Review and Herald, Vol. 44, No. 7. (7/28/1874)

Review and Herald

Jul 28, 1874

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 28, 1874

THE COMING OF THE LORD.

By English Writer

Text: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God is judge himself.” Ps. 50:3–6.

We stand on the eve of one of the greatest events the world has ever witnessed. Signs are multiplying on every side of us, compared with which there has been no parallel, either in the history of the church or the world. One of the greatest changes to both hangs upon this great event. It is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the second time, in power and glory, to bring all things into subjection to himself, and to be King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Let us see what the psalmist says of this event in the passage under consideration.

The first word is a striking one—“Our God.” It is the family word. None but the child can use it. That child is one of the family. He is related to his Heavenly Father. He has been redeemed and brought nigh by the blood of Christ. He is in the bonds of the everlasting covenant. He is a joint heir with Christ. He can look up, and say, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” He will be able to say with joy, when the Lord shall descend from heaven in flaming fire, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Yes; it is a family word. He who now puts into our lips the sweet words, “Our Father,” enables us to look forward to that solemn hour, and say, “our God.”

We are about to meditate on a solemn scene—God coming down to this earth in human form, as a devouring fire, with storms and tempests raging around him. Oh! how necessary to be able to say, before we gaze upon it, “Our God.” What will it be if we cannot say, “Our God”? With what feelings of terror and alarm must it be viewed, unless we can say, in prospect, “Our God!” Make sure of this, reader, before you go one step farther. Only this can make you calm in the prospect, and in the reality when it comes, to be able to say, “Our God.” Therefore it is that the Holy Spirit puts this little word first on which we may dwell earnestly, soberly, searchingly, before we proceed to that which follows.

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.” In order clearly to understand what is meant here by God’s “not keeping silence,” we must refer to the closing part of the chapter, from the sixteenth verse to the twenty-second: “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? seeing that thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Here God reviews the character of the wicked in this dispensation. It is exactly what has been going on in our world for the last six thousand years. Men have been taking God’s “covenant in their mouth,” in other words making a profession of religion, while, all the time, the power of religion has been absent. Underneath this profession, sin and iniquity of the worst form have been carried on. Men have really been “hating” God, and casting his words behind them.

“Theft,” “adultery,” “murder,” “deceit,” “false witness,” “slander”—have not all these things been going on in the world at a fearful speed? All this while, God has “kept silence.” He has not interfered to strike men down in such acts with his arm of judgment; so men begin to say, “Where is God? Tush! doth God see?” If there be a God, why does he not interfere? Either there is none, or else he is “altogether such an one as ourselves.” Thus the world has gone on—the wicked flourishing as a green bay tree, the righteous returning with a full cup of tears, and God keeping silence. But it shall not always be so. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.” He shall come, and “reprove,” and “set” each word and deed “in order” “before the eyes” of the wicked. It is interesting to notice how nearly all the features of the wicked described in this chapter, and which history has indorsed as the dominant principles in the world, are again produced by the Holy Spirit in the third chapter of St. Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, and which are to be more prominently developed—as the flower from the bud—in the last days.

And what are to be the heralds of his coming? “A fire shall devour before him; and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Here, again, the Holy Spirit confirms this testimony by St. Paul: “And to you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” Yes; from one end of Christendom to the other, one piercing cry shall rend the heavens: “Ye rocks and hills, fall upon us, and hide us from the presence of the Lamb.” The entreaty, earnest and loud, will then be heard from many a lip that now scorns the preaching of the cross, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” but “too late.” It shall be “very tempestuous.” The nations shall be at their wits’ end. The ties of nature and of society shall be set at naught. Men’s hearts, on all sides, will be “failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” A few will lift up their heads in that universal wreck, and run calmly and joyfully; for they know their redemption is nigh, their hour of triumph at hand. Oh! to stand among that little band in that awful hour, and be able to say, “Our God!”

