Earlier text: PEACE AND WAREVENTS DURING THE YEAR OF THE SECOND ADVENT.
By B. Franklin Richards
BY B. FRANKLIN RICHARDS, M. D. In the eighteenth chapter of Revelation and the eighth verse we read, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” The time is prophetic, and the “one day” referred to will cover a period of one year. Turning to Eze. 4:6, we find these words: “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; I have appointed thee each day for a year.” Again in Isa. 34:8, in referring to this period of time, the Lord says through the prophet: “It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” The End of Human Probation.
The above texts refer to that period of time known as one year, but it will be that particular year in which all things will be brought to an end as far as human probation is concerned. Before the beginning of that year the great investigative judgment which is now going on in the courts of heaven (Rev. 20:11, 12) has ended, and immediately the great fiat goes forth: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11. From the moment of the going forth of this edict, which will take place at the beginning of that year, there will be no more opportunities for pardon, and the last sin will have been forgiven. Probation has then ceased for eternity. No more will the Mediator stand between the offending sinner and an injured God. For nearly six thousand years the Lord has been pleading with the children of men to turn to Him and be saved, but in the beginning of the year referred to a complete change will take place, and the pleading will be on the part of men in place of God. In proof of this, read Prov. 1:24–28: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and ye would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress5 and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.” This will occur after probation has ceased, between the time of the passing of the edict referred to above and the coming of the Lord. The same thoughts are expressed by our Saviour in Luke 13:24–28: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets. But He shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The Fearful Despair of the Unsaved.
Imagine, if possible, the terrible condition of the people when they fully realize that they are eternally lost. Every man and woman will be intensely interested then. That which they have slighted so carelessly in the past will be prized now above everything else, but it will be too late; and they will fully understand it, for every person will make it his business to try to find favor with God. See what the Lord says about their perplexity in Amos 8:11–13: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, and I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.” At this time the inhabitants of the earth have reached the point when they can look for no help from God. Even before this their sins have brought a change over their idol, the world. It has stopped producing. Destruction, and starvation, and utter ruin confront them on every side, intensifying still more in the year of His coming. “The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered; because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed; because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.” Joel 1:10–12, 15–18. What a time this will be! Every lost soul will be wandering hither and thither, looking and pleading for pardon, without a single ray of hope. Demoralized and crushed with despair, with wringing hands, and agonizing sobs, they now realize the greatness of their loss; and as the hours come and pass, an indescribable fear seizes them, as recorded by the prophet Isaiah in chapter thirteen, verses six to nine: “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt; and they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed every man at his neighbor [margin], their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” The Spirit of God Withdrawn.
It is the day of the Lord, that period of time when the Spirit of God has been taken from the earth. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” Gen. 6:3. This time has finally come when the door of mercy has closed, when probation has ceased, and the wrath of God is being poured out upon the people. We read of this in Revelation 16: “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.” Verses 1 and 2. The scriptures quoted above have shown us the condition of the people, driven almost mad with fear. The earth also has ceased to produce food for men, and now, in addition, come the seven last plagues, in which are filled up the wrath of God. The first plague will be general, and will be of an extremely painful nature,—“noisome and grievous.” “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.” Imagine the people suffering with putrefying sores, their bodies burning with fever, and now another calamity breaks upon them. The great oceans of the earth are turned into blood, not ordinary blood but “the blood of a dead man,” extremely poisonous; so much so that every living thing in them dies. The air is charged with deadly vapors arising from those poisoned waters. Sickened by every breath, and writhing in pain, they are confronted with the plague of the third angel.” “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.” No more pure water to drink. O, what a condition! The people parched with thirst beyond all chances of relief. Business of every description will be paralyzed. Ships of every variety will have crossed the ocean for the last time. “And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness.” Rev. 18:17–19. During that year the gold and silver of the rich will be cankered. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” James 5:1–3. Money by the millions will be stored away in vaults, never to be handled again. Great stocks of merchandise, placed on shelves and counters, representing fabulous fortunes, will remain untouched by mortal hand. The last building will have been erected, and the last invoice of stock taken. Christ Comes with Heaven’s Hosts.
