THERE are in the Bible certain declarations of future events, the probabilities of which were not discernible by human foresight when the declarations were made. Certain events did afterwards take place corresponding to these declarations. A chance coincidence is not sufficient to account for the correspondence.
There are so many examples of the fulfillment of prophecy, that it is difficult to select the most convincing. The book of Isaiah was written about one hundred years before the destruction of Tyre, and the books of Ezekiel, and Amos, and Zechariah about three hundred years before the second fall of that city. This is known just as it is that Milton wrote Paradise Lost, and Chaucer his Canterbury Tales; because there are books bearing their names, internally consistent with such authorship, and attributed to them by universal tradition. Certain predictions are found in Isa. 23, Ezekiel 26, and Amos 1, to this effect: that Tyre would be destroyed by the Chaldeans; many citizens would escape; they would have no rest in their places of refuge; the city would be restored after a time equal to the age of the king who destroyed it—a period of seventy years; it would be destroyed again; it would be burned and cast into the sea, never to recover its pristine importance; it would, however, in time, be devoted to the worship of the true God, and at last become a mere fisher's rock. These predictions have been literally fulfilled.
Tyre was first destroyed by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, who lived to be seventy years old. The citizens, with most of their effects, escaped by the sea, while the siege on land was progressing. The conqueror ravaged Egypt and the islands of the sea where the people of Tyre had taken refuge. The city was rebuilt, and destroyed again by Alexander the Great, who threw the remains of the old city into the sea to build approaches for his troops. It has never recovered its importance. It was the seat of flourishing churches, but is now obliterated. The harbor is destroyed. Not a fragment can be found to certainly mark the site, and the Scriptures say: "Though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found." Nearly all the ancient cities have ruined monuments and mounds of rubbish to mark their former sites, but Tyre has not a fragment. A few fishermen dry their nets on the rocks near the place called Tyre, but their poor huts even have not in them a stone of the ancient city. Dr. Burr, in commenting on these prophecies, remarks:—
“Did Nebuchadnezzar, after besieging the city for thirteen years, allow the citizens to escape with their property in order to save the credit of a Jewish prophecy, or for the same reason live till he was seventy years old? Did the Medes and Persians break down the Babylonian Empire just at the end of seventy years, in order to give Tyre a chance to rebuild, and fulfill Isaiah? Did Alexander the Great build his causeway, that the words of Ezekiel might stand good, ‘They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters,’ and ‘though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found’?”
There is but one explanation: Those Jews were real prophets. They spake by inspiration of Him who sees the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
The prophecies concerning the Jews have been no less strangely fulfilled. Jeremiah foretold their captivity, “And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Jer. 25:11. This prediction was uttered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and began to be fulfilled immediately. It was in exactly seventy years that Cyrus issued his proclamation of emancipation. Another prophecy of Jeremiah says: “And will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth; to be a curse and an astonishment, and a hissing, and reproach among all nations whither I have been driven them.” Every one knows whether the Jews have fulfilled and are fulfilling this prediction.
Judea, Idumea, Egypt, Babylon and Nineveh, have all been the subjects of startling prophecies, which have been literally fulfilled. Is there any way to account for the circumstantial predictions in any of these cases, except to attribute such miraculous foresight to divine inspiration? Can the specifications in the case of Babylon, for instance, be mere hap-hazard coincidences? Even when it was the wonder of the world, it might safely have been said that at some time it would fall; but it was to be besieged by a combination—the Medes and Persians under the leadership of Cyrus; it was to be captured in a peculiar manner—by drying up the river Euphrates; two of the gates were to be left open; her rulers were to be drunken; the king and his family were to be slain; the city should cease to be inhabited; the shepherd not make his fold nor the Arab pitch his tent there; it should become pools of water frequented by water-fowls, and what seems contradictory, a den of wild beasts. Babylon fell. Every schoolboy knows the history of its capture; how it was Cyrus who led the armies and changed the course of the river, and surprised, through the gates which had been left open, the drunken revelers. Babylon's subsequent history might be copied from the prediction, and rendered correct by simply changing the verbs from the future to the past tenses.
