Association here. Bro. White is surely left in a condition to act from his own sense of duty. That sense of duty, relative to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, will undoubtedly be governed very much by the way we act, and by the zeal we manifest here. Shall we respond to his call?
Different ones will perhaps plead poverty and make excuses. Some indeed are poor. All are not. Do you realize what was done in early times of this cause to start the work? Several men in the East sold their farms and lifted nobly with their means to establish the press, and publish the truth. It told mightily. God blessed them. They have never come to want for it, and now have the blessed consolation that such investments are "bags in Heaven."
When the press was established in Battle Creek, four men came forward and furnished means and put up a building in which to publish the Review and Herald, and books. They were not rich men by any means, but they were men who had the cause of God at heart. There are more than one score on this coast better able to give $100 each towards establishing a press here than these men were to do what they did. The question we put to you is, will you do it? Make your pledges immediately. State what you can pay on your pledges in 1874, and what in 1875. Plan for the cause of God. Watch for lawful opportunities to gain means to advance the cause, and God will open ways before you.
From personal knowledge of one of the Conference Committee, we can say that our people on this coast are just as able to do as those eastern brethren who are pledging to the press here. They make their pledges, and then study economy and self denial, that they may advance the cause of God, and the Lord can in such a course bless their lawful efforts to obtain means. He will do the same for us here, if we give him a chance to work for us. What shall we do? It will not do for us to settle down with the idea that the Lord has favored us with much talent in the ministry, and a paper in our midst, and that we have not much to do, and may bury ourselves up in our cares and give what we can spare as well as not, without making any particular sacrifice of time, means or effort on our part. If we do thus, we may be aroused sometime to find the ministerial talent gone to other fields, and we left to realize and feel a sense of our own burdens and duties.
Shall we be fully awake to the golden opportunity we now have to act? This matter must come up in our California camp meeting. In order that it may come up right we ask you each, individually, to respond to this call. Let the officers of the churches and Missionary Society on this coast move. Get pledges of $100 men and women, and pledges for the SIGNS. Act upon these suggestions. Please act immediately, and write to J. N. Loughborough, St. Helena, Napa Co., Cal., giving the result of your efforts.
CAL. CONF. COM.
The Old Way.
For about thirty years we have unwaveringly believed that, in the most emphatic sense, “the end of all things is at hand.” This belief has not been founded on the opinions of men, but by much prayerful searching of the Scriptures.
To expect to know the day or hour, or even the year, of the coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven, we have never thought to be within the province of other than the great Eternal. But that the humble Bible student may, by careful reliance on the teachings of the Word, and observance of the times, know when the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and is even at the very doors, is a truth too palpable to require comment. See Matt. 14 : 29–33.
That he will come again we know, because there is not a more explicit, uncontrovertible declaration within the lids of the Bible than this. Why should not Christians of the present day be like the Christians of nearly two thousand years since? So greatly did the Christians of Thessalonica long for the speedy coming of their Lord, that instead of putting it off “thousands on thousands of ages hence,” as did a teacher in Israel with whom we were conversing, their almost impatient desires inclined them to think it must be immediate.
If the joyous anticipations of the return of the Son of Man should so fill the mind’s vision of the early church nearly two thousand years ago, how should the vision of the believers of the present day be occupied with the subject!— Guide to Holiness.
OBITUARY NOTICE.
By J. H. Disher
DIED, in Talasee, Talaposa Co., Alabama, July 25, 1874, Mrs. Emily Ballard, mother of Sister Green of Red Bluff, Cal., aged very nearly seventy-four years. She was resigned to the will of God, and with her dying breath three times repeated, "My soul forever stands, and wonders, to have the word of God displayed."
J. H. DISHER
The Saints' Inheritance.
By J. N. Loughborough
SPECIAL PROMISES RESPECTING THE EARTH.
We have evidence which is conclusive to our mind that there is a future inheritance of this earth. This evidence we will present in the form of a logical argument. The first premise of this argument is: God has made certain infallible promises respecting this earth. Second premise: These promises have not yet been accomplished, and, according to the description the Bible gives of the last days, they cannot meet their accomplishment this side of the second advent of Christ. After sustaining these premises, we shall draw the following logical conclusion: Therefore, there is a future for this earth beyond the second advent, when the saints of God shall possess it, and when these promises shall be fulfilled.