Now as the year, which has been “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” (Daniel 12:1) draws to a close, a scene which strikes terror to the hearts of the wicked suddenly comes into view. The earth begins moving; mountains and islands tremble and topple from their foundations. The sky becomes filled with living beings; they are angels of God! Jesus Christ, whom the wicked have rejected, leads the legions of heaven’s host. The moment of prayer has come; and what a prayer-meeting it is! “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?” Every wicked man and woman living to see that day will pray. They will pray in earnest, too; not to the King of kings, but to mountains and rocks, imploring them for protection; for the great day of His wrath is come. While the wicked are engaged in prayer, the righteous are united in a song of triumph,—“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isa. 25:9. Translation and the Resurrection.
The resurrection of the just now takes place. No more crape fastened to the entrance of the home. No more funerals, no more tears. The last farewell has been spoken. At last death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Cor. 15:51–57. The moment of reward has come. “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; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. All the righteous are now with the Lord, removed from the earth. Did the rocks and mountains save the wicked? Let the prophet Jeremiah tell us. “The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” See Jer. 25:30–33. The wicked temporarily slain, the righteous translated to heaven, the earth is without a human inhabitant, bringing us to the time recorded by the prophet Zephaniah: “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.” “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like6 blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy; for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zeph. 1:2, 3, 14–18. In conclusion let us see to what place the righteous have been taken: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Rev. 15:2–4. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. . . . These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” See Rev. 7:9–17. What a busy year, filled with trouble and sorrow, pain and death to the wicked, and blessings, triumph, victory, and the beginning of eternal life to the righteous. No tongue can tell, or pen picture, the conditions that will actually be during the year in which Jesus will come, but, dear reader, with what company will you act your part during that time? Have you made the Lord, even the Most High, your habitation? If you have, “there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Ps. 91:10, 11. EVOLUTION AND GEOLOGY
By Geo. McCready Price
In trying to choose between the conflicting claims of Evolution and Christianity, we must first settle upon what is to be our authority to decide these questions. None of us saw the world made. None of us have ever come back from beyond the grave. None of us know, except upon outside evidence of some kind, either from the Scriptures or science, how the world originated; how we ourselves came to be here; or what our relationship is or ought to be to the universe or to its Author. Hence, the first thing to settle upon is what kind of evidence we are to accept. Ancient Theories of Cosmogony.
During successive centuries the Greeks had many a brilliant theory concerning the origin and make-up of the universe. Some of these became quite generally received; and soon, like those of Plato and Aristotle, had a moulding influence on “science” and philosophic thought for centuries afterward. But the crude scientific guesses of those days we have long since outgrown; and, like the astronomical theory of Ptolemy, which said that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that the sun and stars all circled about it, we have long since consigned them to the limbo of literary curiosities. With them also have gone the numerous chemical and geological theories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And what assurance have we that this now popular theory of evolution will not also be outgrown and discarded for something more in harmony with the better known facts of science? It may be in one form or another almost universally accepted by scientific men; but was not the Ptolemaic system of astronomy absolutely universal for over a thousand years? We must not forget the ages during which “the follies of Alchemy” were regarded as science; and the paramount influence of the planets over human destiny exalted into a kind of religion. Already the discoveries of recent years have proved many of the foundation principles of Geology and Evolution as hard for us of the twentieth century to continue swallowing as the “deferents” and “epicycles” of Ptolemy were to Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton. How long ere it will be seen that we have outgrown the geological