The prophecies concerning the Messiah, or Jesus, are equally convincing. It is plain that the establishment of the Christian religion and the person of its founder were clearly predicted when neither reason nor experience could have anticipated them; and that the predictions have been fulfilled. It is well known that Shiloh was always understood by the Jews to be the Messiah. He was to come before the sceptre should depart from Judah; while the temple was still standing; at the end of four hundred and eighty-three years from the issuing of an order to rebuild Jerusalem; that his forerunner should resemble Elijah; that he should be of the tribe of Judah, the family of David, and the city of Bethlehem; should first preach in Galilee; should proclaim himself the Messiah; should be rejected, put to death with the wicked, and buried with the rich. All these predictions have been passed into history. That they were written before their fulfillment is as well authenticated as any event in history can be. That they are of such a nature as could not have been foreseen by human sagacity is evident to any one, and to suppose so many coincidences accidental is absurd. Therefore the word of prophecy is convincing evidence of the omniscience of God, the inspiration of revelation, and the truth of the messiahship of Christ.—Selected.
JESUS IS COMING.
By M. Woon
"Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matt. 24:42. These are no idle, meaningless words, which were spoken by our Lord. They are words of the deepest import, and contain a most solemn admonition to the inhabitants of the earth. They are especially applicable to those living in the closing scenes of this world's history; not to those only who make no profession of godliness, but to those also who are looking for his coming. To such, he says, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." Luke 21:34. "Behold, I come as a thief."
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." Luke 21:36. This text of Scripture is evidently applicable to Christians. And if the Christian is a faithful servant, he will be prepared for the coming of the absent Master. He will be ever anticipating the coming of the Bridegroom. If we are Christians, we should be distinct from the world, testifying to it that the works thereof are evil. We should be employing every talent we have for the prosperity of our Lord's cause. He will come as a thief. No one can calculate the time, nor do we pretend to know the day, nor the hour, although the prophetic periods show that we are living in the time of the end. Our business is to be ready for that glorious yet solemn event. Our garments should be daily washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Our loins should be girt about with his truth, waiting patiently for the coming of the Lord.
Our opposition to evil should be calm and constant. Our work in the Master's vineyard should be regularly, not spasmodically, performed. Our affections should be set on things above. Our union with Christ should be such as can be realized. In short, our object should be to live for Christ, and, as much as possible, like him, not sleeping, as do some, not idling, as do others; not conforming ourselves to the world as do too many; but we should be wakeful, watchful, and prayerful, doing the will of God from the heart, walking in all his ordinances and commandments blameless.
Reader, shall we meet at the marriage supper of the Lamb? Shall we sit down with Jesus at his table in his kingdom? Shall we meet there, happy in his love, clothed in his righteousness, to glorify his dear name forever? It is our privilege to do so, and in order that we may, let us make our calling and election sure. Let us live for Christ, live like Christ, and live looking and longing for the glorious appearing of Christ. "And now, little children, abide in him; that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." 1 John 2:28.
M. Woon.
THE HABIT OF FRIVOLITY.
By H. Clay Trumbull
THE duty of being cheerful is one which is at all times binding upon us. We have no right to be morose or sullen, or to accustom ourselves to look on the dark side of things. No sense of the solemnity and importance of life can excuse us for giving way to a sour and unhappy temper. Though sadness must at times fall across our path, and our hearts and souls be often impressed with the weight and seriousness of imposed duty or of surrounding circumstances, yet sadness and seriousness ought by no means to be considered synonymous with gloom and despondency. From the exercise of trustfulness and cheerfulness, in a high and true sense, we are never absolved, whatever discouragements or temptations beset us.
But cheerfulness and frivolity are utterly different things, and those who confound them make a sad mistake. Some of the noblest and serenest natures, which are cheerful and wholesome the whole year round, cannot assume a manner of light playfulness, nor utter tripping words of banter and jest, nor rouse their companions to a merry laugh. And on the other hand, there often lies beneath the thin veneering of real or affected gayety, wherewith men and women win the reputation of being happy and hearty, a true disposition toward insincerity and cowardice and cynicism, and all the essentials of genuine misery. True cheerfulness, whatever its reserve and modesty, will surely show itself sooner or later—if not in spontaneous outbursts at unimportant times, then all the more at such seasons of trial or danger as threaten to overwhelm the more superficial nature. But the frivolous mind, however it may seek to conceal its real character behind its slender barricade of outward manner or spoken word, is equally certain to reveal to others, at some time when it is least prepared, the essential feebleness and the consequent wretchedness and misery which it fain would cover.