But what will the Lord do then? “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” The Spirit of God confirms this testimony by St. Paul: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The word rendered “then,” in this passage, may be more correctly rendered, “after that,” and shows us that some interval may elapse between the meeting of the dead saints and the living ones before they are taken up to meet the Lord in the air. The fond greeting, the loved embrace, the outburst of joy, shall fill it up. Then all shall rise together at one and the same summons from on high, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” “Ever with the Lord!” Oh! the joy of these words! Here thought fails. The lips falter. The mind shrinks. Eternity alone can tell their depth. We wait to sound their meaning. Who would not say, in such a world of sin and sorrow and death, as this, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!”

But mark the psalmist’s words. Who are they that are called? “Gather my saints together unto me.” What an expressive word—“my saints!” How the Lord appropriates them as his own! “They shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels.” What precious words—“my saints,” “my jewels!” What sinful, erring creatures we are! How do we daily and hourly provoke the Lord who loves us! What naughty children the Lord has to manage! How he may say of us, as Moses said of Israel, “Ye have been rebellious against the Lord since the day that I knew you;” and yet “my saints!” “my jewels!” Oh, what grace! what wondrous love!

“Gather my saints.” “He shall gather the lambs in his arms.” He shall gather them as a shepherd his sheep in the hour of weakness and danger—the weak ones, the nervous ones, those who start at a shadow, and tremble at the fluttering of a leaf. They shall not be weak or nervous then. The frailty of the body shall be forever gone, and they shall be clasped in an embrace such as they have never known, to a bosom of infinite love.

Another word: “Gather my saints together.” It is the family meeting. It is the grand reunion. It is the glad assembly. We shall not rise to meet the Lord individually—in isolations. We shall be gathered together. So the apostle speaks of our “gathering together unto him.” And again, “We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.” No more separation! No more sects, or systems! All together! One mind, one heart, one joy, one glad meeting, without the shadow of a farewell greeting ever darkening its shores! What heart does not bound at the thought?

But mark one word more, the sweetest of all—“unto me.” Ah! what would all the others do without this? Nothing, nothing! The foam, the dust, the shadow, the air! What would that meeting be without Jesus? What is any meeting without him? The very notes of Heaven would be discord; its jasper walls would be hideous; its very air would be oppressive. It would all be dreariness, and darkness, and death. With his name, every song is sweet. In his smile, every countenance is bright. Every chord of the golden harp will vibrate with his praise. Every voice will be vocal with his name—Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!—through eternity. For this the Lord himself prays: “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” Love can only be satisfied with the presence of its object. So with the Saviour. He longs for us. He waits for us. We must be with him. How can he be happy without us?

But who are these thus gathered? Mark it well, reader: “Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” They are those who have laid themselves and their earthly substance as an offering on God’s altar, and who have made a covenant with God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the blood-bought ones. They are those who have cast themselves—all sin and guilt, helpless and undone—on the finished work of the Lord Jesus. They are those who cry from the depths of their hearts:—

“Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.”

Reader, have you done this? If you have not, then you are not in that covenant. And if you are not in that covenant now, can you think of that meeting? You may hide this sad picture from your conscience, or, worse than all, charge your sin on God by a series of excuses. But it will not avail then. Mark the next verse: “The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself.” His righteous dealings will then be acknowledged by every lip, and be felt by every heart. Even the wicked will be compelled to own it. And not only so, but righteousness shall be written on everything, as it never has been yet. And why? “For God is judge himself.” He shall judge in the earth, and the result shall be righteous judgment. Misrule, injustice, oppression, will all be ended then. “Righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.”

And what is the practical lesson from all this, for the world, as well as for God’s people? There is a word for each one at the close of this chapter. “Ye that forget God, consider this.” Unconverted reader, weigh it well, lest God “tear thee in pieces.” The day is at hand. Consider. Fly to Jesus. He is your only hope. Out of him you are not safe for a moment. Be warned, and haste to the refuge.

