TESTIMONY to the truth respecting the nearness of the end of all things is sometimes borne where it might be least expected. Some even among Roman Catholics fail not to discern the signs of these times, and proclaim them to their people. Let the truth be spoken, no matter where, no matter by whom. Let the people know that
“Signs portend that Jesus’ coming
Is near at hand.”
Father McDavitt, of Washington, in a recent sermon is reported to have said:—
“The inspired writer, in his prophetic eye, over eighteen centuries ago, foretold the signs which would mark the approaching dissolution of the world. Wars and rumors of wars were foretold, rivers of blood should flow, the stars fall from their places in the heavens, the earth tremble, the sun withdraw its light, and the machinery of nature be thrown out of joint. But a few short years ago we had a civil war in our midst, in which torrents of fratricidal blood were shed; and now we have two of the greatest nations in christendom struggling in deadly grapple, and all the world holds its breath at the horror of the slaughter. Rumors come to us that a greater and bloodier war is threatened; that all Europe will soon be plunged in one great sanguinary maelstrom. Already we have had earthquakes or tremblings of the earth of which the prophets speak; and pestilence and famine, the natural consequences of war, will follow, and fill up the catalogue of signs which shall denote the pending collapse of all things.”
“And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.”
“And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”
“But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord.” Num. 16: 32, 35, 41.
THIS was surely one of the most singular instances of rebellion on record. Indeed, it has sometimes seemed hard to reconcile such blindness, such mad infatuation, with the ordinary sense with which they must have been possessed, and the light they had received from the many manifestations of God's power in their behalf. And,
1. We read that the earth opened, and swallowed up a certain company who were in open rebellion. By what method of reasoning could they make Moses and Aaron answerable for this?
2. A fire came out from the Lord and consumed a company who aspired to the priesthood in direct opposition to the ordinance of God. Was this the work of Moses and Aaron? or if they thought it was, would it not then prove to them that Moses and Aaron had power over heaven and earth? that they held them under such control that they would do their bidding. How, then, dared they so soon inaugurate a new rebellion against them? Such blindness seems almost unaccountable.
But the Lord said, by Samuel, “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” 1 Sam. 15: 23. We know that witchcraft has a power to so pervert men's faculties, that everything is distorted to their vision. Wrong is made to appear right, and they are blinded to the simplest and plainest reasons and facts. And such, too, is the power and tendency of rebellion. This alone appears to account for their conduct. A person bewitched feels perfectly secure in his position, and is scarcely moved by evidence of his error. So, too, with a person with rebellious tendencies. It is always selfish and unreasonable. Seldom, very seldom, does a person recover himself from the strong influence of witchcraft. And so hard is it for a person of a rebellious spirit to entirely escape from this terrible snare of the enemy. Not realizing the awful danger of his position, he can hardly be persuaded to make the strong effort necessary to break away from it. The victim is like a charmed person, who thinks he is enjoying the greatest freedom and the richest pleasures, while the toils of the destroyer are closing around him.
The New-Testament prophecies of the last days inform us that Satan will work “with all power, and signs, and lying wonders.” All these are plain to be seen, easy to be identified. But who shall describe, and sufficiently warn against, that spoken of in the same text, “all deceivableness of unrighteousness?”
God has a great and important work to be accomplished in and for “this generation.” His commandments must be restored, and thereby a people fitted for translation. Doubtless, the deceptions of the enemy are aimed against this work; but thousands fall into the snare who know not for what purpose the enemy has entrapped them.
But God has always carried on every great reform through certain instrumentalities. A work necessarily requires workers; and the last are as much a part of God's plan as is the first. Some, strangely enough, seem blinded to this fact, and think they are friends to the work, while they are opposing the workers. If they are not beyond the reach of reason, they must see that their position is most unreasonable. And if their senses are so stupefied that they cannot see it, it is the duty of others to take warning, and avoid the danger into which they have so heedlessly run. Through all the inspired records, we find that God has looked upon his instruments as an essential part of his plan; and rejection of them, has always been counted as rejection of Him. “The tree and its fruit” are always classed together; and they who love the fruit, will show it by their regard for the tree. J. H. WAGGONER.
Publications Issued in New York and London
According to “Hudson and Menet’s Annual for 1870,” the number of publications issued in New York City is about three times the number printed in London; there being in New York four hundred and thirteen, and in London only one hundred and forty.
