God's Commandment for the Last Days.
[Bro. White: The following remarks were delivered before the high school at its close in this place (Coldwater, Mich.,) by one of the students. I think it is not far from the truth.—D. M. Canright.] "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong." Every command of the Almighty, whether given to saint or sinner, the godly man or the son of the Devil, whether it is to build up or pull down, must be obeyed. Reference to past history will show us this. No sooner does he call one nation to punish or destroy another, than they prepare to obey. Does he command Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Tyre, Sidon, or Jerusalem, behold, he is ready! Does he call Alexander to destroy the Persians, he, too, is ready to go at his bidding. And so, as years and centuries roll on, nations and kingdoms rise to fill their place in prophecy, till we come down to the great day; and here we find a command for all nations to prepare for war. For he says, "Assemble yourselves and come all ye heathen." "The Lord hath a controversy with the nations;" "for the day of the Lord is at hand." "Prepare war," &c. The time has come for this to be obeyed. Will it be, or will it not? Are the nations preparing for war and waking up the mighty men? or are they getting ready for the glorious millennial peace about which we hear so much? Let us see. We turn our eyes to the so-called "celestial empire" of the east; and there we behold a terrible rebellion in operation; one which has shaken that mighty empire to its very foundation. Anarchy and destruction reign in every part. The most fiendish atrocities are perpetrated there. And, as if this was not enough, enlightened Americans have gone there to teach them a more effectual mode of destroying each other: to use steel instead of wood, and "iron-clads" instead of ca34noes. Russia appears to be on the verge of some revolution which may at any time break forth. The army is disloyal and disaffected; conspiracies exist in every part of the kingdom. The czar has entered into a treaty with France, which looks threatening to the future safety of England, and the peace of Europe. Poland, that down-trodden and oppressed nation, begins to prepare for a deadly struggle to gain her lost independence. In fact, she is only restrained from open and immediate action by the presence of a large army. The Greeks are preparing to invade Turkey. Volunteers are enlisting for that purpose now. A war for the division of Turkey among the European powers, is only a matter of time, which may be brought to an issue any day. Spain is once more taking her stand among the great military powers of the world, building forts and vessels of war, and raising and disciplining troops. How is it with France and England, the two great military powers of the old world? Are they idle amidst this general waking up of mighty men? No; they are the most active of all. The throne of France is occupied by one of the most ambitious military princes that ever wielded a scepter, whilst England rejoices in a most subtle, politic, and grasping cabinet. They watch each other like two ferocious tigers, each waiting for the other to make a move. If France builds an iron-clad, so does England. Does England build a fort, France does the same. Does France raise an army, so does England. Facts show that such extensive military preparations, both in land and naval forces, were never made by those powers before; that, too, on a vastly improved scale; that is to say, with more destructive weapons. It is a well-known fact that while these nations hold to us the professed hand of peace, they are at the same time seeking for our destruction. Yes, beneath the glove on that hypocritical hand, lurks a dagger that is designed to shed our heart's blood. But we turn our eyes to our own beloved, our once peaceful, happy land, and what a scene meets our view! Where once was heard the merry song, is now heard weeping and lamentation. Instead of the axe, we hear the drum. Where rung the church or college bell, are heard the cannons' roar, the shrieks of the wounded and dying. From the cotton fields of the South to the great lakes of the North: from Maine to Minnesota, along the golden shores of California, and the smiling valleys of the Mississippi, in the rich fields of Kentucky; yea, in the capital itself, is heard the tramp of armies. They seem simultaneously to have caught the command from on high, "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears," and the result is, our plows stand rusting in the sod, our teams are idle in the stall, and our crops are going back into the ground. Jewelry manufactories are turned to making swords, and the arts of peace are forsaken for those of war. Would to God this were all! But is it? Ask the bleeding hearts of two hundred thousand wives and mothers. Go to the firesides of one hundred thousand lonely homes, and ask the poor suffering children that gather around those helpless mothers. They can tell you. Go to the bleaching bones of eighty thousand of your fathers and brothers, and ask them. Look abroad upon our once beautiful States, and you will see the smoking ashes of splendid cities and villages, the broken walls of churches, academies, and halls of learning, ruined crops and forsaken homes. Thus we have seen that from the remotest bounds of Asia to the western shores of America, from the burning sands of the equator to the frozen regions of the North, the nations, as the prophet says, are angry. Infidels, your scoffing is about done! your day is come! Ungodly man! the reward of your wicked deeds will now be given you! Though you expect a long life of pleasure and rebellion, you will never have it; for what is the next thing in order? "The nations are angry, and thy wrath is come." This, then, is a sign of the day of God's wrath, and, therefore, that day is at hand in which the mighty man shall cry bitterly, the false shepherds shall howl for the misery that is come upon them; all faces shall gather blackness, the earth shall tremble, the islands shall flee away, and the mountains shall not be found; the sun shall be turned into blackness, and the moon into blood, the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: "for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand!"