Heralds of the morning, the meaning of the social and political problems of to-day and the significance of the great phenomena in nature ...

Front matter

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Watchman, what of the night?'' The morning cometh."

HERALDS

Contents

CHAPTER. PAGR.

Foreword 9

I. "Watchman, What of the Night?" 13

Foreword

Among the most expressive and beautiful words of the English language, is the noble, tender term, "Home." Among the sweetest songs ever sung by loving lips, is " Home, Sweet Home," given to a needy world by one who never had a home, yet whose heart ever cried out for what the world never gave him. His very homelessness voiced sweeter and deeper the longing of every true human heart.

Among the blessed occurrences that surround the home, "be it ever so humble," is the "home-coming" of loved ones. This is especially true when a loving father has been long gone and is about to return. What thought and action it arouses and inspires. How it quickens heart and eye and tongue and foot. How often and anxious the inquiries of the mother as to when he is coming. What preparations are begun to welcome him. How short the days seem to do the work which ought to be done. How long the days seem when the separation is brought to mind. How slowly roll Time's chariot wheels. Over and over say the children: " Father is coming, the best, the strongest, the wisest friend on earth. He is bringing back for each one of us some beautiful and appropriate gift. He has sent various gifts during his absence, he will bring better ones this home-coming, and bestow them with his own hands; and, best of all, he himself will come. We shall look into the eyes that have so many years looked upon us in love. We shall be clasped by the hand that helped and sheltered and shielded us in trouble and danger. He will call us by name, fold us in his arms, and kiss us glad greeting. And then, too, he will take us to a better home for a while till this home is made far more beautiful than we have ever dreamed it could be made."

1 FOREWORD

Thus the thoughts of the loving children run on, and the glad mother recounts the nobleness of character in times ante dating the children. At last preparation is over, the last touch is given, and mother and children lovingly, impatiently, wait. Surely there is no event in that home like the home-coming of the one who is to all the others chiefest in the household.

We all know it to be at least ideally true; yet it is but a faint picture of a greater, more far-reaching, more blessed, spiritual fact, around which cluster all the greater glorious events of the Christian life.

" The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." He made it to be a glorious home forever for the family of man. But sin entered, and the home was marred, and the trail of the serpent may be traced over the fairest of earth's domain. With the entrance of sin came death, and the earth, designed as the abode of the living, would have become a vast charnel-house had it not been for the constant, abundant blessings of grace poured out upon it from the inexhaustible storehouse on high.

"When the fulness of time came," the Son of God, with allglorious divinity veiled in humanity, truly God and truly man, came unto His own, but "His own received Him not." The vast majority would not receive Him as the only Saviour. But earnest souls did receive Him, and found Him to be the Son of God, the Saviour, Friend, and Brother of men.

Before He went away He told them He would come again, — that His going away would be like that of a nobleman who " went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." As priest on the Father's throne, Jesus Christ, through angelic and human ministers, has been gathering out subjects for His everlasting kingdom — this earth made new by God's creative power. That work is about completed; the long roll of the ages is nearly finished; the characters inscribed "before the foundation of the world" "in the Lamb's book of life" are nearly all wrought out; the tested and polished stones for

FOREWORD I I

the eternal, spiritual temple of God are Rearing the end of their numbering; the gifts of His Spirit, brought anew into exercise in His church, will soon perfect that church, that He may present her to Himself, a beautiful church, "not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing," but "holy and without blemish," clad in the robes of His own glory. And then comes the Home-coming of the Master, the triumphant, glorious finale of all earth's sorrow and travail. The Master of the house comes to remove for a time to the heavenly mansions His loved ones, while the marred and blasted earth passes through its last stage of disintegration prior to its re-creation as the eternal home of the souls saved by grace. " The bondservant [of sin, Satan and his own] abideth not in the house forever; the Son [Christ and His own] abideth forever." And Christ is coming to complete the great and all-absorbing work of the universe, the vindication of the character of God and the salvation of every trusting, faithful soul.

