THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST by Francis McClellan Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 23.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

By Francis McClellan Wilcox

BY ELDER F. M. WILCOX.

THUS far have we seen signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and indications in the social and political worlds that prove that the Lord is at hand. We will next consider the conditions to be found in the physical world just before the end, and determine if these conditions have already been fulfilled.

The Lord tells us, as recorded in Heb. 1:10, 11, that the earth shall "wax old as doth a garment," and already do we see that which indicates that it is in its declining years. Earthquakes, failure of crops, and many other physical phenomena and disabilities, show that the earth has lost its freshness of youth and its strength of maturity, and that now it is fast hastening towards its final dissolution. The constantly increasing sterility of the soil is a matter of no little concern to agriculturists, and when we come to compare its power of production to-day with its power a few hundred years ago, the difference is indeed startling. Herodotus, in describing the great fertility of the soil of the ancient province of Babylon, says:—

Of all the countries that we know of there is none so fruitful in grain. It makes no pretensions indeed of growing the fig, the olive, the vine, or any other tree of the kind; but in grain it is so fruitful as to yield two hundred fold. The blade of the wheat plant and barley plant is often three or four fingers in breadth. As for the millet and sesame, I shall not say to what height they grow, though within my own knowledge; for I am not ignorant that what I have already written concerning the fruitfulness of Babylonia must seem incredible to those who have never visited the country.

Christ incidentally teaches the enormous yield of the soil in his day. In the parable of the sower, he says that the ground "brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold." This was no doubt a fair statement of the yield of grain at that time. The range was between thirty and one hundred fold.

If grain in the days of Herodotus yielded two hundred fold and in the days of Christ one hundred fold, what shall we think of the yield of to-day, when twenty, fifteen, ten, or even fivefold in some parts of the world is considered a bounteous harvest? Surely there has been a great change, indicating a marked decrease in the producing power of mother earth. The earth is indeed "waxing old as doth a garment." We are in the days of its decline, and not again this side of the rejuvenating and restoring fires of the last day will it regain its old-time fertility and freshness.

The frequency and increase of earthquakes have been especially noticeable during the last few centuries, and more especially during the last few decades. Says the Christian Statesman of July 17, 1875: "The continued occurrence and great severity of earthquakes has distinguished the period in which we are now living above all others since the records of such phenomena began to be generally observed."

Previous to the beginning of the Christian era the number of recorded earthquakes averaged one in 112 years. From the beginning of the sixteenth to the close of the eighteenth century there occurred an average of nine earthquakes every year. From the close of the eighteenth century to the year 1850, a period of fifty years, an average of sixty-four earthquakes are recorded for every year; and for the eighteen years from 1850 to 1868 the average amounted to 277 earthquakes per year. Since 1868 we have not statistics at hand to show the average, but there certainly has been no falling off in their frequency, but rather an increase. The last date given was a memorable one in earthquake phenomena, especially in the casualties occurring in consequence. Over one hundred thousand persons perished in that year by earthquake disaster, in addition to the immense loss occasioned to property. The remarkable increase of these phenomena surely indicates that important changes are taking place in the physical world, changes which must soon result in final catastrophe.

Many of these earthquakes have caused mighty ocean upheavals. Islands have entirely disappeared; and where before was a watery waste, islands have arisen as if by magic. Our Saviour, in his great prophetic discourse before referred to, speaks of these ocean disturbances: "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;