To Correspondents.
J. P. CHAMBERLAIN: See exposition of Col. 2: 16, in another column of this paper. The use that is made of Barnabas, Eusebius, and other early fathers and historians on the Sabbath question, is exposed in the History of the Sabbath, by J. N. Andrews.
The Small Vices That Erode Social Happiness
They are not high crimes, such as robbery and murder, which destroy the peace of society. The village gossip, family quarrels, jealousies, bickerings between neighbors, meddlesomeness, and tattling, are the worms that eat into all social happiness.
The Messiah.
By Roswell F. Cottrell
Soon after man had become a sinner, the plan of redemption was laid. More of this plan was revealed to Adam and his family than is recorded in the Bible history of those early times. This is necessarily inferred from what is written. That Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord; that Abel’s was accepted, while Cain’s was rejected; that God “had respect to Abel and to his offering,” while “to Cain and to his offering he had not respect,”—and the fact that it was “by faith” that Abel presented an acceptable sacrifice; are revelations that prove to the reflecting mind that God had revealed the plan of salvation through the blood of the Messiah, which was typified by the blood of Abel’s lamb, and that he had instructed them in their duty to approach him by faith and repentance in order to pardon and acceptance. This inference is as good as positive proof, when we consider that God accepts that only, in his worship, which he has commanded.
The earliest recorded intimation of a promised Saviour, is found in the language of Jehovah to the serpent: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15. Subsequent prophecies of the birth of the Messiah, and their fulfilment, (Isa. 7:14, Matt. 1:21–25,) together with certain expressions of the New Testament, such as the declarations that Christ was “made of a woman,” (Gal. 4:4,) and that “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet,” (Rom. 16:20,) confirm the idea commonly received among Christians, that the seed of the woman referred to in the promise, is the Messiah; and that the serpent whose head was to be crushed, is “that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,” (Rev. 12:9; 20:2,) the being who, in the guise of a serpent, beguiled Eve, and led our first parents into sin.
Cain, the first-born of the woman, would naturally have enjoyed the excellency, or the privilege of the first-born, and would have been the honored progenitor of the Messiah, but that he forfeited his birth-right by his wicked disobedience. Said God to him, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not have the excellency?” (Margin.) “And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Abel gained acceptance with God, and was justly entitled to that which Cain had forfeited by his disobedience; but he was slain, and therefore it became necessary to appoint another in his place, through whom the promised seed should be given. Accordingly the third son of our first parents was named Seth, i. e., appointed, or put; “For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” Hence the genealogical ancestors of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are reckoned through the successive first-born sons, from Seth to Noah. Of three sons of Noah, though Japheth was the elder (Gen. 10:21), Shem was chosen, probably on account of his being the most eminent in his piety and devotion to the true God. This is inferred from the blessing pronounced upon him: “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.” From Shem to Abraham, or at least, to Terah, the father of Abraham, the first-born, in each instance, retained the honor of being the progenitors of the promised seed of the woman; and to Abraham the promise was renewed: “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” R. F. COTTRELL.
Interesting Paragraphs.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
THOMAS K. BEECHER quaintly and truthfully remarks:
“Men will become so wonted to a lurid background to the gospel picture, that they can with difficulty conceive of a gospel or a grace of God, if by any chance the pit of hell should prove to have a bottom, or the fires thereof be quenched. The masses of men being selfish and inclined to tyrannize, readily accept a tyrannical, passionate, tormenting God; for such a God they would themselves be if they had a chance.”
M. D. Conway, who for several years has been minister of a Unitarian congregation in London, declares that he has ceased to countenance Christianity:
“Nothing is more certain than that what is called Christianity has ceased to be any standard of excellence whatever; instead of the danger, the fidelity, and sacrifices, it implied to the peasant preacher of Jerusalem and the Galilean fisherman, it means cushioned pews, fat livings, hard conservatism, persecutions. They who bear the heaviest cross are the so-called infidels.”—The Methodist.
IT PAYS.
The Methodist gives the following as the “hire” of the presiding elders in the State of New York. Saying nothing of the honor of the office, who would not like to be an elder? It pays well!