Since frivolity is plainly to be distinguished from that wholesome and natural gayety which is either innocent or positively praiseworthy, it often seems strange that persons of a frivolous disposition so deceive themselves as to the effect which they produce upon others. Every community, however small, is pretty sure to contain within its society, and sooner or later to rate at his true value, some person—man or woman—whose walk and talk are utterly given over to the frivolous and the trifling. If the conversation turns upon some topic of the utmost importance to religious or social welfare, such persons find nothing in the words of those who are wiser than they, save material for some cheap pun or would-be witticism. If news comes to their ears of a sad casualty, or a woeful downfall of personal character, they gayly intimate that “those people won’t travel on that railroad again,” or that “he has been found out at last.” By them a political revolution is measured by its effect on their personal comfort, and a foreign war is reckoned only in view of its effect upon the price of dry goods. All the true work of life—in the line of the betterment of men’s souls, the instruction of their minds, or the welfare of their bodies—is to them but food for playful jest and humorous sally. They seek to conceal ignorance on some important subject by hollow jokes or ill-timed personalities, and they seem to think that their own superior wisdom and importance are sufficiently proven by the fact that they are, in their idle way, more ready to attack and criticize than to defend and upbuild.
If the habit of frivolity were only a thing affecting young men and young women in their389“salad days,” it would still be sad enough to look at, and hard enough to endure. But it is a habit which grows apace with all indulgence of it, and too often fastens itself upon the adult character so that it can be shaken off, if at all, only by an effort that shakes the whole moral nature. And it must be shaken off, else it will surely bring one down to the lowest depths of that woe and misery at which it has so long laughed and mocked. A time of storm and stress is sure to come—a time beneath which the nature accustomed to nothing better than frivolity is sure to quail. And whether in life or death—for a frivolous death is really no worse than a frivolous life—he must indeed have little forethought or brief experience, who thinks to escape a tempest by relying upon any habit of jocose speaking or superficial thinking, however long and however painstakingly that habit may have been acquired.—H. Clay Trumbull.
The Sabbath School.
THE PRIMARY CLASS.
At a gathering of Sunday-school teachers a short time since, Miss Lucy J. Rider made some very interesting remarks which we give below as reported to the S. S. Times:-
"The primary class," said Miss Rider at the outset, "is rightly named primary, as it is primary. It is first,—first in importance, and it ought to be first in everything. It should have the best teacher, the best room, and the most money. If a man has funds to invest, he is careful to invest them where he will get the best returns. If you take little children before they learn the evil ways of the world, and teach them to be good, you will be better paid than in teaching those grown old in sin; the results will be greater. Watch the development of a child until it is three years old. Physically, it develops wonderfully,—faster than it ever does again during the same length of time. We cannot judge of its mental growth as accurately, but from knowing nothing it comes to observe, to think, and it acquires a language. We think it quite difficult to learn a language so as to be able to speak it, but this a child does before it is three years old. Can we doubt that the moral development is equally great? I sometimes think that a child is so filled with good or evil before it is three years old that it cannot be changed afterwards. Certainly it is very important that the little ones should have all the care possible exercised in their training, that their hearts may be developed in the right direction.
"The class should have a room by itself, if possible. If you cannot get that, go off in one corner by yourselves, and have your exercises there. You can manage to sing softly so as not to disturb the other classes; but do not sing too softly, you want to disturb them a little,—just enough so that they will be willing to provide a separate room for you. If you do not succeed in getting a room at once, keep the subject in mind; do not let them forget about it. Do not scold, but agitate it good-naturedly, continually. If a person sets his heart, patiently, persistently, upon a thing, he will accomplish it. Yours should be the best room in the building. It should be well-ventilated; bad air makes children sleepy and stupid. It should be cheerful and pleasant, if possible, brightened by good attractive pictures. A dark, gloomy, ill-ventilated room is very depressing. It would be well-nigh impossible to have a good class exercise in such a room.
