The Past, Present, and Future.
By J. Clarke
ThE past! Oh who could bear to think of all the sin recorded in the books of heaven against the human race for six thousand years? Surely no one could search through those ponderous volumes, were there not a bright side. But those books also record the acts of the good who have shone in the church and in the world as lights. Yes, their record is on high. The past! the unchanging past! written in blood! Yet gloomy as it is, the lover of history159only pants for time and means to search through the lofty aisles and dark passages. He longs to linger at her portals, and recline in her arbors, to sit at the feet of her sages, and ponder their sententious maxims. But the prophecy of Daniel, containing the history of the four kingdoms given in advance, and now a matter of history, gives us the most concise method and system of history. It may be safely asserted that the person who studies history thus classified, can most successfully memorize events, and give their chronology. From the past we come to the present. The present! The realities of the present! It is good to meditate upon the work of God as now unfolding. Mighty events now shake the globe. Armies conflicting in battle array cause our nation to quake. Our strong government, the only government which tolerates all creeds and beliefs, now trembles from the blows of assassins, who with blood-red hands have dropped the lash, which for about two hundred years has striped and lacerated the back of the slave, and seizing the arms of war, have attacked the citadel of human liberty. Woe to the traitor, whether the fire-eater of the South, or the doughface of the North! But our country is not alone in her agony. Earth reels under her load of sin, and her guilt lies heavily upon her. Storms are rising, and the distant thunders already shake the ground. The winds roaring in the west now seem to be all around us. Turn where we will, dark heavy clouds loom up, and kings tremble upon their thrones, and nations send up cries of agony, fearing to ask help of God or man. Amid the gathering storm a little company appears clad in white. Their motto and watchword is, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." And as they with rapt devotion, point to the future, our attention is directed to the closing scenes of time, and the culmination of prophetic periods. The future! Oh how sublime the prospect before us! The expectation of all past generations soon is to be realized. The events close at hand, which the ancient prophets have so graphically described, are near. Oh, how near! Faith grasps with certainty the coming of the Just One, the resurrection of the righteous dead, and the translation of the righteous living. What a day will that be! How happy for the good! how terrible to the evil and unthankful! Who will describe the joy of those who for thousands of years have slumbered in the dust, as they rise from their dusty beds, clothed in immortality! Friends re-united, once separated by death! How rapturous the greetings! With what emotions will the saints of the nineteenth century recognize the ancient prophets, the martyrs, and the just men of those times! How full will their communications be, and what interesting accounts will they have to relate of their sufferings and varied experience! The crash of conflicting opinions and armies, the signs of the times, the fulfillment of prophecy, betoken the end near. Soon will it be here. These scenes of everyday life will soon close, and the awful voice of Him who long ago talked face to face with Moses, will be heard everywhere. Then will the scoffer tremble as he discovers the shallowness of his reasonings, and the weakness of his positions, and the perversion of his judgment. Too late! alas! Having baffled himself, his self-reproaches will not avail.