And, reader, this unworthy foreword only serves as an introduction to the pages following, written by my friend and brother, Asa Oscar Tait. In them are arrayed some of the many evidences of God's Word which show that the great Home-coming of our Lord and Master is nigh. In plainest, clearest language, by illustration and quotation, are the evidences rehearsed, fortified and demonstrated. "Christ is coming" is the fitting close to every chapter. The whole work is vibrant with the intensity of the times through which we are passing. Read its pages, ponder its sublime and awful facts, receive its truth, and then when the great drama shall have closed, you will be among those who shall, with glad hearts filled with heavenly melody, welcome the Home-coming of the King.

Milton C. Wilcox

Editorial Rooms

"Signs of the Times"

Oakland^ Cal.

M

Chapter One

ANY serious problems, social and political, are confronting the world. These problems are not mere theories in the minds of fanatical enthusiasts, neither are

they confined within the narrow limits of one or two nations, but thoughtful men everywhere see the dangers that are threatening the whole world, and are in dread before the alarming conditions of our time. As we meet persons on the street, in the shop, on board the train, — anywhere and everywhere, in this nation and in that, — we find them earnestly and seriously discussing the portents of danger that thicken as the days pass by.

The great amassing of wealth by a few men in each of the various nations of earth is without a parallel in history. The consequent murmurings of the discontented classes strikingly remind one of the turbulent conditions in France on the eve of her great Revolution and Reign of Terror.

On every one of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, the newspapers come to us laden with their recital of crime. Murder is of daily occurrence. Highway robbery,

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Society has banded itself into factions and organizations, each struggling to gain the mastery.

bold and arrogant, as well as petty thievery, is a source of continual annoyance, and to many persons it is a cause of dread and fear. Embezzlers, defaulters, bribers, and bribetakers have become alarmingly numerous. Millions of dollars are every year fraudulently taken by these, the basest of all methods.

Our large cities in particular, and most of the smaller places in general, are filled with immorality and vice. Drunkenness is every year hurling a vast multitude to the lowest depths of debauching degradation. Public houses of prostitution disgrace our streets, and to this open shame must be added the daily records of broken marriage vows along with all the rest of this unspeakable torrent of pollution.

These various social cancers have so completely polluted the very fountains of society that many conclude that honesty and straightforward integrity are only the ideals of dreamers. The money-god is so supreme in the mind that it is confidently asserted that "every man has his price." "Only approach him in the right way, and offer him the proper bribe," it is affirmed, "and he will yield." Everywhere is heard the mocking jeer at the thought of any one possessing absolute virtue and purity.

Reformers, filled with noble impulses, have sought for the

WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 1 5

cause of all this evil that is coming in like a deluge. They have attempted to drive out the houses of shame and to abolish the dens of vice and crime. But on the very threshold of their efforts they are met with the appalling fact that the officers of the law are to an alarming extent in league with this vile and criminal class. Hence the detection and arrest of the criminal is becoming more and more difficult. And even if he is arrested, technicalities and quibbles, prolonged through one court after another, defeat the purpose of the law, and make "courts of justice" a mockery. In consequence of this condition of things, mobs are becoming very common and violent, and lynchings are rapidly increasing; and, incredible though it may seem, men occupying high stations in life are upholding "this lynch form of executing justice."

It passes without contradiction that politics has become a sort of disreputable business, at which men work for the "boodle" there is in it. From the lowest offices in the village or township on up to many of the highest positions of the state and nation, bribery and fraud are freely used to elect the candidate who will be the most lavish in dividing the "spoils of office" among his political friends. Yet instead of this condition of things exciting a healthful and wide-spread sense of indignation and protest, it is altogether too generally treated with jesting and indifference.

We have been promised that the field of politics would produce statesmen — diplomats, who, by their powers of arbitration rather than by the sword, would keep the nations of earth in the highway of peace. Indeed, it has been a dearly-cherished \ thought — -and all should \ applaud such kindly, humane Sentiments that The dove of peace lies wounded and dying i6 the civilization of the morning of the twentieth century would form an impregnable fortification, beyond which the barbarities of war would never go.

