The Great Day of the Lord.
THAT will be a day for which all other days were made—a day in the scenes of which we must all take a part. It will be a day of rejoicing to some, and a day of despair to others; and oh how different will be the sensations of these two classes! The one will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and the other must endure the fierceness of his anger. When Christ shall send forth his angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven, and they have all been caught up to meet the Lord in the air, then will be witnessed among those who are left upon the earth such a heart-rending scene as language cannot describe, or the imagination conceive. For one to feel that he is left behind while his Christian friends are with their Saviour, must be awful in the extreme; and if the dread reality could be fully impressed upon the mind, it would seem that no one would hazard a moment's delay in an unconverted state. All the pleasures of this life will be felt to have been less than nothing when the bitter dregs of the cup of the wrath of Almighty God are once tasted. And all the ills which can afflict our mortal state, will be more than overbalanced by one moment of such joy as will be the portion of those who are blessed of the Lord; yet millions will run the risk of being forever cast off from the presence of their God. Why will not man be wise, and make his calling and election sure while yet he may, before the door is forever closed against him. Why will he not supplicate the favor of Him whose smiles are so essential to his future well being, that when the day of trouble and distress shall come, he may have a refuge, an ark of safety to which he may flee. It will be a blessed privilege to enter into the chamber of God, until his indignation be overpast, but it will be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.—Signs of the Times, 1842.