"Of course you must have a blackboard. Persons sometimes say to me: 'Oh, I cannot use a blackboard, I must be excused from that!' Why, you might as well be excused from using your knife and fork at dinner-time as from using the blackboard. 'But,' some say, 'I cannot even draw a straight line.' It isn't necessary to draw straight lines; it requires a great deal of practice to do that. Anything on the blackboard will attract and hold the attention, if it be nothing but dots.
"A very successful primary teacher says that, occasionally, she fails to use the blackboard, and that those lessons are invariably forgotten; the lessons that are illustrated are almost invariably remembered.
"Take the lesson concerning the walls of a city. It is not difficult to explain to the children the need of walls in those times, and to represent them so that they can imagine how they looked. [Miss Rider took up the crayon and went to the board as if to write, then turned and looked at us.] You are, every one, eagerly watching to see what I put upon the board. If you, adults, are so eager, how do you think it would affect little children? Here is a city surrounded by these walls. Sometimes the walls are very thick, like this [making two sides heavier]. They are built around the city so that soldiers from afar [adding the lines to represent the soldiers] and encamp around the city in these tents, they cannot get into the city to kill the people that live there. But the people must have some way to get out of the city when necessary, so we put a gate here. Sometimes they have a gate on every side, if the city is large.
"Such a simple illustration as this any one can draw, and it satisfies a child much better than simply to describe the walls of a city. The child has the picture right on its heart. It takes it in through the eye as well as the ear, and its effectiveness is doubled.
"It is easy to represent to the little folks the location of places. They can begin to understand a map while very young. It is not difficult to draw the outlines of the map of Palestine, beginning with the river Jordan, then adding the seacoast, locating Jerusalem and other places as needed. Elaborate drawings are not necessary; just make everything distinct. If your primary department is divided into several small classes, put pencil and paper into the hands of the children themselves, if practicable. They won't forget the lesson if they help to illustrate it themselves. If you have no blackboard, you can procure large sheets of paper and a pencil having a broad lead, and manage very nicely.
"Be careful to explain fully. Use short words. Children do not ask questions, but they think and wonder what you mean. So you must use words that you are sure they understand. One of the most successful of primary teachers never thinks of going to her class until she has first gone through the lesson with a child to see what impression it makes. She says she must test it first in that way, even if she has to borrow her neighbor's little girl, or coax in some children from school.
"In regard to discipline, do not continually call to order; don't ask for order if you cannot win it. Fascinate them into order. Throw your hands, your face, your whole body, into the work. Get their eyes, then you have their attention.
"A teacher should use her talent, whatever it is: singing, drawing, using thimble, cutting paper. Whatever you do, let your whole strength go into the work. Do it well. The key to the future is in the primary class. We shall never have the millennium until we begin at the beginning."
WAS HE WICKED?
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
His lord called this unprofitable servant "wicked." Is it, then, a wicked thing to be unprofitable? Surely wickedness must mean some positive action. No. Not to do right is to be wicked; not to live for Christ is to be wicked; not to be of use in the world is to be wicked; not to bring glory to the name of the Lord is to be wicked; to be slothful is to be wicked. It is clear there are many wicked people in the world who would not like to be called so. "Wicked and slothful;" these are the two words which are riveted together by the Lord Jesus, whose speech is always wise. A schoolboy was asked by his master, "What are you doing, John?" He was called up, and thought to be quite clear by saying, "I was doing nothing, sir;" but his master answered, "That is the very thing for which I called you out, for you ought to have been doing the lesson which I set you." It will be no excuse at the last for you to cry, "I was doing nothing, sir!" Were not those on the left hand made to depart with a curse upon them because they did nothing? Is it not written: "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." He who does nothing is a "wicked and slothful servant."
