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Looking  Forward  , 


OR 


Bible  Studies  into  the    Future 


BY 


JEREMY    TODD 

Of  the  Church  in  Philadelphia 


»  J    ' 


FOR  SALE   BY 

JOHN   HIGHLANDS 

Bookseller 

1106  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

109199 


A8TOR,  LENOX  AND 
TILOEN  FOUNDATIONS. 

1908 


Copyright,  1908,  bj 
JEREMY    TODD 


SELECTIONS 


32  And  they  said  one  to  another,  Did  not  our 
heart  burn  within  us  while  he  talked  with  us  by  the 
way,  and  while  he  opened  to  us  the  scriptures  ? — 
Luke  24-32. 

"You  never  ^et  to  the  end  of  Christ's  words. 
There  is  something  in  them  always  behind.  They 
pass  into  proverbs,  they  pass  into  laws,  they  pass  into 
doctrines,  they  pass  into  consolation;  but  they  never 
pass  away,  and,  after  all  the  use  that  is  made  of 
them,  they  are  still  not  exhausted." 

"As  long  as  the  earth  stands  there  will  be  truth 
old  and  truth  new.  There  is  old  truth  fixed  and 
firm  as  the  hills,  and,  as  Pastor  John  Robinson 
said  in  1620  to  his  pilgrim  flock  about  to  sail  across 
the  Atlantic,  ^  There  is  new  truth  yet  to  dawn  upon 
the  world.'  He  who  spake  in  time  past  by  the  pro- 
phets, and  later  by  his  apostles,  still  speaks  to  suc- 
cessive generations;  nor  will  he  fail  those  who  in 
our  asre  humbly  pray  for  clearer  light  upon  his  word." 

(i) 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK  I. 

HADES TARTARUS. 


PAGE 


Instances  of  active  life — Resurrection  at  first 
unknown — Samuel's  return — Visit  of  Moses 
and  Elijah — King  of  Babylon — Dives 9 

CHAPTER  11. 

HADES PARADISE. 

Jesus  went  there — We  shall  know  the  Lord — • 
Landscapes  —  Tree  of  Life  —  Animals  — 
Society    15 

CHAPTER  IIL 

THE    SPIRITUAL    BODY. 

Identity  with  Jesus — Perpetual  youth — Defects 
left  behind — Innate   locomotion 20 

CHAPTER  IV. 

JOYS  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

Resurrection  of  good  deeds — Pleasures  of  sense 
— Oratory — Music — Reading — Feasts    25 

(iii) 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

COMPANIONSHIP  ABOVE. 


PAGE 


We  know  each  other — The  Saddiicees'  question 
— 'Not  married,  but  mated — Angels  paired.  .      32 

CHAPTER  VL 

OITR  OCCUPATION  THERE. 

[N'ot  all  public  worship  or  rest — Heaven  a  busy 
place — Occupation  what  we  are  fit  for — 
Tombs  of  early  Christians  —  Art  work  — 
Money  current — Big  stores — Mills  and  bread 
— Business  on  right  principles — Good  place 
to  invest  in — Amusements 36 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    RULE    ON    HIGH. 

The  Ten  Commandments — Rule  in  all  God^s 
realms — Our  safeguard  above — ^Sabbath  in 
heaven — Families  there — Homes  there — John 
Howard    Pa^iie 44 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

SECOND   COMTNO   OF    CHRIST. 

He  will  return — Will  appear  in  the  sky — Mis- 
taken announcements — Coming  very  soon — 
Signs  of  the  times — The  elect  noted — The 
experiment  over 50 


CONTENTS.  '.f 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  FIRST  RESUREECTION. 

PAGE 

The  struggle  will  not  fail — The  great  rising — - 
Mining  into  Scripture — The  spirits  in  prison 
— What  prison? — Another  chance  for  sinners 
— Jesus  still  working  for  man S>0 

CHAPTER  X. 

MILLENNIUM. 

Millennium  a  long  while — A  mixed  multitude 
— Priests  there — First  fruits  of  the  Spirit — 
Armageddon — The  final  battle — The  great 
majority  saved 63 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE  ACCEPTED  TIME. 

'Now  the  best  time — ISTot  the  only  time — Chinks 
in  the  wall — Martyrs  near  the  King — The 
Elect — Elected  for  tribulation — The  regal 
reward 70 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  REAL   TEST. 

Ghenuine  and  counterfeit — The  tares — Position, 
learning,  theology,  correct  life,  are  no  tests 
— Love  the  thing — Heartless  worship  no  good     Y5 

CHAPTER  XIIL 

THE   MILLENNIAL   CHURCH. 

Present  church  unsatisfactory — Church  a  di- 
vine creation  —  The   name    degraded  —  The 


yi  CONTENTS. 

TAGU 

church  a  living  body — Church  of  the  ^ew 
Testament — Church  of  the  place — Church  of 
one  town  only — No  consolidations — Christ 
its  builder — Church  comprehensive — Invisi- 
ble?— Sects  its  marks  of  shame — Wesley's 
vision 80 

CHAPTEK  XIV. 

THE    CHURCH   liST   PHILADELPHIA. 

Outward  city  as  now — Apostolic  church  of  Phil- 
adelphia —  Where  church  of  Philadelphia 
now  ?  —  Religious  clubs  —  Church  of  Jeru- 
salem— How  made  up — The  Lord  loves 
variety — Tlie  open  door — Heresy  withered  by 
light — Injunction  to  Titus — The  heretic  a 
schismatic — The   truth    indestructible 87 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  FLOCK  AND  ITS  FOLDS. 

Magnificent  buildings — Outlying  structures — 
Variety  in  worship — Essential  oneness — One- 
ness shown  by:  Apportioning  the  city,  Bible 
schools  and  literature,  Concerted  charities, 
Union  missions,  Brotherly  acts  and  voicing 
united  sentiment — E  pluribus  unum — Sects 
intrenched — Concord   bridge 94 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   BEAST  AND    HIS   IMAGE. 

iWhat  is  the  beast  ? — Worship  of  an  institution 
instead  of  a  person — The  Dark  Ages — Xot 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGE 

rampant  now — God  does  not  forget — The 
mass  drawn  in — The  Image,  same  maneater — 
The  mark,  forehead,  hands — Channels  of 
grace — Apostolic  succession 99 

CHAPTER  XVIL 

THE  JUDGMENT. 

The  millennium  a  testing  time — Sinners  em- 
boldened— Coming  of  Satan — Valley  of  de- 
cision— Sinners  judge  themselves — Sheep 
and  goats — The  trial  short — Xo  litigation .  . .    104 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE   NEW   EARTH. 

God  hates  sin — Earth  haunted — Burnt  out,  done 
over — A  memorial  place — Xo  more  sea — 
Polar  regions  opened — A  divine  residence 
— New  Jerusalem 108 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

TORMENT  NOT  ETERNAL. 

!N"atural  sense  of  justice — Doctrine  held,  not 
preached — Torever'  means  long  as  life,  to 
end  of  dispensation — Study  of  the  original 
words — Hell  ceases  at  judgment — Two  lakes 
of  fire — Gehenna,  not  for  torment,  but  for 
extinction — Xo  torment  after  second  death. .    112 


Vni  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK  XX. 

EXTINGUISHMENT. 

PAGE 

Worse  than  hell — Existence  not  inherent — God 
alone  immortal  in  himself — Gift  of  life  re- 
voked— If  no  life,  no  torment — Life  only 
through   Jesus 119 

CHAPTEE  XXL 

GEHENNA. 

Unfortunate  translation — Yale  of  Llinnom — 
Dumping  ground — Xot  a  place  of  torment 
7— Proud  sinners,  offal — Xo  wailing  in  Ge- 
henna— Hell  not  a  permanent  institution — 
The  second  death — Obliteration 123 


CHAPTEE  I. 

Ha&ee— ICartaru^ 

When  Jesus  died  on  the  cross,  where  did  He  go? 


10  For  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell;  neither 
wilt  thou  suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption. 

— Psalm  i6:  lo. 


What  does  the  word  ''hell"  here  mean? 

In  the  Hebrew,  the  Old  Testament,  the  word  is 
^'scheol;'^  in  the  Greek,  the  I^ew  Testament,  the 
word  is  ^'hades,"  both  meaning  the  same — the  grave, 
or  place  of  the  departed. 

Are  the  dead  in  this  place  conscious  and  active? 

They*  are. 

But  does  not  Job  say — 


10  But  man  dieth,  and  wasteth  away:  yea,  man 
giveth  up  the  ghost,  and  where  is  he? 

11  As  the  waters  fail  from  the  sea,  and  the  flood 
decayeth  and  drieth  up: 

12  So  man  lieth  down,  and  riseth  not:  till  the 
heavens  be  no  more,  they  shall  not  awake,  nor  be 
raised  out  of  their  sleep. — Job  14:  10. 

Does  not  David  say — 

9 


10  LOOKING    rORWAKD. 


5  For  in  death  there  is  no  remembrance  of  thee: 
in  the  grave  who  shall  give  thee  thanks? — Psalm  6:  5. 


And  does  not  Solomon  say- 


10  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with 
thy  might;  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor 
knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  thou 
goest. — Ecclesiastes  9:  10, 


Yes,  but  there  are  certain  other  facts  to  be  con- 
sidered. Job  lived  1,520  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  and  David  and  Solomon  about  1,000  years 
before  that  event.  In  these  Old  Testament  times  the 
truth  of  the  resurrection  and  of  the  life  beyond  the 
grave  was  not  revealed.    Men  were  not  ready  for  it. 

A  FACT  AT  FIRST  UNKNOWN. 

Though  a  few,  like  Job  and  David,  learned  some- 
thing of  it  towards  the  end  of  their  careers,  the 
fact  of  the  Christian's  inheritance  of  immortal  life 
was  not  understood  till  these  words  were  spoken — 


25  Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection,  and 
the  life :  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead, 
yet  shall  he  live. 

26  And  whosoever  liveth,  and  believeth  in  me, 
shall  never  die. — John  11:25. 


And  this  is  affirmed  by  St.  Paul — 

10  But  is  now  made  manifest  by  the  appearing 
of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abolished 
death,  and  hath  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  gospel:— 2  Timothy  i:  10. 


HADES TARTAETJS.  11 

St.  Paul  could  say:  'Tor  me  to  die  is  gain," 
but  Job  and  David  and  Solomon  were  in  a  mist 
about  it.  Tliey  lamented  death  as  the  loss  of  every- 
thing. 

Why,  then,  were  their  words  recorded? 

Evidently,  to  show  the  hopelessness  of  those  who 
did  not  know  of  immortal  life.  They  were  recorded, 
not  to  enlighten  us  as  to  things  beyond  the  grave, 
but  as  an  historical  fact. 

The  Kev.  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  late  pastor  of  the 
Broadway  Tabernacle,  in  Xew  York,  one  of  our 
standard  Biblical  writers,  said :  ''Xo  one  can  under- 
stand the  Old  Testament  until  he  has  regarded  it 
as  a  purely  historical  work.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose 
that  God  endorses  every  sentiment  narrated  in  the 
Old  Testament." 

INSTANCES    OF    ACTIVE    LIFE. 

Can  instances  he  cited  shoiving  dwellers  in  hades 
to  he  possessed  of  active  life? 

Yes,  several  of  them.  The  Prophet  Samuel,  after 
being  dead  many  years,  came  back  at  the  wish  of 
King  Saul — 

11  Then  said  the  woman,  Whom  shall  I  bring  up 
unto  thee?     And  he  said,  Bring  me  up  Samuel. 

12  And  when  the  woman  saw  Samuel,  she  cried 
with  a  loud  voice:  and  the  woman  spake  to  Saul,  say- 
ing. Why  hast  thou  deceived  me?  for  thou  art  Saul. 

13  And  the  king  said  unto  her,  Be  not  afraid:  for 
what  sawest  thou?  And  the  woman  said  unto  Saul,  I 
saw  gods  ascending  out  of  the  earth. 

14  And  he  said  unto  her.  What  form  is  he  of?  and 
she  said,  An  old  man  cometh  up;  and  he  is  covered 


12  LOOKING    FOKWAllD. 


with  a  mantle.  And  Saul  perceived  that  it  was 
Samuel,  and  he  stooped  with  his  face  to  the  ground, 
and  bowed  himself. 

15  And  Samuel  said  to  Saul,  Why  hast  thou  dis- 
quieted me,  to  bring  me  up?  And  Saul  answered, 
I  am  sore  distressed;  for  the  Philistines  make  war 
against  me,  and  God  is  departed  from  me,  and  an- 
swereth  me  no  more,  neither  by  prophets,  nor  by 
dreams:  therefore  I  have  called  thee,  that  thou  mayest 
make  known  unto  me  what  I  shall  do. — i  Samuel 
28:  II. 


Moses  and  Elijah,  after  being  dead  several  cen- 
turies, visited  the  Saviour  upon  the  mount — 


1  And  after  six  days,  Jesus  taketh,  Peter,  James,  and 
John  his  brother,  and  bringeth  them  up  into  an  high 
mountain  apart, 

2  And  was  transfigured  before  them:  and  his  face 
did  shine  as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as 
the  light. 

3  And  behold,  there  appeared  unto  them  Moses  and 
Elias  with  him. — Matthew  17:  i. 


In  His  talk  with  the  Sadducees,  Jesus  said  plainlj 
that  the  departed  were  still  alive — 


26  And  as  touching  the  dead,  that  they  rise;  have 
ye  not  read  in  the  book  of  Moses,  how  in  the  bush 
God  spake  unto  him,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob? 

27  He  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  the  God  of 
the  living: — Mark  12:26. 


Is  this    sclieol  or  hades  all  one  place? 
1^0,  it  is  divided  into  two  regions;  one  the  hold 
of  the  ungodly,  the  other  the  abode  of  the  blest. 


HADES TARTARUS.  13 


HOLD   OF    THE   UNGODLY. 

In  our  translation  it  is  called  "hell,"  but  the 
original  alludes  to  it  as  "Tartarus,"  or  the  Tar- 
tarian hades. 

In  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  a  scene  is  described 
where  the  king  of  Babylon  descends  into  it — 

9  Hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee  to  meet 
thee  at  thy  coming:  it  stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee, 
even  all  the  chief  ones  of  the  earth:  it  hath  raised 
up  from  their  thrones  all  the  kings  of  the  nations. 

10  All  they  shall  speak  and  say  unto  thee,  Art 
thou  also  become  weak  as  we?  Art  thou  become 
like  unto  us? 

11  Thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  the  grave,  and  the 
noise  of  thy  viols:  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee, 
and  the  worms  cover  thee. 

12  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  O  Lucifer, 
son  of  the  morning!  how  art  thou  cut  down  to  the 
ground,  which  didst  weaken  the  nations! — Isaiah  14:9. 

In  the  New  Testament  Jesus  tells  the  experi- 
ence there  of  Dives,  or  the  rich  man — 


19  There  was  a  certain  rich  man,  which  was  clothed 
in  purple  and  fine  linen  and  fared  sumptuously  every 
day: 

20  And  there  was  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus, 
which  was  laid  at  his  gate  full  of  sores, 

21  And  desiring  to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  which 
fell  from  the  r'ch  man's  table:  moreover,  the  dogs 
came  an,d  licked  his  sores. 

22  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  beggar  died,  and 
was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom. 
The  rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried: 

23  And  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  tor- 
ments, and  seeth  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in 
his  bosom. 

24  And  he  cried,  and  said.  Father  Abraham,  have 
mercy  on  me,  and  send  Lazarus,   that  he   may   dip 


14  LOOKING    FORWARD. 


the  tip  of  his  finger  in  water,  and  cool  my  tongue: 
for  I  am  tormented  in  this  flame. 

25  But  Abraham  said,  Son,  remember  that  thou 
in  thy  lifetime  received  thy  good  things,  and  like- 
wise Lazarus  evil  things:  but  now  he  is  comforted, 
and  thou  art  tormented. 

26  And  besides  all  this,  between  us  and  you  there 
is  a  great  gulf  fixed:  so  that  they  which  would  pass 
from  hence  to  you,  cannot;  neither  can  they  pass 
to   us,  that  would  come   from  thence. — Luke    16:  19. 


(Note. — In  the  Dark  Ages  they  worked  this  place  o£ 
wretchedness  to  pillage  the  people's  pockets.  They  called 
it  "Purgatory,"  and  said  if  well  paid  they  could  get  folks 
out  of  it.    It  was  a  famous  scheme  for  making  money.) 


CHAPTER  IL 

The  other  region  of  hades — the  blissful  part — 
what  is  that  called? 

Paradise.  It  is  mentioned  three  times  in  Scrip- 
ture. 

The  penitent  thief  on  the  cross  said  to  Jesus — 

Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy 
kingdom. 

43  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Verily  I  say  unto  thee, 
To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise. — Luke 
23:42. 

St.  Paul  had  a  vision  of  it — 


1  It  is  not  expedient  for  me  doubtless  to  glory.  I 
will  come  to  visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord. 

2  I  knew  a  man  in  Christ  above  fourteen  years  ago, 
(whether  in  the  body,  I  cannot  tell;  or  whether  out 
of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell:  God  knoweth;)  such  an 
one  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven. 

3  And  I  knew  such  a  man,  (whether  in  the  body,  or 
out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell:    God  knoweth;) 

4  How  that  he  was  caught  up  into  paradise,  and 
heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a 
man  to  utter. — 2  Corinthians  12:  i. 


In  the  Revelation  the  promise  is  made — 
2  15 


16  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of 
God. — Revelation  2:  7. 

Is  not  paradise  only  another  name  for  heaven, 
where  the  throne  of  God  is? 

jSTo,  for  mark  what  Jesus  said  to  Mary  Magdalene 
the  day  of  His  resurrection,  and  after  He  had  been 
in  paradise — 

16  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Mary.  She  turned  herself, 
and  saith  unto  him,  Rabboni:  which  is  to  say,  Master. 

17  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Touch  me  not;  for  I  am 
not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father;  but  go  to  my  brethren, 
and  say  unto  them,  I  ascend  unto  my  Father,  and 
your  Father,  and  to  my  God,  and  your  God. — John 
20:  16. 

Paradise  is,  therefore,  a  place  between  us  and  the 
throne  of  God. 


WHAT  SORT  OF  A  PLACE  IS  IT  5 

The  first  thing  to  mention  is  that  we  know  God 
there.  It  is  a  fact  not  enough  realized  that  our 
highest  felicity  is  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord.  St 
Paul  says — 

8  Yea  doubtless,  and  I  count  all  things  but  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus 
my  Lord: — Philippians  3:8. 

When  the  apostle  was  caught  up  into  paradise 
he  heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for 
man  to  utter — revelations  into  the  secrets  of  redemp- 
tion and  providence  too  wonderful  for  human  ears. 


HAn>ES PARADISE,  IT 

It  is,  therefore,  a  chief  glory  of  this  blessed  place 
that,  as  the  new  earth,  it  "shall  be  full  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Lord^  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 
Isaiah  11:9. 

Paradise  is  a  home  of  delight.  As  its  name  im- 
plies, it  is  like  the  Garden  of  Eden,  which  God,  the 
first  of  all  landscape  gardeners,  laid  out  for  his 
children,  Adam  and  Eve.  It  is  a  country  of  rivers 
and  lakes,  of  forests  and  flow^ers  and  fruit.  St.  John 
had  a  glimpse  of  it — 

THE  TREE  OF  LIFE. 

1  And  he  shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life, 
clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb. 

2  In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either 
side  of  the  river,  was  there  the  tree  of  life,  which  bare 
twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  yielded  her  fruit  every 
month:  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  heal- 
ing of  the  nations. — Revelation  22:  i. 

The  Tree  of  Life!  Mentioned  only  in  Genesis 
and  Revelation,  the  start  and  finish  of  human  his- 
tory— the  goodliest  thing  ever  on  this  earth — a  type 
of  Jesus — its  leaves  the  cure  of  disease,  its  fruit 
the  insurance  against  death.  The  Almighty  drove 
Adam  out  of  Eden,  "lest,"  He  said,  ''he  put  forth 
his  hand  and  take  also  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  eat 
and  live  forever." 

Though  men  would  give  a>l  they  are  worth  to  have 
it  here  again,  not  a  bud  or  a  leaf  of  it  have  we  seen 
these  6,000  years.  But  along  the  streets  and  rivers 
of   the   upper   Eden   it   grows   abundantly.      Every 


18  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

mansion  rests  in  its  shade.    There  are  no  funerals  in 
paradise. 

ANIMALS. 

The  parks  and  dales  around  our  dwellings  there 
are  stocked  with  animals  beautiful  as  those  about 
Adam  on  the  morning  of  creation — animals  proud 
as  the  horse,  graceful  as  the  deer,  loving  as  the  dog, 
majestic  as  the  lion,  handsome  as  the  leopard. 

These  creatures  have  only  become  rough  and  cruel 
since  the  fall  of  man.  We  have  abused  them  and 
they  have  grown  vicious  and  ugly.  We  don't  know 
them  as  God  first  made  them.  St.  Paul  sees 
these  poor  things,  with  their  big,  mournful  eyes, 
looking  for  the  time  when  we  shall  again  become 
the  sons  of  God  and  free  them  from  their  misery — 

19  For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature 
waiteth  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God. 

20  For  the  creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not 
willingly,  but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected 
the  same  in  hope; 

21  Because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

22  For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth, 
and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now:— Romans 
8:  19. 

In  the  general  new  birth  they  will  be  restored, 
and  become  happy  and  affectionate  again.  Birds 
of  paradise  will  come  at  our  call,  and  Bengal  tigers 
will  frolic  with  our  children.     As  the  prophet  says — 

6  The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the 
leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid;  and  the  calf  and 


HADES PARADISE.  19 

the  young  lion  and  the  fathng  together;  and  a  little 
child  shall  lead  them. 

7  And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed;  their  young 
ones  shall  lie  down  together:  and  the  lion  shall  cat 
straw  like  the  ex. 

8  And  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole 
of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand 
on  the  cockatrice's  den. 

9  They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy 
mountain: — Isaiah  ii:6. 

SOCIETY. 

Into  this  happy  land  the  Christian  goes  when 
released  from  his  mortal  body.  He  opens  his  eyes 
immediately  in  the  society  of  the  redeemed,  who  wel- 
come his  arrival  with  joy. 