But instead of the realization of these exalted hopes, we hear the long roll sounding; the greatest armies that the world has ever known are falling into line and the most formidable navies known to history are patrolling the seas. The weapons of modern warfare are sufficient, it would seem, to inspire terror in the bravest breast; but notwithstanding the destructiveness of the present war implements, there is no lack of men — and women too, for that matter — who are impatiently eager to exchange the pursuits of peace for the camp and battle-field.

There is to-day a general quarreling among the nations, and they are straining every resource to increase their fortifications, armies, and navies.

Settling like a heavy cloud over the minds of men, there is a deepening conviction that a universal war can not be averted. The suddenness with which the nations of the whole

What is the world coming to? What will be the end of all these threatening dangers ?

WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? I J

world are inflamed to the point of the war-fever gives evidence of the pent-up volcanoes of strife; and the fearful carnage and final results, should this international war spirit develop such a conflict, are a source of much uneasiness and deep concern.

When computing the perplexities of open warfare among the nations, account must also be taken of the various internal factions that threaten the national life of every kingdom, empire, and republic. Society has banded itself into factions and organizations, each struggling to gain the mastery, and this struggle is marked by a notably growing intensity and a manifestly increasing belligerant determination. All the world powers are contending with their discontented revolutionary elements at home, yet anxiously struggling to keep them united for the still greater contest in the field of international strife.

While these topics of the social and political world are presenting so. many strange and perplexing features, "old mother earth " herself has laid aside her usually quiet habits, and is participating in the general unrest. Cyclones and hurricanes, earthquakes and tidal waves, and strikingly fearful volcanic action are no longer among the unusual things, neither are they confined to a few localities. But storm-swept land, bursting mountain, and lashing ocean tell us in unmistakable language that the days of earth's tranquility are at an end.

These things, together with others that will suggest themselves to the reader, are leading many anxious minds to inquire: "What is the world coming to? What will be the end of all these threatening dangers?" Book after book, discussing the various phases of the situation, is

We hear the long roll sounding:, and the greatest armies that the world has ever known are falling into line. 2

The omnipotent power that balances the great systems of worlds in space, can alone stay the mind.

published; magazines and papers devoted entirely to the subject of <.. remedying the social and political

:.^A__.. ..:,- '- ^ — ■ **-—- ^ ev il s f our t ; me are constantly

sent out; and there is scarcely a speaker or writer, no matter what his field of research or labor, but is frequently drawn aside to give words of caution, admonition, or suggestion concerning- the common danger.

But despite all these discussions, and the exposures of criminality that are made, the difficulties continue to increase. As one editor of a leading daily suggests, crime is exposed, and the criminals are pointed out, but all to no purpose. They are still permitted to continue in their evil career, apparently without shame and beyond remorse. Many thoughtful and highly-educated men are seriously saying that unless this deluge of crime, turbulence, and discontent can be allayed, the whole world will surely plunge into a revolution that will render insignificant the most fearfully bloody scenes that history records.

The foregoing is not a statement of theory, but a presentation of existing facts. The densest darkness of the night of sin and crime is surely enshrouding the world.

WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT ?.

The scientist seeks for the cause of the frequently recurring volcanic activity, earthquake, cyclone, and storm, but his wisest solutions afford no shelter. In the presence of nature's sublime and awful convulsions the hand and mind of man shrink to the infinity of nothingness. The omnipotent Power that balances the great systems of worlds in space can alone stay the mind and keep alive the spark of courage in the heart when the most substantial structures of men are tossed about as grains of sand, and the mountains themselves are trembling because of the forces that are loosened within. The tremblings of earth amid the commotions of the elements and the unsettled condition of society, force the conviction, despite ourselves, that here we have no secure abiding place.

There is no denying the fact that these conditions, which are so apparent in all the world to-day, form a very dark picture, and we may seek to close the avenues to the mind so that we will not see it; but shutting the eyes while drifting toward the vortex, induces only a delirious dream of securitv, which renders our destruction doubly sure.