This man was condemned to outer darkness. Notice this: he was condemned to be as he was, for hell, in one light, may be described as the Great Captain's saying, "As you were." "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." In another world there is permanence of character; enduring holiness is Heaven, continual evil is hell. This man was outside of the family of his lord. He thought his lord a hard master, and so proved that he had no love to him, and that he was not really one of his household. He was outside in heart, and so his lord said to him, Remain outside. Besides that, he was in the dark: he had wrong notions of his master; for his lord was not an austere and hard man; he did not gather where he had not stowed, nor reap where he had not sown. Therefore his lord said, You are willfully in the dark; abide there in the darkness which is outside. This man was envious: he could not endure his master's prosperity; he gnashed his teeth at the thought of it, and was sentenced to continue in that mind.—Spurgeon.
WORDS WITHOUT IDEAS.
An excellent instance of the way in which the children of the average public school learn without learning is related by Burnes' Educational Monthly. A teacher in one of our public schools has been accustomed to require her pupils to say: "The equator is an imaginary line passing around the earth," etc. It never occurred to her that the boys and girls of her school had no idea what an imaginary line meant, until one day a visitor asked them how wide they thought the equator was. Some thought it was 5000 miles wide, others 2000, and others said they could jump over it. The visitor then asked how they thought ships got over it. One pupil said he thought they got out and drew them over, and another said he had read that a canal had been dug through it! "What is the name of this canal?" was asked. "The Suez Canal!" was the answer.
Honest Earning and Young Men
The darkest hour in the history of any young man is when he sits down to study how to get money without honestly earning it.
Religious Conditions Before Sunday Schools
In writing of the religious and social state of English country towns when Robert Raikes began his Sunday-school work, the Rev. G. T. Coster says, in the London Sunday-school Teacher:
“ The masses of the people were sunken in ignorance. The educational institutions of the country were largely diverted from the classes for whom they had been founded, while the parochial charity schools taught but little and reached very few. ‘The Sunday-schools established by Mr. Raikes of Gloucester,’ says Mr. Green in his ‘Short History of the English People,’ ‘were the beginnings of popular education.’ Gambling prevailed. State lotteries sanctioned the perilous fascination. ‘A traveler in London in 1775 observes that he could not help looking with displeasure at the number of paper lanthorns that dangled before the doors of lottery offices, considering them as so many false lights hung out to draw fools to their destruction’—fools that had, many of them, little enough to lose.
Drunkenness was considered no discredit to the great; and, a fashionable sin among the higher, we cannot wonder at its prevalence among other classes. The public houses in London in 1736 were, in proportion to the population, nine times more numerous than a century later. The moral and intellectual condition of the lower classes presented a terrible spectacle of ignorance and depravity. What Hannah More—who did so much by her day-schools for the children of the agricultural poor—found in Gloucestershire and Somersetshire was to be found in any county in England. The parishes within fifteen miles of her residence she describes as ‘almost pagan.’ Thirteen of them were without a resident curate. At Cheddar, with a population of two thousand, eight persons at the morning service and twenty in the afternoon were considered a good congregation. No clergyman had resided in it for forty years. Children were buried without any funeral service. In another parish, among a hundred and eight children, not one could tell who had made them. At Wiveliscombe, the incumbent was nearly always intoxicated, and was ‘very frequently prevented from preaching by two black eyes honestly earned in fighting.’ At Cheddar, where in 1789 she began her work, she was opposed by all the farmers, whom she found to be ‘as ignorant as the beasts that perish, intoxicated every day before dinner, and plunged in such vices as make me think London a virtuous place.’ When she first visited it, she went to every house in the place, and found each a scene ‘of the greatest ignorance and vice.’ ‘We saw,’ she says, ‘but one Bible in the parish, and that was used to prop a flower-pot.’ Such was rural England a century ago!"
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH.
By Uriah Smith
NUMBER THIRTY.
THE TEN VIRGINS.
THE way is now prepared for the application of the parable of the ten virgins of Matt. 25.
"Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, I know you not." Verses 1-12.