He  finds  himself  in  a  country  where  the  hateful 
distinctions  and  separations  of  earth  are  unknowm, 
where  the  beggar,  Lazarus,  lies  in  the  bosom  of  the 
princely  Abraham,  where  Paul  and  Barnabas  see 
eye  to  eye,  and  Luther  and  Zw^ingle  sing  together 
the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb;  a  coimtry 
where  the  glorious  company  of  the  apostles,  the 
goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets  and  the  noble  army 
of  martyrs  await  the  morn  of  millennial  triumph; 
above  all,  a  country  where  the  Lord,  as  He  did  with 
Adam,  will  w^alk  with  us  in  the  garden  in  the  cool  of 
the  day,  and  where,  as  with  the  disciples  on  the  road 
to  Emmaus,  our  hearts  will  burn  within  us,  as  He 
talks  with  us  bv  the  wav. 


CHAPTER  III. 

^I)e  Spiritual  Bo&g 

When  ice  get  to  paradise,  how  shall  we  hef  What 
hody  shall  we  have? 

The  same  as  Jesus  lias.  We  are  identified  with 
Him  in  this  matter,  and  our  bodies  will  be  like  His. 

Look  again  at  His  words  to  Mary  Magdalene  and 
see  how  He  puts  Himself  alongside  of  us :  ^'I  ascend 
unto  my  Father,  your  Father,  and  to  my  God,  your 
God."      (The  two  ands  are  not  in  the  originsil.) 

In  his  epistles  St.  John  is  plain  on  this  pQi^lt — 


2  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be:  but  we  know 
that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him;  for 
we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. — i  John  3:2. 


And  again- 


15  Whosoever  shall  confess  that  Jesus  is  the  Son 
of  God,  God  dwelleth  in  him,  and  he  in  God. 

16  And  we  have  known  and  believed  the  love  that 
God  hath  to  us.  God  is  love:  and  he  that  dwelleth 
in  love,  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him. 

17  Herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may 
have  boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment:  because  as 
he  is,  so  are  we  in  this  world. — i  John  4: 15. 

20 


THE    SPIEITTJAL    BODY.  21 

WHAT   BODY   HAS   JESUS  NOW? 

Before  His  crucifixion  He  looked  and  walked 
about  as  an  ordinary  man,  but  after  He  died  and 
rose  from  the  tomb  there  was  a  change. 

He  was  changed  in  appearance.  Mary  Magdalene, 
who  stood  at  His  cross  on  Friday,  did  not  know  Him 
on  Sunday  morning,  but  thought  He  was  the  gar- 
dener. The  two  disciples,  who  walked  with  Him  to 
Emmaus.  were  in  His  company  a  good  part  of  the 
day,  but  did  not  recognize  Him  till  He  begaji  to  eat 
with  them  at  supper. 

He  was  changed  in  His  ways.  Doors  and  win- 
dows were  nothing  to  Him  now.  He  went  in  and 
out  without  reference  to  them.  When  His  disciples 
were  assembled  in  a  room  with  the  doors  shut,  Jesus 
appeared  in  their  midst.  When  He  left  the  disciples 
at  Emmaus  he  vanished  from  their  sight. 

It  is  clear  that  after  his  resurrection  Jesus  had  a 
spiritual  body.  So  with  us.  When  we  rise  at  the 
last  trump  we  shall  have  incorruptible,  spiritual 
bodies.  By  the  pen  of  St.  Paul  God  has  told  us 
plainly — 

42  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It  is 
sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incorruption: 

43  It  is  sown  in  dishonour,  it  is  raised  in  glory: 
it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power: 

44  It  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spirit- 
ual body.  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a 
spiritual  body. 

******** 

51  Behold,  I  shew  you  a  mystery;  We  shall  not 
all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed, 

52  In   a   moment,   in  the   twinkling  of  an  eye,   at 


22  LOOKING    P<JRWAKD. 

the  last  trump:  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and 
the  dead  shall  be  raised  incormptible,  and  we  shall 
be  changed. 

53  For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption, 
and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality. — i  Cor- 
inthians 15:  42. 

What,  may  we  conjecture,  tlie  points  of  this 
change ? 

Jesus  must,  naturally,  have  been  a  handsome  man, 
but  the  gloom  of  His  impending  fate  robbed  His 
life  of  joy;  He  was  never  known  to  laugh,  and  His 
countenance  bore  the  marks  of  His  inward  suffering. 
The  prophet  noted  this — 

His  visage  was  so  marred  more  than  any  man,  and 
his  form  more  than  the  sons  of  men: — Isaiah  52:  14. 

But  when  the  sorrow  and  sacrifice  were  over,  there 
was  a  rebound  in  His  heart.  His  natural  comeliness 
returned  and  the  change  was  so  great  that  His 
familiar  friends  did  not  know  Him. 

OUR  RESURRECTION  BODY. 

So  will  it  be  with  us.  When  we  get  to  the  better 
land  the  lines  of  care,  the  ravages  of  disease,  the 
wrinkles  of  age  will  all  be  gone.  We  will  appear 
in  radiant  youth,  in  the  very  ripeness  of  our  per- 
fect being,  at  that  period  when  we  have  reached  the 
summit  of  our  vigor  and  before  we  have  taken  a 
step  downwards;  and  there  shall  we  stay — undecay- 
ing,  immortal. 

The  women,  who  came  in  the  early  morning  to  the 


THE    SPIRITUAL    BODY.  23 

sepulchre  of  the  resurrection,  saw  two  young  men 
sitting  there — visitants  from  the  skies.  They  may 
have  been  thousands  of  years  old,  may  have  been 
with  the  morning  stars,  when  they  sang  with  joy  at 
the  creation,  but  in  the  vitalizing  air  of  the  upper 
world  there  had  been  no  ageing  or  decline;  they 
appeared  as  young  men.  Ah,  think  of  it;  what  it 
must  be  to  have  a  body  that  never  gets  sick,  never 
grows  old,  never  wears  out! 

Our  defects  and  deformities  and  scars  will  not 
go  over  with  us  to  the  fields  of  paradise.  The 
weakened  eyes,  the  broken  limbs,  the  mutilated 
hands,  the  malformations,  with  the  whole  outfit  of 
bandages  and  crutches  will  be  left  behind.  You  can- 
not hurt  the  Christian's  soul  even  here,  but  there 
you  cannot  hurt  his  body,  either.  The  spiritual 
body  is  immune ;  fire  will  not  burn  it,  water  drown 
it,  or  claws  tear  it. 

POWER   OF   LOCOMOTION. 

The  spiritual  body  has  an  innate  power  of  loco- 
motion of  which  we  know  nothing.  In  Scripture 
language  it  has  wings.  It  needs  no  machinery  or 
clumsy  vehicles.  It  goes  everywhere  at  will.  We 
have  long  tried  to  navigate  the  air;  the  spiritual 
body  will  fly  from  one  part  of  the  world  to  another, 
and  from  one  world  to  another,  with  the  ease  and 
swiftness  of  light. 

Daniel  was  praying;  his  prayer  was  heard,  and 
a  messenger  was  sent  from  heaven  to  answer  him  and 


24  LOOKING    FOEWAED. 

that  messenger  arrived  at  Daniel's  side  before  his 
prayer  was  ended! 

20  And  while  I  was  speaking,  and  praying,  and 
confessing  my  sin,  and  the  sin  of  my  people  Israel, 
and  presenting  my  supplication  before  the  Lord  my 
God  for  the  holy  mountain  of  my  God; 

21  Yea,  while  I  was  speaking  in  prayer,  even  the 
man  Gabriel,  whom  I  had  seen  in  the  vision  at  the 
beginning,  being  caused  to  fly  swiftly,  touched  me 
about  the  time  of  the  evening  oblation. — Daniel  9:20. 

The  spiritual  body  will  not  clog  and  fetter  us  as 
our  earthly  bodies  do.  It  seems  probable  we  can 
change  its  form  as  we  please.  The  evangelist  tells 
of  the  Lord's  appearance  to  Mary  Magdalene,  and 
then  adds — 


12  After  that,  he  appeared  in  another  form  unto  two 
of  them,  as  they  walked,  and  went  into  the  country. 

— Mark   16:  12. 


With  such  bodies  as  that  we  shall  be  prisoners 
let  loose. 


(Note. — Some  claim  that  the  dwellers  in  hades,  by  the 
help  of  mediums,  can  be  brought  to  confer  with  us  now. 
But  as  these  spiritualists  have  been  before  the  public  for 
over  fifty  years,  and  have  yet  to  show  the  first  Scripture 
text,  the  first  established  fact,  or  the  first  valuable  message 
from  the  other  world  proving  their  claim,  we  dismiss  it 
from  further  consideration.) 


CHAPTEK  ly. 

3os9  ot  the  future 

We  can  merely  edge  around  this  subject,  but  there 
is  comfort  even  in  that. 

In  the  upper  world  we  shall  love  God  with  all 
our  heart  and  soul  and  mind  and  strength,  and  to 
be  near  Him  and  enjov  His  presence  will  be  a 
delight  beyond  what  we  can  conceive  of  now.  And 
as  our  love  for  Him  is  but  the  feeble  reflex  of  His 
love  for  us,  He  will  draw  upon  His  infinite  treas- 
ures to  make  us  happy. 

Let  us  go  on  to  some  of  the  lesser  delights  that 
come  more  within  our  scope. 

EESURRECTION  OF  GOOD  DEEDS. 

One  joy  awaiting  the  believer  will  come  from  the 
resurrection  of  his  good  deeds.  These,  though  not 
counted  in  his  justification,  are  not  lost.  Far  from 
it— 


13  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying  unto 
me.  Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord  from  henceforth;  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labours:  and  their  v7orks 
do  follow  them. — Revelation  14:  13. 
9.n 


26  LOOKING    FOEWAED. 

^^Their  works  do  follow  them!''  Everything  we 
do  in  this  world  of  sin  and  sorrow  to  rescue  per- 
ishing souls,  or  to  help  the  desolate  and  oppressed  ; 
every  effort  we  make  to  train  up  our  children  for 
the  Lord,  or  to  defend  the  truth  when  it  is  unpop- 
ular and  down,  is  carefully  kept.  Nothing  so  im- 
perishable as  these  works  of  the  humble  Christian. 
They  shine  in  glory  when  our  skyscrapers  are  gone 
and  forgotten. 

But  in  these  works  there  is  no  pretense.  They 
are  done  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  and  from  a  heart 
touched  with  the  divine  love.  They  are  mostly  by 
the  poor,  and  seldom  get  into  the  papers.  They 
pass  the  All-seeing  eye  before  they  are  stamped 
for  eternity. 

Thus  it  is  that  many  fine  speeches  and  big  dona- 
tions are  never  heard  of  beyond  the  gates,  while  little 
unnoticed  things  that  have  slipped  our  memories — 
the  two  mites  given  with  prayer  into  the  treasury, 
the  cup  of  water  handed  with  a  smile  to  a  disciple, 
the  word  of  peace  that  has  reconciled  angry  neigh- 
bors, and  the  kindly  counsel  that  has  saved  a  youth 
at  the  forks  of  the  road — are  hoarded  up  by  the 
Almighty,  and  to  our  surprise  and  delight,  follow 
us  through  the  doorways  of  the  blest. 

PLEASURES    OF    SENSE. 

We  err  in  thinking  the  next  world  devoid  of  the 
pleasures  of  sense.  We  try,  as  we  say,  to  spiritualize 
it,  but  often  end  in  vaporizing  it  into  nothing  at  alL 

Mere  spirit  (the  word  means  breath)  is  something 


JOYS    OF    THE    FUTURE.  27 

we  cannot  think  of — quite  beyond  us;  so,  when  we 
speak  of  the  joys  of  heaven  we  do  it  in  negatives — 
no  toil,  no  pain,  no  death.  That  is  all.  Positive 
pleasure  there  is  considered  gross.  We  have  gone  to 
the  other  extreme  from  Mohammedan  sensualism. 

The  result  is  that  while  the  early  Christians 
looked  forward  to  death  with  transport,  we  dread 
it,  and  our  children  dread  it,  and  have  no  idea  of 
heaven  but  of  a  marble  angel  on  a  tombstone. 

It  is  a  great  pity  and  a  great  mistake.  We 
forget  that  Vve  shall  have  there,  not  only  a  spirit, 
but  a  spiritual  hody,  with  all  the  innocent  enjoy- 
ments and  tastes  of  a  body. 

God  took  Moses  upon  Mt.  Pisgah  and  showed  him 
the  land  where  His  people  were  to  dwell;  so  He 
takes  us  upon  the  heights  of  His  word  and  shows 
us  our  future  home.  It  is  a  home,  not  a  myth; 
its  blessings  are  real,  not  figures  of  speech,  and 
we  can  see  them  and  enjoy  them  even  now,  if  we 
search  and  believe. 

ORATORY. 

We  shall  have  oratory  there.  Christ  preached  to 
the  spirits  in  prison,  and  if  He  did,  so  will  His 
gifted  followers.  Will  the  golden-tongued  Chrysos- 
tom  be  silent  there?  Eloquence  is  one  of  the  most 
charming  endowments  that  God  bestows,  and  think 
you  that  Savonarola  or  Chalmers  or  Summerfield  or 
Spurgeon  or  Brooks  will  not  be  called  out  among  the 
assemblies  on  hicrh? 


28  I>OOKING    FORWARD. 


MUSIC. 


We  shall  have  music  there.  St.  Cecilia  and  Jenny 
Lind  took  their  voices  with  them  to  the  celes- 
tial courts.  Bernard  of  Cluny,  and  Isaac  Watts  and 
William  Cowper  and  Charles  Wesley  and  Horatius 
Bonar  can  still  write  hymns,  and  Lowell  Mason  and 
Thomas  Hastings  and  Robert  Lowry  can  still  make 
sweet  harmonies  for  them. 

It  would  startle  folks  to  say  there  were  organs 
and  pianos  in  heaven,  yet  we  read  often  in  the  Bible 
of  the  trum^pets  and  the  harps  there.  And  what  is 
an  organ  but  a  stand  of  trumpets,  and  what  is  a 
piano  but  a  harp  on  its  back  ?  Yes,  there  are  superb 
musical  instruments  in  glory,  and,  no  doubt,  there 
will  be  Sebastian  Bachs  and  Mozarts  and  Handels 
and  Beethovens  to  play  them. 

READING. 

Then  there  is  the  common  but  inestimable  enjoy- 
ment of  reading.  Letters  and  language  came  from 
God,  and  Scripture  speaks  of  books  among  the 
angels — 

1  And  I  saw  another  mighty  angel  come  down  from 
heaven,  clothed  with  a  cloud:  and  a  rainbow  was  upon 
his  head,  and  his  feet  as  pillars  of  fire: 

2  And  he  had  in  his  hand  a  little  book  open: — Rev- 
elation  id:  I. 

We  don't  talk  of  the  libraries  of  heaven,  but  they 
are  there.  We  shall  find  vast  stores  of  learning 
ready  for  our  investigation;  problems  that  our  col- 


JOYS    OF    THE    FUTURE.  29 

leges  never  have  solved,  mysteries  to  mortals  unre- 
vealed.  What  histories  of  the  universe  are  in  the 
records  of  the  capital,  the  center  of  it  all! 

Such  writers  as  Isaiah  and  Paul,  as  Bunyan  and 
Macaulay  and  Walter  Scott  lend  their  genius  to  the 
literature  of  the  skies;  and  poets,  like  David  and 
Milton  and  Longfellow  find  themes  for  their  loftiest 
flights.  Yes,  we  shall  read  in  the  other  world,  and 
have  enough  that  is  good  to  read,  and  plenty  of  time 
to  read  it  in. 

FEASTS. 

We  shall  have  feasts  in  heaven.  Our  spiritual 
bodies  will  not  as  now  be  dependent  on  food  and 
drink.  There  will  be  no  hunger  or  thirst  there;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  shall  not  be  unsubstantial 
ghosts;  we  shall  eat  and  drink  when  the  occasion 
calls  for  it. 

Abraham  once  had  three  visitors  from  heaven,  the 
Lord  and  two  angels.  Here  is  the  account  of  it; 
and  the  record  seems  to  be  particular  that  we  do  not 
overlook  the  good  fare — 


6  And  Abraham  hastened  into  the  tent  unto  Sarah, 
and  said,  Make  ready  quickly  three  measures  of  fine 
meal,  knead  it,  and  make  cakes  upon  the  hearth. 

7  And  Abraham  ran  unto  the  herd,  and  fetched  a 
calf  tender  and  good,  and  gave  it  unto  a  young  man; 
and  he  hasted  to  dress  it. 

8  And  he  took  butter,  and  milk,  and  the  calf  which 
he  had  dressed,  and  set  it  before  them;  and  he  stood 
by  them  under  the  tree,  and  they  did  eat. — Genesis 
i8:6. 


30  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

Jesus  ate  while  in  His  spiritual  body  after  His 
resurrection — 


36  And  as  they  thus  spake,  Jesus  himself  stood  in 
the  midst  of  them,  and  said  unto  them,  Peace  be  unto 
you. 

37  But  they  were  terrified  and  affrighted,  and  sup- 
posed that  they  had  seen  a  spirit. 

38  And  he  said  unto  them,  Why  are  ye  troubled? 
and  why  do  thoughts  arise  in  your  hearts? 

39  Behold  my  hands  and  my  feet,  that  it  is  I 
myself:  handle  me,  and  see;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh 
and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have. 

40  And  when  he  had  thus  spoken,  he  shewed  them 
his  hands  and  his  feet. 

41  And  while  they  yet  believed  not  for  joy,  and 
wondered,  he  said  unto  them.  Have  ye  here  any  meat? 

42  And  they  gave  him  a  piece  of  a  broiled  fish,  and 
of  an  honey-comb. 

43  And  he  took  it,  and  did  eat  before  them. — Luke 
24:36. 

Wheat  cakes  and  veal,  butter  and  milk,  broiled 
fish  and  honej-comb,  all  viands  mentioned  in  Holy 
Writ,  as  eaten  by  those  in  the  spiritual  body! 

l^otice,  also,  what  Jesus  said  to  His  disciples  at 
the  Last  Supper,  just  before  His  crucifixion — 


29  But  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not  drink  henceforth 
of  this  fruit  of  the  vine  until  that  day  when  I  drink 
it  new  with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom. — Matthew 
26:  29. 


When  Dives  saw  Lazarus  in  paradise,  he  saw  him 
^^lying  in  Abraham's  bosom,"  which  means  they  were 
at  a  feast,  as  reclining  at  the  table  was  the  oriental 
mode  at  sumptuous  repasts. 

It   may  not  be  all  poetry  when,   in   telling  the 


JOYS    OF    THE    FUTUKE.  31 

mutual  affection  of  Christ  and  His  church,  the  Scrip- 
ture says — 

4  He  brought  me  to  the  banqueting  house,  and  his 
banner  over  me  was  love. — Song  of  Solomon  2:4. 

What  visions  of  family  reunions,  of  Thanksgiving 
delights,  of  wanderers  received  back  to  the  paternal 
arms  and  the  fatted  calf  open  to  us,  when  we  see 
that  we  shall  eat  and  drink  in  the  world  to  come! 

Surely,  Jesus  meant  what  He  said  when  He  en- 
couraged His  followers  with  the  promise — 

30  That  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table,  in  my 
kingdom,  and  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel. — Luke  22 :  30. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Companionebip  Hbove 

In  etherealizing  everything  of  the  future  world 
we  have  let  go  even  our  identity,  and  we  ask  seriously: 
*^Do  we  know  each  other  there?" 

Think  a  moment.  Is  it  supposable  that  on  the 
golden  streets  Isaac  passes  Rebecca  by  ^vithout  recog- 
nizing her?  That  when  Moses  and  Elijah  came 
down  from  paradise  together  to  meet  Jesus  on  the 
mount,  they  did  not  know  each  other  ?  That  David 
and  Jonathan  are  strangers  in  the  courts  of  bliss? 

Heaven  would  lose  much  of  its  pleasure  if  folks 
there  were  an  undistinguished  crowd,  parents  not 
knowing  their  children  or  husbands  their  wives. 

The  writer  has  a  case  in  mind — nothing  remark- 
able about  it,  only  he  knew  the  parties  well — a 
Christian  man  and  his  wife.  They  lived  together  in 
love  and  the  fear  of  God  for  sixty-three  years,  and 
then,  when  she  died,  he  turned  her  portrait  face  to 
the  wall  and  pined  away  till  he  followed  her. 

Such  a  couple  as  that  become  part  and  parcel  of 
one  another,  their  beings  coalesce,  as  Jesus  said 
(Matthew  19:6):  *They  are  no  more  twain,  but 
one  flesh;"  and  when  he  died  he  found  her  waiting 

32 


COMPANIONSHIP    ABOVE.  33 

for  him,  of  course.     What  God  has  thus  joined  to- 
gether He  does  not  put  asunder. 

THE    SADDUCEES'    QUESTION. 

But  did  not  Jesus  say  they  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage  in  the  next  world? 

Yes,  but  let  us  get  the  exact  meaning  of  that 
verse — 


23  The  same  day  came  to  him  the  Sadducees,  which 
say  that  there  is  no  resurrection,  and  asked  him, 

24  Saying,  Master,  Moses  said,  If  a  man  die,  having 
no  children,  his  brother  shall  marry  his  wife,  and 
raise  up  seed  unto  his  brother. 

25  Now  there  were  with  us  seven  brethren:  and 
the  first,  when  he  had  married  a  wife,  deceased;  and 
having  no  issue,  left  his  wife  unto  his  brother. 

26  Likewise  the  second  also,  and  the  third,  unto  the 
seventh. 

27  And  last  of  all  the  woman  died  also. 

28  Therefore  in  the  resurrection,  whose  wife  shall 
she  be  of  the  seven?  for  they  all  had  her. 

29  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them.  Ye  do  err, 
not  knowing  the  scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God. 

30  For  in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor 
are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God 
in  heaven. — Matthew  22:23. 

The  Sadducees  proposed  a  mixed-up  case  founded 
on  the  Jewish  regulations  of  marriage.  Jesus  re- 
plied that  such  regulations  are  not  the  law  above. 
What  takes  place  there  does  not  hinge  upon  a  mortal 
ceremony  or  a  mortal  life. 