The dark picture that the actual facts disclose needs to be seen with a clear and unfaltering eye so that we may turn from it to behold, appreciate, and possess, another, whose landscape is the blossoming- bowers of the inde- „„ .. . .' . .

o Earthquakes and tidal waves are no longer

scribable Eden, and whose unusual things."

halo of glory is brilliantly reflecting the saphires and emeralds, the jaspers and crysolites, of the eternal city of God.

Despite every foreboding outlook, there is an approaching day. There are heralds that are unmistakably trumpeting the dawn of a morning into which every dazzling orb of the universe will flash some splendid rays. He who is the " Root and Offspring of David" is also the ''bright and morning Star," and He has promised to come in person to put an end eternally to this perplexity, distress and evil. No one who trusts himself to the care of the Omnipotent will be involved in the impending ruin.

To know this great truth of the Lord's second coming really and fully, and to have the bright picture of the second advent become a soul-satisfying reality, lightens every dark cloud and dissipates every terrorizing danger of this turbulent world. These dark clouds and threatening dangers will then appear as mere atoms that can never reach even the horizon of our divinely bequeathed haven of security and power.

What a consolation it is to know that we have such a faithful Friend ! What an indiscribable peace and rest floods the soul as we cast our anchor in the secure haven of Him who is the Almighty!

An examination of the sure and living promises of His Word will disclose the fact that they are life, and joy, and peace to us, and especially so in this time of strife and storm.

HE WILL COME AGAIN

Chapter Two

LOOKING at the distressing conditions prevalent in the world to-day, and seeing these things alone, the mind is filled with dark forebodings. But we should not look upon these dark things alone. They should be viewed through the prophecies and promises of the Word of God. As we turn to that Word, we find that the second coming of Christ has been set forth as the cheering banner of hope. The Word abounds in promises of that event. To all who may be led to trust Him the Master sends the joyful proclamation: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14: 1-3.

By studying the latter part of the thirteenth chapter of John it will be seen that the Lord, while sitting with His disciples at that memorable "last supper," on the very night when He was betrayed to be crucified, had been telling them that He was to be taken away from them for a time. This statement filled their hearts with sadness. But the Master does not leave them in despair. He at once gives, not only to them but to us also, that most precious promise, "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself."

Again, after the Crucifixion, and at the time of His ascension, while the disciples were yet intently looking into the heavens, whither He was going, angels of God were commissioned to say to them: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:11. Note the promise, It is "this same Jesus."

The disciples had found in Jesus the "Desire of all nations." Their hungry souls had feasted on the words of life th He uttered, and they were resting in the inexpressible joy experienced by those who are conscious of pardoned sin and the invigorating powers of a renewed life. Naturally they desired to A have Him remain with them. But, M although they had tasted the bliss /J§ of a Christian's happy experience, they had not as yet grown into that fulness of faith and knowledge that would enable them to comprehend all that the Master had been seeking to instil into their minds. Thev did not understand the

"The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice."

HE WILL COME AGAIN 23 great truth, although it had been so plainly stated by the , Saviour, "'It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." John 16:7.

The Lord states His truth in plain language; but it takes time for it to be assimilated by the human mind. And when that truth has to uproot prejudices and errors of long standing, the task is a most difficult one. The idea that at His first advent the Messiah was to establish a temporal kingdom, and by force of arms overthrow the Romans, thus relieving the Jews from a foreign yoke, though a false hope, was dearly cherished and firmly fixed. So deeply entrenched was the thought that Christ was to be a temporal king and reign in Judea, that all His teaching to the contrary had not fully driven this delusion from the minds of even the disciples themselves. For in His last conversation with them (a conversation which took place after His crucifixion and resurrection), and on the very occasion when He made His ascension to His Father's throne, it is stated that "they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1 : 6.

The Master had taken particular pains to make it plain to all that His first advent was to be a time of hardship and suffering, finally culminating in His death on the cross. He had pointed to His resurrection, and expounded the prophecies that foretell the subsequent long night of darkness through which the church would have to pass; and finally He had dwelt upon the great event of His second coming, to put an end to sorrow, suffering, and sin.