absurdities about the successive forms of life that have peopled the globe, as we have the infant lispings of all the other sciences; and who will then care for the brilliant theories of evolution? To be a little more definite I may here anticipate a little, and say that it has recently been discovered that nothing in geology can prove one kind or “set” of fossils to be intrinsically older than any other kind; and, moreover, that the earlier founders of the science, Hutton, William Smith, and Cuvier, did not even try to prove this most important major premise of the science, but simply assumed it. These relative “ages” of the fossils being now exploded as mere fancies, what is to become of those towering structures built upon them as the bed-rock of science by Darwin, Spencer, Haeckel, and others? and how long will it be ere these much-admired temples of human fame and cunning are heard tumbling about our heads? I trust this outline is sufficient to show that the theories of modern science are, to put it as mildly as possible, not proved beyond the possibility of a doubt. In fact, I think we will all acknowledge, on a little reflection, that all human experience and wisdom, prolonged over millenniums of time, could only give us crude guesses, more or less probable, concerning man’s origin and his relationship to the great Father of all. In fact the only way that our poor, limited faculties can really be sure of anything at all is through a revelation from some Being possessed of absolute knowledge. Reason is the highest and noblest of our faculties, but, like all the others, is subject to the limitations and imperfections of mortality and sin; and, apart from divine guidance, will trick us at every turn, just as our senses do until trained to see and feel and hear. It needs the illumination of divine light to keep us from incorporating our own secret wishes and predilections with our explanations of the mysteries of nature. The shores of time are strewn with the sad wrecks of human speculations, built with the greatest care by giant minds, who thought they could traverse the channels of the great unknown without a pilot. Is there then nothing on this subject to which we can turn with unreserved confidence as an absolutely safe and unerring guide in all matters relating to man’s origin, duty, and destiny?—Ah, yes, the Bible. Hast thou never heard
Of such a book? The author, God Himself,
The subject, God and man, salvation, life
And death—eternal life, eternal death—
Dread words! whose meaning has no end,
no bound.
Most wondrous Book! bright candle of the Lord!
—Pollok’s “Course of Time,” p. 56. And yet the claims of the Bible to be an all-sufficient guide concerning all these subjects of human origin and destiny, are not without their proper evidences. For there are moral facts and evidences far more weighty and certain than anything to be drawn from the natural world. No fact is more certain, none comes home to the individual human soul with more insistence, than, at some time in our lives, there rolls upon you and me the sense of utter sinfulness. And the highest and most conclusive evidence of the divine origin of our Bible is its adaptation to this need of the sin-sick soul, and the marvelous transformations it produces in the lives of those who accept and believe its teachings. The Bible is indeed the message of God to us; and were the evidences of evolution a thousand times as strong as they are supposed to be, we would still be justified in smiling at their seeming probability, and in putting our implicit faith in the literal teachings of Jehovah, knowing that, when He undertook to give us a revelation, He meant what He said, and said all that was necessary to be said. I shall not attempt to give here the various evidences of the inspiration of the Bible, tho, as I have said, there are such evidences, and amply sufficient. But in these investigations I shall treat the Bible as of supreme authority, and shall insist that where the teachings of Evolution and Geology contradict those of the Scriptures the former must be at fault somewhere. Our business may then be to find out as best we can just where, and how, the scientific argument is faulty, and to present the true teachings of science on these points; because, having the same Author, it must follow that “the book of nature and the written Word shed light upon each other.” This, I protest, must be indeed the only truly scientific method of arriving at absolute truth. It is the only common-sense method. We must always let the more easily understood and the more certain explain the less easily understood and the less certain. Hence, I repeat, the only common-sense way is always to take God’s written Word to guide our treacherous senses and frail reason in spelling out the lessons from God’s larger and more difficult book written in tree and rock, mountain and meadow. And so the Bible is the only safe guide in science, as in history or morals. WILL THE WICKED BE ANNIHILATED?