Christian, “order your conversation,” or citizenship, “aright.” Aim to glorify Jesus. Let his praise fill your heart. Let his image be clearly, decidedly, unmistakably written on every act of your life. Be whole-hearted for Christ. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”—English Writer.

Prophecy No. 3: God's Foreknowledge and Human Choice

By W. H. Blaisdell

Prophecy.—No. 3.

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Pet. 1:19.

In foretelling events which would transpire in the history of this world, God has sometimes moved the minds of holy men by his Spirit, and they have given the prediction as directed by him; in other cases we are not informed that he made use of any human instrument through which to make the predictions known, but it appears that they were given directly by God himself or his Son Jesus Christ to one or more of the inhabitants of this world.

Every prophecy, whether given by some person under the influence of the Holy Spirit, or by the Son of God, or by God himself, either has been fulfilled in the past, or is now being fulfilled, or will yet be fulfilled in the future.

If a prophecy points out the deeds, whether good or bad, which any person or class of persons will commit, we may be assured that the deeds will be performed by the party to whom the prophecy relates.

But though it is a fact that the deeds will be performed according to the prediction, yet it does not follow that the party

referred to is compelled to perform those deeds.

God has given to all mankind the privilege of doing good or evil, and left it a matter of choice with the individuals to decide which course they will follow; and though he does not compel them either way, yet he may be able to foresee which course they will pursue, and thus cause the prediction to be given in accordance with the course they will decide to take, when left to act their own free will in the matter.

Had God foreseen that they would choose a different course, the prophecy would not have been given as it now stands. We now direct attention of the reader to certain prophecies and the events which have transpired, or are now transpiring in fulfillment thereof.

We will first refer to Gen. 3:17–19. While entering upon an examination of this prophecy, we would especially call the attention of the reader to the fact that all the specifications of this prediction have a literal fulfillment. There is nothing dark, hidden, or mystical, in its meaning. It is given in language easy to be understood; and it is very evident what the facts are that furnish the proof that it is literally fulfilled.

It here seems that God himself personally appeared to Adam, and uttered a prophetic declaration in plain, literal language which was designed to extend to mankind generally, of which Adam was the representative head.

We may learn from the past history of the human race, and from our knowledge of facts surrounding us at the present time, and from the Bible, that the specifications of this prophecy have been literally fulfilled in all generations of mankind, and in all parts of the earth, and will continue to be unto the end of the world, with a very few exceptions which God has made, and has promised to make (those who are translated without seeing death), of the reason for which he has not especially informed us.

A few of the prominent points in this prediction we will here notice: “And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” Verse 17.

God had created the earth and all things therein, and had made it a proper dwelling place for a race of sinless beings. As it came from the hand of the Creator, before the old serpent had polluted, or the stains of sin and the curse had marred, its fair domain, perfect peace and harmony prevailed here; even the animal creation were perfectly harmless and inoffensive; not a jarring note or discordant sound could be heard in all the land; and to man who was made in the image of his Creator, was given the dominion over it all.

But man, the noblest work of creation, and for whose especial benefit the earth was brought into existence, sinned against God, the very being who had created him, and thereby became a just recipient of his displeasure.

As he thus fell from the exalted position which he might have occupied, he became an improper subject to dwell on the beautiful earth as it then existed, and God, to reduce the surroundings of man to a level with the condition to which man had by sin brought himself, declared the ground to be cursed for his sake.

In fulfillment of this, the earth has been groaning under the curse through all its history from that time to the present. The thunder’s roar, the lightning’s glare, the tornado’s blast, the upheaving of the tidal wave, the deep mutterings of the mighty earthquake, the belching forth of the internal fires of earth from the volcanic crater, the triumphant reign of disease and death, the groans of the dying, and the wails of the mourning, together with innumerable other evils, all conspire to bear testimony to the truthfulness of this conclusion.

We have also inspired testimony on the same subject. Paul says: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Rom. 8:22.

“In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” This has been fulfilled in the history of all mankind that have ever lived on the earth. Every person experiences thoughts of sadness and feelings of sorrow to a greater or less degree every day of his life. There is no point of time where it can be said of any persons that their sorrows are ended until this present life is brought to a close.

“Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” Verse 18. This is one feature of the prophecy under consideration, and is also literally fulfilled in all the world. While the useful vegetable productions of the earth can be, in most cases, obtained only by labor, sweat, and toil, the brier, the thorn, and the thistle, grow spontaneously, and in such profusion as to become a source of perplexity, and thereby greatly increase the labors of him who is striving to obtain the productions necessary for the sustenance of the human family.

The last and most solemn feature of this prophecy is as follows: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Verse 19.

Had we never witnessed, heard, or learned, of the sad ravages of disease and death, and the consequent corruption and decay of all flesh, who would think, to look upon a person in the bloom of youthful health and vigor, that the beautiful form before us would ever become a mass of putrid corruption, and finally turn to dust itself?

But how sadly literal is the fulfillment of this in the human race! After having laid the form of the loved one in the earth, and a certain period of time passes away, nothing can there be found but dust; not the least evidence can be discovered that ever anything was there deposited.

But although we are compelled to witness the fulfillment of the above prophetic declaration all around us, though the curse rests heavily on every hand, and the sounds of woe continually fall on our ears, yet the light of the sure word of prophecy, beaming forth from other prophetic scriptures, penetrates the gloom of the present, sheds a halo of light upon our otherwise dark pathway, and points us forward to a day when those who now sleep in the dust shall live again, and when the earth shall be renewed, sin and sorrow be forever ended, and the curse so long endured shall be finally removed to return no more. Isa. 26:19; Eze. 37:12–14; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; Isa. 65:17–19; Ps. 104:30; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1–4; 22:3.

“Oh! happy day, when wars shall cease, And ransomed earth be filled with peace, When sin and death no more shall reign, And Eden bloom on earth again.”

We here append the following very appropriate words of another on this subject:—

“Once wert thou fair, O Earth, in loveliness; Once full perfection bore through all thy forms; And vigorous stood, and fresh in youthful strength; But ah, not long; man in his rashness seized The fatal fruit, and trespassed God’s command, And broke the barrier of thy defense: From hence thy history and thy life grew dark. A visible pang of death through all the works Of shuddering nature ran; all that was once So fair, so good, so lovely, so adorned, Beneath the scorching breathings of the curse, Distorted, withered, faded, drooped and died. Sky, once serene, with somber tempests lowered, And muttering, frowned on earth a gloomy frown, And cast o’er all her works a dismal shade. Among the beasts, peaceful, so late and tame, War sprung; and savage howls were heard; and blood Thirsted for blood, and raged, and fought, and strove. The birds their songs of harmony and joy, Forgot; and at the eagle’s piercing scream, Tremblingly heard, and quick affrighted fled, And peace, and loveliness, and beauty, took, With sad, reluctant step, their final leave; And some few footprints, faint, some shadows, dim, Were all they left on earth; thistles and thorns, Where once they trod, in dread abundance sprung, As if to mock their former, glorious reign. And must this ever be? Must ever thus God’s glorious design frustrated stand? Not ever! for mankind’s Redeemer, he, The Son of God, the second Adam, will, What our first parents lost, doubly restore. He sin and death will conquer and destroy, And raze each vestige of their baleful reign; And close, for aye, their flood-gates, wide, of woe: And nature’s face renew, and far remove The fetters of the curse from all her works; And peace, and loveliness, and beauty, call Down once again from their abodes of bliss, To range in glory o’er the earth renewed. In youthful freedom, then will earth again Rejoice, its fetters broken, and its voice Long choked by sin and death to notes of woe, Shall rise in anthems loud of grateful joy. All shall be Eden, all be Paradise. The garden of the Lord; abundantly, With joy and singing shall the desert bloom, And blossom as the rose, and Lebanon’s Bright glory share, and Carmel’s excellence. The solitary places shall be glad; For in the wilderness, thus saith the Lord, The cedar will I plant, the shittah tree, The oil-tree and the myrtle, and will set The fir-tree in the desert, and the pine And box together, that they all may see, And know, and understand, that I, the Lord The God of Israel, have created it. The signet of the curse, thistles and thorns, Now seen no more, shall be forgotten; and Fair in their place the fig-tree shall come up. And for the brier, the myrtle tree shall grow; And streams of laughing joy shall fresh break forth Within the desert, and a smiling pool Shall the parched ground become; the thirsty land, Well-springs of living water gushing forth. No poison breathing swamps, nor marshes foul, With noxious breath pollute the crystal air; Nor dark sulphurous tempests rend the skies; But all shall lovely be, all shall be pure. The trees shall clap their hands, and fields shall smile, Bright in the cloudless sunshine of their God, And fear no blasting storms, nor fear decay. No turbid waters in the stream shall flow, But fountains, pure, make glad the face of earth. All with abundance swells; in tree and flower, And shrub, and creeping vine, and clustering fruit, And lawn and fertile field, behold no lack. Thus to its primal purity restored, Thus glorious and beautiful shall be The earth renewed, the saints’ eternal home. And then shall be the tabernacle of God With men; and he himself shall dwell with them, And be their God and they his people be. There shall all tears from every eye be wiped; Sorrow and crying there are never heard; There death comes not, and pain shall be no more, Nor sin shall ever there an entrance find; For lo, the former things are passed away.”

