The Second Advent by James White

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 25, 1878

The Second Advent.

By James White

Now we hear the peace-and-safety cry from the pulpit, and all the way along down to the grog-shop. "Where is the promise of his coming?" is murmured from the impious lips of a thousand last-day scoffers. But the scene will speedily change. "For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." The scoffing of the haughty scoffer will soon be turned to wailing and howling. "The lofty looks of man shall be humble, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low." Isa. 2:11, 12. "And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." Jer. 25:33.

That will be a day of mourning and lamentation, and famine for hearing the words of the Lord. "I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Amos 8:10-12.

Now, the word of the Lord may be heard; but sinners in and out of the churches, with few exceptions, do not prize it. Then it will not be heard; for the watchmen, set to watch and sound the alarm of danger, will be called down from their high stations. Now the word of the Lord is carried to the sinner, and offered without money or price; but he treats it carelessly, or may be he drives the humble servant of Christ from his door. But then will he go in search for it. "They shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east," but they cannot hear it. "They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but shall not find it." From city to city, from State to State, from one country to another, will they go to find a man commissioned of high Heaven to speak the word of the Lord; but such an one is not to be found. All such will then have finished their high commission. The word of the Lord! The word of the Lord! Where can we hear it? is heard in every land. One general wail—the word of the Lord! goes up to Heaven, but the heavens are brass. Then will the people turn and rend the false shepherds who deceived them with the cry of "peace and safety." Children will reproach parents for keeping them back from walking in the truth, and parents will reproach their children.

The miser now loves his money and holds it with an iron grasp. But it will be said in that day, "Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." James 5:1-3. Now silver and gold may be used to God's glory, for the advancement of his cause. But in that day "they shall cast their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be removed; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord." Eze. 7:19.

Now, the ministers of truth have a message to the people and gladly speak the words of life. They joyfully toil on, suffer on, and spend their energies in preaching to hearts as hard as steel, hoping that a few may be reached, gathered into the truth, and saved. But then, they will have no message. Now their prayers and strong cries go up to Heaven in behalf of sinners. Then they will have no spirit of prayer for them. Now the church says to the sinner, Come; and Jesus stands ready to plead his blood in his behalf that he may be washed from his sins, and live. But then, salvation's hour will be passed, and the sinner will be shut up in darkness and black despair.

The last plagues, in which is filled up the wrath of God, now bottled up in heaven, waiting for mercy to finish her last pleadings, will be poured out. Unmingled wrath of Jehovah! And not one drop of mercy! Not one! Jesus will lay off his priestly attire, leave the mercy seat, and put on the garments of vengeance, nevermore to offer his blood to wash the sinner from his sins. The angels will wipe the last tear shed over sinners, while the mandate resounds through all heaven. Let them alone. The groaning, weeping, praying church on earth, who in the last message employs every power to sound everywhere the last note of warning, lest the blood of souls be found in her garments, is now hushed in solemn silence. The Holy Spirit has written within them these prophetic words of their soon-expected Lord: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly." Rev. 22:11, 12.

The doctrine of the second appearing of Christ has been held by the church ever since her Lord ascended to the Father to prepare mansions for her reception. It is the event that consummates her hopes, terminates the period of her toils and sorrows, and introduces her eternal repose. What sublime scenes will then open before the waiting children of God! The blazing heavens will reveal the Son of God in his glory, surrounded by all the holy angels. The trumpet will sound and the just will come forth from the grave immortal. And all—Redeemer and redeemed, attended by the heavenly host—will move upward to the mansions prepared for them in the Father's house.

To those who really love their absent Lord, the theme of his soon return to bestow immortality upon the dead and living righteous is fraught with unspeakable blessedness. This event with all its grand results, has always been the hope of the church. Paul could look over eighteen long centuries, and speak of it as "that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:13. And Peter exhorts: "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." 2 Pet. 3:12. And Paul again, after speaking of the descent of the Lord from heaven, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and their ascent with the living righteous to meet the Lord in the air, says, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

The present is the waiting, watching time. It is the period designated by the emphatic words, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. In definite time we would find relief from the suspense to which our present position subjects us. The Lord appeals to us thus: "Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, 'Watch.'" Mark 13:35-37.

J. W.