“The forty-five presiding elders are paid an average of $1244. Pastors receive: 62, $1000 each; 6, $1100; 40, $1200; 3, $1300; 5, $1400; 18, $1500; 5, $1600; 1, $1700; 13, $1800; 19, $2000; 2, $2300; 1, $2400; 9, $2500; 5, $3000; 1, $5000.”
AMERICAN SCIENCE.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science met at Troy, in this State, August 17, and continued in session one week. The number of members was fully as large as at any previous meeting.
Among papers read before the Association, one bore upon the theory of the antiquity of man. The advocates of extreme antiquity lay much stress on the evidences which they claim to have discovered of the association of human relics with the bones of extinct animals. Prof. Winchell described remains of the mastodon found in Michigan, in situations which seemed to indicate that they must have been deposited within five hundred years. This supposition, if sustained, would dispose of most of the arguments for asserting a length of human life much greater than that allowed in the scriptural account of the creation. Prof. Hall attempted to answer it, but seemed to so entangle himself as to destroy the force of his own argument.”—The Methodist, Sept. 3, 1870.
THE GROWTH OF EXTRAVAGANCE AT NEW YORK.
The Iowa State Register, says: “Never in the history of New York has anything been known like the present extravagance in dress, equipage, and entertainments.
“The popular daughter of an ex-Collector, married last week, was the fortunate recipient of gifts valued, at the lowest estimate, at $80,000. A country seat on the Hudson, thoroughly furnished; carriages and horses, a check for $10,000, a rivière of solitaire diamonds, and a coffee-pot of solid gold, for which the donors paid $2,000, were among the most expensive presents; while jewels, laces, and articles of vertu, are said to have poured in until there was room for no more.
“A point-lace veil and flounce, ranging from $500 to $1,500, have come to be regarded as quite indispensable accompaniments to the marriage ceremony and wedding ring. Importers look purchasers straight in the eyes, and without the faintest suspicion of a blush, ask $400 for a black silk costume that would scarcely attract more than a passing glance, for which $100 would be ample compensation.”
Almost daily we can see statements like the above in the papers, showing the pride, vanity, and folly, which are fast possessing the minds and hearts of this generation. The children of clergymen and bishops are frequently foremost in it. God, and the Bible, and the Judgment, are seldom thought of; much less feared. Surely, it is time for God to visit for these things.
FACTS ABOUT LONDON.
The Presbyterian, of Oct. 8, 1870, says: “The following facts will give an idea of the magnitude and condition of the city of London:
“London is five times more populous than New York, four times more populous than St. Petersburg, twice as populous as Constantinople; there are nearly two-thirds more people in it than in Paris, and one-fourth more population than in Pekin. It contains as many people as Scotland, twice as many as Denmark, and three times the number of Greece. Every eight minutes, night and day, one person dies; every five minutes, one is born. Eight hundred thousand have been added to its population since 1851. Only half a million of all this population attend public worship; and there are a million of absentees, who, if inclined to come, would require to have 800 new places of worship built for them. A hundred thousand people work on Sundays; there are 140,000 habitual gin drinkers; 100,000 intoxicated people taken every year off the streets; 100,000 fallen women; 100,000 professional gamblers; 20,000 children trained in crime; 30,000 thieves and receivers of stolen goods. There are 10,000 public houses and beer shops, frequented regularly by 500,000 persons. In every 860 of the population, one is insane.”
This does not look much like the millennium; especially when we remember that London has long enjoyed more gospel light and privileges than any other city. D. M. CANRIGHT.
SEEDS OF KINDNESS.
Are we sowing seeds of kindness?
They shall blossom bright, ere long;
Are we sowing seeds of discord?
They shall ripen into wrong.
Are we sowing seeds of honor?
They shall bring forth golden grain;
Are we sowing seeds of falsehood?
We shall yet reap bitter pain.
Whatsoe’er our sowing be,
Reaping, we its fruits shall see.
We can never be too careful,
What the seed our hands shall sow;
Love from love is sure to ripen,
Hate from hate is sure to grow.
‘Seeds of good or ill we scatter
Heedlessly along our way;
But a glad or grievous fruitage,
Waits us at the harvest day.
Whatsoe’er our sowing be,
Reaping, we its fruits must see.
Report from Illinois.
