"LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE."
By A. S. Hutchins
WHILE in a world of sorrow, surrounded by the pall of misery and death, and amidst sinners and proud and worldly-minded professors of religion, who deny the immediate coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and scorn the thought that his humble followers are to know when this glorious event is "near, even at the doors," it is a matter of lively gratitude, a source of the deepest consolation to my heart, to be identified with the children of God, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Of this blessed hope I am not, I can not be ashamed. We hail with joy and gladness the evidences sure and unmistakable, daily unfolding and passing in swift succession before us, that we live in the last fleeting moments of time. Upon the astonished vision of the sinner and the ungodly, will quickly burst the sad and awful realities connected with the closing scenes of this world's history. While those who are watching and waiting for the coming of the Saviour, will realize the sweet fruition of the blessed hope. With this soul-cheering hope in view, we will patiently urge our passage on till glory completes what grace has begun. But few however, are found who give place in their hearts to the refining, saving truths of the last message of mercy, which are now published for the salvation of poor wretched fallen man, from the impending wrath of the Almighty. The multitude rush almost thoughtlessly on, hurrying with rapidity to the vortex of destruction. With their eyes closed and their ears shut against the warning notes of present truth. O solemn thought! O chilling reflection! But, saith the Saviour, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be." The instruction gathered from the Sacred Scriptures, from beginning to end, is that but few will know and rejoice in the truths relating to the great and glorious plan of man's redemption. The above reference to the teachings of our Saviour, demonstrates the same fact respecting the infidelity and skepticism of the last generation of mankind relative to his second advent. Though signs portend that his coming is near, even at the doors, as clearly as the budding fig-tree denotes the near approach of Summer, yet the multitude will not believe. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Says the Apostle, in speaking of the coming of Christ and the events connected therewith, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of the day." "Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light unto my path." "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos iii, 7. The Saviour in speaking of certain signs immediately to precede his coming, says, "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that Summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matt. xxiv, 32, 33. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Be ye also patient: stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." If, as modern divines tell us, we cannot know whether the second advent of the Saviour is one hundred or one thousand years in the future, how unmeaning and superfluous are the repeated admonitions of Christ and the apostles, to the Church, when the signs and evidences of this glorious event shall thicken and gather around them, to "watch," and be ready for it! A position so unscriptural as the above, affords a very convenient opening for the false and delusive theory of the temporal millennium. But examine this theory in the light of the Sacred Scriptures, and the sandy foundation upon which it rests, is discovered at once, and the fact brought to light, that it is one of the "fables" of the last days. If we contrast the hope of the Christian with the hope of the hypocrite and the ungodly, we see that the former is as "an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast," while the latter perishes and dies in the hour of trial and tribulation. "So are the paths of all that forget God: and the hypocrite's hope shall perish." "Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's webb." Job viii, 13, 14. "But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." But the blessed hope of the righteous shines brighter and brighter, and buoys the spirits of its possessor up in the time of trial and trouble. "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel iii, 16. This blessed hope embraces the resurrection of the sleeping saints at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and also "to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality," the gift of "eternal life." Says Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." But ere we enter upon the full fruition of this buoyant and blessed hope, ere mingling our voices with the redeemed, in the sweet and triumphant song of redemption, before inheriting the earth restored to its Eden beauty, and deluged with the glory of God, we must pass through the time of trouble, to which we are approximating with great rapidity. "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man will cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wastness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness." Zeph. i, 14, 15. Dear reader, are you prepared for the tempestuous storm of the great and dreadful day of the Lord? If not, O prepare immediately for the solemn events of the future! The warning notes of the last message of mercy, are now sounding; soon they will die away and be heard no more. Then mercy, sweet mercy, will have gone forever. Upon obedience to all of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, our hope must be based, if we would be "delivered" from destruction in that coming day. Then shall we have unshaken confidence in the protecting care of our heavenly Parent, and feel the force of the sentiment expressed in the following lines:173 "Can aught against my hope prevail?
Can it withstand the day,
When wrath's tempestuous, stormy gale
Shall sweep along the way?
Ah! yes—'twill rear its lovely form,
The raging gale to mock;
'Twill stand amid the awful storm—
A Temple on the Rock."