God  brings  together  there  the  man  and  the  woman 
whom  He  has  destined  for  one  another.  He  may 
bring  them  together  here  on  the  earth;   He  often 


34:  LOOKING    FORWAED. 

does;  but  we  cannot  tell.  Earthly  marriages  are 
sometimes  blunders,  and  sometimes  broken,  but  noth- 
ing of  the  sort  occurs  among  the  dwellers  on  high. 
There  are  no  widowers  or  widows  in  the  better  world. 
It  is  God  who  officiates,  and  it  is  the  right  man 
and  the  right  woman  who  are  joined.  He  unites 
those  He  has  made  for  one  another,  and  the  link 
is  eternal.  There  are  no  mistakes  or  misfits  or 
deaths. 

NOT   MARRIED^   BUT  MATED. 

Married,  is  not  the  term  to  give  to  such  a  union 
as  that,  but  a  word  a  hundred  times  stronger— they 
are  mated.  An  earthly  marriage  and  a  heavenly 
mating  are  two  very  different  things;  one  is  a  ven- 
ture of  man,  the  other  is  a  creative  act  of  God.  So 
Jesus  said  the  bond  uniting  us  in  glory  is  not  a 
marriage,  for  it  is  really  nothing  less  than  the  co- 
hesion of  a  divine  oneness,  the  rounding  up,  the 
completion  of  one  full  work  of  God  (male  and  fe- 
male, positive  and  negative,  counterparts,  bivalves). 

Strictly  speaking,  Adam  and  Eve  were  not  mar- 
ried; they  were  fashioned  for  one  another — a  pair. 
There  was  no  ceremony.  God  made  Eve  a  fit  com- 
panion for  Adam — a  help-meet  for  him,  and  then 
gave  her  to  him;  that  was  all,  but  it  was  the  real 
thing;  a  solid  union  that  lasted  the  nine  hundred 
and  thirty  years  of  their  life,  and  then  kept  on  into 
eternity. 

It  occurs  at  once  to  every  thinking  mind,  that  such 
a  vital  thing  as  uniting  forever  two  human  beings 


COMPANIONSHIP    ABOVE.  35 

is  beyond  our  sphere  and  capacity  It  is  a  function 
that  belongs  to  Him  who  made  us  and  alone  really 
knows  who  we  are.  Our  happy  marriages  are  those 
that  God  in  His  merciful  providence  has  brought 
about. 

So  in  the  upper  world  God  will  attend  to  this 
business.  He  would  do  so  here  now,  had  we  not 
sinned ;  He  would  mate  us  all  as  He  did  our  first 
parents,  and  we  would  escape  the  woes  that  come  upon 
us  through  our  folly  and  the  botch-work  of  our  match- 
makers. 

If  folks  married  now  under  the  divine  guidance 
and  with  an  eye  to  this  heavenly  mating  it  would 
put  a  stop  to  these  divorces  among  us. 

THE    ANGELS    PAIRED. 

•  The  key  to  this  subject  is  in  the  last  clause  of  the 
passage  we  are  considering:  *'But  are  as  the  angels 
of  God  in  heaven ;"  for  the  angels,  in  all  likelihood, 
are  paired  in  this  way.  Of  these,  as  well  as  of  our- 
selves, it  may  be  said:  ^'It  is  not  good  for  them  to 
be  alone."  So  far  as  we  know,  male  and  female  is 
the  rule  in  all  God's  universe.  It  is  the  rule,  not 
only  among  human  beings,  but  among  the  lower 
animals,  and  even  among  the  forests  and  plants :  and 
as  the  principle  camo  from  heaven  we  may  conclude 
it  to  be  the  rule  there,  too. 


CHAPTER  YL 

®ur  ©ccupation  Zhcxc 

We  cannot  know  the  usual  life  of  heaven  from  an 
occasional  incident  there.  Revelation  tells  of  some 
grand  celebrations  and  singing  there,  but  it  does  not 
say  they  are  celebrating  and  singing  all  the  while. 
God  meant  us  to  use  our  common  sense  when  reading 
His  word. 

A  healthy  growing  boy  hears  it  is  a  place  "where 
Sabbaths  ne'er  shall  end/'  and  imagines  it  a  scene 
of  perpetual  public  worship,  w^here  he  will  have  to 
sit  up  straight  in  a  pew,  and  never  whisper.  A 
dreary  outlook !  Rightly  taught,  he  would  know 
that  God  made  children,  not  only  to  worship  Him, 
but  to  laugh  and  play.  He  loves  the  little  ones. 
We  know  it  because  Jesus  put  His  arms  around 
them,  and  because  He  takes  so  many  of  them  up 
to  Him.  The  streets  there  ring  with  their  games 
and  shouts.  The  cherubim  are  an  important  element 
in  the  upper  life,  and  their  merriment  is  worship. 

The  dear,  good  mother,  with  a  dependent  family, 
whose  life  is  one  of  care  and  toil,  reads:  "There 
remaineth  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God,"  and  pic- 
tures heaven  as  a  place  where  she  will  have  nothing 

86 


OUR    OCCUPATIOIS'    THERE.  37 

to  do.     Another  mistake.     There  is  rest  in  heaven; 
rest  for  the  weary;  but  it  is  not  all  rest — 

2  And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work 
which  he  had  made;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day 
from  all  his  work  which  he  had  made. — Genesis  2:2. 

Which  shows  that  rest  is  good  after  work.  Occu- 
pation is  necessary  to  our  well-being.  'Eo  idlers 
among  the  saints.  ^'My  father  worketh  hitherto/' 
said  Jesus,  ^'and  I  work.''  Heaven  is  probably  the 
busiest  place  in  the  universe.  God  has  a  big  family 
to  look  after. 

ALL    BUSY. 

Arrived  there  each  one  finds  his  right  vocation, 
that  for  which  he  was  born.  Preachers,  teachers, 
authors,  lecturers,  inventors  and  also  singers  and 
musicians  are  in  great  vogue,  while  the  mass  have 
manual  callings.  Jesus  was  a  carpenter.  Adam  was 
a  gardener.  Paul  was  a  tent-maker,  several  of  the 
apostles  were  fishermen,  and  one  was  a  money-dealer. 
Books  being  issued  there,  we  conclude  that  magazines 
and  newspapers  abound,  with  a  host  of  editors,  re- 
porters, printers,  pressmen  and  newsboys. 

CATACOMBS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  in  describing  the 
explorations  of  the  catacombs  at  Rome,  where  thou- 
sands of  the  early  Christians  were  buried,  says  that 
many  of  the  tombs  contain  implements  of  handi- 
craft, tools,  etc.     He  says  further:     ^'The  bereaved 


38  LOOKING    FOKWAIID. 

deposited  in  the  graves  of  their  kindred  those  things 
that  were  constantly  used  by  them.  The  idea  pre- 
vailed to  a  large  extent  that  the  future  life  was  a 
continuation  of  the  occupations  and  amusements  of 
the  present,  but  free  from  sin  and  imperfection.'^ 

Our  primitive  fathers  may  have  been  nearer  right 
in  this  than  we  think.  They  do  not  need  our  ham- 
mers and  saws  above,  but  that  they  use  tools  is 
reasonable  to  suppose.  Our  existence  there  w^U 
probably  be  very  much  like  what  it  is  here;  and 
it  was  the  consciousness  of  this  that  took  away  from 
these  first  Christians  all  fear  of  death,  and  made 
them,  and  even  their  children,  ready  to  give  up 
their  lives  for  the  Gospel. 

The  gardens  of  paradise  are  waiting  for  the  plow 
and  the  pruning-hook,  its  looms  for  the  Vv-eaver,  its 
rivers  for  the  fisherman.  ^'In  my  Father's  house," 
said  Jesus,  ^'are  many  mansions."  Mansions  require 
architects  and  masons  and  joiners  and  painters  and 
cabinet-makers,  and  hosts  of  God's  people  delight  in 
just  such  work. 

A  job  is  always  ready  there  for  the  hand  that  can 
do  it ;  something  pleasant,  something  the  artisan  likes 
to  do.  There  is  employment  in  heaven,  happy  em- 
ployment, without  any  grinding  toil,  or  fetid  work- 
rooms, or  cruel  taskmasters. 

MONEY. 

And  the  pay  for  our  work  is  ample  and  sure. 
''Money  answereth  all  things,"  said  the  wise  man. 


OUK    OCCUPATION    THERE.  39 

(Ecclesiastes  10:9.)  It  seems  to  have  been  pro- 
vided by  the  Creator  at  the  very  start,  and  in  all 
likelihood  is  current  in  the  resurrection  life.  We 
should  not  confound  money — the  convenient  and  im- 
portant medium  of  exchange — with  the  greed,  usury, 
trickery,  hoarding  and  idolatrous  worship  by  which 
wicked  men  abuse  it.  It  is  not  money,  but  the  love 
of  it,  that  God  condemns  as  the  root  of  all  evil.  We 
may  calculate  accordingly  upon  this  useful  com- 
modity being  there,  and  plenty  of  it.  There  are 
no  pinching  times  or  strikes  in  heaven. 

BIG    STORES. 

With  the  suggestion  of  money  comes  that  of  the 
manufacturer  and  the  merchant.  Take  one  of  our 
great  stores,  a  collection  brought  from  the  four 
quarters  of  the  earth  of  the  good  things  God  has 
made.  In  one  part  satins  and  broadcloths,  for  which 
he  created  the  silkworm  and  the  sheep ;  in  another 
part  furniture  of  woods,  from  Honduras  and  Can- 
ada ;  in  another,  tea  from  China,  spices  from  Ceylon, 
coffee  from  Arabia,  oranges  from  Spain  and  sugar 
from  the  West  Indies — an  array  to  set  every  think- 
ing man  praising  the  Lord.  Will  there  not  be  such 
treasuries  of  God's  bounty  in  the  other  world,  and 
saints  just  fitted  to  manage  them  ? 

MILLS,  FLOUR  AND  BREAD. 

ISTor  should  we  overlook  the  mills  and  factories 
required  to  ♦  furnish  the  wares  for  these  establish- 
ments. 


40  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

Speaking  of  mills  in  heaven  suggests  that  bread 
is  eaten  there.  It  recalls  the  manna  upon  which 
the  Israelites  lived  for  forty  years.  That  was  not 
fruit,  it  was  bread,  baked  as  flour  is,  or  ready  to  be 
baked.  Where  did  it  come  from?  I^ot  from  the 
desert,  but  from  above — 

4  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  Moses,  Behold,  I  will 
rain  bread  from  heaven  for  you. — Exodus  16:4. 

40  The  people  asked,  and  he  brought  quails,  and 
satisfied  them  with  the  bread  of  heaven. — Psalms 
105:40. 

So  there  is  bread  in  heaven,  and  that  means  flour 
and  wheat  and  farmers  and  farms.  God  loves  the 
farming  business ;  it  was  what  he  set  Adam  at  when 
Eden  was  an  outpost  of  heaven,  and  what  we  might 
expect  of  Him  who  owneth  the  cattle  upon  a  thou- 
sand hills ;  and  who  shall  say  that  when  He  promised 
His  people  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  He 
did  not  mean  the  heavenly  as  well  as  the  earthly 
Canaan  ? 

A    HAPPY    CROWD. 

The  remark  is  often  made,  ^'How  happy  we  should 
be  if  all  had  something  to  do,  and  all  were  honest 
and  unselfish."  Well,  in  the  upper  world  they  are 
just  that.  They  are  all  busy,  and  they  love  God 
with  their  whole  heart,  and  their  neighbors  as  them- 
selves. They  are  philanthropists;  their  happiness 
is  in  making  others  happy.  They  make  money  to 
use  it  for  others.    All  they  care  for  it  is  to  do  good 


OUR    OCCUPATION    THERE.  41 

with  it.  Those  who  have  tact  for  getting  it  aid  those 
whose  talents  lie  in  other  directions. 

It  is  a  great  contrast  to  the  way  things  are  carried 
on  among  us.  The  principle  here  is  competition — 
fierce,  cold-blooded,  cruel.  One  man  makes  millions 
by  crushing  hundreds  of  his  rivals.  There  is  no 
such  work  in  the  better  world.  The  principle  there 
is  mutual  help.  Business  here  is  war  and  hate; 
business  there  is  peace  and  love. 

In  the  better  world  fortunes  are  never  gained  at 
the  expense  of  others.  Failures  and  bankruptcies 
are  unknown.  Foreclosures  never  drive  one  out  of 
his  home,  for  there  are  no  mortgages  on  the  man- 
sions of  the  blest.  God  does  not  rent  those  estates, 
he  gives  them  to  us.  If,  perchance,  one  there  has 
need  of  money  a  hundred  hands  full  of  it  stretch 
out  to  assist  him. 

In  a  word,  just  the  community  to  live  in,  and  a 
capital  place  for  investment. 

ART    WORK. 

"vVe  make  a  display  in  our  galleries,  but  the  fact 
stands  that  this  is  a  hard  world  for  artists  and  art. 
'Not  one  of  our  great  artists  had  time  and  means  to 
complete  his  designs.  But  in  the  beyond  the  genius 
has  his  chance.  There  is  the  Divine  Master  who 
has  made  the  rose  and  the  lily,  the  evening  cloud 
and  the  rainbow;  and  there  Titian  and  Raphael  can 
paint,  and  Michael  Angelo  and  Christopher  Wren 
can  build  up  to  the  reach  of  their  powers. 


'42  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

We  can  only  dream  of  the  metal  creations,  the 
carvings  and  ceramics  that  beautify  the  dwellings 
on  high,  or  of  the  misty  robes,  the  laces  and  em- 
broideries around  the  dwellers  there.  Does  God 
mind  such  matters  ?  Read  in  Exodus  His  directions 
as  to  the  tapestries  and  needlework  of  the  taber- 
nacle. 

In  these  things  God  leaves  to  us  to  do  what  we  can 
do.  He  gives  the  material,  but  the  fabric  we  fab- 
ricate ourselves,  and  all  are  busy.  There,  as  here, 
he  creates  the  bird,  but  it  must  make  its  own  nest. 

AMUSEMENTS. 

Dr.  Schaff,  in  his  reference  to  the  early  Christians, 
says:  ^The  idea  prevailed  to  a  large  extent  that 
the  future  life  was  a  continuation  of  the  occupa- 
tions and  amusements  of  the  present,  but  free  from 
sin  and  imperfection."  From  which  we  see  that 
the  original  church,  that  which  got  its  ideas  direct 
from  the  apostles,  did  not,  as  we  do,  discard  the 
thought  of  amusements  in  heaven. 

Indeed,  as  we  think  of  the  crowd  of  young  folks 
around  we  are  sure  they  must  often  have  lively  times 
there ! 

Amusements  accord  with  the  divine  nature  of 
things.  How  the  children  and  the  animals  enjoy 
them ! 

Our  popular  amusements  were  at  the  start  quite 
innocent.  Theatres  were  at  first  intended  for  re- 
ligious instruction  or  to  illustrate  Bible  scenes;   it 


OUB    OCCUPATION    THERE.  43 

was  the  devil  who  has  so  grossly  perverted  them. 
Ball  games  among  our  schoolboys  are  healthful 
and  exhilarating;  it  is  the  devil  who  turns  them  on 
our  public  grounds  into  arenas  for  gambling. 

As  to  the  better  world,  we  need  only  say  that  the 
recreations  there  are  refreshing  and  delightful,  with 
no  devil  to  debase  them. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

Zl)C  TRule  on  IbtQb 

The  Ten  Commandments  are  the  rule  on  high  as 
well  as  here.  These  commandments  were  entirely 
distinct  from  the  tabernacle  ritual.  They  were 
written  by  the  finger  of  God  upon  tables  of  stone, 
and  handed  down  to  Moses  amidst  the  lightnings 
and  thunderings  of  Mount  Sinai.  They  were  kept 
in  the  sacred  chesty  called  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant, 
and  deposited  in  the  most  holy  room  of  the  temple. 

Why  these  marks  of  reverence  ?  Why  was  it  death 
to  even  touch  the  ark  around  these  Ten  Command- 
ments? Because  they  are  the  eternal  will  of  God, 
never  to  be  changed  by  time  or  place.  With  Him  is 
no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning.  As  His  will 
is  to-day,  it  is  forever;  as  it  is  here,  so  it  is  else- 
where. In  a  word,  these  rules  are  in  force  ahvays 
and  everywhere  in  God's  dominions,  in  heaven  as 
well  as  on  earth. 

How  many  Scriptures  connect  them  with  the 
worlds  above  and  below,  and  show  the  same  great 
Lawgiver  and  Law  for  both!  Moses  said  to  the 
Israelites — 

39  Know   therefore    this    day,    and    consider    it    ki 
44 


THE    RULE    OI^    HIGH.  45 


thine  heart,  that  the  Lord  he  is  God  in  heaven  above, 
and  upon  the  earth  beneath:   there  is  none  else. 

40  Thou    shalt   keep   therefore    his    commandments 
which  I  command  thee  this  day. — Deuteronomy  4:  39. 


Jesus  said- 


17  And  it  is  easier  for  heaven  and  earth  to  pass, 
than  one  tittle  of  the  law  to  fail. — Luke  16:  17. 


And  St.  John — 

14  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments, 
that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may 
enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city. — Revelation 
22: 14. 

COMMANDMENTS  AND  THE  ANGELS. 

We  find  the  angels  concerned  with  these  command- 
ments just  as  we  are.  By  God's  direction  the  tables 
of  stone  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  were  pieced  beneath 
the  outspread  wings  of  cherubim.  What  did  that 
mean?  St.  Stephen  before  the  Jewish  council  says 
the  law  was  given  them  by  the  ministry  of  angels — ■ 

53  Who  have  received  the  law  by  the  disposition  of 
angels,  and  have  not  kept  it. — Acts  7:53. 

The  obedience  of  angels  to  the  Law  is  declared 
plainly  in  the  following — 

8  And  I  John  saw  these  things,  and  heard  them. 
And  when  I  had  heard  and  seen,  I  fell  down  to  wor- 
ship before  the  feet  of  the  angel  which  shewed  me 
these  things. 

9  Then  saith  he  unto  rae,  See  thou  do  it  not:    for 


'46  LOOKING    FOKWARD. 


I  am  thy  fellow-servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  the 
prophets,  and  of  them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this 
book:  worship  God. — Revelation  22:8. 


COMMANDMENTS    TNIVERSAL. 

Looking  to  the  Commandments  themselves  we  see 
that  thev  are  of  universal  and  perpetual  application. 

The  first  four  fix  the  relations  of  his  creatures  to 
God.  They  are  to  have  no  rivals  to  Him  (1)  ;  to 
worship  Him  and  not  images  or  pictures  of  Him 
(2)  ;  to  revere  His  name  (3),  and  observe  the  por- 
tion of  time  set  apart  for  His  worship  (4).  Kot  a 
thing  that  anj^vhere  in  the  rolling  ages  of  eternity 
will  be  altered  one  particle. 

So  with  the  other  six^  which  fix  the  relations  of 
God's  creatures  to  each  other.  They  are  to  honor 
their  parents  (5)  ;  and  not  to  wrong  one  another^s 
lives  (6)  ;  families  (7)  ;  property  (8)  ;  reputation 
(9),  or  even  desire  to  do  so  (10).  .  Here  are  also 
rules  for  every  realm  and  star  above,  rules  neces- 
sary for  society  wherever  society  exists. 

IP  • 

NEEDED    THERE. 

But  are  such  rules  needed  in  heaven?  Shall  we 
he  iempted  there  to  lie  and  steal? 

We  are  safe  when  we  got  to  heaven,  thank  God; 
but  our  safety  comes  not  from  any  strength  of  our 
own.  It  is  possible  for  us  even  there  to  disobey  God 
and  be  cast  out.  Remember  what  has  happened 
there.     Jesus  told  it — 


THE    EULE    ON    HIGH.  47 

i8  And  he  said  unto  them,  I  beheld  Satan  as 
lightning  fall  from  heaven. — Luke  lo:  i8. 

And  Satan  was  naturally  stronger  than  we  are. 
In  that  world^  as  well  as  in  this,  our  safety  comes 
from  the  Almighty  alone: 

26  There  is  none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun, 
who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  in  thy  help,  and  in  his 
excellency  on  the  sky. 

27  The  eternal  God  is  thy  refuge,  and  underneath 
are  the  everlasting  arms: — Deuteronomy  33:  26. 

The  mission  of  the  Ten  Commandments  in  heaven 
is  to  show  those  there  what  to  avoid.  Here,  the  Law 
is  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  unto  Christ;  there, 
it  is  our  safeguard  to  keep  us  with  Him.  ^'By  the 
Law,''  says  the  apostle,  ^'is  the  knowledge  of  sin." 

INTERESTING    FACTS'  DISCLOSED. 

Incidentally,  some  very  delightful  facts  come  out 
of  the  truth  we  are  considering.  Are  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments in  force  above  ?   Then — 

(1)  The  Sabbath  is  observed  there.  The  most 
of  our  time  will  be  given  to  our  occupations,  but  a 
part,  the  seventh,  is  devoted  to  the  special  worship  of 
God.  What  meetings!  What  preaching!  What 
singing ! 

(2)  The  delights  of  our  parentage  continue  there. 
What  bliss,  as  we  meet  again  our  fathers  and  mothers 
loved  and  lost,  and  as  we  make  the  acquaintance  of 
our  ancestors ! 

(3)  We    discover,    also,    that    we    live    there    in 
4 


48  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

families,  and  that  special  care  is  taken  to  protect 
the  holy  relationship  of  husband  and  wife.  The  chil- 
dren that  have  gone  before  will  be  joined  to  the 
household  group  again. 


OUR   HOMES. 

It  appears,  from  both  the  eighth  and  tenth  com- 
mandments, that  property  is  held  there,  and  is  not 
to  be  stolen  or  coveted.  The  residences  prepared  for 
us  above  are  to  be  our  homes  in  the  full  meaning 
of  that  word.  Ours !  Our  own !  Ours  forever ! 
Safe  from  any  defect  in  title ;  safe  from  the  corrosion 
of  worms  and  decay;  safe  from  the  midnight 
robber — 

20  But  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven, 
where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where 
thieves   do   not  break  through   nor   steal. — Matthew. 
6:  20. 

Think  of  it,  ye  wanderers,  shifting  about  all  your 
lives  from  one  lodging  to  another.  Think  of  a  liome 
like  that! 

It  reminds  us  of  John  Howard  Payne,  the  author 
of  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  "I  have  often,"  said 
he,  "stood  on  the  pavements  in  London  and  Paris 
and  Vienna,  in  the  dark  and  cold,  and  listened  to 
them  in  the  parlors  singing  my  song  with  no  one 
to  invite  me  in." 