By T. M. Steward
OUR last report extended to the 9th of October, when nine were baptized. We continued to hold meetings in our tent until Oct. 18. The opposition we expected came. He preached, and R. F. Andrews reviewed him in seven discourses. He paid but little regard to the arguments on our side. The people desired a debate; but he would not consent to it. His effort did our cause but little, if any, harm. The interest still remained good.
We took down our tent, Oct. 21, having run it from June 3 (twenty weeks). Some sixty have embraced the truth as the result. We then continued labor for two weeks alternately, the interest being good. And on Sabbath, Nov. 12, four more were buried with Christ in baptism. There are over fifty Sabbath-keepers in this vicinity. Others are intending to be baptized.
I attended the quarterly meeting at Rockton. The brethren were there from Little Prairie, Johnstown, and Avon. The Spirit of God was with us, and we had an excellent meeting. Three were baptized, and united with the Rockton church. One of them was a brother who heard Bro. Lawrence at Winnebago, just before our camp-meeting. He then attended camp-meeting; and seeing the appointment of our meeting, came fifteen miles. After hearing on the subject of baptism, he moved right forward, and the Lord blessed him much. T. M. STEWARD.
Labor in Ohio.
By I. D. Van Horn
On Monday, Oct. 24, I started for my field of labor in Ohio. The 26th, I enjoyed a good meeting at West Townsend. Five were baptized, and four united with the church. The Lord gave us evidence of his approbation. The Sabbath and Sunday following, I held meetings in Melmore. The meetings resulted in good, though not as much was done as we expected. May the Lord help those who love his appearing to be faithful.
On returning to Clyde, I got news that my wife was sick. I decided to go to Defiance, to fill my appointment there; but, on arriving, I received a letter stating that my wife was worse. I then took the return train for Toledo and Battle Creek. After a stay of three weeks at home, my wife had so far recovered that I started again for my field of labor. I have filled my appointments at Rochester and Troy, where we held meetings with the tent last summer. My work at these places resulted in five being baptized, and a church of eight members fully organized. There are others in each of these places who are keeping the Sabbath, but are not prepared as yet to unite with the church. The places are so near together that the Sabbath-keepers of both places can unite in one church.
The Lord blessed us with the presence of his Spirit in our meetings. To him we will give the praise. I. D. VAN HORN.
Norwalk, O., Dec. 13, 1870.
Labor in Indiana.
By S. H. Lane
AFTER the close of the camp-meeting in this State, my brother, E. B. Lane, and I returned to Howard Co. The camp-meeting has left an excellent impression on the public mind, and greatly encouraged the brethren and sisters to do all they can for the advancement of the cause.
We spent a short time with the brethren, and then, on account of many and urgent calls, concluded to labor, for the present, separately; accordingly my brother proceeded to Henry Co., and I to fill a call from the eastern part of this county.
Commenced a course of lectures in the school district of Nineveh. The people were somewhat prejudiced at first, but as the truth has been proclaimed, the prejudice has gradually given way. The congregations have been attentive. The interest is good. Many are convinced of the truth. Eight have commenced to keep the Sabbath of the Lord, and covenanted together to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The people in many places seem anxious to hear the truth, and many calls are made for labor. Brethren and sisters, pray for the advancement of the cause in this new field. S. H. LANE.
Howard Co., Ind.
New York City Population Growth, 1830 to 1870
The census of New York City for the year 1870, when compared with that of 1830, shows an increase of 368 per cent.—N. Y. Tribune.
The cautious Christian is the persevering saint.
Meetings in Stowe, Vermont.
By A. S. Hutchins
A few weeks since, I held some sixteen meetings in Stowe, most of them at Moscow village. Quite a number of dear friends, for whose salvation we felt deeply, attended these meetings. The freedom enjoyed in the presentation of the truth, and in talking it in different families, the friendly feeling and interest manifested by those who heard it, gave us courage to believe that several would yield to their convictions, and obey God.
But alas! how few of the many whom the truth and Holy Spirit convict of duty, have moral courage, and trust and confidence in God, sufficient to step out upon the unpopular truths of the third angel’s message.