W. H. BLAISDELL. Bradford, Me.

EPIPHANY

By D. T. Taylor

He came; no pomp, nor royal crown, Waited his step, or decked his brow. But grief and shame oppress him now, While friends disown, And death the injured King laid low.

He came; but few him reverence paid; The cold world's scorn, the sharpened spear, The taunt, the thorn, the sigh, the tear, Were his instead, Nor room nor home for Jesus here.

He comes again; earth's diadems And thrones of power to him belong, While round him angels chant in song, And bright as gems His saints shall join the mighty throng.

He comes, he comes; but not alone, For myriads now are in his train; And earth, and sky, and sounding main, Shall cease their groan, And shout him welcome back again.

He comes; ye dead, unseal your eyes! Loud sounds the trumpet, Come away! His chariot wheels no more delay. Mount up the skies That flash and burn along his way.

He comes; oh! hearts that wait that morn, Be clean, stand firm, watch now, and pray, And sweetly then the King will say, Beloved, well done; Enter the everlasting day.—D. T. TAYLOR, in Messiah's Herald.

Notes by Thomas Williams on Dan. 7.

By Thomas Williams

VERSE 7. A fourth beast.—[The Roman empire which destroyed the Grecian, and became mistress of the world]—Bagster.—Great iron teeth—verse 18 it is added, and his nails of brass—he was calculated in every way to destroy, whether by tearing, trampling, or devouring.

The ten horns here answer to the “ten toes,” in Nebuchadnezzar’s image. The ten horns of this fourth beast are also explained by Daniel, (verse 24) to be “ten kings,” or kingdoms which shall successively arise. . . . [The ten kingdoms into which the western Roman empire was divided, were, primarily according to Machiavel and Bishop Lloyd: 1. The Huns in Hungary, A. D. 356; 2. The Ostrogoths in Moesia, 377; 3. The Visigoths in Pannonia, 378; 4. The Sueves and Alans in Gascoigne and Spain, 407; 5. The Vandals in Africa, 407; 6. The Franks in France, 407; The Burgundians in Burgundy, 407; 8. The Heruli and Turingi in Italy, 476; 9. The Saxons and Angles in Britain, 476; 10. The Lombards, first upon the Danube, 526, and afterward in Italy. Though the ten kingdoms differed from these in later periods, and were sometimes more or less, yet they were still known by that name.] Bagster.

Verse 8. Another little horn—This may be considered as a new and singular power which plucked up three of the ten kingdoms by the root.

