crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 1 Thess. iv: 13-18.But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will G 1 bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be CAUGHT UP together with them in the clouds to MEET the Lord in the air: and so shall we EVER be with the LORD. Wherefore comfort one another with these wORDS. John iii: 2-3. 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. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. Luke xii: 35-40. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find WATCHING. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye THINK NOT. Titus ii: 11-15. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things SPEAK, and EXHORT, and REBUKE with all authority.

Proof from the Faith of the Church.Said CLEMENT, a. d. 96, "Wherefore let us every hour expect the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, because we know not the day of our Lord's appearing. Said CYPRIAN, A. D. 220, "It were a self-contradictory and incompatible thing for us, who pray that the kingdom of God may quickly come, to be looking for long life here below... Let us ever in anxiety and cautiousness be awaiting the sudden advent of the Lord." Said CYRIL, A. D. 350. "Do thou look for the true Christ, the Son of God, the only Begotten, who is henceforth to come not from earth but from heaven, appearing to all more bright than any lightning, or any other brilliance, with angels for his guards, that he may judge quick and dead....Venture not to declare when these things shall be, nor on the other hand abandon thyself to slumber, for he saith WATCH, &c. . .but it behoveth us to know the SIGNS of the END,-and we are looking for Christ." Said AUGUSTINE concerning the Virgins in Mat. xxv, "But men continually say to themselves, Lo, the Day of Judgment is coming now, so many evils are happening, so many tribulations thicken; behold all things which the prophets have spoken have well nigh fulfilled-the day of judgment is already at hand.' They who speak thus speak in faith, go out, as it were, with such thoughts to meet the bridegroom." Said TYNDALE," Christ and his apostles... warned to look for Christ's coming again every hour." Said JOHN BRADFORD, "Covet not the things that are in THIS WORLD, but long for the coming of the Lord Jesus." Said JOHN PISCATOR, "The Advent of the Lord is to be looked for with perpetual vigilance,especially by ministers of the word. ." Said LATIMER, "Let us therefore have a desire that this day may come quickly; let us hasten God forward; let us cry unto him, day and night, Most Merciful Father, thy kingdom come." Said RIDLEY, "The world, without doubt, this I do believe, and therefore I say it,-draws towards an end.' Let us, with John, the servant of God, cry in our hearts unto our Saviour Christ, Come, Lord Jesus, come." Said CALVIN, "We must hunger after Christ, we must seek and contem

plate till the dawning of that great day, when our Lord will fully manifest the glory of his kingdom." Said LuTHER, "I ardently hope, that amidst these internal dissensions on the earth, Jesus Christ will hasten the day of his coming, and that he will crumble the whole universe into dust." Said BAXTER, "This is the day that all believers should long, and hope, and wait for, as the accomplishment of all the work of their redemption, and all the desires and endeavors of their souls. Hasten, O Lord, this blessed day. Said JOSEPH ALLEINE, writing from Ilchester jail to his flock, "This is the day I look for, and wait for, and have laid up all my hopes in. If the Lord return not, I profess myself undone my preaching is vain, and my suffering is vain, and the bottom in which I have entrusted all my hopes is forever miscarried." Said the seraphic RUTHERFORD, "The Lord hath told you what ye should be doing till he come; wait and hasten, saith Peter, for the coming of your Lord. All is night that is here, in respect to ignorance and daily ensuing troubles... therefore sigh and long for the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day of the Son of man, when the shadows shall flee away. Persuade yourself that the King is coming. Read his letter sent before Him,-Rev. xxii: 20.Behold I come quickly. Wait, with the wearied nightwatch, for the breaking of the eastern sky." Said MATTHEW HENRY, "As Christians, we profess not only to believe and look for, but love and long for the appearing of Christ, and to act in our whole conversation with regard to it.The second coming of Christ is the centre in which all the lines of our religion meet, and to which the whole of the divine life hath a constant reference and tendency." Said INCREASE MATHER, "You must not only look for, not only believe that such a day will come, but you must hasten to it--that is, by earnest desires and longing wishes. Said DODDRIDGE, "He comes quickly, and I trust you can answer with a glad Amen that the warning is not trouble some or unpleasant to your ears; but rather that his coming-his certain, his speedy coming-is the object of your delightful hope, and of your longing expectation. For with

regard to his final appearance to judgment, our Lord says, Surely I come quickly.' And will you not here also sing your part in the joyful Anthem? Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus."

Said JOHN WESLEY:

"The church in her militant state,

Is weary and cannot forbear;
The saints in an agony wait

To see Him again in the air:
The news of his coming I hear
And join in the catholic cry-
O Jesus in triumph appear,

APPEAR in the CLOUDS of the sky."

And WATTS exclaims:

"How bright the vision! O how long
Shall this glad hour delay,

Fly swifter round, ye wheels of Time,
And bring the welcome day!"

The above are a few of the plain truths taught in the word of God. Let us, like the Bereans of old, search the Scriptures daily and see if these things are so. Let us give heed to the words of the Lord and seek for eternal life through Jesus Christ at his coming.

[X]

VOICE OF WARNING

FROM

THE FOUR WINDS:

BY D. T. TAYLOR

"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth."-Luke, 21: 26.

EVER since the great reformation, three centuries ago, when the light of heaven so glorious, flashed upon her pathway, enabling her to discover the huge Antichrist, and to discern for the first time for centuries, her true position in the history of the age, as being far advanced towards its consummation, the Church of God on earth has earnestly sought to penetrate the Divine mind and purposes, as revealed in His Holy Word, with reference to her destiny in time's future, and her approach to the solemn period of the end of the world. And not without manifold success has she pursued her anxious inquiries on this momentous subject, scattering the light among the nations until the great voice that begun its warnings with Wickliff, "The morning star of the reformation, and Luther, its rising sun, gathering strength with advancing centuries, and sustained by the sure prophetic word, and countless magnificent signs and unmistakable tokens of the end, has now burst upon the ears of the weary church, and careless proud world, "as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," proclaiming the rapid approach of a vast crisis in the destiny of human society-the imminence of the millennial era-aye, the epoch of the establishment of the everlasting Kingdom of God on earth.