trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." 35 The next in order, when the voice of the Almighty has shaken heaven and earth, is the appearing of the sign of the Son of man in heaven. The Scriptures do not tell us exactly what this will be, but the effect thereof will be very terrible to the inhabitants of the earth, and immediately after this they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with all his holy angels" with power and great glory. Then the Lord sends his angels while the last trumpet sounds, awaking the righteous dead out of their slumber, and the angels gather all the elect unto Christ. Then they meet the Lord in the air and go home with him to the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem.3 38 The time of probation is brief. The end of all things is at hand. Let us therefore be sober, and watch unto prayer that we may meet the dear Saviour in peace. 35 Matt. 24 30, 31. 36 Matt. 25 31. 38 John 14: 2, 3; 21: 10. CHAPTER XII. Now PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE. learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 1 Earth is waxing old, and approaching its dissolution. When we see this, then we know that Jesus is soon coming to make all things new. Signs in the sun, moon, and stars testify that Jesus is near, even at the doors; and the curse devouring the earth testifies of the same. 2 In the beginning, the Lord laid the foundation of the earth; but these created things shall perish; they shall all wax old as a garment and be changed. But God is the same. His years fail not, and his faithfulness does not fail. Praise the Lord! "The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished."3 The earth also is defiled under The effects of the devouring curse of God upon the earth are seen in many ways. Half of the people die in 1 Matt. 24: 32-35. 3 Isa. 51: 6. 2 Heb. 1: 10-12. their childhood. The human race is greatly weakened, and it continues to be weakened more and more. In the beginning the people lived nearly one thousand years. Now they live hardly seventy years. They have also deteriorated in stature, which is seen not only from the Bible, but also from discovered remains of former ages. Man Decreasing in Stature and in Strength. Speaking of the former size of man, the Encyclopedia Britannica, article Giant, says: "It was a common opinion of the ancients that the human race had itself degenerated, the men of primeval ages having been of so far greater stature and strength as to be in fact gigantic." "In authentic history there are accounts of races of men of very large size. The Hebrew Scriptures allude to giants (Nephilim) before the flood, and in and about Palestine there were, in Joshua's time, the Rephaim, Anakim, Emin, and Zamzummim, all men of great stature. The names of Og, two Goliaths, Ishbibenob, and Saph are preserved to us. In comparatively recent times there was a belief that the Patagonians and the men of Guayaqill were giants; and it is now unquestionable that the former do considerably exceed in stature the average of mankind.” 5 "After the discovery of America, stories of gigantic races in the New World were not uncommon, and the Patagonians especially were said to be eight and even twelve feet in stature. It is now known that most of the men are six feet in height." THE FIELD IS WASTED. "The field is wasted, the land mourneth." "Be ye 117 ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers. With regard to productiveness the earth has sustained a great loss. Herodotus (446 B. C.) says: "The soil is well fitted for corn, for it produces never less than two hundred fold. In good years it will even produce three hundred fold." 5 Johnson's Cyclopedia, art. Giants. 6" Facts for the Times." 4th edition, p. 81. 7 Joel 1: 10, 11. In the days of our Saviour it produced from thirty to one hundred fold.. On the failure of grain crops in the United States, the New York Tribune, of Feb. 10, 1869, quotes the following from a California paper: "It will hardly be claimed for California, that, though she has exceptional lands which yield more per acre than any lands in the great West, her soil is more lasting than that of Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. Yet in those three States the average wheat crop has run down to less than twelve bushels per acre, and it cannot be long till wheat culture there must be abandoned as unprofitable. Our own experience is not much more encouraging. . . . In our oldest wheat raising districts there has been a marked decline in productions since 1866. In an agricultural report from Washington, D. C., dated June 17, 1870, and published in the Detroit Post, it is stated that: ... "Twenty years have wrought changes in the list of wheat-growing States that are suggestive and even startling. . . . Facts showing the decrease of yield in every State would be equally striking, and more sadly suggestive. . . . Many gloomy roports and forebodings of failure have come from the Golden State.'"9 The prophet says: "The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered because joy is withered away from the sons of J. F. Wolfinger, of Milton, Pa., in the N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 17, 1868, says: "That our apple trees bear less and poorer fruit than they did thirty and forty years ago, is generally true, and as generally regretted. And the real causes of the apple tree failing are, as yet, 8 Matt. 13: 8. "Facts for the Times," 4th edition, pp. 81, 82. 10 Joel I: 12. involved in mystery, and open to dispute. . . . I am inclined to think that want of manure, and want of proper ground culture, and the changes of our climate from moisture to a hot, scorching dryness, and the prevalence of insects, are the real causes of our appletrees' failing to produce plentiful crops of fine fruit as they did in generations gone by.' 11 The prophet Joel also speaks of destructive insects that should come, and then points to the great destruction from the Almighty when the day of the Lord is at hand. 12 The "Eighth Census Report" has the following: "In some instances, whole armies of destructive insects have rendered the labors of the husbandman unprofitable or fruitless. The wheat midge, the chinch-bug, and the army worm, besides those that have for years preyed on the products of the orchard and garden, occasion the loss of millions of dollars annually." The New York Tribune, Aug. 18, 1868, said: "Of these great scourges, the grasshopper, the Colorado potatobug, the chinch-bug, the strawberry grub, and the curculio, no preventives that can be generally applied are as yet known. We may say positively that destructive insects are increasing every year, and that they destroy as great an amount of food as is saved." 13 The Last Generation. The generation spoken of by our Saviour in Matt. 24:34 which shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled" must be the generation living in the last time, the generation which hears the message of the soon coming of the Lord, based upon the signs. This special message for the last generation is founded upon the fulfillment of the prophecies and signs seen in the last days, in heaven and earth, as well as the conditions found in nature and among men in religion and politics. This is in perfect harmony with the prophecies spoken in old times by the holy men 11 Facts for the Times," 3rd edition, pp. 174, 175. 12 Joel 1:4, 15. 13 Facts for the Times," 3rd edition, p. 176. |