Some Second Advent Logic
By L. A. S.
THERE is no doctrine of the Bible more essential to the system of truth which it reveals, or more prominent in that system, than that of the second advent of Christ. The very first prophecy uttered by the holy men of old through whom God spoke—the prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam—was a prophecy of this event. This great theme holds by no means a minor place among Old Testament prophecies, while those of the New Testament relate to it almost exclusively. A very large part of the New Testament, indeed, consists of instruction to the church relating to the time of Christ's return. Repeatedly and emphatically Christians are warned and admonished to watch and be prepared for that day. The return of Christ to receive his saints and visit judgment upon sinners is the end at which, from the time of his ascension, every gospel movement aimed, and against which every purpose of the enemy of his gospel was directed. There was never a greater necessity for anything since time began than for the existence in the world to-day of a body of Christian believers who shall meet the demand which arises from these Old and New Testament prophecies of the second coming of Christ. Never was anything more essential than that God should have a people to-day who will lift up their voice like a trumpet to give to the world these prophecies, and to warn it of their certain fulfilment. Here the popular Christian churches of the day are found signally wanting. They are not watching, they are not preparing, nor seeking to prepare the world, for Christ's return. If no more were being done to this end than they are doing, the very stones would be crying out in men's ears, that God's word and purpose might be fulfilled. The stones are not crying out simply because there exists a body of believers who are actively proclaiming this message. And connected with this work from its very inception has been a guiding and controlling agency, known as the spirit of prophecy. As the thread is woven into, and becomes a part of, the cloth, so has this agency been identified with the work of proclaiming the third angel's message. But it has been much more than a constituent part of this work; for it has been, as stated, the directing power in it. Without it, the movement would have come to naught. Again and again have crises been met and safely passed under its guidance, which, but for the counsel and instruction it afforded, would have brought disruption to the work, or diverted it to the side-track of fanaticism. It is impossible that a movement which is of God should have been guided and controlled by an agency of a fraudulent character. If the testimony given through this agency is not what it claims to be, then the message which from its beginning has been under its direction is not what it claims to be. And if this be so, then the prophecies of the second coming of Christ and of the work to be done to prepare the church and the world for that event, have failed, and the Bible itself is not what it claims to be. Very much is involved in the first step that is taken toward loss of faith in the genuineness of this message. He who would take this first step, may as well ask himself whether he is prepared to take the last step in the logical sequence, which is that of losing faith in the Bible itself.