I labored here as long as I could consistently with the state of my health. One man decided to keep the Sabbath, and subscribed for the REVIEW. I had freedom in preaching one evening at his house. His companion and daughter acknowledge light on present truth. A mother of more than four score years of age, of the Freewill-Baptist faith, enjoyed the meeting much. Said she, “If my friends want to keep the Sabbath, I shall not oppose them. If I have any horns, I want them broken off.” Brethren and sisters in this vicinity, watch to do these precious souls good, and to build each other up. Says Christ, “Ye are the light of the world.”
A. S. HUTCHINS.
Wolcott, Vt., Dec. 20, 1870.
Labors in Missouri.
By R. J. Lawrence
I commenced meetings, Dec. 2, in Bates Co. Having learned that the Methodist minister who opposed so strenuously when I was there before, had grossly misrepresented me, and had denied his own positions, I sought the first opportunity of getting out an appointment at the school-house, where I spoke three times, calling up his positions and my replies, and giving some additional testimony.
The elder then went to an other school-house some four miles away, and set me before the people in a ridiculous light. I therefore closed my meetings at the former house on Sunday evening, intending to commence next evening at the latter place. But the Methodists having meetings there two evening, I commenced on Wednesday and continued one week, speaking mostly on the Sabbath question, until Sunday evening, when I called the attention of the people to the elder’s discourse one week before. I referred them to his misrepresentations, then made statements of facts, and called on witnesses to testify, which they did. His statements were shown to be false. He also denied positions which he had before taken. I proved by several witnesses that he took those positions. My object was to set the matter before the minds of the people in its true light. I think they were satisfied.
I continued three evenings more. The result was, some six or seven decided to keep the Sabbath. There are now eighteen in that part keeping the Sabbath. We established Sabbath meeting, and a Bible-class.
The people here move slowly in deciding on religious questions. Two subscribed for the REVIEW, and one for the Reformer. I returned to this place on Friday last. Held two meetings yesterday, and one on the Sabbath. I expect to remain here one week, and then go to Kansas.
R. J. Lawrence.
Zeal in Attending Meetings.
We give this heading to the following letter, because we think the efforts made to attend meeting of which it speaks, are worthy of imitation. The Lord, by his apostle, directs us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, especially when we see, as we now do, “the day approaching;” and we think it worth while, even under some difficulties, to try to heed this injunction of the apostle. The writer says they have been greatly blessed and encouraged by meeting together. No wonder. God loves a spirit of sacrifice, and will always bless all reasonable efforts put forth in his service. The letter is written from Burt Co., Nebraska, and says:
The Advent friends of Harrison Co., Iowa, met with us last Sabbath. We had a good congregation, mostly brethren and sisters, with some inquirers. Best of all, the Spirit of the Lord was with us; and we had a precious season talking of our hopes, and the glorious truths of God’s word. Bro. Bartlett spoke a short time for our encouragement. He is giving a course of lectures, evenings, at the school-house in his neighborhood, near Little Sioux. There seems to be a good interest. The brethren and sisters there have been made to rejoice, the past season, by seeing some of their friends embrace the truth.
We have met together each month since last spring. They cross the river one month, and are met by teams on this bank, and are taken to the place of meeting. We cross the next month; and they meet us, and take us to meeting. It requires some exertion, as we are so scattered both sides of the river, having to go from two to twelve miles to reach the river, then cross, and go two or three miles, have meeting, and return; making it necessary for some to start Friday afternoon, and stop on the way, returning Sunday. A part of the time, a brother has brought his boat eight or ten miles for us to cross in. Still we have been greatly blessed and encouraged by meeting together; and we feel very near to each other. We have regular Sabbath meetings each side of the river, also Sabbath-school, and weekly prayer-meeting here.
Of those who started here, the greater part hold on still; most are gaining in strength, knowledge, and zeal. Some proved that the good seed was sown on stony ground. Others have fallen into temptations; but we hope that the power of the enemy may yet be broken. The parents have an interest for their children, and some of the children have expressed a determination to be Christians. All seem favorably impressed.
We are glad to hear from Bro. Butler that he was appointed to come here and help us, which he will do as soon as other duties will permit. We desire to be in such a state that we can receive the greatest possible benefit from his labor. The message is onward and upward.
M. A. CLARK.
A Good Work in Genoa, Mich.
