“Watchman, What of the Night?”
By K. C. Russell
“WATCHMAN, what of the night?” The watchman said, “The morning cometh, and also the night.” The duty of a watchman, as indicated in this figure, is to announce to those who inquire what period of the night they have reached. This world’s history, since sin entered, is compared to night; and from the standpoint of the gospel, it is compared to the day. What then is the meaning of the expression, “the morning cometh, and also the night”? This expression is a strange and unique one, if we are to follow strictly the analogy between the natural and the figurative day, for it is absurd to think of the morning and night coming at the same time. It is easy, however, to comprehend the term when we consider what the coming of the Lord will mean to the two classes, the righteous and the unrighteous. To the righteous it will be a glorious morning which will usher in the eternal day, but to the unrighteous, because of their refusal to accept of the gospel invitation, it will be the beginning of the night of eternal darkness. The Lord through the prophet tells us to “inquire” where we are in this dark night of sin and not only should we inquire, but if we have wandered from the Lord, let us “return;” and to all he says “come.” From this scripture it is evident that the Lord desires that his people should know and how near we are to the dawning of the eternal day, and so we are to inquire of the watchman, “What of the night?” While the Saviour says the day and the hour of his coming “knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only,” yet he adds, “When ye shall see all of these things, know that it is near, even at the doors,” and this generation (the generation to whom the signs in the sun, moon, and stars were first taught, and understood as signs of his coming) will not pass away, until Christ shall come. We are told by the watchman that Yet when we shall see certain things taking place in the physical world; viz., terrible fires, tornadoes, cyclones, tidal-waves, volcanic eruptions, the increase of terrible earthquakes, also famine and pestilence, and the increase of disease, we are seeing unmistakable evidence of the approaching end. In the social world there will be an increasing disregard for parental authority, an alarming lack of natural affection, disregard of the marriage relation, immorality, which can be compared only to the days of Noah and Lot; drunkenness, murders and crimes of every kind, of so fearful and appalling character that they are beyond description. In the political and commercial world there are perplexities among nations, wars of such a terrible character that one shudders even to think of them, troubles over national affairs, and great struggles between capital and labor. The watchman has also told us of the increase of knowledge, the peace and safety cry, as evidences that we are nearing the dawning of the morning when the Lord shall end this night of woe. The Bible has plainly warned us that the movements against the rights of conscience through the influence and efforts of the papacy will become universal, for it says, “The whole world wondered after the beast.” This does not necessarily mean that all will become communicants of the Roman Catholic Church, and accept of all her rites and ceremonies, nevertheless, when one adopts her antichristian principles, such as tradition instead of the Word of God, and seek support from the state instead of seeking it from above, they are in this way wondering after the beast. These things are coming to pass with alarming rapidity, and it is high time that the watchman should exclaim with no uncertain tone “the morning cometh, and also the night.”