The  writer  once  met  him  in  Washington  City — 
»a  small,  old  man  walking  wearily   along  Pennsyl- 


THE    RULE    ON    HIGH.  19 

vania  Avenue.  He  was  then  seeking  an  office  from 
the  government  to  support  him  in  his  declining  years, 
and  President  Pierce  soon  after  appointed  him  con- 
sul to  Tunis,  in  Africa.  And  there  he  went,  and 
died.    From  childhood  he  never  had  a  home. 

What  a  comfort  to  such  to  read  their  title  clear 
to  mansions  in  the  skies! 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SeconD  Coming  of  Cbrist 

The  facts  so  far  studied  are  about  the  other  world 
in  general ;  let  us  now  follow  the  course  of  things. 

God  has  made  His  revelation  in  His  own  way. 
Standing  once  near  Colorado  Springs,  we  saw  at  a 
single  glance  a  foothill  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
above  that  Cameron's  dome,  and  still  higher  the 
summit  of  Pike's  Peak. 

So  with  the  Bible — sometimes  it  will  give  us  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  Second  Advent,  and 
the  end  of  the  world — all  at  one  look,  though  far 
separated  in  time. 

To  get  the  order  of  events,  therefore,  we  should  be 
careful  not  to  confound  the  coming  of  Jesus,  which 
occurs  at  the  beginning  of  the  millennium,  with  the 
harvest  and  the  tares,  drawing  the  net  ashore,  re- 
turn of  the  nobleman  to  his  kingdom,  shutting  tlie 
door  against  the  foolish  virgins,  the  general  judg- 
m^ent,  the  final  overthrow  of  Satan  and  the  wicked, 
and  the  burning  of  the  earth — which  are  events  that 
occur  at  the  end  of  it. 

60 


SECOND    COMING    OF    CHRIST.  ^1 

HE  IS   REALLY    COMING. 

The  first  thing  before  us  is  the  coming  of  Jesus. 
Is  He  really  coming  to  our  earth  again? 
Yes,  He  said  He  would. 

At  that  solemn  hour,  when  He  stood  before  the 
High  Priest  on  trial  for  His  life,  it  is  said — 


63  But  Jesus  held  his  peace.  And  the  high  priest 
answered  and  said  unto  him,  I  adjure  thee  by  the  liv- 
ing God,  that  thou  tell  us  whether  thou  be  the  Christ 
the  Son  of  God. 

64  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  Thou  hast  said:  neverthe- 
less, I  say  unto  you,  Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son 
of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  com- 
ing in  the  clouds  of  heaven. — Matthew  26:63. 


And  when  He   rose   from  the  Mount  of   Olives 
we  read — 


9  And  when  he  had  spoken  these  things,  while  they 
beheld,  he  was  taken  up;  and  a  cloud  received  him 
out  of  their  sight. 

10  And  while  they  looked  steadfastly  toward  heaven 
as  he  went  up,  behold,  two  men  stood  by  them  in 
white  apparel; 

11  Which  also  said.  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand 
ye  gazing  up  into  heaven?  this  same  Jesus  which  is 
taken  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like 
manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven. — Acts 
1:9. 


A    STRANGE    PREDICTION. 

That  this  return  will  be  an  actual  appearance  of 
the'  Lord  in  the  sky  is  told,  not  merely  in  general 


&t  LOOKINO    FORWARD. 

terras,  but  with  much  detail.     See,  for  instance,  the 
account  in  St.  Luke — 


24  For  as  the  lightning  that  lighteneth  out  of  the 
one  part  under  heaven,  shineth  unto  the  other  part 
under  heaven;  so  shall  also  the  Son  of  man  be  in 
his  day. 


34  I  tell  you,  in  that  night  there  shall  be  two  men 
in  one  bed;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  shall 
be  left. 

35  Two  women  shall  be  grinding  together;  the  one 
shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  left. 

36  Two  men  shall  be  in  the  field;  the  one  shall  be 
taken,  and  the  other  left. — Luke   17:24. 


It  looks  as  if  this  was  written  for  our  own  age, 
as  the  point  of  it  was  never  seen  till  recent  times. 
Here,  1,400  years  before  Gallileo  and  Copernicus, 
showed  that  we  lived  on  a  sphere  it  was  written 
that  the  sudden  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  would 
surprise  some  in  the  day,  and  others  in  the  night; 
that  the  peal  of  the  trumpet  arousing  men  from 
midnight  slumbers  would  at  the  same  time  startle 
women  in  their  morning  work  of  grinding  grain  for 
breakfast,  and  also  laborers  plying  their  sickles  in 
the  noon-day  field.  Simultaneously,  would  the  sum- 
mons thus  come  to  all  the  dwellers  upon  the  round 
earth. 

This  reappearance  of  our  Lord,  which  is  not  made 
much  of  nowadays,  was  in  the  l*^ew  Testament  and 
in  the  early  church  a  fact  of  prime  importance.     In 


SECOND    COMING    OF    CHRIST.  63 

the  ^ew  Testament,  on  an  average,  one  verse  in 
thirteen  refers  to  it ;  and,  according  to  St.  Paul,  the 
mark  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  is  that  they  ^'love 
His  appearing." 

WHEN  WILL  HE   COME? 

During  the  past  eighteen  centuries  the  cry  has 
frequently  gone  forth:  "Behold,  the  Bridegroom 
cometh!"  In  the  year  1000  it  was  universal 
throughout  Christendom,  and  there  was  immense  ex- 
citement. Often  since  has  the  cry  been  repeated; 
as  by  the  fifth  monarchy  men  in  CromwelFs  time, 
and  the  disciples  of  William  Miller,  in  1844. 

These  announcements  were  premature.  The 
Bridegroom  has  not  come;  and  men  have  lost  their 
interest  in  the  subject,  and  generally  do  not  think 
He  is  coming  at  all. 

^Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  feel  sure  that  Christ 
is  coming,  and  that  He  is  coming  very  soon. 

(1)  The  prophecies  concerning  this  dispensation 
have  all  been  fulfilled  and  closed. 

(2)  The  six  thousand  years  of  human  history 
generally  understood  to  precede  the  seventh  thou- 
sand, or  millennial  Sabbath,  have,  as  near  as  can 
be  calculated,  come  to  an  end.  Archbishop  Usher ^s 
system  of  chronology,  which  is  the  one  usually 
adopted,  puts  the  time  of  the  creation  of  Adam  at 
4,004  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  but  closer 
and  more  recent  investigations  seem  to  show  that 
near  a  hundred  vears  should  be  added  to  these  figures. 


64  LOOKING    FOKWAKD, 


SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES.  •"     • 

(8)  The  signs  of  the  times  are  those  which  Jesus 
said  would  foreshow  His  coming. 

lie  will  come  when  people  are  not  looking  for  Iliia, 

37  But  as  the  days  of  Noe  were,  so  shall  also  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be. 

38  For  as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood, 
they  were  eating  and  drinking^  marrying  and  giving 
in  marriage,  until  the  day  that  Noe  entered  into  the 
ark, 

39  And  knew  not  until  the  flood  came,  and  took 
them  all  away:  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  man  be. — Matthew  24:37. 

He  will  come  when  people  laugh  at  the  idea  of  it. 

3  Knowing  this  first,  that  there  shall  come  in  the 
last  days  scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts,        • : 

4  And  saying,  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  com- 
ing? for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  con- 
tinue as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation. 
—2  Peter  3.3. 

Never  since  the  Christian  era  began  has  there 
been  such  contempt"  for  the  advent  doctrine  as  now. 

He  will  come  when  infidelity  abounds. 

When  the  Son  of  man  cometh^  shall  he  find  faith  on 
the  earth?— Luke   18:8. 

Every  one  knows  that  infidelity  is  in  our  shops  aiMl 
colleges,  and  often  in  our  pulpits  How  bold  has 
grown  unbelief  in  the  Bible  miracles ! 

He  will  come  ivhcn  there  will  he  much  religious 


SECOND    COMING    OF    CHRIST.  55 

macliinerij  and  little  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  form 
of  godliness,  hut  denying  the  poiver  thereof. 

He  will  come  when  among  nations  there  will  he 
tumults  and  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  hesides  earth- 
quakes and  other  natural  disturhances. 

Do  not  these  signs  mark  the  present  age  ? 

THE  ELECT  NOTED. 

(4)  But  remark  particularly:  When  we  consider 
God's  hatred  of  sin,  and  the  wickedness,  blasphemies 
and  cruelties  on  the  earth,  w^e  see  that  this  state  of 
things  is  allowed  to  continue  only  for  some  strong 
reason.  That  reason  is  given.  It  is  to  gather  out 
of  the  world  an  elect  people. 

14  Simeon  hath  declared  how  God  at  the  first  did 
visit  the  Gentiles,  to  take  out  of  them  a  people  for  his 

name. — Acts  15:14. 

30  And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man 
in  heaven:  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth 
mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory. 

31  And  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound 
of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  together  his  elect 
from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the 
other. — Matthew  24:30. 

To  gather  these  elect  people,  things  are  kept  on, 
giving  time  for  the  gospel  to  be  preached  everywhere 
as  a  witness — 


14  And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached 
in  all  the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations;  and 
then  shall  the  end  come. — Matthew  24:  14. 


56  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

This  has  now  been  done.  The  gospel  has  crossed 
over  Europe  and  this  western  hemisphere,  and  lighted 
up  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Japan,  China  and  India 
have  thousands  of  Christian  converts;  Persia  and 
Syria  have  heard  the  glad  sound,  and  it  has  come 
back  to  Palestine  again.  The  circle  of  the  world 
has  been  made.  The  Bible  has  been  translated  into 
three  hundred  and  sixty  languages,  and  fifty  thousand 
missionaries  are  preaching  it  among  the  heathen. 
The  testimony  of  Jesus  has  been  given  to  all  the 
nations.  ^  . 

THE    LAST    EXPERIMENT. 

(5)  There  is,  perhaps,  another  reason  why  our 
Lord  has  tarried  so  long.  It  has  been  necessary  to 
show  man's  inability  to  save  himself — his  need  of 
a  Saviour.  Could  not  our  race  get  on  its  feet  again 
in  this  new  continent  and  under  new  conditions  ? 

Alas,  no.  American  affairs  to-day,  spiritually, 
politically,  financially  and  industrially,  prove  that 
no  form  of  government,  the  freest  and  the  best, 
even  with  a  Christian  president,  can  stay  the  steady 
sinking  of  unregenerate  man. 

If  human  nature  cannot  improve  in  the  twentieth 
century  in  the  United  States  of  America,  it  cannot 
improve  ever  or  anywhere;  it  is  a  gone  case.  The 
last  chance  for  the  tribe  of  Adam  to  raise  itself  to 
holiness  has  lapsed.  Man  can  build  up  cities  and 
bridges  and  ships  splendidly ;  everything  but  his  own 
heart. 

'No  need  for  further  evidence  or  experiment.     The 


SECOND    COMING    OF    CHRIST.  57 

trial  is  over.  The  elect  are  noted.  From  round  the 
globe  they  are  crying,  "Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come 
quickly!"  Now,  hark  for  the  trumpet;  look  out  for 
the  Lord^s  arrival  in  the  sky  I 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

Zbc  fxxet  IRcBurrcction 

What  a  pity  so  few  of  us  reach  the  Better  Land! 

Why  do  you  put  it  that  way — *'so  few  of  us?" 

Did  not  Jesus  say:  ''Straight  is  the  gate  and 
narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few 
there  he  that  find  it?'' 

Yes,  Jesus  said  that.  It  was  the  case  when  He 
said  it,  and  it  is  the  case  yet,  but  it  is  not  always  to 
be  the  case.  He  did  not  say:  'Tew  there  be  that 
will  find  it."  This  great  struggle  with  Satan  for  the 
souls  of  men,  which  has  cost  the  most  precious  life 
there  ever  was,  is  not  going  to  end  in  failure.  Isaiah, 
looking  forward  to  its  close,  said — 


II  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall 
be  satisfied:  by  his  knowledge  shall  my  righteous 
servant  justify  many;  for  he  shall  bear  their  iniquities. 

— Isaiah  53:  11. 


"He  shall  be  satisfied!"  And  Jesus  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  a  slim  minority  of  those  He  came  to 
save. 

To  understand  it,  we  must  see  w^hat  follows  the 
second  coming  of  Christ.     An  astounding  event  will 

58 


THE    FIRST    RESUKKECTION.  69l 

then  take  place.  The  pious  dead  from  the  days  of 
Adam  to  this  day,  and  the  pious  living — all  the 
Lord's  elect — will  rise  into  the  sky  to  meet  Him, 
and  join  round  Him  never  to  part  again — 


15  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. 

i5  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: 

17  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. 

18  Wherefore,  comfort  one  another  with  these 
words. — I  Thessalonians  4:  15. 


This  is  the  First  Resurrection.  Many  more  will 
then  arise  than  is  generally  supposed.  We  close  the 
census  of  the  "dead  in  Christ'^  at  the  grave.  God 
does  not. 

SEARCH  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

And  here  we  would  note  the  fact  that  God  has 
told  us  to  "search  the  Scriptures,"  implying  that 
things  are  there  which  are  not  on  the  surface,  but 
must  be  mined  into.  God's  word  is  like  His  soil, 
say  in  a  valley  of  the  Colorado  mountains.  Flowers 
grow  there  which  the  little  girls  love  to  gather ;  turn 
up  the  sod  and  you  will  find  nitrates  and  phosphates 
making  excellent  crops ;  dig  way  down  and  you  come 
to  a  vein  of  gold. 


60  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

For  instance,  let  us  take  a  passage  in  St.  Peter'fi 

epistle,  and  spade  into  it — 


1 8  For  Christ  also  hath  once  suffered  for  sins,  the 
just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  to  God, 
being  put  to  death  in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  by  the 
Spirit: 

19  By  which  also  he  went  and  preached  unto  the 
spirits  in  prison; 

20  Which  sometime  were  disobedient,  when  once 
the  long-suffering  of  God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah, 
while  the  ark  was  a  preparing,  wherein  few,  that  is, 
eight  souls  were  saved  by  water, — i  Peter  3: 18. 


THE   SPIRITS    IN    PRISON. 

The  Scriptures  often  speak  of  the  Lord  as  freeing 
folks  from  prison.  What  prison?  Not  our  jails 
or  penitentiaries,  surely.  Opening  them  would  be 
no  blessing  to  the  convicts  or  the  community.  A 
South  American  city,  in  a  recent  earthquake,  had  its 
prison  walls  suddenly  broken  down,  but  the  escaped 
prisoners  committed  so  many  outrages  they  had  to 
be  shot  down  by  the  soldiers.  'No,  the  deliverance  so 
frequently  mentioned  is  not  from  a  prison  on  this 
earth,  but  from  one  of  spiritual  blindness  and  dark- 
ness beyond  the  grave,  where  are  confined  the  throngs 
who  have  died  ignorant  or  neglectful  of  the  way  of 
life. 


The  Lord  looseth  the  prisoners: 
8  The  Lord  openeth  the  eyes  of  the  blind: — Psalm 
146:  7- 

7  To  open  the  blind  ej'es,  to  bring  out  the  pris- 
oners from  the  prison,  and  them  that  sit  in  darkless 
out  of  the  prison  house. — Isaiah  42:7. 


THE    FIRST    RESUEEECTION.  61 

9  That  thou  mayest  say  to  the  prisoners,  Go  forth; 
to    them    that    are    in    darkness,    Shew    yourselves. 

— Isaiah  49:  9. 

I  The  Spirit  o£  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me;  because 
the  Lord  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings 
unto  the  meek;  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  brok- 
enhearted, to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the 
opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound. — Isaiah 
61:1. 

To  this  prison  across  the  valley  of  death,  the 
Tartarean  hades,  where  were  the  horde  of  sinners 
drowned  in  the  deluge,  comprising  all  on  the  earth, 
but  eight  persons,  Jesus  went  immediately  after 
pardoning  the  penitent  thief  and  dying  upon  the 
cross. 

What  did  He  go  to  these  people,  who  had  scoffed 
at  JSToah,  and  been  left  outside  the  ark  for?  "To 
preach  to  them,''  St.  Peter  says.  But  would  the 
Lord,  after  shedding  His  blood  for  sinners,  hasten 
to  tell  these  culprits  the  glad  news  of  the  gospel, 
unless  there  was  a  chance  for  them  to  repent  and  be 
saved  ?  Did  He  preach  merely  to  tantalize  them  ? 
Certainly  not. 

HOPE     IN     HADES. 

So  we  strike  upon  the  fact  that  the  offers  of  sal- 
vation are  not  confined  to  this  life.  The  gospel  is 
preached  to  those  who  have  died  and  gone  to  the 
lower  hades.  Though  downed,  they  are  not  damned. 
When  Christ  preaches  He  preaches  the  gospel,  and 
the  gospel  is  a  call  to  the  sinner  to  repent  and  be 
saved. 

And  this  leads  us  -to  hope  for  many  who  have  died 


62  LOOKING    EOEWAKD. 

since  the  flood.  For  we  must  remember  that  the 
heathen,  ancient  and  modern,  and  the  mass  of  those 
among  us  styled  ^'the  disobedient,"  born  in  ignor- 
ance, perverted  from  infancy  by  their  surroundings, 
and  deceived  by  Satan,  have  had  no  real  chance  to 
know  and  love  the  Saviour. 

Is  not  that  chance  given  them  beyond  the  grave? 
I>oes  not  that  Jesus,  who  preached  to  the  ancient 
sinners  in  Tartarus,  preach  also  to  the  modern  ones 
there?  Who  can  tell  how  many  savages  from  the 
land  of  darkness  or  wayward  sons  and  daughters 
from  our  own  homes  listen  to  His  tender  tones  in  that 
prison  world  and  give  their  hearts  to  Him !  The  roll 
of  the  lost  is  not  as  large  as  we  sometimes  make  it. 

Jesus  has  been  away  from  us  a  great  while,  and 
we  long  for  Him;  but  though  absent,  He  has  not 
forgotten  us.  In  that  place  of  bondage,  where  most 
of  our  race  are  gathered,  He  is  busy;  and  when  He 
appears  in  the  approaching  advent,  the  result  of  His 
labors  will  be  seen  in  swarming  crowds,  consigned 
by  the  world  to  perdition,  but  rescued  and  risen 
in  glory,  their  robes  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Some  astonishing  reunions  await  us  at  the 
First  Eesurrection. 

Folks  talk  and  preach  as  if  that  passage  in  St. 
Peter  was  not  in  the  Bible,  but  it  is  there,  thank 
God ;  solidly  there ;  and  comforts  of  gold  may  we  get 
from  it. 


CHAPTER  X. 

fBMUennium 

That  the  offers  of  mercy  do  not  close  with  this 
life,  but  continue  till  the  final  judgment,  appears 
also  from  the  account  of  the  millennium,  which  be- 
gins at  the  second  advent. 


1  And  I  saw  an  angel  come  down  from  heaven,  hav- 
ing the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit  and  a  great  chain 
in  his  hand. 

2  And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  that  old  ser- 
pent, which  is  the  Devilj,  and  Satan,  and  bound  him 
a  thousand  years. 

3  And  cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut 
him  up,  and  set  a  seal  upon  him,  that  he  should  deceive 
the  nations  no  more,  till  the  thousand  years  should 
be  fulfilled;  and  after  that  he  must  be  loosed  a  little 
season. 

4  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and 
judgment  was  given  unto  them:  and  I  saw  the  souls 
of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus, 
and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  which  had  not  wor- 
shipped the  beast,  neither  his  image,  neither  had  re- 
ceived his  mark  upon  their  foreheads,  or  in  their 
hands;  and  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thou- 
sand years. 

5  But  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  until  the 
thousand  years  were  finished.  This  is  the  first  re- 
surrection.—Revelation  20 :  I. 

Many  think  the  time  here  mentioned  is  not  limited 
5  63 


64  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

to  a  thousand  years.  They  argue  that  this  is  a 
prophecy,  and  elsewhere  in  the  prophetic  Scriptures 
a  day  stands  for  a  year,  according  to  a  divine  way 
of  speaking — 


8  But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing, 
that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and 
a  thousand  years  as  one  day. — 2  Peter  3:  8. 


If  this  be  so,  the  millennium  will  last  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  thousand  years,  and  our  human  history 
so  far  is  only  the  vestibule  to  it.  This  seems  to  agree 
with  other  passages,  which  speak  of  God's  covenant 
and  mercy  as  extending  to  a  thousand  generations — • 


9  Know  therefore  that  the  Lord  thy  God,  he  is 
God,  the  faithful  God,  which  k^epeth  covenant  and 
mercy  with  them  that  love  him  and  keep  his  command- 
ments to  a  thousand  generations. — Deuteronomy  7:9. 

14  He  is  the  Lord  our  God;  his  judgments  are  in  all 
the  earth. 

15  Be  ye  mindful  always  of  his  covenant;  the  word 
which  he  commanded  to  a  thousand  generations. 
— I  Chronicles  16:  14. 


During  this  period  the  Lord  and  His  saints  will 
reign,  and  our  enemy,  Satan,  the  vile  intruder,  will 
be  shut  up  and  chained.  The  earth  we  judge  vnll 
be  vastly  improved,  and  able  to  support  an  immense 
population.  It  will  probably  be  a  time  of  very  gen- 
eral happiness.  Jesus  will  discourse  to  the  multi- 
tudes, and  the  saints  and  martyrs  will  exhort  with 
fiery  zeal. 


MILLENNIUM.  ^5 

THE   POPULATION. 

Exhort  ivhom?  Mlio  will  occupy  the  earth  during 
the  millenniwn ? 

Several  masses  of  people. 

(1)  The  saints.  Those  from  paradise,  who  have 
come  in  with  the  Lord ;  those  of  the  earth,  who  at  the 
first  resurrection  have  risen  to  meet  them,  and  the 
untold  numbers  who  have  been  converted  by  the 
Savior's  preaching  in  the  prison  house  of  hades. 
It  is  quite  possible  we  ma}^  see  then  Pilate,  who 
delivered  Jesus  over  to  death,  and  the  soldier,  who 
pierced  His  side  with  a  spear,  repentant,  and  re- 
deemed by  the  blood  that  flowed  from  that  wound, 
worshipping  at  the  Saviour's  feet.  'Tather,  forgive 
them;  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

(2)  The  people  of  the  earth,  whom  the  second 
advent  finds  and  leaves  here.  Like  those  who  went 
up  with  Moses  from  Egypt,  these  are  ^^a  mixed 
multitude,"  submitting  to  Christ,  but  not  loving 
Him.  They  are  unconverted.  Satan  will  be  ban- 
ished, but  not  sinners  nor  sin.  If  this  were  not  so, 
how  could  so  many  be  deceived  by  the  devil  when  he 
returns?  How  wicked  must  be  the  heart  of  man 
when,  after  the  personal  appeals  of  Jesus,  so  many 
can  be  induced  to  enlist  against  Him !  The  long  life 
of  those  who  lived  before  the  flood  led  to  a  false 
security,  and  the  long  duration  of  the  millennium 
will  embolden  those  inclined  to  unbelief.  Appar- 
ently these  grow  in  numbers  and  recklessness  toward 
the  end. 


