THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
By Elder F. M. Wilcox
IT would consume much time and space to note all of the signs of Christ's return. We must content ourselves for the present with an enumeration of the few leading ones. Before leaving this phase of the subject, however, it will be important that we note the moral condition of the world, and especially the moral condition of the church in the times immediately preceding the coming of the Lord. We have already shown that while some—the children of the day—would be looking for Christ to return, and preparing themselves to meet him in peace, upon the great majority of mankind would the day of the Lord come "as a thief in the night." The great mass, with hearts set upon sin and sinful pleasures, will rush blindly on, regardless of foreboding signs. If the thickening omens awaken for one moment their stupefied senses, they will lull them again into the sleep of carnal security by the siren song of "peace and safety." 1 Thess. 5:1-4. But here we wish to guard against a possible misconception. We have said that Christ's coming would be "as a thief in the night" upon the careless and unconcerned. Strictly speaking, this expression refers to the close of probation, which occurs a short period this side of the second advent of our Lord; for at this point [the close of probation] the day of the Lord begins. Hence the expression "day of the Lord" and "the second coming of Christ" are not strictly synonymous terms. But the close of probation and the events occurring in "the day of the Lord" (which, according to the Scriptures, is about one thousand years long), are all incidents growing out of Christ's return to the earth. Hence for convenience we have generalized, for the present, all of these events under one head. The same as the wicked antediluvians scoffed at the message of impending doom, and as the devoted cities of the plain turned derisively from the pleadings of Lot, so will many in the last days turn from the heaven-sent omens of threatening destruction, and find in the pleasures of sinful indulgence that gross delight and fascinating association which shall drown the cry of stifled conscience, and372render them willing captives to the arch deceiver. Says our Saviour in speaking of this time:— "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." Luke 17: 26-30. There is no sin in eating and drinking, buying and selling, or planting and building, when properly done, nor in the consummation of the marriage relation when entered into according to the ordinance of God. The sin in these things in the last days will lie in their perversion, and the excesses attendant upon their celebration. Do these words of the Saviour point out the condition of the world to-day? Every observing reader can answer the question in the affirmative. This is an age of feasting and drunkenness, and of marrying and giving in marriage. To-day as never before is there the mad rush for riches, and so engrossed are the minds of men with such things that there is little time for sacred things to engage their attention. What shall we eat? and what shall we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? are the questions that concern men most to-day, to the exclusion of everything of an eternal nature. In our own country alone last year $1,200,000 was spent for strong drink. And a just comprehension of this vast sum does not picture the sad results of its use in the ruined homes, deserted children, broken-hearted wives and mothers, and the long train of poverty, woe, and misery, which follow in its track. The lavish expenditure witnessed in the giving of costly dinners is but an evidence of the trend and profligacy of the times. Often are dinners served by the wealthy costing from one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars per plate. The marriage relation to-day is largely used as a means for the legalization of lustful indulgence. Lust instead of love prompts many unions, and as a result we have the long list of divorce applications filling the records of our courts, the reaction from hasty and untimely marriages. Lasciviousness was the great sin of Sodom, and the world now equals the cities of the plain in the practice of this soul-and-body destroying vice. San Francisco is reported to support a population of 20,000 dissolute and fallen women, at an annual expense of $12,000,000, and the city of the Golden Gate is by no means more wicked in this respect than hundreds of other towns throughout the world. Many of our great cities are hotbeds of vice and sin, where scores of unwary souls are yearly drawn down into the vortex of iniquity and degradation. Another evidence of the depravity of the public mind is seen in the matter of popular amusements. True, we do not have in this country the Spanish bullfights, nor the gladiatorial exhibitions of ancient Rome, but we have that which is more demoralizing in its tendency, and fully as brutal in its results,—modern prize fights. Thousands witness almost monthly some exhibition of this brutal display of physical force. And how eagerly do the public enter into the spirit of the contest! The contestants are sized up, and their brawn and muscle and fighting powers compared, as though they were beasts instead of men in the physical form and image of their Maker. The biggest bruiser is the greatest hero of the day, and alongside of the great men of the nation are their