Verse 9. The horns were cast down—Wintle. “Were placed.” So Boothroyd. But both come to the same meaning. The Asiatics have neither chairs nor stools, but to receive persons of rank “cast down” or “placed” cushions around the room for seats; which seem to be here alluded to. See Matt. 19:28; Rev. 20:4.

Verse 24. Another shall arise.—[This evidently points out the papal supremacy in every respect diverse from the former, which from small beginnings thrust itself up among the ten kingdoms till at length it successively eradicated three of them—the kingdoms of the Heruli, of the Ostrogoths and of the Lombards].—Bagster.

Verse 25. Speak great words.—[In assuming infallibility, professing to forgive sins, and to open and shut Heaven, thundering out bulls and anathemas, excommunicating princes, absolving subjects from their allegiance, and exacting obedience to his decrees in open violation of reason and Scripture.]—B.

Clarke's Commentary on Dan. 2.

The Chaldean empire called the Assyrian in its commencement, the Chaldean from the country, the Babylonish from its chief city.

1. HEAD OF GOLD. This was the first monarchy began by Nimrod, A. M. 1771, B. C. 2233, and ending with the death of Belshazzar, A. M. 3466, B. C. 538, after having lasted nearly seventeen hundred years. In the time of Nebuchadnezzar it extended over Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria and Palestine. He, Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold.

2. BREAST AND ARMS OF SILVER. The Medo-Persian empire; which properly began under Darius the Mede, allowing him to be the same with Cyaxares son of Astyages, and uncle to Cyrus the great, son of Cambyses. He first fought under his uncle Cyaxares; defeated Neriglissar, king of the Assyrians, and Crasus, king of the Lydians; and by the capture of Babylon, B. C. 538, terminated the Chaldean empire. On the death of his father Cambyses, and his uncle Cyaxares, B. C. 536, he became sole governor of the Medes and Persians, and thus established a potent empire on the ruins of that of the Chaldeans.

3. BELLY AND THIGHS OF BRASS. The Macedonian or Greek empire, founded by Alexander the Great. He subdued Greece, penetrated into Asia, took Tyre, reduced Egypt, overthrew Darius Codomannus at Arbela, Oct. 2, A. M. 3673, B. C. 331, and thus terminated the Persian monarchy. He crossed the Caucasus and subdued Hyrcania, and penetrated India as far as the Ganges; and having conquered all the countries that lay between the Adriatic sea and this river, the Ganges, he died A. M. 3681, B. C. 323, and after his death his empire became divided among his generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus.

CASSANDER had Macedon and Greece; LYSIMACHUS had Thrace and those parts of Asia which lay on the Hellespont and Bosphorus; PTOLEMY had Egypt, Lydia, Arabia, Palestine, and Cœlesyria; SELEUCUS had Babylon, Media, Susiana, Persia, Assyria, Bactria, Hyrcania, and all other provinces, even to the Ganges. Thus this empire founded on the ruin of that of the Persians, “had rule over all the earth.”

Shall the Dead Rise?

Few thoughts are more terrible to the ungodly than that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. Nowhere but in God’s word are men taught so to live that they may meet that day in joy and peace. Mr. Moffat, the missionary, once went to pay a visit to an African chief, several hundred miles inland from the missionary station at Tala-coo, in South Africa. The name of the chief was Macaba. He was a mighty warrior, and was the terror of his savage foes.

In one of his conversations with this man of war and strife, who was surrounded by fifty or sixty of his head men and “rain-makers,” Mr. Moffat spoke of the resurrection of the dead.

“What!” said the chief, starting with surprise, “what are those words about the dead? The dead—the dead rise?”

“Yes,” said the missionary; “all the dead shall rise.”

“Will my father rise?”

“Yes,” answered the missionary.

“Will all the slain in battle rise?”

“Yes,” answered the missionary.

“Will all that have been killed and eaten by lions, tigers, and crocodiles rise?”

“Yes, and come to judgment.”

“Hark!” shouted the chief, turning to the warriors, “ye wise men; did your ears ever hear such strange and unheard-of news? Did you ever hear such news as this?” turning to an old man, the “wise man” of his tribe.