QQ  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

We  maj  conclude  that  from  this  mixed  multitude 
those  whose  hearts  can  be  turned  to  Jesus  by  the 
gospel  will  be  gathered  out  and  saved.  Several 
Scriptures  seem  to  point  to  such  labor  for  souls 
and  its  blessed  results.     Eead  this — 


6  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the  first 
resurrection:  on  such  the  second  death  hath  no  power, 
but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and 
shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand  years. — Revelation 
20:  6. 


EVANGELISM  IN   THE   MILLENNIUM. 

"The  first  resurrection."  So  there  are  other  resur- 
rections in  the  millennium.  Doesn't  this  hint  of 
further   spiritual  operations   during  that   period? 

And  the  happy  ones  wlio  have  part  in  the  first 
resurrection  are  not  only  kings,  but  "priests."  What 
are  priests?  The  word  is  used  a  Inmdred  times  in 
the  Bible,  and  always  with  the  same  meaning — those 
who  offer  sacrifice  to  God  for  sinners;  but  if  the 
risen  saints  are  priests  in  the  millennium,  then  those 
for  whom  they  offer  the  sacrifice  of  the  Saviour's 
atoning  blood  may  believe  in  that  precious  blood  and 
be  saved,  otherwise  their  priesthood  is  meaningless. 
That  word  "priests,"  so  terribly  misapplied  and 
abused  among  us,  has,  in  the  record  of  the  millen- 
nium, a  mighty  deal  of  comfort  for  us  if  we  only 
knew  it. 

See  also  this  passage — 

23  And   not   only   they,  but  ourselves   also,  which 
have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves 


MILLENNIUM. 


groan   with   ourselves,   waiting   for   the   adoption,   to 
wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body. — Romans  8:  23. 


Here  the  Christians  of  this  dispensation  are  said 
to  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  implying  others 
who  have  the  second  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  Who  are 
they?  Evidently  those  gathered  in  the  next  dis- 
pensation, in  the  harvest  of  souls  reaped  in  the 
millenniuni. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

(3)  Another  class  in  the  millennium  are  those 
who  come  from  the  lower  hades;  for  it  appears 
that  both  paradise  and  Tartarus  are  open  to  the  earth 
at  this  time. 

(We  must  not  be  staggered  by  the  vast  numbers 
involved  in  this,  as  though  there  were  not  room  for 
them  on  the  earth.  Space  has  nothing  to  do  with 
these  spiritual  beings.  There  were  a  legion,  that  is 
several  thousand,  of  evil  spirits  in  the  one  demoniac 
of  the  Gadarenes.) 

It  is  clear  that  all  the  classes  we  have  mentioned 
have  part  in  the  war  which  occurs  at  the  close  of  the 
millennium. 

The  Scripture  from  which  we  may  reason  out  the 
facts  here  is  the  following — 


7  And  when  the  thousand  years  are  expired,  Satan 
shall  be  loosed  out  of  his  prison, 

8  And  shall  go  out  to  deceive  the  nations  which 
are  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  Gog  and  Magog, 
to  gather  them  together  to  battle:  the  number  c£ 
whom  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea. 


68  LOOKING    FORWARD. 


9  And  they  went  up  on  the  breadth  of  the  earth, 
and  compassed  the  camp  of  the  saints  about,  and 
the  beloved  city:  and  fire  came  down  from  God  out 
of  heaven,  and  devoured  them. — Revelation  20:  7. 


Here  we  learn  that  our  earth  is  to  be  the  battle- 
field where  Satan  and  his  army,  just  before  their 
extermination,  make  their  last  desperate  attack  upon 
the  children  of  God. 

To  this  his  final  struggle  Satan  brings  his  whole 
command.  He  drafts  them  from  his  entire 
dominions — Gog,  by  whom  we  conjecture  are  meant 
the  earthly  sinners,  and  Magog,  those  from  Tartarus ; 
they  will  all  be  there,  for  the  fire  that  comes  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven  devours  them  all.  We  hear 
nothing  more  of  any  of  them — and  the  number  of 
them  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea. 

As  Satan  brings  his  whole  force  to  this  conflict, 
so,  we  may  conclude,  does  Jesus.  Both  sides  have 
their  lines  complete. 

This  is  the  culmination  of  the  trouble  that  has  so 
long  disturbed  both  heaven  and  earth,  the  life  and 
death  clinch  of  the  spirits  of  good  and  evil.  It  is 
spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  the  battle  of  Armageddon. 


14  For  they  are  the  spirits  of  devils,  working 
miracles,  which  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  whole  world,  to  gather  them  to  the  battle 
of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty. 

15  Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief.  Blessed  is  he  that 
watcheth,  and  keepeth  his  garments,  lest  he  walk 
naked,  and  they  see  his  shame. 

16  And  he  gathered  them  together  into  a  place 
called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Armageddon. — Rev- 
elation   16:  14. 


MILLENNIUM.  Q^ 

Such  a  war  is  a  testing  time.  People  take  sides. 
Multitudes,  who  have  had  enough  of  Satan,  refuse 
to  follow  his  lead  and  come  out  for  the  Lord. 
Another  opportunity  is  given  men  to  declare  for  the 
right,  if  they  will,  and  a  numberless  host  will  do  so. 

Reckoning  it  all  up — the  half  of  our  race  who  die 
in  childhood  and  are  saved ;  the  throngs  of  believers 
who  have  made  their  peace  with  God  in  this  dis- 
pensation, and  the  multitudes  converted  in  the  nether 
world  of  hades,  and  in  the  millennium — we  shall  find 
that  the  great  majority  of  those  who  have  fallen 
through  the  sin  of  Adam  are  rescued  through  the 
blood  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Zhc  HccepteJ)  ^ime 

But  does  not  St.  Paul  say:  ''Now  is  the  accepted 
time,  now  is  the  day  of  Salvation/'  how,  then,  can 
folks  he  converted  and  saved  in  the  Millennium? 

St.  Paul  does  say  these  words,  but  their  setting 
shows  them  to  mean  something  quite  different  from 
what  is  usually  supposed.  The  apostle  has  in  mind 
the  rewards  in  glory — 

1  We  then,  as  workers  together  with  him,  beseech 
you  also  that  ye  receive  not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain. 

2  (For  he  saith,  I  have  heard  thee  in  a  time  ac- 
cepted, and  in  the  day  of  salvation  have  I  succoured 
thee:  behold,  now  is  the  accepted  time;  behold,  now 
is  the  day  of  salvation.) 

3  Giving  no  offence  in  any  thing,  that  the  ministry 
be  not  blamed: 

4  But  in  all  things  approving  ourselves  as  the  min- 
isters of  God,  in  much  patience,  in  afflictions,  in  ne- 
cessities, in  distresses, — 2  Corinthians  6:  i. 

St.  Paul  is  speaking,  not  to  the  impenitent,  but  to 
Christian  workers,  to  ministers,  and  he  reminds  them 
that  now  is  the  accepted  time  for  securing  the  prizes 
in  the  kingdom,  now  is  the  golden  opportunity  of  the 
saved. 

We  may  paraphrase  it  thus:  "Now  is  the 
70 


THE    ACCEPTED    TIME.  71 

best  time ;  now  is'  the  day  of  salvation  that  God  pre- 
fers and  especially  blesses."  But  He  does  not  say, 
and  it  is  not  said  elsewhere  in  Scripture,  that  this 
is  the  only  day  of  salvation. 

THE  GREAT  REWAED. 

We  should  remember  there  is  more  than  one 
resurrection,  and  that  uncommon  favor  is  shown  to 
those  who  rise  when  Christ  first  appears.  Those  who 
are  then  wafted  into  the  air  to  meet  Him  are  not 
merely  saved,  but  are  raised  to  a  high  rank  in  the 
kingdom — 


27  Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  him.  Behold, 
we  have  forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee!  what  shall 
we  have  therefore? 

28  And  Jesus  said  unto  them.  Verily  I  say  unto 
you.  That  ye  which  have  followed  me  in  the  regenera- 
tion, when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit  in  the  throne  of 
his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judg- 
ing the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 

29  And  every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or 
brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or 
children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  receive 
an  hundred-fold,  and  shall  inherit  everlasting  life. 
— Matthew  19:  27. 


St.    Luke's    account   has    a   touch   still   more   de- 
lightful— 


28  Ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with  me  In  my 
temptations. 

29  And  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father 
hath  appointed  unto  me: 

30  That  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table  in  my 


"72  I.OOKIXG    FORWAKD. 


kingdom,  and  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel. — Luke  22:28. 


CHINKS    IN   THE   WALL. 

We  once  visited  a  large  industrial  establisliment 
about  which  there  was  much  curiosity.  Passing  into 
the  hallway  we  found  crevices  or  chinks  in  the  wall, 
through  which  visitors  could  see  the  operations  with- 
out bothering  the  workmen.  These  verses  are  like 
that — chinks 'in  the  wall  between  us  and  the  other 
world,  through  which  we  can  see  how  things  go  on 
there. 

First,  we  notice  the  immense  number  of  happy 
ones,  and  then  that'  some  stand  near  the  King  and 
are  treated  with  unusual  respect. 

Compared  with  the  multitude  of  the  finally  re- 
deemed, those  who  have  forsaken  all  for  Christ  are 
few.  The  noble  army  of  martyrs  is  made  up  of  select 
ones  from  each  generation  of  Christians. 

Christianity  makes  us  moral  and  trustworthy,  and 
thus,  as  a  rule,  prosperous  and  respectable.  It  is 
only  liere  and  there  you  find  persons  who  have  sac- 
rificed their  earthly  prospects  and  deliberately  gone 
down  in  the  world  for  the  sake  of  the  gospel.  But 
there  are  such  persons — always  have  been. 

Thus,  there  is  a  distinction  among  the  saints; 
between  the  common  run,  who  have  avoided  trouble 
and  slid  easily  into  the  kingdom,  and  the  consecrated 
ones,  who  have  fought  to  win  the  prize  and  sailed 
through  bloody  seas,  who  have  given  diligence  to  make 
botli  their  calling  and  their  election  sure. 


THE  ACCEPTED  TIME.  73 

THE  ELECT. 

How  have  these  consecrated  ones  come  to  taJce 
their  stand?  Because,  in  His  sovereign  will  and 
pleasure,  God  chose  them  for  it.  They  are  what 
Scripture  calls  ''  the  elect."  They  are  elected  to  pass 
through  great  tribulations  up  to  the  inner  courts  of 
God^s  palace. 

Multitudes  are  welcomed  to  salvation,  but  only  a 
limited  number  are  predestined  to  these  royal  func- 
tions. As  Jesus  expressed  it :  "  Many  are  called, 
but  few  chosen."  In  these  words  He  gave  us  the 
secret  of  predestination — the  doctrine  of  grace.  I^o 
doubt,  Wesley  and  Toplady  understand  it,  and  agree 
upon  it  now. 

Magnificent  is  the  fortune  of  these  elect  who  have 
part  in  the  first  resurrection.  The  Lord  says  to  them 
through  His  apostle — 

g  But  ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, an  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people;  that  ye  should 
shew  forth  the  praises  of  him  who  hath  called  you 
out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light: — i  Peter  2:  9. 

It  takes  courage  to  be  a  chosen  one.  Fashionable  so- 
ciety does  not  covet  the  distinction  at  all.  Xot  many 
wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many 
noble  are  in  this  unpopular  set.  In  the  millennium  the 
devil  will  be  bound,  and  it  will  not  be  half  so  hard 
to  be  a  Christian ;  but  he  is  free  now  and  very  busy 
among  us;  he  is  the  prince  of  this  world,  and  the 
elect  have  to  face  his  wiles  and  his  hatred. 


74  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

THE  CROWISr. 

But  if,  in  the  hurly-burly  of  this  great  Vanity 
Fair,  we  fight  a  good  fight  and  finish  our  course  and 
keep  the  faith,  the  reward  will  be  beyond  our  power 
to  compute.  It  will  be  regal,  and  we  may  say  with 
St.  Paul:  "Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a 
crown  of  life." 

This  is  what  makes  the  present  the  accepted  time, 
the  favored  day  of  salvation  for  the  believer.  It  gives 
him  an  open  door  for  glory  ineffable. 

And  thus  it  is,  as  we  peer  through  the  chinks  in 
the  wall,  we  see  a  crowd  of  joyous  millennial  con- 
verts, and  occasionally  a  veteran  of  this  fierce  Satanic 
struggle  garbed  in  the  robes  of  royalty.  So  we  are 
told,  if  we  aim  not  only  for  heaven,  but  for  a  crown 
there,  now  is  the  time  to  secure  it. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

Zbc  IReal  Zc6t 

What  sort  of  people  are  these  chosen  ones  who  have 
part  in  the  first  resurrection? 

We  cannot  tell  them  now.  They  have  something 
in  the  heart  which  God  only  can  see.  In  His  par- 
able of  the  Tares,  Jesus  said  that  at  present  the  true 
and  the  counterfeit  were  so  mixed  you  could  not  dis- 
tinguish them,  but  that  in  the  end  He  Himself  would 
make  the  separation. 


30  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest:  and  in 
the  time  of  harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers,  Gather  ye 
together  first  the  tares,  and  bind  them  in  bundles  to 
burn  them:  but  gather  the  wheat  into  my  bam. — Mat- 
thew 13:30. 


There  will  be  surprises  when  Jesus  culls  out  His 
people;  our  human  labels  are  so  often  misplaced. 
'No  doubt,  among  the  heathen,  heretical  and  degraded 
religions,  there  are  some  who,  using  the  little  light 
they  have,  by  God's  grace,  grope  their  way  to  the 
kingdom.  We  may  find  Socrates  and  IN'uma  Pora- 
pilius  and  Haroun  al  Kaschid  there.     Who  knows! 

75 


76  LOOKTNa    PORWAKD, 

On  the  other  hand,  some  in  the  very  center  of 
Christian  privilege  miss  the  right  road. 

GOOD^  BUT  NOT  THE  TEST. 

High  position  is  no  test.  The  dignitary  may  stand 
trembling  at  the  gate,  while  his  washerwoman  goes 
joyfully  in. 

Great  learnijig  is  no  guarantee.  One  may  write 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  Oxon.,  Cantab.,  after  his  name 
and  yet  be  ignorant  of  the  straight  and  narrow  way. 

Correct  theology  is  a  good  thing,  but  it  is  not  the 
passport  here.  Some  hold  the  truth,  but  lose  the 
benefit  of  it ;  while  others,  with  their  catechisms  sadly 
twisted,  get  through  safe. 

The  prodigal  son,  who  had  such  a  cordial  welcome 
home,  started  wdth  a  wrong  plea  in  his  mind ;  ^'Make 
me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants,"  was  what  he  meant 
to  say;  but  w^hen  he  saw  his  father  hastening  to 
meet  him,  and  found  he  was  to  come  back  as  a  son, 
and  take  a  son's  place,  with  a  son's  garb  and  a 
son's  rank,  he  left  that  out  about  the  hired  servant. 

Probably  none  of  us  have  a  flawless  theology.  This 
legal  idea  of  paying  our  way,  of  compensating  God 
for  His  grace  is  so  inwrought  that  none  of  us  exactly 
understand  the  situation  till  the  robe  is  around  us, 
the  ring  on  our  finger  and  the  shoes  on  our  feet. 

Correct  life  does  not  qualify  one  for  the  first  resur- 
rection. The  rich  young  man,  who  had  kept  all  the 
commandments  from  youth  up,  failed ;  while  the 
first  one,  who  had  from  Jesus  himself  the  promise 
of  paradise  that  very  day — was  a  thief. 


THE    REAL    TEST.         ♦  77 

THE   ONE    THING    NEEDFUL. 

What,  then,  is  The  Thing  requisite?     What  is 
the  rock-bottom  test  of  our  acceptance  with  God? 
The  secret  is  told  by  the  apostle — 

9  But  as  it  is  written,  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  him. — I  Corinthians  2:9. 

Love  Him  !  That  explains  why  the  washerwoman 
is  admitted,  while  the  dignitary  is  left  out;  why  the 
prodigal  son  is  welcomed  with  all  his  errors,  and 
the  penitent  thief  with  all  his  crimes. 

The  first  call  to  us  in  our  childhood  from  the 
heavenly  throne  is :  "My  son,  give  me  thine  heart ;" 
and  when  we  have  been  faithless  and  treacherous, 
and,  like  Simon  Peter,  have  denied  our  Lord  in  the 
hour  w^hen  He  needed  us  most,  all  He  asks,  when 
taking  us  back  to  His  bosom,  is:  "Simon,  son  of 
Jonas,  lovest  thou  Me  ?"  This  is  all,  but  He  repeats 
it  three  times. 

It  is  strange  that  God  should  care  so  much  for  our 
affection,  and  that  He  should  overlook  so  much  if  we 
only  love  Him.  He  forgives  us  sooner  than  we  do 
each  other.  ^lany  a  poor  creature  suffers  from  pub- 
lic odium  years  after  God  has  pardoned  him. 

The  woman  from  the  streets,  who  crept  into  the 
Pharisee's  house,  when  Jesus  was  at  dinner  there, 
and  sobbed  over  His  feet,  heard  blessed  words :  "Her 
sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven;  for  she  loved 
much."    Yes,  love  cover eth  a  multitude  of  sins. 


78  LOOKING    FORWARD 

Love  is  the  root  of  true  religion.  All  will  come 
right  when  our  heart  is  right.  If  we  love  God  we 
will  trust  in  Him,  we  will  go  in  His  way  of  salva- 
tion, we  will  keep  His  commandments.  So,  if  we 
love  God  we  are  received ;  He  takes  us  just  as  we 
are,  and  is  glad  to  get  us.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  we  do  not  love  Him,  nothing  will  do  instead — 
no  professions,  no  devotions,  no  zeal  in  His  worship, 
no  gifts  to  the  church — nothing. 

PHARISEEISM. 

We  should  remember  that  mere  lip-service  is  de- 
tected at  once :  "Thou  God  seest  me,^'  and  that  with 
Him  it  has  no  value  whatever — 

24  God  is  a  Spirit:  and  they  that  worship  him,  must 
worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth. — John  4:  24. 

More  than  that ;  heartless  worship  is  not  only  use- 
less, but  offensive.  In  the  time  of  Isaiah  the  love  of 
the  Jewish  people  was  turned  away  from  the  Lord, 
and  they  tried  to  make  it  up  by  extra  attention  to 
the  ordinances  of  His  sanctuary.  Did  this  satisfy 
Him?  These  ordinances  were  of  His  own  appoint- 
ment, yet  see  what  He  said  of  them — 

11  To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your  sac- 
rifices unto  me?  saith  the  Lord:  I  am  full  of  the 
burnt-offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts; 
and  I  delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs, 
or  of  he-goats. 

12  When  ye  come  to  appear  before  me,  who  hath 
required  this  at  your  hand,  to  tread  my  courts? 

13  Bring   no   more    vain   oblations:   incense    is   an 


THE    EEAL    TEST  79 


abomination  unto  me;  the  new-moons  and  sabbaths, 
the  calling  of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with;  it  is 
iniquity,  even  the  solemn  meeting. 

14  Your  new-moons  and  your  appointed  feasts  my 
soul  hateth:  they  are  a  trouble  unto  me;  I  am  weary 
to  bear  them. — Isaiah  i:  11. 


These  are  simple  facts  that  it  is  well  to  bear  in 
mind  in  this  age  of  intense  worldliness  and  love  of 
money,  mixed  with  elaborate  worship  and  multiplied 
ceremonies. 

6 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

TLbc  nDillennial  Cburcb 

The  present  state  of  the  church,  split  into  sects, 
being  unsatisfactory  (and  no  Avonder  it  is  unsatis- 
factory, seeing  that  we  cannot  have  a  revival  of 
religion  without  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  He  will  not 
come  to  a  divided  church,  and  that  in  His  last  prayer 
before  His  crucifixion  Jesus  five  times  mentioned 
the  oneness  of  His  people  as  a  thing  dear  to  His 
heart,  and  that  He  gauged  their  success  by  their 
oneness :  "that  they  may  be  one,  that  the  world  may 
believe"),  very  earnest  efforts  are  made  to  fix  it 
right. 

Clearly,  however,  we  cannot  make  up  the  church 
this  way  or  that,  like  a  piece  of  carpenter  work.  We 
cannot  fabricate  it  out  of  an  alliance.  Christ  never 
spoke  of  church  union.  That  would  imply  a  federa- 
tion of  sects.  What  He  prayed  for  was  "oneness,'^ 
which  ignored  divisions  of  every  kind. 

But  this  oneness  is  not  a  human  construction  at 
all;  it  is  a  divine  creation,  beyond  human  effort;  a 
thing  we  may  not  shape  or  arrange  or  manipulate  in 
any  way.  A  convention  to  model  or  remodel  the 
church  would  be  an  impertinence.     The  pattern  was 

80 


THE    MILLENNIAL    CHURCH.  81 

given  us  in  the  mount;  we  have  no  more  right  to 
touch  it  than  the  Ark  in  the  Holy  of  Holies. 

KESTORE  THE  NAME. 

The  first  thing  we  ought  to  do  is  to  rescue  the 
name,  the  word  "church"  from  its  debasement  in 
our  common  speech.  In  the  Bible  the  conception  of 
the  church  is  sublime;  it  is  a  grand  spiritual  organ- 
ism, the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people, 
part  in  heaven  and  part  on  earth,  spanning  the  tomb ; 
but  we  have  degraded  it  to  mean  hierarchies  and 
denominations  and  societies  based  on  man-made 
creeds  and  rules.  We  have  even  sunk  it  into  a  desig- 
nation of  buildings.     A  great  wrong! 

