The Golden Age Approaching
FOR long millenniums, men have been disposed to talk about a golden age. Some look backward, thinking to find it in a former period. Others are looking forward, expecting that in some glad day it will come. But following the history of this world, they see that it is in the main a record of brutal and barbarous wars, with but very brief intervals of absolute peace. So we have nothing in all history, from the study of the past, to warrant our expecting a golden age. Neither our civilization nor our ideals at the present time, so far as the world goes, are essentially different from or materially better than what were seen during the noontime of the highest civilization of Rome. She had her principles of freedom, and her ideas of justice, that were very much in harmony with what the foremost nations of the world hold at the present time. Rome had her decline and her fall, but the golden age was not reached. But when we turn away from history to the word of God, we find disclosed, through very many prophetic utterances, a great and glorious golden age that will bring us eternal joy, in the embraces of eternal rest and peace. These prophecies make it clear that that great age is almost here. The generation in which we are living will see its beginning; and no generation will ever see its close, for it is to last eternally. Its beginning is marked by the second coming of Christ. Have you considered the evidence which shows that this great event is near? And having considered this evidence, have you learned to know the Christ as your personal friend? Have you experienced the indescribable joy of a heart that is thrilling with every conceivable delight as you look forward to that great and glorious day? We may be perplexed and saddened by the difficulties and the portents of danger that thicken around us; but this gloom is all dissipated by the supreme joy that continually pervades the soul of him who knows Jesus Christ, and who knows, through His unmistakably clear prophetic word, that His coming is near at hand. Human language is powerless to describe the soul-pervading joys that are in the heart of the individual who knows the definite truth in the Sacred Book upon this great subject. It must be a personal experience for the individual man, in order for him to know what it means. The great day is at hand, and it is laden with joys for those who are ready for it.