Progressing Toward the Millennium.
By R. S. Webber
There is much said at the present time about the progression of man. It is said that he is a progressive being, and has been progressing in righteousness for the last six thousand years, and soon all will be righteous; and that the temporal millennium is just at hand. Then all nations will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks, and shall learn war no more. This is just what the prophet Micah said they would be saying in the last days. Micah 4:1, 2. But let us look at the progress man has made during the past five or six thousand years. When God made the world, he made it to be inhabited; Isa. 45:18; and he said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over . . . all the earth.” “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” There was no sin, no sorrow, no strife—all nature smiled with gladness; the hawk and the dove, the wolf and the lamb, and all living creatures were at peace one with another. And man in his pristine glory was in peace with his God, and in perfect harmony with his divine law. But soon we see a change. God’s holy law has been broken; man has sinned against his God, has disobeyed his holy command. Sin begins its blighting influence—everything, with man, seems to be changed. If man has been progressing toward righteousness for 4000 years, what must he have been when he was made? And what kind of a God must he have been to have called him good? Now let us follow man187the next 1800 years. We find him engaged in bloody wars and cruel persecution until the man of sin is revealed; then for 1260 years we see him wearing out the saints of the most high God, until more than fifty million people have been put to death. The man of sin was to have this power till the time of the end; Dan. 11:35; and lost that power when the 1260 years expired in 1798. What do we expect from this point till the end? Will all men be converted, and all nations be at peace? Will they “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks”? This is what many nations will come and say in the last days. Micah 4:1, 2. We hear them saying on every hand, “The world is growing better; all men will be converted, and wars shall be no more.” The first proposition for a peace society appeared in a tract entitled, “A Solemn Review of the Customs of War,” which was offered for sale in Boston on Christmas, 1814. In England, in 1815, a proposition of this kind was published in a periodical work, called the Philanthropist. In August, 1815, the New York Peace Society was formed. On the 2d of December of the same year, the Ohio Peace Society was formed. On the 26th of the same month, the Constitution of the Massachusetts Peace Society was signed by twenty-two persons, the Rev. Dr. Osgood being the first subscriber. The Society for promoting Permanent and Universal Peace was formed in London, on the 14th of July, 1816. Thus four peace societies were formed in ten months, in regions far distant from each other. In 1827, there were about fifty peace societies in the United States. And at the time of the tenth annual report of the London Peace Society, there were forty-nine auxiliaries in England. The distribution and sale of tracts which, in the preceding year, amounted to $750, and the receipts of the Society in subscriptions and donations to more than $400. About this time, peace societies were started up in Nova Scotia and the Canadas; the Hibernian Peace Society was formed in Ireland, and others in France. More than 2500 years ago the prophet said that in the last days the nations should say the very things which these peace societies are saying. But when they shall say, “Peace and safety,” they are in darkness. The apostle says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5:3, 4. In A. D. 1815, a confederation was entered into by the sovereign States of Germany for mutual defense and the prevention of internal wars. The emperors of Russia and Austria, with the king of Prussia, bound themselves by a solemn compact called the Holy Alliance, the professed object of which was to preserve peace and maintain the principles of Christianity in their respective dominions. In 1846, sages, divines, theologians, ministers, and noblemen, representing every prominent evangelical denomination, sect, creed, and country in Christendom, met in London. The object was to unite certain Protestant sects, bring around the reign of peace, etc.; and while these societies are crying, “Peace, peace,” the din of war is heard almost incessantly in every part of the globe. Since 1798, England has had forty-nine bloody wars; Russia has waged about twenty; Austria, twelve; and Prussia, eight. The apostle says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come (times full of danger).” 2 Tim. 3:1. When the nations are saying, “Learn war no more,” the Lord will say, “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.” Joel 3:9, 10. Now, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the world is preparing for deadly conflict upon the grandest scale the inhabitants of the globe ever knew. It is said that in 1798 the standing army of Europe could not exceed one-half million; in 1854, it was almost four millions, and it has been increasing ever since. And as we look over heathendom, and see its vast hordes in military array, the world seems to be a vast camp prepared with engines of death fearfully made. There are massive columbiads and immense cannon, carrying solid shot weighing from one to two thousand pounds, huge mortars which throw shells weighing hundreds of pounds a distance of several miles, revolvers and breech-loading guns which can be fired about ten times per minute, and scores of other instruments of death that men have invented and learned to make since they began to say that nations should learn war no more. The storm-cloud of vengeance is gathering fast; the nations are clamoring for blood. In the days of Noah the earth was filled with violence. Gen. 6:11. “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:37. Soon the last final struggle on earth will begin; soon all will be ended, and strife will be done; soon the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation will be at hand; then every one that shall be found written in the book of life shall be delivered. Dan. 12:1. Then of one class it will be said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” And of another, “Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Rev. 14:14, 15. R. S. Webber.
Richmond, Maine.