By L. D. Santee
One whose name is well known in two continents speaks strongly in answering this question. “Of all the views held concerning the future of the wicked, the one which is utterly untenable is that of annihilation.” And by this statement he does not mean the annihilation of matter, but the end of a life of conscious misery, of those who have sinned against God. If human evidence were conclusive, then the words we have quoted from J. Campbell Morgan would settle the question, and we could say to every soul that sinneth, “Ye shall not surely die.” Gen. 3:4. But others equally learned fail to find in the Scriptures the least evidence that this statement is true. Says the eminent Rev. Dr. Kerr: “The doom of the wicked is everywhere spoken of in Holy Scriptures in terms which imply the obliteration of their entire being and existence.” Says Canon Farrar: “I can not find one single text in all the Scriptures which, when fairly interpreted, teaches the common views about endless torment.” It is easy to see, that to follow even the best men, would end in confusion; so we take the Word of God, and we ask, reverently, “What shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17. It is hard for us to realize how much the future of the race is affected by the answer to this question. In nearly every home are wayward children, perhaps an unconverted companion, or, mayhap, kind-hearted but worldly parents. All are drifting toward—what? Our lives are bound up with theirs, and when they are carried out to return no more, our bosoms feel the stress and strain of heart-break, and we ask with agonizing persistence concerning their future, whether eternal agony will be theirs to suffer, or whether they will die the second death (Rev. 20:14), and after that be as insensate as the material from which they were created. God will answer this solemn question. Let us listen and believe. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:4. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. Here death is three times threatened, as the punishment for sin. It is easy for us to understand the nature of death, in a land where all are dying. Webster stated an axiom when he defined “Death—cessation of life, extinction of bodily life.” And this is the punishment for sin—extinction of bodily life. But I read farther, for God has not spoken uncertainly when telling the future of the wicked. “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs, they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. 37:20. “Perish—to be destroyed, to come to nothing, to be blotted from existence.”—Webster. “For lo, thine enemies shall perish.” Ps. 92:9. Again, “For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish.” Ps. 73:27. In John 3:14–16, perish is twice used in contrast with everlasting life. God often uses the word “perish” in describing the future condition of the wicked. Turn to Nahum 1:9. “What do ye imagine against the Lord?” His statement in the lines following, in which he defines his true position, tells the subject about which they have been imagining. Can anything be plainer than his words? “He will make an utter end.” “Affliction shall not rise up the second time, for while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” What could be plainer than this? and the one that imagines otherwise, is imagining against the Lord, by doing injustice to His character. David says, of the workers of iniquity, “Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be.” Ps. 59:13. Again he says, “Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.” Ps. 104:35. Isaiah adds his testimony in the 28th verse of the first chapter, “And the destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.” In chapter 10, verses 16–18, he makes it still more emphatic, showing that the “consuming” includes both “soul and body.” We have now shown from the Word of God, “what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel.” If it does not teach their utter destruction, then language is powerless to convey ideas. Will the words “die” and “death” prove it? I have found them. Does the word “perish” teach that they shall come to an end? God has used it repeatedly. The prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declares that they shall be consumed “both soul and body.” The doctrine of eternal torture rests upon the assumption that all these texts are not true. Dare we take that position? “He that reproveth God, let him answer it.” Job 40:2. The last notice of the wicked is when they are “ashes.” Mal. 4:3. Then as conscious beings they are annihilated. After this All John sees a universe cleared of sin. “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Faithful, God-fearing men have voiced their abhorrence of the doctrine of endless misery, and have found it impossible to reconcile it with justice. God feels the same way. “What do ye imagine against the Lord.” Said