A    LIVING    BODY. 

l^ext,  we  should  make  known  that  the  church  is 
a  live  thing — a  living  body  with  a  living  head  and 
living  members;  as  the  apostle  says — 

i8  And  he  is  the   head   of  the   body,   the   church. 

— Colossians    i:  i8. 

In  Scripture  the  word  "church"  is  applied  only 
to  such  members  of  Christ's  body  as  are  in  heaven, 
or  grouped  together  in  the  same  locality  here  below. 

"For  saints  above  and  saints  below 
But  one  communion  make ; 
All  join  in  Christ,  their  vital  head, 
And  of  His  love  partake." 


82  jlookikg  fok\va]m>. 

You  could  no  more  make  such  a  church  by  gluing 
the  sects  together  than  you  could  make  a  man  out  of 
a  pile  of  amputated  limbs. 

Bid  can  ive  know  any  iking  of  the  church  as  it  will 
he  after  Christ's  coining f 

Certainly,  we  can ;  for  it  is  shown  us  in  the  church 
founded  by  the  apostles  under  the  lead  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  at  the  day  of  Pentecost.  The  tabernacle  pre- 
figured the  temple,  and  the  church  of  the  apostles 
prefigured  the  church  of  the  millennium. 

THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCH. 

According  to  the  ISTew  Testament  the  Christians 
of  any  city,  town,  village,  hamlet  or  cross-roads  are 
the  church  of  that  place,  made  such,  not  by  any  act 
of  their  own  but  by  the  will  of  God.  When  all  the 
Christians  of  a  place  are  in  one  household  or  meet 
in  one  house,  it  is  the  church  in  that  house. 

Thus,  we  read  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  the 
church  at  Antioch,  the  church  at  Ephesus,  the  church 
at  Corinth,  the  church  in  Sardis,  the  church  in  Phila- 
delphia, the  church  in  Smyrna,  &c.,  and  also  of  the 
church  in  the  house  of  T^ymphas,  the  church  in  the 
house  of  Philemon,  &c. 

The  language  is  invariable.  Tt  is  nowhere  recog- 
nized that  there  can  be  more  than  one  church  in  a 
town,  no  matter  how  large,  or  how  many  opinions 
in  it.  The  records  of  the  disputes  in  the  church  at 
Antioch,  and  in  the  church  at  Corinth  show  it  to  be 
against  the  Divine  will  for  Christians  to  separate 
because  of  different  opinions. 


THE    MILLENNIAL    CHURCH.  83 

The  size  of  a  city^  or  number  of  Christians  in 
it  made  no  difference.  The  Christians  of  Jerusalem, 
though  they  numbered  many  thousands,  were  never 
but  one  church ;  and  the  Christians  of  the  great  city 
of  Ephesus,  though  they  had  ministers  enough  to 
form  a  prayer-meeting,  were  never  anything  but  the 
church  of  Ephesus. 

EACH    CHURCH    INDEPENDENT. 

Neither  is  any  great  ecclesiastical  organization, 
like  the  Papacy,  or  the  Greek  Church,  or  the  Church 
of  England,  or  our  denominations,  the  real  church ; 
for  in  Scripture  a  church  never  included  more  than 
one  town. 

The  standard  religious  historian,  Mosheim,  says — 

"The  primitive  churches  were  entirely  independent, 
none  of  them  being  subject  to  any  foreign  jurisdic- 
tion. ...  A  perfect  equality  reigned  among  them, 
nor  does  there  appear  in  the  first  century  the  small- 
est trace  of  that  association  of  provincial  churches 
from  Avhich  councils  and  metropolitans  derive  their 
origin." 

The  apostles  had  been  dead  a  hundred  years  before 
the  churches  under  ambitious  leaders  began  to  con- 
solidate and  form  the  large  ecclesiastical  confeder- 
ations Mosheim  refers  to.  Certain  it  is,  no  gospel 
church  ever  crossed  two  corporation  limits. 

Whenever  a  region  is  spoken  of,  a  country  with 
several  towns  containing  Christian  settlements,  then  it 
is  always  "the  churches" — the  churches  of  Judea, 
the  churches   of  Samaria,   the  churches  of  Galilee, 


84  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

the  churches  of  Syria,  the  churches  of  Macedonia, 
&c. — an  arraugeinent  which  prevented  any  one 
church  from  becoming  a  despotism  or  world-power  by 
spreading  over  and  absorbing  its  neighbors. 

Such  is  the  divine  plan,  clearly  laid  down  in 
the  Bible,  and  undisputed  by  any  intelligent  Chris- 
tian. A  matter  of  such  importance  was  not  left  to 
mortals.  Jesus  said :  ''I  will  build  my  church," 
(Matthew  16 :  18),  and  this  is  how  He  built  it.  This 
is  the  ship,  all  else  is  the  sea. 

God  specified  to  ^oah  how  to  frame  the  ark,  and 
He  specified  to  His  people  how  to  frame  the  church 
which  the  Ark  typified.  The  trouble  is  we  hnven't 
built  the  vessel  according  to  the  specifications.  But 
there  is  one  thing  clear:  we  know  how  the  church 
ought  to  be,  and  how  it  will  be  in  the  millennium, 
when  Jesus  is  king 

COMPREHENSIVE. 

The  millennial  church,  taking  in  all  in  a  town 
who  love  the  Saviour,  will  be  comprehensive;  in- 
clusive, not  exclusive;  it  will  comprise  folks  of  all 
sorts  of  peculiarities  and  opinions. 

Our  sects  say:  '^Watch  your  neighlx)r,  scrutinize 
his  views,  and  if  he  doesn't  agree  with  you  elbow  him 
off;  join  with  those  here,  there,  and  over  yonder. 
who  think  as  you  think."  The  millennial  church 
will  say :  ''Love  your  neighbor  as  yourself ;  love  him 
whatever  his  opinions;  love  him  though  you  are  a 
a  Jew  and  he  a  Samaritan." 

Our  sects  say :    ''Be  a  good  party  man ;  follow  your 


THE    MILLENNIAL    CHURCH.  85 

leaders;  keep  in  the  traces;  be  tractable.''  St.  Paul 
will,  in  the  millennium,  as  he  did  before,  put  his 
foot  down  indignantly  upon  this  submission  to  human 
leadership — 


12  Now  this  I  say,  that  every  one  of  you  saith, 
I  am  of  Paul;  and  I  of  ApoUos;  and  I  of  Cephas;  and 
I  of  Christ. 

13  Is  Christ  divided?  was  Paul  crucified  for  you? 
or  were  ye  baptized  in  the  name  of  Paul? — i  Co- 
rinthians  1 :  12. 


The  two  systems  are  as  different  as  the  fish  upon 
the  marble  slabs  in  our  markets,  classified,  sorted, 
dead ;  and  the  fish  in  the  sea,  happy,  free  and  alive. 

INVISIBLE  ? 

The  feeble  excuse  is  made  for  the  present  state  of 
things,  that  the  true  church  is  here,  only  it  is  in- 
visible. 

What!  The  church,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth,  the  light  of  the  world,  the  city  set  on  a  hill 
that  cannot  be  hid,  the  church  that  at  Pentecost  was 
manifest  by  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire,  here, 
but  invisible  ? 

Ko,  let  us  be  honest  with  the  facts.  The  church 
is  here,  and  can  be  seen ;  but  it  is  in  fragments,  dis- 
membered. It  is  visible  in  every  repentant  sinner 
who  clings  to  the  cross,  in  every  faithful  minister 
who  preaches  the  word,  in  every  loving  look  and 
cup  of  water  given  in  His  name  by  one  saint  to 
another;  but  in  its  great  divine  institution,  as  the 


86  LOOKING    FOKWAED. 

One  Body  of  (Jlirist,  the  churcli  is  only  here  as  -a 
cadaver  in  a  medieval  college — it  is  dis-sect-ed. 

SECTS    JIAVE    NO   FUTURE. 

The  most  ])recioiis  |)romises  are  made  to  the 
church,  but  not  a  promise  in  the  Bible  is  made  to  a 
sect.  We  should  be  careful  about  pinning  our  hopes 
to  any  of  them.  They  do  not  represent  the  church ; 
they  are  simply  its  marks  of  shame;  they  uncover 
and  perpetuate  its  ([uarrels;  that  is  all  the  represent- 
ing they  do. 

How  foolish  to  rest  our  hope  on  a  sect,  when  the 
sect  itself  is  doomed  and  cannot  get  to  the  Better 
Land  !    There  are  no  sects  in  heaven. 

eJohn  Wesley  says  that  in  a  vision  of  the  night 
he  once  found  himself  at  the  gates  of  bliss,  and  began 
to  enquire  who  were  within.  ''Any  Wesleyans  here  ?" 
"Xo."  "Any  Presbyterians?"  "No."  "Any  (Jhurch 
of  England  people?"  "No."  "Any  Boman  Cath- 
olics?" "No."  "Who  have  you  here,  then  ?"  "We 
know  nothing  of  those  names.  All  here  are  Chris- 
tians redeemed  by  the  Son  of  God,  and  of  them  we 
have  a  multitude  of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and 
peoples  and   tongues!" 

Such  will  be  the  church  in  the  millennium. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JLbc  Cburcb  in  pbila&dpbia 

Nothing  indicates  that  the  outward,  material  earth 
will  be  changed  at  the  coming  of  Christ  and  the 
beginning  of  the  millennium.  The  saints,  living  and 
dead,  will  rise  into  the  air  to  meet  their  Lord,  and 
He  will  take  the  government  of  the  world,  appoint- 
ing them  as  His  kings  and  priests.  Satan  will  be 
exiled  and  bound,  and  open  wickedness  will  be  put 
down. 

The  Philadelphia  streets  and  parks  will  be  un- 
touched, but  its  gambling  and  drinking  saloons  and 
brothels,  its  cruelties  to  workmen  and  children  and 
animals,  its  misrule  and  graft  in  public  affairs  will 
cease.  William  Penn  will  not  then  be  put  five  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  City  Hall,  so  as  not  to  interfere 
with  what  goes  on  below,  but  will  be  among  us  and 
may  be  our  ruler  again. 

But  with  our  numerous  population  and  differences 
of  opinion^  will  it  he  possible  for  the  Christians  of 
Philadelphia  to  worh  together  as  one  church  f 

In  the  millennium  it  will  be  possible  and  easy, 
for  Christians  will  not  then  be  too  stout  and  stiff  and 
proud  to  accept  the  Bible  arrangement. 

87 


88  LOOKING    FORWARD . 

What  is  the  Bible  arrangement? 

In  apostolic  days  there  was  a  churcli  in  Philadel- 
phia. The  Holy  Spirit,  by  the  pen  of  St.  John,  sent 
it  a  message.     It  was  addressed  thus — 

6  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches. 

7  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church    in  Philadelphia 
write ; —  Revelation  3 :  6. 

It  was  an  important  city  in  Central  Asia  Minor, 
with  probably  several  meetings  or  congregations  in 
it;  but  the  Christians  there  obeyed  the  Lord  and 
were  all  one  church. 

It  was  the  church  of  Philadelphia  in  St.  John's 
time,  it  will  be  the  church  of  Philadelphia  in  the 
millennium,  and  it  ought  to  be  the  church  of  Phila- 
delphia here  now. 

WHERE   IS   OUR   CHURCH  ? 

This,  our  city,  was  called  after  the  ancient  one, 
confesses  the  same  Christ,  and,  like  its  namesake, 
should  obey  the  Lord.  But  where  is  the  church 
of  Philadelphia?  Where  does  it  meet?  Go  along 
the  street  and  ask  for  it,  and  they  will  stare  at  you 
as  crazy.     ^0  one  ever  heard  of  such  a  church. 

We  have  some  six  hundred  and  fifty  Christian 
societies,  but  not  being  on  the  Scripture  plan  they 
are,  as  the  Evening  Bulletin  once  said,  merely  re- 
ligious clubs.  They  comprise  our  best  people  and  do 
much  good.  They  save  us  from  the  doom  of  Sodom ; 
but  they  are  only  make-shifts,  bringing,  under  every 


THE    CHURCH    IN    PHILADELPHIA.  89 

disaavantage  and  by  hard  grubbing  results  that  would 
be  ten  times  better  and  more  abundant  on  the  Bible 
method. 

The  trouble  is  this — the  old  church  of  Philadel- 
phia copied  after  the  first,  original,  apostolic  and 
divine  church  of  Jerusalem — and  we  do  not. 


THE    CHURCH   OF    JERUSALEM. 

The  church  of  Jerusalem  was  the  pattern  for  all 
the  'New  Testament  churches,  and  the  forerunner  and 
type  of  the  church  in  the  millennium.  We  ask, 
therefore,  what  was  its  character  ?  How  was  it  made 
up  ?  Of  its  composition,  here  is  all  that  we  find  in  the 
sacred  record — 

9  Parthians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwel- 
lers in  Mesopotamia,  and  in  Judea,  and  Cappadocia, 
in  Pontus,  and  Asia, 

10  Phrygia,  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt,  and  in  the 
parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene,  and  strangers  of  Rome, 
Jews  and  proseljrtes, 

11  Cretes  and  Arabians,  we  do  hear  them  speak  in 
our  tongues  the  wonderful  works  of  God. — Acts  2 :  9. 

That  was  the  first  body  of  Christ  on  earth.  It  was 
a  compound,  a  conglomerate  made  up  of  people 
from  all  parts  of  the  known  world — Asia,  Africa  and 
Europe. 

With  their  peculiarities,  prejudices  and  obliquities 
untrimmed  and  untouched ;  with  their  different  ways 
of  looking  at  things,  they  were  gathered  into  one 
body^ — the  church  of  Jerusalem — and  welded  to- 
gether by  the  common  love  of  their  crucified  Master. 


90  LOOKING    FORWAIID. 

ONE   CHURCH MANY    OPINIONS. 

And  just  like  it  will  be  the  church  of  Philadelphia 
in  the  millennium.  Our  population  may  then  be 
twice  as  large  as  now,  and  there  may  be  twice  as 
many  opinions,  but  the  oneness  of  the  church  will 
be  kept.  We  will  not  put  on  our  spectacles  for  dis- 
agreements, or  worry  about  them  at  all. 

The  Lord  loves  variety.  We  see  it  in  His  sky  and 
in  His  forests :  no  two  faces  or  minds  precisely  alike, 
and  in  the  millennial  church,  fashioned  by  His  own 
hands,  there  will  be  multitudinous  elements,  count- 
less differences  of  form  and  opinion  and  adminis- 
tration :  differences,  but  not  disputes.  Each  Chris- 
tian will  do  his  own  thinking.  Each  Christian  in 
himself  will  be  a  full  and  complete  denomination. 

Thus,  it  will  be  s|»ared  the  creeds,  confessions  and 
articles  of  religion — the  barricades,  which  some  men 
have  put  up  to  keep  out  other  men  who  did  not  think 
as  they  did,  and  which  have  kept  the  church  in  war 
ever  since  the  first  one  was  framed.  The  quarrels 
of  Christendom  have  come,  not  from  what  the  Bible 
says,  but  from  human  interpretations  of  what  it  says. 

THE  BTBT>E   OVR   CKEED. 

The  constitution  of  tlie  millennial  church  will  be 
the  Bible,  tlie  whole  Bible,  and  nothing  but  the 
Bible.  That  church  will  reverence  the  Word  of 
Ood,  and  keep  its  hands  off — will  not  presume  to 
codify,  condense,  simplify  or  reshape  it;  will  no 
more  dream  of  improving  upon  it  than  of  adjusting 


THE    CHURCH    IN    PHrLADELPHIA.  91 

the  solar  system;  and  will  expect  every  man  to  read 
it,  and  decide,  as  be  must  answer,  for  himself. 
There  is  doubt  about  some  things,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  about  that  thing. 

The  Spirit,  writing  to  the  church  in  Philadelphia, 
says :  ''Behold,  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door.'' 
What  is  that  open  door  but  a  clearing  away  of  these 
man-made  barriers  to  our  fellowship  and  communion 
tables?  Eighteen  centuries  have  passed  since  the 
Holy  Spirit  suggested  the  opening  of  this  door,  but 
we  have  not  turned  the  lock  yet.  Isn't  it  time  to 
do  so? 

But  hold!  Will  not  such  an  open  door  lei  in  folks 
of  unsound  views? 

Well,  the  millennial  Christians  will  let  them 
come  in;  will  urge  them  to  come  in.  We  canton 
off  such  people  into  a  corner  by  themselves,  where 
they  hold  up  one  another  and  thrive.  Errorists 
multiply  in  seclusion.  In  the  millennial  church, 
brought  into  the  open,  the  sunlight,  among  the  be- 
lievers, they  are  exposed  to  the  truth,  and  there  is 
not  a  heresy  alive  but  will  shrivel  under  the  blaze 
of  God's  word. 

EXCLUDE  THE  HERETIC. 

But  St.  Paul,  in  his  instructions  to  Titus,  orders 
him  to  exclude  the  heretic.     How  about  that? 

Here  we  come  upon  another  instance  where  the 
lords  of  the  past,  cocksure  they  were  right,  have 
made  a  colossal  blunder.  They  have  taken  for 
granted   that   the   heretic   to  be   turned   out   of  the 


92  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

church  was  the  man  who  did  not  think  as  they  did. 
It  comes  out  that  the  apostle  had  no  such  person  in 
mind  at  all.  His  order  of  expulsion  was  against 
the  man  who  tried  to  build  up  a  sect — 

9  But  avoid  foolish  questions,  and  genealogies,  and 
contentions,  and  strivings  about  the  law;  for  they 
are  unprofitable  and  vain. 

10  A  man  that  is  an  heretic,  after  the  first  and 
second  admonition,  reject; — Titus  3:  9. 

The  Greek  word  here  translated  "heretic"  Dr. 
Edward  Robinson  defines  thus:  "A  sectarist,  par- 
tisan, one  who  founds  or  belongs  to  a  sect."  The 
Rev.  Albert  Barnes  says  of  it:  ^'The  true  notion  of 
the  word  is  that  of  one  who  is  a  promoter  of  a  sect 
or  party.  The  man  who  makes  divisions  in  a  church 
instead  of  aiming  to  promote  unity  is  the  one  who 
is  intended." 

THE   HERETIC    A   SCHISMATIC. 

From  which  we  learn  that  the  heretic  to  be  shut 
out  is  not  the  one  who  holds  any  particular  opinion, 
but  the  man  who  furthers  a  sect  upon  that  opinion. 
The  exact  meaning  of  the  word,  as  the  revised  New 
Testament  has  it,  is  "factious,"  or,  as  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Schmucker,  of  the  Gettysburg  Theological  Seminary, 
says:  "Schismatic,  a  maker  of  divisions  or  sects  or 
parties  in  the  church." 

So  we  find  that  sectarian  zeal  and  partisanship, 
so  highly  rewarded  here,  will  be  repudiated  in  the 
millennial  church;  and  as  Paul  and  Titus  will  be 


THE    CHURCH    IN   PHILADELPHIA.  93 

prominent  there,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
those  who  live  and  work  for  their  sect,  and  care  for 
nothing  but  their  sect,  and  are  ready  to  cast  out  all 
who  do  not  agree  with  their  sect,  are  in  danger  after 
the  first  and  second  admonition  of  being  cast  out 
themselves. 

We  need  not  fear  lest  the  truth  suffer  by  this 
emancipation  of  opinion.  Thomas  Jefferson  was  in 
accord  with  Scripture  when  he  said  as  to  religious 
freedom,  the  basis  of  our  American  institutions: 
''Error  may  safely  be  tolerated  if  truth  be  left  free 
to  combat  it." 

The  truth  is  safe;  it  is  in  the  Bible;  cut  deep 
there  by  God's  own  hand.  Mankind  cannot  change 
a  jot  or  tittle  of  it.  Should  one  generation  overlay 
and  hide  it,  the  next  generation  w^ould  clear  away 
the  rubbish  and  bring  it  out  again.  Every  lie  of  the 
evil  one  was  brushed  aside  by  Jesus  with  the  words : 
''It  is  written."  So  has  the  truth  ever  been  pre- 
served in  the  Christian  world,  so  will  it  be  in  the 
millennium. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

ZLbe  flock  an&  its  f ol&e 

It  is  delightful  to  stand  off  and  imagine  that  ma- 
jestic millennial  church  of  Philadelphia — one  flock 
with  many  folds,  one  Divine  Shepherd,  Jesus  Him- 
self, with  many  pastors  to  do  His  bidding. 

This  church  will  not  waste  its  funds  in  fraternal 
strife,  so  it  will  be  rich,  very  rich,  and  have  all  the 
money  it  needs  to  carry  on  its  work. 

At  regular  distances  over  the  city  will  be  a  hun- 
dred or  more  spacious  buildings,  each  seating  thou- 
sands of  people — noble  edifices,  with  a  grand  sweep 
of  galleries,  and  organs,  the  best  that  man  can  make. 
(Do  not  start  at  this  idea  of  material  splendor,  who 
planned  Solomon's  Temple?) 

Outlying  structures  are  for  lectures,  and  Sabbath 
Schools,  with  refectories  and  dormitories  for  the 
hungry  and  homeless,  and  reading  and  recreation 
rooms  and  parlors,  the  whole  being  the  center  of  the 
neighborhood's  worship  and  instruction  and  charities 
and  social  life. 

This  group  of  buildings  is  not  a  church — that  is 
the  whole  body  of  Philadelphia  believers — it  is  one 
of  the  folds  of  the  flock. 

94 


THE    FLOCK    AND   ITS    FOLDS.  95 

In  the  great  auditorium  services  are  held  for  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  There  being  168  hours 
in  the  week,  time  is  afforded  for  every  phase  and 
form  of  devotion. 

ALL  KINDS  OF  WOESHIF. 

Sometimes,  from  the  sobriety  of  demeanor,  and 
prominence  of  the  doctrines  of  grace,  we  should  say 
it  took  on  a  Presbyterian  cast. 

Again,  from  its  general  confession,  Scripture  les- 
sons, responsive  psalter  and  litanies  it  assumes  an 
Episcopal  tone. 

At  some  of  the  meetings,  the  life  and  exuberance 
of  feeling,  the  telling  of  experience,  and  the  halle- 
lujahs show  Methodist  tendencies. 

And  when  we  see  converts  coming  up  from  the 
water  of  a  pool  in  the  chancel,  we  find  that  Baptist 
views  are  in  evidence. 

