The First and Second Advent of the Messiah,
By O. R. FASSETT
ANALAGOUS IN THEIR EFFECT UPON THE CHURCH AND WORLD.
Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled and made mad at the intelligence that the star of the Messiah had appeared, indicating that he had been born. How strange was this! That the King of Israel's birth should produce such consternation at Jerusalem, where, above all other cities of the world, it should have produced joy and gladness, is most surprising! The nation of the Jews had from the beginning been looking for and expecting with hope, professedly, the advent of their long-predicted King; and now to be alarmed and filled with wrath at the intelligence, is almost unaccountable. But not more strange is this than that the intelligence that the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who is to be the King over all the earth finally, and rule in equity, and righteousness, and peace forever, is about to appear to organize and set up his kingdom, should produce the same alarm and hostility! His coming and his kingdom, professedly, is "the desire of all nations," as well as that of the church. In all heathen mythology God is represented as having a Son. Thus, the Great God of Egypt was Osiris; his son, Orus. The Great God of Persia was Oromas; his son Mythras. The Great God of Greece was Saturn; his son Jupiter. It was this Son of the Great God who was to restore the world, and bring in Saturnian times again. Homer, celebrating the birth of Hercules as the long-promised Deliverer, sings: "From us this day an infant springs
Fated to rule, and born a King of kings."
Virgil, celebrating the birth of Solonius, the son of Arsinius Polio, in hope of the fulfillment of the original promise handed down by tradition among all nations, sings: "Now a great progeny from Heaven descends;
The sacred Babe is born, mankind defends;
From the old iron age of sin makes free,
And gives again the golden age of liberty;
Around the cradle fragrant flowers shall spring;
And the old serpent lose his fatal sting."
Mr. Farmer remarks: "You may find everywhere, throughout the whole world, one uniform law and opinion; that there is one God, the King and Father of all, and many gods, the sons of God, who reign on earth. Assyrians, Syrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, Arabians, Greeks, Romans, Scythians, Getes, Goths, Germans, Persians, and the inhabitants of Meror." A correspondent of the Middlesex Standard, a few years ago in the first excitement of the Advent movement, said: "The old Poet Prophets the world over have sung of a regenerated world. A vision of it haunted the contemplations of Plato. The Cumæan Sybil saw it in her trances. The apostles and martyrs of our faith looked for it anxiously and hopefully. And in every age since the Christian era, from the caves and forest; from the gothic temples of the middle ages; from the bleak mountain gorges of the Alps, where the expostulatory prayer went up, 'How long, O Lord, how long?' Even down to the present day, has been uttered the prayer and prophecy. Very serious and impressive is the fact of this radical change in our planet. And is there no hope that this world-wide prophecy of the human soul, uttered in all climes, in all times, shall be fulfilled?" And yet when the evidences are given the church and the world unmistakable and clear, that "the desire of all nations" is seen to "come," all are alarmed or made mad at the good news! But how shall we account for this consternation on the part of Herod and all Jerusalem, when the information was given them that the King of the Jews was born? By the fact that they were unprepared for his coming, and that he would cut short their days of sinful pleasures, and overturn all their worldly schemes and hopes. Herod knew that if the King of the Jews was born, there would be soon, and there might be while this King was yet a child, a change of rule and authority in Jerusalem, and that his days were numbered. He was unprepared to relinquish his reign, or submit to the authority of a new governor in Judea. The dragon (Rome), whose agent he was, was not ready to give up Judea as a Roman province also, nor submit to be dethroned at his capitol, and be deposed of his possessions throughout the world. For Rome well understood that the prophecies concerning this King of the Jews declared "His dominion" to be not only in Mount Zion on the throne of his father David, but from "sea to sea," and "unto the ends of the earth." Therefore "the dragon stood ready to devour the child as soon as it was born." And nothing so alarmed the Roman world during the first advent of the Messiah, and immediately subsequent thereto, as the intelligence proven indisputably from the Scriptures and the facts in the history of Christ, that there was indeed "another King, one Jesus." On the part of the Jewish nation and church, they too were not ready for the coming of their King. By their rebellion and sins against the Most High the power of their government had been broken—their kingdom had been overturned, and they had been subjected to Rome as a Roman province. They had not repented of their sins, nor sought in earnest the mercy of God, and had concluded to submit in peace to the Roman power, and serve Cæsar the rest of their days. Now if their King was born, it was evident that He would rebuke and destroy the sinners out of Zion, and that there would be, sooner or later, a collision between the restored kingdom of Israel and the authority of Rome. And the Lord said, "I will come near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. iii, 1-5. With these predictions in the books of their prophets, and the fact that they were far from the condition of being prepared to meet such a fiery ordeal of purgation as a nation as was predicted to occur at the Lord's advent, they were seized with the utmost consternation when the wise men of the East brought them the knowledge that they had already seen his predicted star betokening his birth. The same facts will hold good at the second coming of our Lord and King, in respect to the world at large, and the professed Christian church. Their unpreparedness to meet the issues of his coming, though long anticipated and hoped for, will cause all the alarm and consternation with which they will be seized connected with the intelligence that the time of his advent is near, and when it shall actually take place. The kings and the rulers of the earth well understand that when God's Son shall come they must resign their crowns and scepters, and vacate their thrones; for "in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords." The judges of the earth, the legislators of men and governments, the generals and under officers of the armies of the nations, together with all men, free and bond, well know that at his appearing, who is Judge, Lawgiver, General-in-Chief of the Armies of Heaven, and King, they must bow and acknowledge him Lord of all. For this they are not prepared; therefore "they rage." "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let us break away from his dominion." But he "shall break them with a rod of iron;" he "shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." At the appearance of his throne their impotency will be manifest, and they will seek to hide themselves from his face, and the wrath of the Lamb, and exclaim, "The great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand." Rev. vi, 15-17. The professed Christian church, wedded to worldly governments, declaring virtually by precept and practice their corrupt union, and that they have no king but Cæsar, looking and hoping that human governments will bring about peace and prosperity to the nations, and the good time coming, and a golden age of millennial blessedness, without her Lord—lukewarm202in respect to her love for the appearing of the King—cold and formal in her religion—making the house of prayer a house of merchandise—and in love with the present world—knowing that if her Lord does come, he will disfranchise her from human governments, sever the cord that binds church and state, and destroy all the kingdoms of the nations; knowing that when the king does appear he will separate between the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares; knowing that when he shall come he will overturn the money-changers, and drive from his temple all buyers, and sellers, and lovers of the world; and finally, that those that love not his appearing but are saying, "The Lord delayeth his coming," shall have their portion in the burning lake; aware of this fact, any intelligence that his coming is near at hand is unwelcome news—exciting alarm and hate. Their hearts fail them for fear, which will increase to consternation at his advent. O. R. FASSETT—in Ad. Herald.