utterances placed as the watchwords for our future progress. What a comment upon our civilization and our professed(!) Christian character as a nation! But the query may be suggested to some minds. Are not these sins confined to the world outside of the church? Are not those who have known or professed a Saviour's pardoning love comparatively free from these defiling taints of wrongdoing? We wish it were indeed so. We would that professed Christianity to-day might escape the odium, the stigma, the fearful results of such doings. But along with the godless world must be arraigned the professed church of Jesus Christ upon some serious charges of wrongdoing. And we are not left to prefer the charge. Such an arraignment of last-day Christianity does the great apostle of the Gentiles make in his second letter to Timothy. We leave it for him, guided in his prophetic utterances by the Spirit of the Master, to make the charge as is best fitting. It is for us to determine if the charge is applicable to our day and state:— "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. Here are enumerated eighteen different sins that would exist in the professed church of God in the last days; for they are found among those who have a form of godliness. Is this a correct picture of Christendom around us? Do we find professed Christians who are selfish, covetous, proud, boastful, disobedient to parents, without natural affection, and loving their own ways and the pleasures of the world more than they do the ways of right and the service of God? Sad indeed that we are forced to answer yes. But sadder still is the state of the church which makes such a conclusion necessary. Pride of dress and display, formalism, love of pleasure and gayety, with thousands of other kindred ills, have eaten out the vital godliness of the church at large, and left it poor and naked and destitute of the Christian virtues. We find the house of prayer forsaken for the theater and ballroom. We find the church catering to the popular methods of the world in raising money to defray her expenses. Donation parties, oyster suppers, socials, games, and a thousand and one other questionable and positively demoralizing means, are employed by professed Christians to attract the patronage of the world and fill the coffers of the church. In proof of these things we have small need to quote the testimonies of others. The knowledge and observation of every one of our readers will attest the correctness of the statements. The following statement of the matter by Rev. Geo. F. Pentecost, of Boston, as published in the Christian Statesman, is but a fair presentation of the condition of Christendom to-day. The statements of Mr. Pentecost might be duplicated by testimonies from scores of other prominent churchmen throughout the country:— "A confession can be had from the lips of the pastors of most of our churches that in our midst are wicked, unholy, corrupt men who maintain their positions, and are saved from a righteous discipline either by their wealth or social position. It is true of this church, and it is true of many of the churches around us. If a ship should go to sea with as many rotten timbers as we have spiritually rotten members, it would go to the bottom in twenty-four hours." This departure from Christ has been brought about largely by the terrible and shameless worldliness of the churches. The drift of the churches in their social life, in their religious work, in their management, is to worldliness. One thoughtful, intelligent layman, a member of a church which is a leader in its denomination, said the other day, "Our church has degenerated into a great, strong, social, fashionable organization." Such is the state of Christendom to-day, not of any one church in particular, but of all in general. And although we have pointed out according to the Scriptures of truth its sins and dangers, we by no means rejoice in its fallen condition. Sad indeed is its state, but although so sad we cannot shut our eyes and ears to the picture presented before us. We must face the facts as they are, and endeavor by the help of God to work a reformation. Nor are we alone in noting these conditions in the churches. In every denomination in the land are godly men and women who deplore the state of things existing to-day as sadly as do we. And earnestly are these faithful souls praying for deliverance, that God may once more let his face shine upon his backslidden people. Will God heed their cry? Will he revive his truth in the earth, or will he leave the world and backslidden Christianity to their common doom? The history of the past proves that God is not unmindful of his creatures. Whenever danger has threatened, God in mercy has forewarned his children. Danger threatens to-day. Christ is at hand, as indicated by the testimony of his word. The world and the professed church are not prepared to meet him in peace. Will he seek to arouse them from their lethargy?—We may rest assured that he will. He warned men of the coming flood, he warned the cities of the plain of destruction; he warned ancient Nineveh of threatening doom. And in that last great event which shall concern the fate of not merely one city, nor five, but of all the cities and of all the world, we may rest assured that a warning will also be given. The basis and general import of that message of warning to go to the world before Christ will come, we leave for future consideration.