By L. E. Rathbun
The S. D. A. church of this place met in monthly meeting, Sabbath, Dec. 3. After a very interesting season, in which we felt that the Spirit of the Lord was with us, candidates were examined, and five willing souls were baptized by Bro. A. Carpenter. We feel thankful to the Lord for the good work that is going on here. We want to so live that others may join with us to keep all God’s commandments. Brethren, pray for us.
L. E. RATHBUN, Church Clerk,
Genoa, Mich., Dec., 5, 1870.
Obituary Notices.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
DIED, at Twin Groves, Green Co., Wis., Dec. 16, 1870, our brother, David Sanborn, of mesentery tumor, aged 36 years, 5 months, and 15 days. He leaves a wife and one child; but they mourn not without hope. He professed religion about two years ago, and, a few weeks before he died, commenced to keep the Sabbath. The day before his death he told me that all was peace between him and the Lord. So, like Mary, we can say, We believe our brother shall live again in the resurrection at the last day. By special request of the relatives, the writer spoke words of comfort to a large congregation, from the following words: “Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:18.
“Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, From which none ever wake to weep.”
I. SANBORN.
DIED, at Matherton, Mich., of consumption, Nov. 16, 1870, Sarah B. Brink, daughter of Mrs. A. C. Kellogg, aged 23 years, 2 months, and 8 days. Sarah has been an invalid about seven years; yet she had been so as to be about most of the time until some five weeks before her death. She lived a consistent Christian life, and we have hope that she sleeps in Jesus. Sermon on the occasion by Eld. Wightman, M. E., from 1 Thess. 4:13, 14.
LEANDER KELLOGG.
The Second Advent.
By J. Cross
“And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”—Luke 21 : 27.
THE government of God is an economy of compensation and retribution. Our present human condition is full of disorders and inequalities. There must come a period of adjustment. Wisdom and goodness must ultimately triumph. Depressed and suffering virtue must be rewarded; and vice, too often successful and prosperous, must be appropriately punished. This doctrine, so accordant with reason, is plainly taught by revelation. It pervades the whole volume of Holy Scripture. We meet with it in many forms—in narrative, argument, prophecy, simile and parable, explicit statement and incidental allusion, the simplest records of prose and the sublimest strains of poetry. But where is to be the scene of adjustment? In this or some other world? Surely, the remedy should be applied where the evil prevails. Here, if anywhere, shall be enacted the judgment of the living and the dead. Here, if anywhere, shall be realized the retribution of nature and of man. The vague imagination that the inhabitants of the earth are to be transferred to some other sphere, and there dealt with according to their deeds, is neither rational nor scriptural.
A wise and powerful monarch has a distant province in rebellion, wasted with anarchy, ravaged by cruelty, and wretched through rampant crime. What will he do? He is just, but he is also kind and forbearing. He looks with mingled indignation and sorrow upon the miserable insurgents. What will he do? Will he commission an overwhelming force to transport the whole population, obedient and rebellious, to the mother country for judicial proceedings, and then lay waste the territory, and leave it a perpetual desolation? Nay, he will correct and reclaim; he will subdue and deliver. He will not crush by violence; but he will restore by righteousness. He will not give up the territory to oblivion, and erase a title from his royal brow; but he will chastise the insurgents with discretion, recover as many as he can to their allegiance, rescue the injured and the oppressed, and destroy the incorrigible. Instead of depopulating the land and laying its dwellings in ashes, he will prefer the nobler trophies of anarchy crushed, and enmity subdued, and beauty and fertility restored, and a redeemed province teeming with a loyal and virtuous population. Does not wisdom approve the preference?
And what teach the revelations of God? Is this globe to be unpeopled and annihilated? Is it to be made a monument of the divine wrath, and preserve no memorial of the divine mercy? Is the noble barque to be wrecked, and left stranded on an accursed shore forever? Calcined by the last fire, is this fair earth, visited so often by angels and marked with the footsteps of the Son of God, to rush wildly from its orbit, an outcast from the family of planets,
The burning wreck of a demolished world,
A wandering hell in the eternal space?