Sometimes  it  is  all  changed.  Ko  preacher  ascends 
the  pulpit.  The  organ  is  silent.  The  congregation, 
without  human  word  or  sound,  sit  quiet,  holding 
communion  with  the  Spirit,  and  we  perceive  that 
here,  from  the  Friends,  has  come  another  note  in 
this  grand  diapason  of  worship. 

Thus,  the  millennial  services  will  never  grow  stale 
from  monotony  and  repetition.  !N'or  will  this  variety 
come  from  opposing  parties  in  the  fold,  but  from  all 
worshipping  differently  at  different  times.  Tn  a  word, 
the  church  in  that  happy  period  will  be  big  enough 
to  hold  us  all  and  suit  all  our  tastes. 

These  variations  will  be  quite  superficial.  With 
.7 


96  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

all  the  individuality  there  will  be  essential  unity. 
Mutual  love  will  lie  underneath  deep  and  unchange- 
able. We  shall  be:  '^Distinct  like  the  billows,  but 
one  like  the  sea." 

THE   ONENESS   SHOWN. 

As  to  how  the  millennial  Christians  will  show 
their  oneness,  we  venture  to  say  most  likely  as  fol- 
lows— 

(1)  By  apportioning  the  city,  so  that  each  fold 
or  congregation  has  its  proper  field  without  intrud- 
ing upon  its  neighbors. 

(2)  By  combining  for  the  support  of  Bible  schools 
and  the  publication  of  hymn  books  and  Sabbath 
School  and  other  religious  literature. 

(3)  By  a  concerted  plan  for  distributing  their 
charities,  so  that  the  sick  and  needy  may  be  properly 
attended  to,  none  neglected,  none  overhelped. 

(4)  By  sending  workers  into  the  home  and  foreign 
fields  commissioned  not  from  any  sect,  but  from  the 
heaven-incorporated  church  of  the  city. 

(5)  By  kindly,  brotherly  acts,  exchange  of  pul- 
pits, union  communions,  and  coming  together  on  im- 
portant occasions  to  voice  their  united  Christian 
sentiment. 

It  is  strange  that  Christians  should  be  slower  than 
the  world  in  catching  this  divine  idea  of  unity  in  di- 
versity upon  which  Jesus  founded  His  church. 
More  than  a  century  ago,  here  in  Philadelphia,  the 
American  Congress  adopted  as  the  motto  for  our 
seals  and  coins  the  words  ^'E  Pluribus  Unum;"  yet, 


THE    FLOCK    AND    ITS    FOLDS.  97 

to  this  day,  our  sectarians  are  floundering  in  the 
stupid  belief  that  oneness  can  only  come  from  same- 
ness and  uniformity ! 

WHEN  SHALL  WE  SEE  THE  CHURCH  ? 

Some  sanguine  people  say  this  Bible  conception 
of  the  church  will  be  realized  on  the  earth  before 
Christ  comes.  We  don't  think  it.  The  sects  are  not 
fluid  like  our  political  parties.  It  is  hard  for  them 
to  run  into  new  moulds.  They  are  petrified  by 
their  real  estate,  and  are  solidifying  every  day. 

But  one  thing  is  certain — should  any  Christian 
community  put  their  church  on  this  divine  basis,  its 
influence  would  spread  to  the  farthest  bounds  of 
the  planet. 

On  the  road  from  Lexington  to  Concord  in  Mass- 
achusetts is  a  country  bridge,  and  by  it  the  statue  of  a 
farmer  holding  a  gun.  This  statue  marks  the 
place  where  they  made  the  first  stand  for  American 
freedom,  and  on  its  base  is  the  inscription — 

*^By  this  rude  bridge  that  spans  the  flood, 
Their  flag  to  April  breeze  unfurled, 
Here  the  embattled  farmers  stood. 

And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

And  wherever  it  be,  the  first  city  or  village  in  our 
land  that  strikes  at  the  demon  of  discord,  and  unifies 
its  Christian  forces  on  the  heavenly  principle  of  in- 
dividual liberty  and  church  oneness,  will  have  a  mon- 


98  LOOKING    FOKWAKI). 

ument  built  by  grateful  millions  of  believers,  and  on 
its  base  will  be  inscribed — 

"Here  the  Christian  brethren  stood, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

^be  Beaet  an&  bi6  Umaoe 

In  the  account  of  the  millennium  we  are  told  of 
an  enemy  which,  from  its  cruelty,  subtlety  and 
strength,  is  called  ^'the  beast." 


4  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and 
judgment  was  given  unto  them:  and  I  saw  the  souls 
of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus, 
and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  which  had  not  wor- 
shipped the  beast,  neither  his  image,  neither  had  re- 
ceived his  mark  upon  their  foreheads,  or  in  their 
hands;  and  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thou- 
sand years. — Revelation  20:4. 


Wliat  is  this  beast? 

As  Satan  cannot  destroy  the  gospel  he  palms  olf 
counterfeits  of  it.  God  asks  us  to  love  Him.  '^Not 
necessary,"  whispers  the  devil;  "it  is  pleasanter  to 
love  and  enjoy  the  world,  and  you  can  make  it  up 
by  observing  the  forms."  God  wants  you  to  have  a 
clean  heart.  "Have  snowy  vestments,"  says  the  evil 
one,  "impressive  services,  beautiful  music,  a  multi- 
tude of  prayers;  go  through  the  motions;  that  is 
just  as  good."  God  desires  us  to  worship  Him. 
"  It  will  answer  every  purpose  to  worship  His  sanc- 
tuary, build   Him   a   cathedral.  40^1  Q 


100  LOOKING    FOKWAKD. 


MODERN    IDOLATRY. 


Christianity  centers  around  a  person;  the  devil 
would  center  it  around  an  institution.  This  is  our 
modern  idolatry.  As  of  old,  it  adores  the  temple 
and  crucifies  the  Lord  of  it.  It  shifts  the  object 
of  our  worship  and  breaks  the  first  commandment — 

Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me. — Exodus 
20:  3. 

This  side-tracking  of  religion,  this  substituting 
form  for  the  Spirit,  ceremony  for  the  Saviour,  is 
Satan's  masterpiece.  It  developed  into  a  dreadful 
power,  which  ruled  Christendom  and  brought  on 
the  Dark  Ages.  It  suppressed  the  word  of  God  and 
sat  upon  His  throne  "speaking  great  things."  It 
changed  Christian  faith  into  devotion  to  a  hierarchy, 
and  for  a  thousand  years  perverting  every  doctrine 
of  the  gospel,  and,  lacking  the  new  heart's  loving 
kindness,  it  revelled  in  blood  and  torture  till  civili- 
zation writhed  in  its  jaws — 

And  all  the  world  wondered  after  the  beast. 

4  And  they  worshipped  the  dragon  which  gave 
power  unto  the  beast:  and  they  worshipped  the  beast 
saying,  Who  is  like  unto  the  beast?  who  is  able  to 
make  war  with  him? 

5  And  there  was  given  unto  him  a  mouth  speak- 
ing great  things  and  blasphemies;  and  power  was 
given  unto  him  to  continue  forty  and  two  months. 

6  And  he  opened  his  mouth  in  blasphemy  against 
God,  to  blaspheme  his  name,  and  his  tabernacle,  and 
them  that  dwell  in  heaven. 

7  And  it  was  given  unto  him  to  make  war  with  the 
saints,  and  to  overcome  them:  and  power  was  given 
him  over  all  kindreds,  and  tongues,  and  nations. 
— Revelation   13:3. 


THE    BEAST    AND    HIS    IMAGE.  101 

The  beast  is  not  rampant  now.  It  has  been  so 
cudgelled  and  clipped  by  the  outraged  peoples  that 
it  crouches  down  and  licks  our  feet ;  and  we  have  for- 
gotten its  nature  and  career,  and  tolerate  it,  and 
speak  leniently  of  its  past. 

GOD    REMEMBERS. 

But  God  does  not  forget.  The  record  is  before 
Him  plain  as  ever.  When  John  Milton  now,  as  he 
did  centuries  ago,  cries  out:  "Avenge,  O  Lord,  thy 
slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones  lie  bleached  on 
Alpine  mountains  cold !"  the  Lord  says,  "Wait." 
And  when  the  martyrs  in  paradise  wonder  at  the 
long  delay,  He  tells  them  their  roll  is  not  made  up 
yet— 

9  And  when  he  Had  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw 
under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for 
the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  v^hich  they 

•  held: 

10  And  they  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  How 
long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and 
avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth? 

11  And  white  robes  were  given  unto  every  one  of 
them;  and  it  was  said  unto  them,  that  they  should 
rest  yet  for  a  little  season,  until  their  fellow-servants 
also  and  their  brethren,  that  should  be  killed  as  they 
v/ere,  should  be  fulfilled. — Revelation  6:9. 

God  has  a  long  account  to  settle  with  this  beast, 
but  it  will  be  settled  fully.  The  blood  it  has  shed 
will  be  reckoned  with  down  to  the  last  drop. 

In  the  fifth  verse  of  the  account  of  the  beast  it  is 
said — 


102  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

5. But  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  until  the 
thousand  years  were  finished.  This  is  the  first  resur- 
rection.— Revelation  20;  5. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  '^worshippers  of  the 
beast,"  like  their  master,  Apollyon,  are  not  allowed 
in  the  millennium,  but  are  reserved  for  the  final  test, 
the  day  of  Judgment.  We  must  distinguish  be- 
tween the  ''worshippers  of  the  beast,"  by  whom  are 
meant  those  who  love  the  false  religion  for  its  falsi- 
ties, and  worship  it  instead  of  their  Maker,  and 
the  great  mass  who  are  in  it  from  birth  or  ignorance, 
and  who,  in  the  millennium,  may  see  their  error, 
and  love  God  when  they  come  to  know  Him. 

THE    IMAGE. 

But  what  is  the  image  of  the  beast  f 

It  is  the  beast  in  modern  guise.  Scratch  it  and 
you  will  find  the  same  old  man-eater.  There  is  the 
same  devotion  to  an  outward  institution,  the  same 
reliance  upon  form  and  ceremony. 

Its  worshippers  are  no  strangers  here.  They  are 
great  sticklers  for  rites  and  ordinances  and  canon- 
law.  The  Ten  Commandments  are  less  in  thci- 
eyes  than  the  sacraments  of  their  church  (this,  though 
the  word  "sacrament"  is  not  in  the  Bible).  They 
are  forever  adding  to  their  ritual,  till  it  becomes  a 
perpetual  round  of  observances  and  genuflections. 

They  trust  in  the  fact  that  they  have  been  baptized 
by  a  regularly  ordained  priest  signing  them  with 
the  sign  of  the  cross — this  is  the  mark  upon  their 
foreheads.     The  assurance  of  their  hope  is  that  this 


THE    BEAST    AND    HIS    IMAGE.  lOS 

priest  was  a  direct  descendant  of  the  apostles,  and 
a  channel  of  divine  grace  through  an  unbroken  tactual 
succession — this   is  the  mark  in  their  hands. 

STRANGE    CHANNELS. 

These  are  queer  channels  sometimes.  We  once, 
while  traveling  on  a  steamboat,  heard  a  discussion 
between  a  gentleman  who  believed  in  the  line  through 
Alexander  VI  and  another  who  favored  the  line 
through  Henry  VIII.  Not  being  impressed  by 
either  of  these  saints,  we  came  away  without  learn- 
ing which  had  the  better  of  it. 

If  there  ever  was  a  line  of  succession  which  had 
virtue  in  it,  it  was  that  from  Abraham  down  through 
Moses  and  Joshua  and  Samuel  and  David.  The 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  beset  Jesus,  were  in  this 
regular  line,  and  were  proud  of  it.  Jesus  admitted 
the  fact :  ''  Ye  sit  in  Moses'  seat,"  said  He.  But 
did  this  insure  their  acceptance  with  God  ?  It  was  to 
these  very  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  descended  straight 
from  Abraham  and  Moses,  He  indignantly  burst 
out — 

33  Ye   serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers!  how  can 
ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell? — Matthew  23:33. 

Upon  the  whole,  we  cannot  recommend  the  apos- 
tolical succession  route  to  heaven  as  reliable.  The 
only  sure  channel  of  divine  grace  for  us  lies  through 
the  broken  and  contrite  heart. 


CHAPTEK  XVII. 

^be  JuDgment 

The  processes  of  nature  during  the  millennium,  the 
seasons  and  harvests,  seem  to  keep  on  as  now. 

Jesus  will  reign,  and  the  glaring  evils — the  wars 
and  tyrannies  and  monopolies,  the  poverty  and  ex- 
travagance— will  cease;  the  gospel  will  have  free 
course ;  the  church  will  be  united  and  happy,  and  the 
saints  will  be  uppermost. 

But  there  will  be  a  mixed  multitude.  The  hearts 
of  many  will  be  unchanged.  The  spirit  of  love  and 
obedience  to  God  will  not  be  universal. 

It  will  be  a  testing  time.  The  principles  in  men 
will  work  out.  The  good  will  grow  better,  the  bad 
worse ;  the  confusion  among  those  who  love  God  and 
those  who  do  not  will  disappear,  and  each  one's  posi- 
tion will  be  plain. 

One  would  think  that  in  the  presence  of  Jesus 
all  would  be  converted  at  once;  but  no,  some  heard 
Him  on  the  mount  and  went  away  unconvinced,  just 
as  they  hear  His  ministers  now.  He  probably  had 
His  own  preaching  in  mind,  when  through  the  mouth 
of  Abraham  he  said — 

104 


THE  JUDGMENT.  105 

31  And  he  said  unto  him.  If  they  hear  not  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded, 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead. — Luke  16:31. 


SATAN    KEAPPExVRS. 

The  first  step  in  the  tragedy  at  the  Garden  of  Eden 
was  the  coming  of  Satan,  and  the  first  step  in  the 
tragedy  at  the  close  of  the  millennium  will  be  his 
re-entrance  on  the  scene.  ^'He  must  be  loosed  a  little 
season,"  says  the  Scripture. 

There  will  probably  be  no  noise  or  parade  at 
this  advent  of  the  Evil  One.  The  journals  will  not 
announce  it.  That  is  not  the  devil's  way.  But 
quietly,  in  some  familiar  form,  perhaps,  he  will 
begin  to  leaven  the  mass  with  his  wicked  suggestions. 
Those  who  love  to  sin  will  yield  to  his  wiles.  Thus, 
cleavage  in  the  millennial  population.  Sides  will  be 
taken.  Men  will  enlist  for  or  against  the  adversary, 
and  show   which  side   they  are   on. 

Scripture  says  this  is  the  Valley  of  Decision,  and 
that  it  is  near  the  day  of  the  Lord,  close  to  the 
Judgment — 


11  Assemble  yourselves,  and  come,  all  ye  heathen, 
and  gather  yourselves  together  round  about:  thither 
cause  thy  mighty  ones  to  come  down,  O  Lord. 

12  Let  the  heathen  be  wakened,  and  come  up  to  the 
valley  of  Jehoshaphat:  for  there  will  I  sit  to  judge  all 
the  heathen  round  about. 

13  Put  ye  in  the  sickle,  for  the  harvest  is  ripe: 
come,  get  you  down;  for  the  press  is  full,  the  fats 
overflow;  for  their  wickedness  is  great. 

14  Multitudes,  multitudes  in  the  valley  of  decision: 
for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  near  in  the  valley  of  de- 
cision.— Joel  3:11. 


106  LOOKING    FORWARD. 

JESUS   TAIiES  THE  JUDGMENT  SEAT. 

Such  will  be  the  state  of  things  when,  in  the  heat 
of  the  conflict  of  these  mighty  forces,  the  thousand 
prophetic  years  will  come  to  an  end.  Jesus  will 
take  the  throne  and  summon  the  nations  before  Him 
for  judgment —  x 


10  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ;  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done 
in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad. — 2  Corinthians  5:  10. 


People  are  sometimes  perplexed  at  the  details  of 
this  great  assize.  As  it  often  takes  a  week  or  more 
to  get  at  the  merits  of  a  case  in  our  courts,  how  can 
the  doings  of  the  whole  human  race  be  examined  into 
and  decided  upon  in  the  Day  of  Judgment  ? 

This  question  becomes  the  more  important  when 
we  consider  that  the  verdicts  of  this  trial  are  not  to 
be  secret  or  arbitrary,  but  are  to  explain  themselves 
to  ihe  cloud  of  witnesses,  the  heavenly  hosts,  who 
are  spectators  of  the  scene.  They  are,  as  Milton 
says,  "to  justify  God's  ways  to  man."  The  clue  to 
the  matter  is  given  in  Christ's  illustration — 


31  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory, 
and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  his  glory: 

32  And  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations: 
and  he  shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a 
shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats: 

33  And  he  shall  set  the  sheep  on  his  right  hand, 
but  the  goats  on  the  left. — Matthew  25:31. 


THE  JUDGMENT.  107 

THE  SHEEP  AND  THE  GOATS. 

From  this  we  see  that  the  investigations  have  not 
been  put  off  to  the  trial,  but  that  men  have  pre- 
viously been  getting  ready  for  it,  by  living  out  the 
trend  of  their  hearts,  developing  what  is  in  them,  and 
unseen  by  all  but  the  Eye  of  Heaven,  dividing 
themselves  into  two  great  parties — the  Sheep  and 
the  Goats. 

Goats  are  independent  creatures,  bold  and  self- 
sufficient;  sheep  are  fearful  and  crave  protection. 
The  goat  class,  like  Cain,  do  not  bring  the  offering 
of  sinners;  they  stand  and  justify  themselves.  The 
sheep  class,  like  Abel,  come  as  penitents,  and  as  they 
cannot  answer  for  their  wrong-doing,  hide  in  the 
atonement  of  Jesus. 

The  points  in  the  case  being  clear,  the  parties 
to  it  being  grouped  on  opposite  sides,  the  trial 
becomes  a  quick  and  simple  affair.  There  is  no 
litigation,  argument  or  dispute.  The  Lord  gives  His 
decision  in  favor  of  the  sheep,  waves  them  to  His 
right  hand,  the  goats  to  His  left,  and  the  judgment 
is  over. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Ziyc  lRe\\)  jEartb 

The  millennium  over  and  the  judgment  passed,  the 
next  thing  will  be  the  new  earth. 

13  Nevertheless  we,  according  to  his  promise,  look 
for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness. — 2  Peter  3:  13. 

The  world  has  gone  wrong,  and  He  only  who  made 
it  can  mend  it.  How  does  God  mend  things?  By 
recasting  them.  He  mends  our  souls  by  giving  them 
a  new  birth,  and  He  will  mend  the  earth  by  giving 
it  a  baptism  of  fire,  melting  it  down  and  starting  it 
over  again. 

God  hates  sin;  He  hates  whatever  has  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  it — the  garment  spotted  with  it  or 
the  place  where  it  has  occurred.  We  try  to  hide  the 
traces;  we  turn  our  old  graveyards  into  parks,  but 
we  cannot  cover  things  up  from  Him. 

We  say  of  some  forlorn  dwelling  that  it  is 
haunted.  In  the  eye  of  God  it  is  all  haunted; 
not  a  field  or  a  root  that  has  not  had  to  do  with 
some  sin.  Like  an  old  hospital,  every  wall  is  in- 
fected ;  so  our  earth,  reeking  with  crime  and  disease, 
will  be  burnt  out  and  done  over. 

108 


THE    NEW    EARTH.  100 


10  But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in 
the  night;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works  that  are 
therein  shall  be  burned  up. — 2  Peter  3:  10. 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  BLEST. 

The  earth  is  not  to  be  consumed  or  put  an  end  to, 
but  to  be  rearranged,  refitted,  and  kept,  perhaps,  as 
a  memorial  place  of  God's  justice  and  mercy.  The 
crucifixion  made  it  conspicuous  among  the  stars. 
Calvary  concerns  every  creature  of  God,  and  is  eter- 
nal. 

The  new  globe  will  not  be  contaminated  by  Satan 
or  sin,  or  show  their  scars.  The  curse  that  has 
overclouded  us  since  we  were  driven  from  paradise — 
the  curse  of  pain  and  sorrow  upon  our  homes,  and  of 
thorns  and  thistles  upon  our  fields — will  be  lifted 
and  gone,  and  the  planet  will  at  last  become  what 
God  meant  it  to  be — a  home  of  the  blest. 

The  new  earth  will  have  lakes  and  rivers  and 
waterfalls,  but  will  not,  as  now,  be  three-fourths 
covered  with  brine.  The  oceans  will  not  survive  the 
great  conflagration;  they  will  evaporate.  ^ There 
will  be  no  more  sea,"  which  means  we  shall  have 
three  times  as  much  available  surface — arable  soil — 
as  now.  IN'either  will  vast  regions,  as  Sahara  and 
Central  Asia,  be  given  up  to  sand.  ^'The  desert 
shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose." 

Quite  likely,  the  inhospitable  regions  around  the 
poles  will  be  freed  of  their  icy  chains,  and  Green- 
land, large  as  the  Mississippi  valley,  be  opened  for 


110  LOOKING   FORWARD. 

liabitation.  The  fossils  of  Siberia  prove  it  once  had 
a  genial  climate — why  not  again?  We  shall  not  be 
crowded  as  we  are  now;  there  will  be  room  for  all. 

THE    EARTH    REGENERATED. 

As  the  new  earth  will  be  free  from  death  and  de- 
struction, a  notable  change  must  take  place  in  its 
crust  and  atmosphere;  so  that  it  will  not  be  torn 
by  earthquakes,  swept  by  hurricanes,  or  poisoned  by 
malaria.  These  calamities  came  in  with  our  fall, 
and  will  go  out  with  our  recovery.  No  such  horrors 
as  those  of  Java  and  Lisbon  and  Martinque  and  the 
Pacific  coast  will  befall  our  new  abode. 

In  a  word^  the  earth,  like  its  inhabitants,  will  be 
born  again.  When  it  is  all  cleaned  up  we  shall  have 
a  beautiful  property,  which  visitors  from  elsewhere 
Avill  find  worth  coming  to  see — a  gem  in  the  firma- 
ment, which  a  glimpse  of  would  keep  us  from  ever 
being  satisfied  here  again.  When  we  actually  live 
there  we  shall  forget  our  wretched  quarters  now. 


17  For  behold,  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth:  and  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered,  nor 
come  into  mind. — Isaiah  65:  17. 


A  DIVINE  RESIDENCE. 