“Never,” answered the old man. “I thought I had all the knowledge of the ancients, but I am astonished by these words. He must have lived long before we were born.”

The chief then turned to the missionary, and, laying his hand upon his breast, said, “Father, I love you much. Your visit has made my heart white as milk. The words of your mouth are sweet like honey; but the words of the resurrection are too great for me. I do not wish to hear about the dead rising again. The dead cannot rise; the dead shall not rise!”

“Tell me, my friend,” said the missionary, “why must I not speak of the resurrection?”

Lifting his powerful arm, which had been so often reddened in the slaughter of his foes, and shaking his hand, as if grasping a spear, the chief said, “I have slain thousands; shall they rise?” The thought greatly troubled him.

Alas, for the men of sin and blood! “The dead, small and great,” shall rise, and stand before “the great white throne.” The warrior shall meet the multitudes of those whom he has helped to kill; and every guilty, godless man must behold those he has injured, neglected, or destroyed, before the Judgment throne.

But good people shall “awake and sing.” In the “great day of his wrath” they shall hide themselves “until the indignation be overpast.” But woe to the unholy; “for, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Isa. 26: 19–21.

Faith, Understanding, and Spiritual Quickening

By faith we are knit; by understanding we are quickened.

Wake Up.

By M. Wood

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Rom. 15:12. These words ought to rouse us to a sense of the importance of the time in which we live and of the message which we profess to be giving. If God’s words mean anything, they mean everything. And as he has declared in his holy word, a speedy riddance will the Lord make of all them that dwell in the land, Zeph. 1:18; Rom. 9:28, how important that we lay aside all our trifling, murmuring, fault-finding ways, which cling so tenaciously to us, and seek God as for all eternity. Soon it will be too late.

We are not always to have an intercessor with the Father. Soon probationary time will cease. Christ will lay off his priestly robes, and we must then stand upon the characters which we are now forming. Believing as we do that the great chains of prophecy reaching down to the last days have had their fulfillment, and soon the stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands, Dan. 2:34, 45, will smite the image upon its feet, what manner of persons ought we to be? The sin and iniquity which now envelop the earth must soon give way to the Sun of Righteousness, which shall rise with healing in his wings, Mal. 4:2, and God’s faithful, waiting ones shall no longer see through a glass darkly. The Creator and creature shall stand face to face. They shall see as they have been seen. They shall know as they have been known. There will be no outward cloak to cover inward sins. All will be pure and holy. Every heart shall beat in unison with God’s holy law. And while the tried and afflicted ones, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, find shelter under the shadow of the Almighty from his unmingled wrath, the transgressor of God’s law shall find his portion with that wicked one whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. 2 Thess. 2:8.

The glories of the eternal world are just before us, the night is far spent, and the day that is to usher in Christ’s everlasting kingdom is just breaking. Do we believe it? Do our actions prove to our neighbors, that we believe the truths which we profess with our lips? Have we carefully weighed the words of the apostle which head this article? Have we cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light? Are we trying to lay aside everything in our lives and habits which will not bear the closest scrutiny of an all-seeing God? Do we make the soon coming of Christ a living reality? Do we make it a principle of conscience to do nothing we would be ashamed of when Jesus comes to raise the sleeping saints and change the living righteous from mortal to immortality?

We are living in a searching, testing time. God is proving his people. We must soon stand before the great Jehovah and render an account to God. If we have been faithful stewards to our absent Master, we shall receive a faithful steward’s reward. God has given us a true pattern to follow. Half right, nearly right, or about right, will avail nothing in the Judgment. If we ever stand before the throne of God, it will be because we are without fault and blameless. Each one must prove his own works. Each one must set up assize within himself. Oh, for a heart to deal fairly with God and man. Let us gird up our loins and labor to wear the armor of light, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of hope, and the sword of the Spirit. Eph. 6:14-17. M. WOOD.

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