Bishop Foster in his book, “Beyond the Grave,” page 130: “The idea of the endless conscious suffering of the wicked is the most unwelcome thought ever suggested to my mind. My whole soul revolts against it. There is no sacrifice I would not willingly make to get rid of it. It is the horror of all horrors. I do not now see either wisdom or goodness in the plan, and possibly never may.” The following from Rev. J. E. Roberts, a prominent pastor of the Baptist Church, is worthy of thought: “I have heard it declared from the pulpit, I was taught it in the seminary, and, God forgive me, I have preached it, that God would be eternally glorified by the undying agonies of the eternally lost. I affirm that this is a direct contradiction of every one of Christ’s teachings about God. It changes the Fatherhood to hatred, the compassion to cruelty, the love to anger, and banishes from the world that now is, and that which is to come, the God and Father whom Christ revealed.” We present a similar statement from the pen of H. F. Oliver, another Baptist minister, published in the Bible Banner. “I was trembling on the brink of infidelity on account of the great and terrible papal fiction—endless misery.” And still another Baptist clergyman, living in California, Dr. Frost, makes the following strong statement in the Los Angeles Evening Express: “I abhor, with all my being, the eternal conscious misery of the wicked.” A talented writer speaks as follows on this subject: “I can see how God can destroy men in love, mercy, and justice, but could never see how His mercy, love, and justice would allow Him to torment them eternally. When the wicked stand in agony at the Judgment, Mercy would say, Kill them, and put them out of misery; Love would say the same; and Justice says, They have forfeited all right to eternal life, and must die the second death and be no more.” “But,” says one, “are not the wicked threatened with ‘everlasting punishment?’” Matt. 25:46. Yes. If the punishment was suffering, it would begin when he began to suffer, and end when the suffering ceased. But the punishment is death. Then his punishment begins when he is dead, and will not end until he comes to life again. Suppose that after the wicked die the “second death” they never come to life again, how long would be their punishment? Only one answer can be given, and that is, Eternal. We will close this article by one more Scripture declaration: “For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4:1. Here is the truth in regard to the annihilation of the wicked. The Cost of Self-Satisfaction
“THE moment a man is satisfied with himself everybody else is dissatisfied with him.” “YOU say,” says a candid questioner, “that the end of earthly rule is nearly over, and that Christ’s coming is near. How may we know?” It is a candid question, which demands a candid reply. However, we can here answer but briefly. The evidence is in general twofold. 1. Great Lines of Prophecy.
There are not less than one dozen of these found in the Word of God, as follows: There are still others. The converging lines of these great highways of time bring us now to the very focal center, the second coming of Christ. Did you ever stand upon the Arch of Triumph, or the Arc de l’Etoile in Paris, and note the eight (we believe, twelve we will suppose) great avenues leading from all parts of the beautiful city, converging in the one center at your feet? Suppose that on a certain night twelve torchlight processions should start at the beginning of these avenues, a procession in each avenue. Suppose that it was authoritatively said that when all these processions, marching oftentimes at different rates of progress, reached the terminal point, the Arch of Triumph, the doom of the republic was sealed. We can imagine the interest the citizens of Paris would take in the event. Many would note one procession in one avenue; they would mark its rate of progress, and would thus conclude that the fatal moment would come at such an hour. They would make a mistake. Their field of vision is too limited. Others would endeavor to learn the progress made by two or more; they would arrive at certain conclusions, but their field also would be too limited, their vision too circumscribed. He above all others who could obtain accurate information would be the watchman on the great central Arch. He could see the movements of all. He could note their progress. He could appreciate their approximate nearness to the end by their distances apart on the converging avenues. Even so it is with the servant of God. The Master calls him up into the mount with Himself, and reveals through the eye of faith “visions [seeings] of God” concerning the kingdoms of earth, their soon utter destruction, and the glorious reign of Jesus over all. And he can say with Peter, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19. 2. Signs of the End and Christ’s Coming.
