webjournals
.ac.edu.au

02 That Blessed Hope

Dawn

[2] GN vol. 16, no. 2, February 1925

A Fragrance of Christ

-

(2 Corinthians 2: 15. Dr. Weymouth's Translation.)

-

They say that once a piece of common clay

Such fragrance breathed as from a garden blows:

"My secret is but this” they heard it say;

"I have been near the rose."

-

And those there are who bear about with them

The power with thoughts of Christ men's heart to stir;

For having knelt to kiss His Garment's Hem,

Their garments smell, of myrrh.

-

So grant, I pray Thee, Lord, that by Thy grace

The fragrance of Thy life may dwell in me:

That, as I move about from place to -place,

Men's thoughts may turn to Thee.

-

—Rev. FRANK J. OXLEY, in "Jewish Missionary Magazine."

My Beloved.

-

Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace poured into Thy lips. (Psalm 45: 2.)

-

I cannot live without Him,

Nor would I if I could;

He is my daily portion,

My medicine and my food.

He's altogether lovely,

None can with Him compare,

The chief among thousands,

The fairest of the fair.

So let our lips and lives express

The holy Gospel we profess;

So let our works and virtues shine,

To prove the doctrine all divine.

Thus shall we best proclaim abroad

The honors of our Saviour God,

When His salvation reigns within,

And grace subdues the power of sin.

That Blessed Hope.

Why should we not hope that the coming year will realise its fruition? When the first faint lines of early dawn spread their roseate hues across the eastern skies, we know the sun—clad in his golden splendor— will soon majestically rise into our horizon. So, when we see the signs fulfilling that our Kingly Bridegroom gave us, we likewise know that our redemption draweth nigh; that soon the Sun of Righteousness will rise, and our eyes shall see the King in His beauty—that glorious Being Whom our hearts have enshrined "far above all," and we shall hear His voice like-the sound of many waters, calling in tones of tenderest endearment: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." Dare any bid us not to hope that the Desire of all Nations may come during 1925?

Chronological lines converge. Watching, we see the "line clear" signal set for His approach. The "latter rain" is falling on the earth (Hosea 6: 3), antichrists multiply (1 John 2: 18), the fig tree buds (Luke 21: 29), millionaires spring; up (James 5: 1-8), doctrines of devils are received, seducing spirits exult (1 Tim. 4:1), old wives' fables abound (1 Tim. 4: 7), believing faith is reproached (1 Tim. 4: 10), marriages are nullified (.1 Tim. 4:3), men depart from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1), pleasure runs riot, profanity is rife (1 Tim. 4: 7 and 2 Tim, 3: 2), consciences are seared (1 Tim. 4: 2), hypocritical lies are the fashion, meats are forbidden (1 Tim. 4:3), pride rears its head, boasting is tolerated, disobedience goes unchecked, natural affection is all but missing, ingratitude is omnipresent, unholiness is respectable (2 Tim. 3: 2, and Luke 21: 9), false accusa-o.:s are woven, incontinency is patent, the good are despised, traitors are ubiquitous, the headstrong and high-minded stiffen their necks, God's power is denied, truth is resisted, minds are corrupted, compacts are broken, folly is manifested (2 Tim. 3), ferocity is growing, iniquity abounds, perilous times have come (2 Tim. 3: 1), wars and commotions terrify, nation rises against nation, kingdom against kingdom (Luke 21: 10), in divers places the earth quakes (Luke 21: 11), the red horse has taken peace from the earth (Rev. 6: 4), the black horse starves his victims (Rev. 6: 5, 6), the pale horse slays one-fourth of men (Rev. 6: 8), there are signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roar, men's hearts fail them for fear (Luke 21: 25, 26), many wax cold in love, the Gospel is everywhere preached (Matt, 24: 12-14), war requires many ships (Dan. 1 11:40), they say "peace and safety" (1 Thes. 5: 3), men run to and fro in constantly increasing numbers, knowledge is wonderfully increased (Dan.-12: 4), none of theJJ wicked understand, the wise understand (Danel 12: 10).

May we not number among the wise such men as F. B. Meyer, G. Campbell Morgan, A. C. Dixon, W. Fuller Gooch, J. Stuart Holden, H. Webb-Peploe, F. B. Webster, Dinsdale T. Young, Alfred Bird, and J. S. Harrison? These have all signed a manifesto stating: "That the revelation of our Lord may be expected at any moment, when He will be manifested as evidently as He was to His disciples on the evening of His resurrection. That the completed Church will be translated to be 'for ever with-the Lord.' "

These eminent authorities are not alone in their expectation of our Lord's early advent, for in the "Advent Herald" of last July, Mr. F. W. Armstrong confirms his father's calculations that by the end of 1926, or early in 1927, there will be an Imperial Roman Csesar at the head of this world. As this cannot be until the .body of Christ is caught away (2 Thes. 2:?), the parousia cannot, according to these two chronologists, be later than early in 1927.

Henry G. Evershed tells us in the "Christian Herald" that Dr. Guinness appears to have thought the times of the Gentiles would end in 1923 or, at the latest, 1934, Rev. Hubert Brooke, M.A., says: "Whenever we see the heel of the Ottoman race lifted from Jerusalem, we may say that, at that very moment, the Lord returns."

In 1910, Captain-surgeon Robert Crossley wrote: "In 1925, the Bridegroom comes; first part of the first resurrection "

"The Prophetic News" says: "1926 to 1927, the Parousia! The triumphant shout of the Lord; the voice of the archangel and the trump of God may be heard any day or hour. Assuming that an error has been made in the chronology from which these conclusions were drawn; such error must be small."