Best  of  all,  this  re-born  earth  will  be  honored  as 
one  of  the  royal  residences  of  the  Almighty.  This 
residence  will  be  like  (we  beg  pardon  for  the  feeble 
illustration)  the  Escurial  in  Spain,  or  the  Kremlin 


THE    iS^EW    EARTH.  Ill 

in  Moscow — a   collection   of   sumptuous   edificeS;    a 
city  of  palaces,  a  tabernacle  of  the  Most  High. 

This  holy  city,  so  beautiful  that  it  will  remind 
one  of  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  being  be- 
yond the  skill  of  human  hands,  will  be  built  in 
heaven,  and  brought  down  here  as  a  l^ew  Jerusalem, 
to  which  pilgrims  from  the  four  quarters  of  the 
earth,  and  from  the  farthest  reaches  of  the  universe 
beyond,  will  come  to  worship  at  the  Saviour's  feet. 

1  And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth:  for  the 
first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away;  and 
there  was  no  more  sea. 

2  And  I  John  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem, 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as 
a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband. 

3  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying, 
Behold  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will 
dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and 
God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God. 

4  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes; 
and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow, 
nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain:  for 
the  former  things  are  passed  away. — Revelation  21 :  i. 

8 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

j[rormcnt  not  iBtcrnal 

But  the  incorrigibly  wicked  and  unbelieving,  what 
will  become  of  them? 

We  hesitate  to  take  up  this  subject,  for  Christians 
differ  about  it.  Revealed  to  mankind  by  piecemeal, 
so  that  it  can  only  be  understood  by  comparing  one 
part  of  Scripture  with  another,  it  calls  for  careful 
and  patient  study  rather  than  quick  and  confident 
assertion.  So  we  speak  with  difiidence,  and  while 
giving  our  own  views  and  the  reasons  for  them 
we  hold  in  no  less  esteem  our  brethren  who  may  not 
agree  with  us. 

Upon  returning  one  Sunday  morning,  in  New 
York,  from  hearing  a  sermon  on  the  eternal  woes 
of  the  damned,  we  joined  a  lawyer,  who  was  a  de- 
voted Christian  and  the  senior  warden  of  an  import- 
ant church.  '^You  may  think  me  in  error,"  said 
he,  ^^but  I  cannot  agree  with  that  discourse.  It 
seems  to  me  vindictive  and  cruel  to  punish  unbelief 
in  this  world  with  everlasting  torments  in  the  next. 
It  is  not  like  God ;  it  is  against  my  natural  sense  of 
justice,  and  that  is  sacred  to  me." 

This  set  us  to  thinking.  Can  the  lawyer's  objec- 
J12 


TOKMENT    NOT    ETERNAL.  113 

tion  be  answered  ?  Another  thing  startled  us :  How 
can  an  atrectionate  wife  be  happy  in  heaven  if  she 
knows  her  husband  or  children  are  suffering  horribly 
below  ? 

So  it  has  come  about  that,  while  the  doctrine  is 
held  by  our  sects  it  is  seldom  preached.  ^'We  do  not 
preach  it/'  once  said  a  clergyman,  discussing  this 
point,  ^'because  it  would  lead  to  infidelity."  Here 
we  asked  ourselves:  ''Can  a  doctrine  be  true  and 
really  in  the  Bible,  which  has  to  be  kept  out  of  the 
pulpit  ? 

The  history  of  the  tenet  also  made  us  suspicious. 
It  was  mostly  urged  in  the  Dark  Ages  to  terrify 
the  people  into  submission  to  the  priesthood,  as 
may  be  seen  in  the  paintings  and  sculptures  of  the 
old  cathedrals,  and  was  adopted  by  the  reformers 
without  thorough  investigation. 

But  let  us  turn  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  only 
source  of  authority.  The  texts  relied  on  to  prove  the 
doctrine  are  these — 

9  And  the  third  angel  followed  them,  saying  with 
a  loud  voice.  If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his 
image,  and  receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in 
his  hand, 

10  The  same  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of 
God,  which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into  the 
cup  of  his  indignation;  and  he  shall  be  tormented 
with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  holy 
angels,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb: 

11  And  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for 
ever  and  ever:  and  they  have  no  rest  day  or  night, 
who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever 
receiveth  the  mark  of  his  name. — Revelation  14:  9. 

10  And  the  devil  that  deceiveth  them  was  cast  into 
the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  the  beast  and 


114  LOOKING   FOKWAPvD. 


the  false  prophet  are,  and  shall  be  tormented  day  and 
night  for  ever  and  ever. — Revelation  20:  10. 


THE    REAL    QUESTION. 

It  is  found,  however,  that  these  and  similar  pas- 
sages do  not  decide  the  question  at  issue,  as  the  words 
^'forever  and  ever''  in  the  sacred  writings  often  mean, 
not  eternity,  but  to  the  end  of  that  dispensation,  or 
state  of  things.  These  Scriptures  show  that  the  tor- 
ment lasts  as  long  as  the  wicked  last ;  but  they  do 
not  show  what  we  are  enquiring  for:  How  long  do 
the  wicked  last  ?  We  have  to  look  to  other  Scriptures 
for  that. 

In  Cruden's  ^'Concordance,"  a  standard  work,  in 
every  clergyman's  library,  under  the  word  "eter- 
nal,'^ we  find  this  statement:  ^'The  words 
^  eternal,'  '  everlasting,'  ^  forever  '  are  sometimes 
taken  for  a  long  time,  and  are  not  always  to 
be  understood  strictly."  Consulting  the  lexicog- 
raphers, Robinson,  Schrevelius,  Liddell  and  Scott, 
Greenfield,  Parkhurst  and  others,  we  find  that  the 
original  words  (Holam  in  the  Hebrew,  Aion  in  the 
Greek)  mean  the  full  life  of  the  thing  they  are  speak- 
ing of — the  actual  duration  of  that  life  to  be  known 
from  the  context. 

For  instance,  Avhen  the  prophet  Elisha  passed 
judgment  upon  Gehazi:  ^The  leprosy  therefore  of 
Naaman  shall  cleave  unto  thee  and  unto  thy  seed 
forever  (2  Kings  5:  27),  he  did  not  mean  that  the 
leprosy  was  to  be  of  unending  duration,  but,  as  Dr. 
Adam  Clarke  says,  ^^till  his  posterity  became  extinct." 


TORMENT    NOT    ETERNAL.  115 

As  we  read  further  on  in  Revelation  we  see  that 
the  ^'torments  forever  and  ever"  cannot  mean  for 
eternity,  strictly  understood,  but  for  the  period  up 
to  the  last  judgment,  as  at  that  judgment  hell,  the 
lake  of  torment,  delivers  up  its  dead  and  ceases  to  be. 

THE    TWO     LAKES. 

It  would  save  us  from  confusion  to  remember  there 
are  two  lakes  of  fire  referred  to  in  Scripture — one 
before  the  judgment,  the  other  after.  The  first, 
called  ''hell,"  alluded  to  in  the  original  as  the  Tar- 
tarian hades,  is  a  place  of  torment.  It  is  where  the 
king  of  Babylon  went  to  (see  page  13),  and  where 
Dives,  the  rich  man,  was  when  he  begged  for  a 
drop  of  water  to  cool  his  tongue,  as  he  was  ''tor- 
mented in  this  flame." 

This  lake  of  fire  lasts  till  the  judgment,  the  close 
of  the  dispensation,  forever  as  to  the  incorrigibly 
wicked  and  unbelieving,  for  at  the  judgment  it  is 
all  over  with  them:  they,  with  their  lake  of  fire, 
are  cast  into  another,  which,  in  our  translation,  is 
also  called  "hell,"  but  in  the  original,  Gehenna. 
This  Gehenna  is  for  a  purpose  entirely  different 
from  the  other  lake  of  fire.  It  is  not  for  torment, 
but  for  extinction.  It  is  called  "the  second  death." 
Torments  cease  there,  because  the  tormented  them- 
selves cease.  Like  victims  thrown  into  the  crater 
if  Kilauea,  their  sufferings  come  to  an  end ;  they  are 
consumed  in  a  moment;  their  existence  terminates; 
they  cease  to  be  because  their  names  are  not  written  in 
the  Book  of  Life.     Here  is  the  record — 


116  LOOKING    FORWARD. 


11  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him  that  sat 
on  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven  fled 
away;  and  there  was  found  no  place  for  them. 

12  And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before 
God;  and  the  books  were  opened:  and  another  book 
was  opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life:  and  the  dead 
were  judged  out  of  those  things  which  were  written 
in  the  books,  according  to  their  works. 

13  And  the  sea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it; 
and  death  and  hell  delivered  up  the  dead  which  were 
in  them:  and  they  were  judged  every  man  according 
to  their  works. 

14  And  death  and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire, 
this  is  the  second  death. 

15  And  whosoever  was  not  found  written  in  the 
book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. — Revelation 
20:  II. 

REDUCED   TO   NOTHING. 

This  is  the  close  of  human  torment.  Thus  are 
we  brought  to  the  fact  now  held  by  our  wisest  schol- 
ars and  divines — the  total  annihilation  of  the  un- 
redeemed at  the  ultimate  wind-up  of  things.  The 
wicked  have  no  history  after  the  second  death,  the 
final  lake  of  fire. 

I^ot  a  verse  in  the  Bible  says  the  impenitent  suffer 
after  the  judgment ;  a  hundred  in  one  way  or  another 
say  they  are  extinguished. 

We  have  space  for  a  few  of  these  passages — 

THE    WICKED    SHALL    PERISH. 

20  But  the  wicked  shall  perish,  and  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  shall  be  as  the  fat  of  lambs:  they  shall 
consume;  into  smoke  shall  they  consume  away. 
— Psalm  Z7'-  20. 

THEY  SHxVLL  BE  CUT  OFF. 
22  For  such  as  be  blessed  of  him  shall  inherit  the 


TORMEJ^TT    NOT    ETERNAL.  117 

earth;  and  they  that  be  cursed  of  him  shall  be  cut  off. 

— Psalm  Z7'-  22. 

38  But  the  transgressors  shall  be  destroyed  to- 
gether: the  end  of  the  wicked  shall  be  cut  off.— Psalm 
37:38. 

THEY    SHALL    BE    DESTEOYED. 

20  The  Lord  preserveth  all  them  that  love  him: 
but  all  the  wicked  will  he  destroy. — Psalm  145:20. 

13  Enter  ye  in  at  the  strait  gate;  for  wide  is  the 
gate,  and  broad  is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to  destruc- 
tion, and  many  there  be  which  go  in  thereat: — Mat- 
thew 7:  13. 

28  And  fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are 
not  able  to  kill  the  soul :  but  rather  fear  him  which 
is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell. — Mat- 
thew 10:  28. 

9  Who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruc- 
tion from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory 
of  his  power; — 2  Thesslonians  1:9. 

(God  is  present  everywhere;  therefore  destruction 
from  His  presence  is  annihilation.) 


THEY    SHALL    BE    CONSUMED. 

13  Consume  them  in  wrath,  consume  them,  that 
they  may  not  be: — Psalm  59:  1 3- 

For  behold,  the  day  cometh,  that  shall  burn  as  an 
oven;  and  all  the  proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do  wickedly, 
shall  be  stubble:  and  the  day  that  cometh  shall  bum 
them  up,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  that  it  shall  leave 
them  neither  root  nor  branch. — Malachi  4:  i. 

(If  they  are  left  without  root  or  branch,  what 
is  left  of  them  to  exist  and  suffer?) 

THEY   SHALL    NOT    BE. 

12  Thou  shalt  seek  them,  an^  shalt  not  find  them, 
even  them  that  contended  with  thee:  they  that  war 


118  LOOKIXG   POKWARD. 


against  thee  shall  be  as  nothing,  and  as  a  thing  of 
nought. — Isaiah  41 :  12. 

35  Let  the  sinners  be  consumed  out  of  the  earth, 
and  let  the  wicked  be  no  more. — Psahn  104:35. 

10  For  yet  a  little  while,  and  the  wicked  shall  not 
be;  yea,  thou  shalt  diligently  consider  his  place,  and 
it  shall  not  be.— Psalm  ZT-  lO- 

15  For  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  near  upon  all  the 
heathen:  as  thou  hast  done,  it  shall  be  done  unto 
thee:  thy  reward  shall  return  upon  thine  own  head. 

16  For  as  ye  have  drunk  upon  my  holy  mountain,  so 
shall  all  the  heathen  drink  continually,  yea,  they  shall 
drink,  and  they  shall  swallow  down,  and  they  shall 
be  as  though  they  had  not  been. — Obadiah  15. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

jextinguiebment 

Extinguishment  is  an  awful  doom.  Men  fear  it 
more  than  hell.  There  is  a  latent  feeling  in  suicides 
that  hell  may  become  tolerable,  or  give  a  chance  of 
eventual  escape.  While  there  is  life  there  is  hope. 
But  extinction  ends  all  that.  So,  whatever  his  misery 
man  clings  to  existence.  That  is  all  there  is 
to  him;  he  never  willingly  gives  it  up. 

But  it  is  just  that  which  awaits  the  obstinate 
sinner.  He  argues  to  himself:  ''My  soul  came  from 
God,  and  some  way  He  will  keep  it.  He  is  bound 
to.  The  soul  doesn't  die  and  fall  to  pieces  like  the 
body;  it  is  immortal;  it  never  perishes." 

The  sinner  is  mistaken ;  God  is  not  bound  to  pre- 
serve his  existence.  Look  at  the  situation.  Life 
is  not  inherent  in  us  at  all;  it  is  the  gift  of  God: 
''In  Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.'' 
Inherent  immortality  belongs  to  God  alone.  Not  a 
word  in  Scripture  speaks  of  immortality  as  the 
natural  endowment  of  man.  On  the  contrary,  the 
apostle  says  plainly  that  God  only  possesses  it  in- 
dependently in  Himself — 

119 


120  LOOKING   FORWARD. 


15  Which  in  his  times  he  shall  shew,  who  is  the 
blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the  King  of  kings,  and 
Lord  of  lords; 

16  Who  only  hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  the  light 
which  no  man  can  approach  unto:  whom  no  man  hath 
seen,  nor  can  see;  to  whom  be  honour  and  power 
everlasting.      Amen.— i    Timothy    6:  15. 


EXISTENCE   CONDITIONAL. 

Endless  being  is  at  the  option  of  the  Creator.  Of 
existence,  as  well  as  of  breath,  it  may  be  said :  ^'The 
Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away." 

God  gave  ns  life,  with  rules  how  to  live.  In  the 
trouble  at  Eden  man  disobeyed  the  rules,  and  God 
took  back  the  gift.  When  His  creatures  break  His 
laws,  God  has  no  more  use  for  them.  They  have 
forfeited  their  right  to  exist.  ''In  the  day  thou 
eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die." 

But  now  comes  in  Jesus  and  proffers  His  blood 
for  our  redemption.  God  accepts  the  atonement, 
provided  that  we  do,  too,  and  all  is  happy  again. 
But  suppose  (strange  thought!)  that  the  sinner  re- 
jects the  atonement  made  to  save  him.  He  does 
not  believe  in  it!  What  then?  Why,  the  proffer 
that  has  been  refused  is  withdrawn;  the  gift  of 
everlasting  life  is  revoked,  and  the  sinner  falls  again 
into  the  condemnation  to  eternal   death. 

Thus  it  comes  that  those  who  neglect  this  great 
salvation,  at  the  last  judgment,  lose  their  existence. 
They  are  not  consigned  to  eternal  torture,  but  are 
put  back  to  the  time  before  God  created  them.  They 
are,  as  Scripture  says,  ''cut  off;"  "destroyed;"  "con- 
sumed root  and  branch;"  "they  cease  to  be;"  "they 


EXTINGUISHMENT.  121 

become  as  nothing  and  a  thing  of  naught  ;'^  "they  are 
as  though  they  had  not  been." 

IF  NO  LIFE^  NO  TOKMENT. 

In  the  Scriptures  we  are  told  that  Jesus  gives  to 
His  people  eternal  life:  "He  that  hath  the  Son, 
hath  life ;  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God,  hath 
not  life.''  But  if  the  sinner,  after  the  judgment, 
has  not  life,  he  cannot  suffer.  It  is  only  the  living 
who  suffer.  We  say  of  any  dead  thing:  "It  is  out 
of  its  misery."  How  then  can  we  talk  of  those 
being  in  torment  who  have  been  consigned  not  only 
to  death,  but  to  the  second  death? 

To  those  of  us  who  accept  the  Saviour's  atoning 
sacrifice  the  new  life  we  enjoy  is  not  the  primeval 
gift  to  man,  but  is  the  gift  of  God  through  Jesus. 
We  are  in  Him  and  He  in  us ;  He  is  the  vine,  we  are 
the  branches ;  we  are  members  of  His  body,  and  now 
and  at  the  final  reckoning  we  are  "accepted  in  the 
Beloved." 

But  where  does  this  leave  those  who  are  not  in 
Jesus  ?    It  leaves  them  nowhere. 

These  facts  are  set  forth  in  the  following  Scrip- 
tures— 

14  And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wil- 
derness, even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up: 

15  That  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  eternal  life. 

16  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should   not   perish,   but   have    everlasting   life.— John 


122  LOOKING  ^o]^^vAl;D. 


27  My  sheep  hear  my  voice,  and  I  know  them,  and 
they  follow  me: 

28  And  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life;  and  they 
shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  pluck  them  out  of 
my  hand. — John    10;  27. 

21  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof 
ye  are  now  ashamed?  for  the  end  of  those  things  is 
death. 

22  But  now  being  made  free  from  sin,  and  become 
servants  to  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness, 
and  the  end  everlasting  life. 

23  For  the  wages  of  sin  is  death:  but  the  gift  of 
God  is  eternal  life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
— Romans  6:  21. 

11  And  this  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  to  us 
eternal  life:  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son. 

12  He  that  hath  the  Son,  hath  life;  and  he  that  hath 
not  the  Son  of  God,  hath  not  life. 

13  These  things  have  I  written  unto  you  that  believe 
on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God;  that  ye  may  know 
that  yc  have  eternal  life,  and  that  ye  may  believe  on 
the  name  of  the  Son  of  God. — i  John  5:11. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

(Bebenua 

That  the  wicked  are  at  last  extinguished  appears 
from  what  we  know  of  the  final  lake  of  fire. 

The  facts  here  are  hidden  by  the  unfortunate 
wording  of  our  English  Bible.  The  translators  did 
not  put  down  the  word  '"'Scheol"  and  "Hades"  just 
as  they  found  them^  but  translated  them  "hell." 
These  words  mean  the  place  of  departed  spirits,  good 
or  bad ;  but  when  they  came  to  the  word  "Gehenna," 
the  place  of  the  lost,  the  lake  of  fire  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels,  they  translated  that  "hell,"  too ; 
hence  confusion  and  misunderstanding. 

Our  English  version  in  general  is  almost  mirac- 
ulously correct,  but  in  this  case  it  would  have  been 
better  to  transfer  the  words  as  they  are  in  the  orig- 
inal and  not  make  any  translation  of  them  at  all. 

The  word  "Gehenna"  is  used  twelve  times  in 
Scripture  for  the  place  to  which  the  obstinately 
wicked  are  doomed;  into  which  they  are  cast  after 
the  books  have  been  opened  at  the  day  of  judgment 
and  their  sentence  pronounced. 

WHAT   DOES    GEHENNA   MEAN  ? 

It  is  simply  the  Hebrew  word  for  the  "Vale  of 
Hinnom,"  the  dumping  ground  of  Jerusalem. 

123 


124  LOOKING   FORWARD. 

The  Jew,  looking  down  at  night  from  the  walls 
of  the  city  into  this  valley,  could  see  the  fires  kept 
burning  to  consume  the  refuse  and  dead  animals 
thrown  there  by  the  street  scavengers.  The  dark 
forms  of  the  men  heaping  up  these  ghastly  piles,  the 
lurid  glare,  and  the  loathsome  work,  furnished  Grod's 
illustration  of  the  end  of  the  damned. 


WAS  GEHENNA  A  PLACE  OF  TORMENT  ? 

Not  at  all.  We  do  not  torment  a  dead  horse  or 
a  dead  dog.  We  burn  them,  not  for  torture,  but  to 
get  them  out  of  the  way;  and  the  teaching  of  the 
word  ^"Gehenna"  is  that  the  condemned  are  sent  there, 
not  to  be  kept  in  misery,  but  to  be  put  an  end  to. 

It  is  a  sad  outlook  for  proud  sinners  that  at  the 
last  they  will  be  treated  as  offal,  nuisances  to  be 
dumped  out  of  sight,  but  there  is  no  question  of  the 
fact. 

THE   WEEPING   AND   WAILING. 

But  tvJiere  come  in  the  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth  Jesus  speaks  of? 

They  are  heard  not  in  Gehenna,  but  before  it  is 
reached.     ISTotice  the  wording — 


49  So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world:  the  angels 
shall  come  forth,  and  sever  the  wicked  from  among 
the  just, 

50  And  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire: 
there  shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth. — Mat- 
thew 13:49. 


GEHENNA.  125 

As  this  wailing  occurs  at  the  end  of  the  world, 
when  the  wicked  are  severed  from  their  holy  com- 
panions, the  agony  comes  from  the  terrible  situation 
and  dread  of  the  coming  doom.  There  are  shrieks 
when  the  sentence  is  pronounced,  and  on  the  way  to 
Gehenna,  but  none  there.  In  death  chambers  there  is 
weeping,  but  graveyards  are  silent,  and  no  sound  of 
pain  comes  from  those  in  Gehenna;  they  are  past 
that. 

HELL  TO  BE  GONE. 

Death  leaves  some  unsightly  remains,  but  Gehenna 
leaves  nothing.  It  is  as  Scripture  says:  'The  sec- 
ond death,"  or  as  the  hymn  has  it,  ''the  death  of  death 
and  helFs  destruction." 

Hell  is  not  a  permanent  institution  in  God's 
universe.  At  the  end  of  this  great  war  with  Satan, 
death  and  hell  are  cast  into  the  fire  of  extinction; 
they  are  put  out  of  existence ;  they  cease  to  be.  The 
Creator  who  can  create  out  of  nothing  can  turn  his 
work  back  to  nothing. 

Satan's  followers  share  the  same  fate  with  him  and 
his  abode.  In  all  the  realms  of  God  there  is  no  place 
for  them.  They  are  not  allowed  by  suffering  to 
sadden  the  dwellers  on  high.  They  have  ceased  to 
suffer : 

They  have  vanished; 
They  are  obliterated ; 
All  that  is  left  of  them  is  a  reminiscence. 

THE   END. 


kW 


FEB  3      1937