In the light of the facts already established, and the points already proved by our investigation thus far, the application of this portion of Scripture will not be difficult. The phrase, kingdom of Heaven, is used in different places to signify different things. We believe all are agreed in the present instance in its application to the church. There are then certain events to take place in the church's history, of which some of the ceremonies of an eastern marriage may be taken as an illustration. The adverb, then, by which the parable is introduced, shows that it is at a particular and definite time that this comparison is to be instituted. And this must be after the events themselves have taken place. No comparison of course can be drawn between the ceremonies of an eastern marriage, and certain events in the history of the church, before those events come to pass. The church therefore must have come down this side of at least the principal transactions specified in the parable before the language can have its application, "Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened," etc.
Many have condoled their ignorance of the ceremonies and proceedings of an eastern marriage. If we only knew the forms of an eastern marriage, they have said, we should then know how to make the application; so they have hesitated to make any, on account of some imaginary knowledge which they did not possess. But there is no necessity for this. Our Lord has given all necessary particulars. He does not say, "Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened to an eastern marriage," and leave us to search up the particulars of that ancient ceremony and make the application for ourselves; but he specifies all the particulars to which the history of the church would bear resemblance. They are, the going forth of the virgins; the taking of oil by the wise, and the lack of it with the foolish; the tarrying of the bridegroom, and the slumbering and sleeping of the virgins; the cry at midnight; the arising of the virgins; the departure of the foolish to buy oil; the coming of the bridegroom, and the entrance of those who are ready, with him to the marriage; and finally the return of the foolish virgins too late for admittance. Now it would be of no advantage to us, if we had a minute and accurate history of a thousand eastern weddings. The above are all the main particulars to which the experience of the church is to bear a resemblance; and these are all given.
We believe these particulars as far as going into the marriage, are now all worked out in our history, and that the time has come for the application. If we mistake not, it is as follows:—
The virgins took their lamps. Thy word, says the psalmist, is a lamp unto my feet. But a lamp is useless without oil. So the word of God would be but darkness to our path, unless we had faith in the same. The wise virgins took both their lamps and oil in their vessels with their lamps.
They went out to meet the bridegroom. Roused by the increasing light on the prophecies which showed the end of all things at hand, the people of God in 1843 and previous, went forth to proclaim and prepare for the coming of the Lord from Heaven.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. After 1843 passed, there was a seeming tarry. That year, according to Bible reckoning, extended to the spring of 1844. Before that time passed it was confidently believed that the Lord would come. The cause of that mistake we have already explained, and need not repeat. As the time went by, darkness settled upon the prophecies, and drowsiness upon the people.
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Midway between this and the tenth day of the seventh month, light came which showed the ending of the 2300 days in the autumn of 1844, instead of the year 1843. Then indeed there was a cry made, such as had never been heard before, Behold, the bridegroom cometh.
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. No better description could be given of the movement which then took place in the Advent body. All who were so fortunate as to have a personal experience in that work can testify to this. They can also bear witness to the course of the foolish virgins while the cry was going forth. Perhaps the terms, provident and careless, would better express the force of the original words in this instance, than wise and foolish. The provident took oil in their vessels with their lamps; the careless neglected this. Their faith in the word of God was weak, and their understanding darkened as to its fulfillment; and they sought of their brethren such assistance as it was not their province to confer.
And while they went to buy the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage. The proclamation was, that on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Lord would come. The day came. The 2300 days ended; and what then? The Lord did not appear in the clouds of heaven as was expected; but he did change his position in the sanctuary from the holy to the most holy place. Did this move answer to the coming of the bridegroom in the parable? We answer, Yes; for mark, it is not the coming of the Lord to the earth that is referred to, but only his going in to the marriage; and it has already been shown that the marriage takes place before the Lord comes. It is at the change of his ministration in the sanctuary that one like the Son of man is brought by his angelic attendants near before the Ancient of Days, as seen by Daniel. He appears there to receive a kingdom, power and glory; and this reception of the kingdom, constitutes, as already shown, the marriage of the Lamb. At the appointed time, therefore, the Bridegroom went in to the marriage; and the cry, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, referring as it did only to this event, was no false alarm. No other event can be pointed to, as the going in of the Bridegroom to the marriage, except the change of ministration in the heavenly sanctuary. Let this be remembered. Then he who takes the position that Christ has not yet gone in to the marriage, must admit that he has not yet changed his position in the heavenly sanctuary; and that consequently its cleansing is not now going on. But to admit this, is to demolish the main and central pillar of present truth, and throw the great lines of prophecy into confusion.