Are the saints to be removed from the scene of their redemption? Is the original patrimony and sovereignty of man to be wrested from him forever? Is the grant made to Adam, renewed to the patriarchs, repeated by all the prophets, and finally confirmed by “the Lord from Heaven,” never to be made good? How is Christ the “second Adam,” if he redeem not the forfeiture of the first? Why are we taught to pray that our Father’s kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as in Heaven? Do these promises and petitions contemplate a translation to some happier sphere, or the rescue and renovation of this? Where is the kingdom of God to come? Where is his will to be done as in Heaven? In the sun, the moon, or the stars? In Mars, Venus, or Jupiter? Verily, we can offer no sublimer prayer, and none more consonant with the design of the Redeemer’s advent, than this—that the hallowed sceptre of the earth, usurped by the prince of darkness, and wielded by him so long and so cruelly over the fallen lord of this lower world, may be restored to human hands, even the hands of the mighty Antitype, the second Adam, the Lord from Heaven. Oh, no! Satan shall not wear his stolen diadem forever. His despotic sway shall be broken. His dominion shall be taken away.
“The prince of this world is judged; now shall he be cast out.” Expelled already from Heaven, he shall soon be ejected from the earth. This planet belongs to Christ, and he shall come to claim it for himself. “And thou, profane, wicked prince, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, take off the crown, and remove the diadem; abase him that is high, and exalt him that is low; I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, till He come whose right it is, and I will give it him.” This proclamation which God the Father hath sent before the chariot of his royal Son, is hastening to its accomplishment. The second advent shall crown the first with glory. Then shall the whole earth be at rest, and man, redeemed, shall inherit the promised dominion. Rescued from the tyranny of Satan, to share Immanuel’s glory in actual sovereignty and perfect blessedness, the saints “shall reign on the earth.”
“Thus heavenward all things tend, for all were
once
Perfect, and all shall be at length restored.
So God hath greatly purposed. Who would else
In his dishonored works himself endure
Dishonor, and be wronged without redress.”
The contrary doctrine belies the whole scheme of divine revelation. If this world is not to be redeemed and renewed, but depopulated and destroyed—if Christ is to come simply as a mighty judge, to hold a grand assize, separate the righteous from the wicked, remove the former to a happier scene of being, banish the latter to an appropriate place of torment, and then annihilate this globe, or render it uninhabitable, and leave it forever under the ban of his vengeance, as if it were a guilty thing, and deserving such severity of doom—then where is the fulfillment of prophecy? then where is the redemption of the pledge? But, the inspired charter of our hopes furnishes us better instructions, and warrants us in cherishing better expectations. “Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many; and to them that look for him he shall appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.” His humanity links him indissolubly with this earth; and he shall come to triumph where he suffered, and reign where he redeemed. For this fulfillment of her Master’s promise, the church has been looking with joyful confidence ever since he ascended from Olivet, and a mere glance at some of the accompaniments of this glorious parousia will justify her longing expectation. *
And then shall be accomplished the eternal redemption of the saints, “who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” The redemption of nature from the curse includes the redemption of the body from the grave. “The first resurrection” is part of the final “restitution of all things.” “They that are Christ’s shall be made alive at his coming.” This is the promised destruction of the last enemy. “Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” And in anticipation of such a triumph, even now may we take up the song—“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The body raised shall be the identical body buried, but the identical body changed from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible, spiritualized in its essence, freed from all infirmities, endued with new and unknown energies, and glorified with the likeness of our Lord. Oh! how marvelously beautiful must be that harvest from the sepulcher.
The final object and issue of Immanuel’s glorious advent will be the establishment on earth of his imperishable kingdom of righteousness and peace, in which all his faithful followers are to participate as joint heirs of his inheritance, and royal ministers of his throne. Our Lord tells us that “when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” To sit upon the throne of his glory—what is it but to exercise his glorious regal prerogatives? and this he does not do till his glorious manifestation, with his angelic retinue. With this agrees the declaration of the apostle Paul: “The Lord Jesus shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;” where “his appearing and his kingdom” are mentioned as synchronous events, and with them the Judgment of “the quick and the dead.” This is the kingdom whose coming we invoke in the Lord’s prayer, the subject of a thousand promises throughout the holy Scriptures, the consummation of all the hopes of the faithful, and the crown of all their joys. Courage, ye fearful saints! Your Master will return as he departed, and enthrone you with himself in a renovated world. The night may be dark and stormy, but it is “far spent,” and the everlasting light will soon dawn upon us. “Then shall the moon be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Jerusalem, and in Mount Zion, and before his ancients, gloriously.”—J. Cross D. D., in Banner of the Church.