Varley at the Hippodrome.
While Messrs. Moody and Sankey, Americans, are addressing large crowds in England on religious subjects, Mr. Varley, an Englishman, is doing the same thing in America. At the Hippodrome, in N. Y. City, on the evening of March 21, he addressed a congregation of 20,000 people on the second coming of Christ. From a synopsis of the address, as reported in the N. Y. Daily Witness, of March 22, we make the following extract:— We are now come nearly to the end of THE SIX THOUSAND YEARS OF HUMAN HISTORY, at the close of which time it is the deepest conviction of the most thoughtful students of the world that we shall have the finishing of the toil and turmoil and strife of sin, and the incoming of the great Ruler, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the Sabbatical year shall be fulfilled, when righteousness shall reign throughout the world, from the river to the ends of the earth. I am aware, in entering upon this subject, of the prejudices existing in some minds on account of certain events. Remember this, that if a man makes a caricature of a thing, however honest he may be, it does not necessarily take away from the reality of the matter itself. It does not follow that because Charles Dickens never drew a Christian character that there are not Christian characters in the world. I want you to remember that the sign of the Lord’s coming will be of the greatest moment and import to us all. First of all, he will come as a thief in the night. The thief chooses the very time when men do not anticipate his approach. When men shall say, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child. It will be a time of universal wickedness, when infidelity will be rampant. It will be a time in which the forces of human power will be set in solid array against God’s Christ. This is no ipsit dixit of mine; it is written in the book of God, Rev. 6:15, 16: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.” Did you ever read anything like that? The wrath of the Lamb! A contradiction in terms, you will say. No, sir. He came before as a lamb for mercy. He comes again as the Lamb of God for judgment. Listen again: “The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God.” Is that the millennium? Is that the overspreading of the gospel? The world with its boasted greatness supposes there is to be an indefinite progress on the human side. After all the years of man’s government there is not a nation under heaven can touch the question of its people’s righteousness. All that you can attend to here in your great Republic is to look after property and life, and that very imperfectly. I do not blame you. I can say that of my own country. Christian England! No, sir. It is a lie. Cross the Channel; Christian France! No, sir! emphatically, no. Christian Spain, Austria, Italy! No! Come over the Atlantic—the United States—No! distinctly, no. I do not speak hastily. As God lives, the time of human rule has reached its crisis. It is breaking down the world over. Why, they are PUTTING GOD’S BOOK OUT OF THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS.
Has God’s book no reference to the history of the world? Are you going to bring up your children idolaters? You answer, No. Well, remember the first commandment is God’s protest against idolatry. The second, against idolatry in detail. The third is a protest against blasphemy. The fourth constitutes a day of rest, which is a necessity for our physical well-being, as well as a moral responsibility. The fifth touches our filial relationship. The sixth touches the defense of life. The seventh inculcates chastity. The eighth protects property. The ninth protects character, and the tenth is God’s protest against selfishness. And are you going to put that out of the schools? You will then have a society constructed without backbone—a society that, as God lives, you will live to rue. You sow to the wind, and you reap the whirlwind. But I have words of blessed comfort and solemn warning. I shall not be surprised to see Jesus in person before this hair is gray.