Being satisfied that there is no other place for Christ to go in to the marriage, except when he changed his ministration at the end of the 2300 days, we are prepared to consider the next clause of Matt. 25:10, namely: "And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage." We can readily understand what constituted the going in to a literal marriage. It was to enter into the appointed place, array one's self in the wedding garment, Matt. 22:11, and be examined for acceptance or rejection by him who had made the wedding, id., and so be ready for the consummation of the marriage. And all this, which must occupy a considerable space of time, took place before the marriage ceremony was performed.
Now it remains to be answered what experience in the history of the church is illustrated by this part of the parable? How do we go in with Christ? It must certainly be necessary to follow him by faith in his change of position in the sanctuary above. A consistent faith in Christ involves the necessity or an understanding of his position and work. The moment when he entered within the vail into the most holy place, was a moment of transcendent importance to the church. Light enough is given us in his word to enable us to trace him, both as to time and the nature of his work, through all his characters as prophet, priest, and king. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life;" and unless we heed the light which reveals to us his position and work, he witnesses against us when he says, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." To come to him therefore at the present time, and to exercise an effective faith in him, we must have an understanding of his present position. Hence we now come to him as our great High Priest, performing his last and special work, pleading his blood before the mercy-seat, beneath which reposes God's righteous law, a violation of which has made his sacrifice and mediation necessary; and as the scene is thus presented before us, we see the necessity of keeping that law in all its requirements.
But while Christ exercises the office of priest, he is a mediator between God and man, and those who will come unto him may avail themselves of his mediation. He is a priest in the second apartment of the sanctuary as in the first, and if we confess our sins, he is yet faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
The going in to the marriage thus occupies, we understand, a space of time. It is passing the investigative Judgment. The decision of cases began when the cleansing of the sanctuary began, in 1844. The work has not yet reached the cases of the living. Now we have the opportunity of procuring the wedding garment, the robe of righteousness. Matt. 22:11. The True Witness now in earnestness counsels us to buy of him the very things essential to our passing favorably the coming test; and among these is the white raiment, or wedding garment. Rev. 3:18. Soon the King is coming in to see the guests; that is, our characters are coming up for investigation before the Father in the391sanctuary on high. Those who are ready will be accepted. "They that were ready" says the parable, "went in with him to the marriage." Then the door will be shut. Probation will end. Matt. 7:22, 23, will be fulfilled; for the foolish virgins will find no admittance, however vigorously they then may knock. Then the marriage of the Lamb will take place, and the guests be summoned to the marriage supper. Upon all these a special blessing is pronounced. Rev. 19:9. The day is at hand. Reader, is this blessing in store for you?
U. S.
THE SECOND ADVENT.
By James White
A SECOND supposes a first. The second advent of Christ to this world, as an event of the future, supposes his first appearing as an event of the past. The great object of his first coming was to bear the sins of the world. The object of his second appearing is the completion of the work of salvation and eternal redemption. Paul speaks of these two comings in these words: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28.
The first advent of the Son of God was one event, and only one. It was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary, who preached his own gospel, confirming his mission and ministry by miracles, and who was condemned, crucified, buried, raised from death, and taken up to the throne of God.
The numerous declarations of the Scriptures relative to the second advent, will have their fulfillment in the personal, visible appearing of the Son of God to this world to destroy his enemies, raise the righteous dead, and to change the living righteous to immortality.
In a single series there can be but one first, and one second. Christ has appeared on the earth once, a willing offering for the sins of men. He is to appear a second time, and at his second coming he will bestow the gift of immortality upon his people, dead and living. That he has not yet done this, is proof that his second coming is future.
Those who say, "Lo, here," Christ comes the second time at the conversion of sinners, "or there," in the death of Christians, make our dear Lord come the second time at every conversion, and at the death of every saint. Absurdity! In any single series, there can be but one first, and one second.
J. W.
Love for Our Brother and God
In every instance in which we have been wanting in love to our brother we have been wanting in love to God.