If the people of Paris were told that when these great processions had well passed a certain circle of distance from the center, a certain number and street from the Arch, various signals of noted character would occur in the triangles between the numbered street and the avenues, and they then might know that the end had nearly come, how intently would they watch for these signals? How eagerly and anxiously would they note each feature to see if it bore the stamp of what was told them! And how surely would they know that the doom of the city was nigh! Every high eminence would be covered with anxious-eyed citizens. Well, God has given us, not alone the lines of prophecy, but the special signs and warnings. According to several prophecies, the time of the end began in A.D. 1798. Since that date God has given a score or more of special prominent signs, telling to all the world that we are living in “the last days,” and that the coming of Christ is “nigh, even at the doors.” In reply to a question asked by His disciples as to what should be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age (Matt. 24:3), Jesus said: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:25-27. Everywhere are these signs to occur, that men may see and know that the day of the Lord is at hand. We note some of these many signals, assuring the reader that all are predicted in the Word of God:— - The waxing old of the earth, manifest in increasing calamity, drought, flood, famine, plague, disease, earthquake, cyclone. Heb. 1:11, 12; Isa. 24:1-3; Jer. 4:23-26.
- Increase of knowledge. Dan. 12:4, 10.
- Increase of crime and wickedness. Isaiah 59; Matt. 24:37; Gen. 6:11.
- Increase of riches, and that by oppression. James 5:1-8.
- Mormonism. Matt. 24:24-26.
- Spiritualism. Matt. 24:26; Rev. 16:13, 14.
- Last-day confederacies. Isa. 8:9-18.
- Last-day scoffers. 2 Peter 3:3, 4.
- Spiritual declension. Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
- Peace-and-safety cry. Isa. 2:2-4; 1 Thess. 5:1-3.
- Great war preparations. Joel 3:9-12; Rev. 16:13, 14.
- Signs in the heaven. Matt. 24:29, 30.
- “Perplexity of nations,” rejection of God’s law, the last Gospel message, etc., etc. Rev. 14:6-14, etc.
All these things are fulfilled or fulfilling before the very vision of all. They are not in a corner. Some of them are world-wide. And Jesus says, “When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Luke 21:31. The foregoing are some of the evidences in brief whereby we know that the coming of our Lord is near. The year, the day, the hour, He has not revealed, but He has given us the watching, waiting, praying, working time. “We’ll watch and we’ll pray, with our lamps trimmed and burning,
We’ll work and we’ll wait till the Master’s returning,
We’ll sing and rejoice, every omen discerning,
But we know not the hour.” “Multitudes,” said the prophet, as he looked forward to this, our day, “multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Mighty questions are at the front. Is the Bible God’s message to this world in all ages? or is it the work of man? Shall the church of Jesus Christ follow that Book as revealed in Christ Jesus? or shall she make void its commandments by following human creeds and human traditions. Will she draw her present light from its present truths? or will she seek to light the way by the ephemeral sparks struck from human anvils? Will her power to save souls come from the Holy Spirit received by faith in God’s Word? or will the church depend upon her great men, her great numbers, her great wealth, her great education, and her power to direct human legislation? These and others like them, are some of the mighty questions which souls in the valley of decision are called to solve, and only those grounded on the rock of God’s truth will decide aright. Many will look to their spiritual leaders for help. Many have come from their quest sad and heart-broken to find their pastor an infidel. Many are losing all faith in the Bible and the God of the Bible by the instruction received. A few find loyal men, and we say again, we are glad there are such. As the great crucial questions come to Mr. Sink and his congregation, may they be loyal to the grand old Book. We are glad that there are loyal men among the ministers of Jesus Christ in the great popular churches who are staying, in some degree, at least, the strong tide of infidelity, fostered and fed by so-called “higher criticism,” concerning the Bible. Such an one is the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Stockton, Cal., judging by an address to which we listened Sunday evening, November 20. The subject was the “Fixing of the Scripture Canon,” in which the speaker clearly presented some of the more salient strong historical proofs of its genuineness, as found in our common English Bible, and lucidly showing why the apocryphal books of both Old and New Testaments were rejected. It was a loyal plea for the grand Old Book, which the Book does not need, but the people do; and we were glad to hear two ladies, as they went out, remark to the effect that they liked to hear such instruction. We are living in a time of question and decision.