The late Rev. M. Baxter, author of "Forty Coming-Wonders," says: "The second advent of Christ into the air Ls expected between 1924 and 1926."

[3] GN vol. 16, no. 2, February 1925

. . . [damaged text]. . . “The Dawning of That Day," the author, H. G. J. Howe

. . . [damaged text]. . . tells us we are now on the eve of the coming

. . . [damaged text]. . . the church, which will take place at the first

. . . [damaged text]. . . of the second coming of .Jesus Christ, when He

. . . [damaged text]. . . into the air.

The Rev. Sale Harrison in "The Future of Europe” writes: "He may come at any moment."

Some may think, "false prophets!" These statements, however, can scarcely be termed "prophecies," but rather are "deductions from chronological calculations, drawn from history."

At the same time, we must admit that prophecy is

. . . [damaged text]. . . gift still in evidence, for God has said that He will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants, the prophets '(Amos 3: 7).. . We .have an example in a pamphlet written by "Oxonian," and printed A.D. 1897, there we find the remarkable statement that the Tsar of Russia would meet his doom in 1922. Brother Todd tells us in a recent letter that someone is circulating pamphlets in India, saying that the Christ is to come in February, 1925. The Buddhists say a god is to come in April; the Mohammedans expect one in October, and the Theosophist's great world-teacher is .also expected this year.

Little children," said John, "it is the last time; and, as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists;WHEREBY WE KNOW THAT IT IS THE LAST TIME."

THE SECOND ADVENT.

-

It is extraordinary that, just when the very fabric the world is tottering, and warned by preliminary judgements, we stand on the edge of untold catastrophe, men should be so blind as to think to mop back the ocean of judgment with the Copec broom.* "After what Europe has gone through,” says the "Times" (October 3, 1924), "no illusions can remain as to the probable effects of another big war. It would mean nothing less than the downfall of civilisation, and the dread of such a fate is still hanging over all the European nations." All world-reform is broad-based on the denial of every Second Advent, prophecy of God;

Therefore, the Holy Ghost is not behind it, and its doom is sealed before it starts. For even if reform were based on regeneration, Armageddon blocks the way to a converted world, and all reform wrecks at last on Antichrist. Optimism can be a profound antagonism to God; but, in the churches of Christ, it is often a totally unconscious and ignorant antagonism, which can yield gloriously to the far profounder optimism of a returning Christ. So then our duty is plain. It is a simple and actual fact that only by a constant, humble, affectionate, but insistent pressure of prophetic truth on Christ's Church can she be saved from plunging headlong into a Socialism which will be, as it has always been, the grave of her spirituality. The revival that is supremely needed is a revival of the red-hot prophecies of God. Happy is he who can say, with the words proved true by the event:—

-

"I see the last dark, bloody sunset,

I see the dread Avenger's form;

I hear the Armageddon's onset—

But I shall be above the storm.

-

"There comes a moaning and a sighing,

There comes the death-clod's heavy fall,

A thousand agonies of dying—

But I shall be above them all."

—"THE DAWN."

All is Vanity

-

It is less than six years ago that five men gathered around a peace table in France to bring to an end the bloodiest war in all the history of the world. They were the five dominant figures in the five dominant nations of the world, and more responsibility rested on them than ever rested on five men before since time began. In less than five years from the time they met, every one of them had disappeared as the dominant figure in his own land. Within five years, sentiment had so changed that someone else was the dominant figure!

Men—how transient is their fame! Men rise and reign and pass away! Christ alone rises and reigns and remains! ,- '

—WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.'

A Literal Hope.

-

My hope is a literal one,

Not vague, undefined and all blurred;

I like one distinct or else none,

And based on the unchanging Word,

For all other hopes will be shattered ere long;

But trusting God's promises cannot be wrong!

-

I look for a literal Christ

To reign on a literal earth;

In literal water baptized,

I look for the new second birth;

By spirit upraised out of Earth's mighty womb,

If dying before the Messiah should come.

-

When literal fire shall fall,

As once on the Sodomite plain,

Destroying God's enemies all-

Incorrigible foes must be slain—

For death, literal death, is the wages of sin;

Then strive Life Eternal thro’ Jesus to win.

-

A literal Zion and Hill,

A literal Ruler thereon;

A literal City which will

From heaven come literally down;

To rest on Foundations, a mountain-like home,

Uprising twelve miles, a magnificent dome!

-

A literal Home for the saints,

Who reign on the earth with God's Son;

With strength which never more faints,

And a literal Kingdom to come;

When God's will on earth shall be done.as in heaven,

By all men obeying the Law He has given.

-

A literal Despot and Lord,

But righteous, loving, and just;

To teach all the nations God's Word,

Obedience, righteousness, trust;

With immortal saints, when upraised as co-heirs,

To rule over mortals in all state affairs.

-

The literal cow and the" bear

Together shall literally feed;

The Lion come forth from his lair,

And a literal little child lead!

When birds shall trill forth their melodious lays,

To join all creation'in singing God's praise!

-

When sorrows and pains shall all cease,

And Paradise bloom forth again;

When Earth, all renewed, shall be peace,

And goodwill prevail amongst men;

The Sabbath be honored, Creation made new,

And the words of the prophets come literally true!

-

—ALBERT SMITH.

Isaiah 66; 23.