But the disciples had not understood nor realized the significance of the words of their Lord. Their minds were still engrossed with the idea of a temporal kingdom to be established then and there, in which the Lord would be King and they would act a prominent part. It seemed impossible to

But shutting their eyes while drifting- toward the vortex, only induces a delirious dream of security.

draw their minds away from this cherished error to the exalted sphere of the divine plan. Gods ways and plans are always best; but how hard it is for fallen humanity to surrender the false and accept the true! So the Father permitted the disciples with / their natural eyes to behold their Saviour as He

made His ascension to the heavenly throne. Thus He forever cut off all possible hope of a temporal reign of the Messiah over the Jewish nation in Palestine. Then while their minds were the most impressible, while they were yet with amazement watching their ascending Lord, the angels were bidden to remind them that "this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts I : 1 1. What a lesson of tender solicitude for the needs of His children is here given! And how impressive is the thought that God will exhaust every means to elevate our minds from the bewitching entanglements of error to a knowledge and full enjoyment of His exalted truth!

From this scene of their Lord's ascension the privileged disciples retired to engage in careful meditation and earnest prayer. They tarried in their private lodgings at Jerusalem until the words of truth so carefully planted in their minds

HE WILL COME AGAIN by the Master had prer pared their hearts for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then error was driven out; and truth, enthroned within, was permitted to occupy its rightful place. Then they could proclaim with power a crucified and risen Saviour; they could present with confidence the sinner's never- failinghope, telling to all that the chains of sin and death were forever broken. Yes; and they knew the promise, too, that "this same Jesus" will "come again. 5 '

This glorious hope of the second coming of Christ is a theme that has called out the most sublime utterances of the inspired writers in all the ages. Of one of the prophets who walked with God, it is said: —

"Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints."

There are heralds that are unmistakably trumpeting the dawn of a morning.

Jude 14.

This is a part of one of the sweet songs of the psalmist : "Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity. 5 ' Ps. 98:5-9.

The "Gospel prophet" declares: "And it shall be said in that day, 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." Isa. 25:9.

Our Master Himself assures us: "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

The great apostle to the Gentiles avers: "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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:16-18.

And thus proclaims the beloved disciple from rock-bound Patmos: "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also w T hich pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." Rev. 1.7.

"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,

THE CONSOLER

HE WILL COME AGAIN 29

and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6:14-17.

"And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Rev. 22:12, 20.

Could promise and positive statement be made in more forcible or explicit language than is used in the foregoing scriptures? Study each one of these texts closely and observe just what they say. When a scripture is so very plain as are these promises of the second coming of the Lord, comment is unnecessary. Have it to say that you see the cheering truth of the Saviour's glorious advent in the promises of His own Word, rather than in the comments that some one may have made upon that Word. Not only is Jesus coming again, but He is coming as the Saviour of all who have not persistently rejected the sinner's Friend. For "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of manv; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28.

The One who has inspired all the foregoing promises is no less a personage than He who created the universe. He possesses in Himself all the power that holds in place the vast world on which we live, guiding it in harmony with the countless number of vaster worlds which He is also sustaining and directing in space. In considering a statement or promise it is also proper to consider the power and ability of the one who makes it. Surely the One who has made this wealth of promises that Jesus the Lord will come again, has a towering abundance of power to sustain Him in making good His Word.

Therefore even though the world be filled with distress and wo, so that brave-hearted men tremble before the threatening evil, yet are there heralds of the coming morning. The Master has promised to return, and all who know Him are longing for the time to come.

Hence we may expect to find as we study the prophecies that accompany these promises of His coming, that all the disasters and dangers we see threatening the world are nothing more than the shoals and rocks that lie along the farther shore of time. They are not to be dreaded since we have taken the Master Pilot on board. They are only the visible and evident tokens that we have sighted the land of our eternal Eden home. What a joy is this knowledge ! What an anchor of rest to the soul!