The first promise of this character we will notice is Num. 14:21: "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." There can be no doubt as to the certainty of the fulfillment of this promise; for the Lord has pledged his own life for its accomplishment. The history of the past presents no testimony that the earth has ever thus been filled with the Lord's glory. But in every age since this prediction, violence, anarchy, and sin, have reigned predominant. It seems in the days of Habakkuk, prophetic seers were still pointed to that glorious time as yet future. We read: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."* To avoid the conclusion that this refers to a perfect state, when "the people shall be all righteous," some have suggested that "there are islands in the sea which are not covered by the waters, so there may be people, even in this glorious time, that are still rebellious." But to show that this is not the prophet's meaning, we would refer you again to the first promise. "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." And Jeremiah, speaking of the glorious time in the future for God's people (chap. 31:34), says: "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
We claim concerning these promises that they will not be fulfilled this side the second advent of Christ. It has been commonly claimed, however, that the world is to be converted, and a thousand years of peace and quietness be enjoyed by God's people on earth prior to Christ's coming again, and that during that thousand years these promises are to be fulfilled. The testimony of Christ, as also that of Paul, is clearly against the view of the world's conversion. We read concerning the tares of the field: "So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."
Now mark Christ's explanation of this parable: "He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."†
From this we see that both righteous and wicked are to be together on earth until the end of the world. So the world will not be converted prior to the second advent. Paul says: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; from such turn away."‡
It seems from the foregoing language that a very degenerate mass of nominal professors are to exist in the very time when it is claimed that the world will enjoy a millennium. There can be no days later than the last, so the "last days" must include the very last day; therefore, the above is a description of the state of a class just before the end of probation. In verse 8, Paul says of them, "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth." It cannot be that "All the earth" is filled with the glory of the Lord while such a class are still upon it.
Again, Paul says: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." The doctrines of devils will be taught by seducing spirits, and many will give heed to them. This we understand is already being accomplished in the teaching and progress of modern spiritualism. This state of things, just described, which we see rapidly drawing on, does not look like a triumph of the gospel in the last days, or a binding of Satan prior to Christ's second advent.
But, says Dr. Priest and others, "Christ is coming spiritually, Satan is to be bound, and a thousand years of millennium be enjoyed by God's people on the earth prior to Christ's coming to judgment." The word of God tells of no spiritual second coming of Christ. His testimony to his disciples, when giving them their commission to preach the gospel, was, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the word."§ He promises, in this testimony, that his spirit shall abide with them, even as we read concerning the Comforter which he promised to send: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever."¶ So it would be folly to talk of a spiritual advent of Christ before the end of the world, unless it could first be shown that the above promises had failed, and his Spirit had left the world.
His coming will be real. When he had given to the disciples their commission to preach the gospel, he ascended up before them literally and bodily into heaven. See Acts 1:10, 11: "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." Jesus' coming is to be as literal and visible as his ascension into heaven. There is, then, no ground to claim that the promise that "the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord," can be fulfilled this side the literal coming of our Lord from Heaven. On the promises we have thus far noticed respecting the earth, we have sustained our two premises, and now respecting them draw the logical conclusion: Therefore, there must be a future state for this earth beyond the second advent, when the "glory of God shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea."
Do any still further urge the idea of a millennium prior to Christ's coming? we would say, If you locate a millennium this side his coming, it will be strongly infected with the papacy. We read of the "little horn" (papacy), Dan. 7:21, 22: "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Again, Paul, speaking of this power, calls it "that man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped."** He says of him, "Whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." So we clearly see that the papal power is to exist, even down to the point when Christ "shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel." If the papacy, as here represented, continues till the coming of Christ and makes war on God's saints, there cannot be a state of millennial glory till after his coming. The doctrine of the world's conversion and a temporal millennium is of very modern date. The first who proclaimed it to any extent was Daniel Whitby, who died A. D. 1726. Previous to his time the universal sentiment was that the final inheritance of the earth would be the fulfillment of the promises respecting the earth.