THE PRESENT TRUTH by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1880

THE PRESENT TRUTH.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

TO PROVE that God will do in the last days as he always has before, viz., instruct his people and warn the world of important coming events, we we now offer a few plain propositions:

I. The Judgment, the Second Advent of Christ, the Resurrection, and the End of the World, are events which the Scriptures teach will come to pass at sometime.

We are not now concerned as to when they will come to pass, but simply with the fact that these events will transpire sometime. Nothing in the Bible, it seems to us, is more plainly revealed and emphatically stated than these facts, and we presume that most of our readers will agree with us on this point. They believe in the literal second advent and resurrection of the dead the same as we do. There is no controversy, then, on this point. However, we will give a few texts out of the scores bearing upon these events.

The Judgment. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness." Acts 17 : 31. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the Judgment of the great day." Jude 6. "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20 : 11, 12.

The Second Advent. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. 16 : 27. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24 : 27. "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1 : 9-11. "The

Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thess. 4 : 16.

The Resurrection. "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5 : 28, 29.

The End of the World. "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matt. 13 : 38-42.

Language could not be more explicit than this on these great and awful events. Yes, say our opponents, we agree that they will come sometime, but as to when they will come, we know nothing. Christ may come to-night, or next week, or it may be a thousand years before he comes; we cannot tell. If we are only prepared to die, that is all that need concern us, let it come when it will.

No doubt but the objector thinks that this is sound reasoning, and according to Scripture; but look a little further. We often hear these men who declare that the Lord may come to-night, declare that the world must be converted, and that there must be a millennium of a thousand years before Christ comes. Then they go on to argue that the Jews must be converted and return to Palestine, first; that this, that, and the other prophecy has not been fulfilled; and still the Lord may come to-night! How they can have the world converted, and a thousand years millennium, in one night, and the Lord come after that time, we never could see. And yet they stoutly argue both. The Jews must be converted and return to Palestine before the Lord comes, and yet he may come to-night! Many other prophecies have not been fulfilled, and yet the Lord may come to-night! They certainly cannot believe both positions. And further: In saying this, they assume that the coming of the Lord will take place without any signs being given to mark his coming—without any warning to the world, and without his people knowing anything concerning it. They virtually assume that everything will go right on just as it always has, without any sign or warning, and the first thing that any one knows, either saint or sinner, the trumpet will sound like a peal of thunder out of a clear sky at noonday. To show the unsoundness of this, we will make a second proposition:—

II. There will be signs given preceding these events, to mark their coming.

I might give scores of texts on this point, naming the different signs which shall transpire shortly before the advent. I will content myself with quoting two or three which directly assert that there shall be signs. "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24 : 3. The disciples inquire directly, What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? If there were to be no signs, Christ would have simply said, Children, do not trouble yourselves on that point; there will be no signs given of those events. But instead of answering them thus, he does proceed to give them a whole chapter of signs upon the very point they had asked. Luke briefly sums up his answer thus: "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; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21 : 25-28. Here Jesus says that there shall be signs in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, in the earth, etc.

So in verse 11, he says, "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." And thus Joel says: "And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come." Acts 2 : 19, 20. We take it that these texts settle the fact that the Lord will give signs to mark his second coming.

God has said that, at the proper time, he will hang out signs in very conspicuous places indeed, viz., in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and upon the earth. And when God shall do this, what will it be for? Will it not be to call the attention of his people and the world to the very event which these signs indicate? Most certainly. This fact alone shows that God will have men know something with regard to it, else why give the signs? And when God shall do this, will it be immaterial whether men heed these signs, or disregard them? whether they believe them, or scoff at them? whether they note them, or pass them by as not worthy of their attention? whether they accept them as the fulfillment of God's word, or deny them to be such? Think of this point a moment. Did not Christ rebuke the men of his time for not discerning the signs of the times? "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Matt. 16 : 3. And if men should pay no more attention to the signs of the times now than they did then, will they not receive just as severe a rebuke from the Lord as they did then? Certainly, they will. Be careful, my friend, there may be more importance to this subject than you have thought.