The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-06-09

Unmistak able Indications Of His
Presence in the Worid---The
Symbolic Harvest, or DAY Of
the Son Of Man"--The Brewing
Between Capital and Labor
eliminating in Such Trouble
as Never was Since There was
a Nation"---The Rise and Fall
of Antichrist.
EDITOR GOLD LEAF:-At, and
about the time when the first advent
of the Saviour was due in our world,
Hall men were in expectation OF Him."
but great stumbling was the conse-
quence when His humble appearance
disappointed their high expectations.
The popular idea was, that Messiah
would make his appearance on the back
of some war-like steed, with a keen
and massive sword dangling by His
side-authoritatively commanding the
Romans to quit the country, hence the
great stumbling.
The popular idea with respect to the
'ssecond coming' is based on a SYM
bolic text with a literal meaning er-
roneously applied, that He will at
some far distant, indefinite time. Wis
IDLY descend in white shining body
seated on a ''great white throne''-
remaining stationary at some reason
able altitude in space, attended with
great demonstra misunderstanding, the
voice of the arch-angel, the sound of
the seventh trumphet, otherwise called
the ''trump of God" When, accord
ing to ''traditional orthordoxy''-
will be called up from the mythical
| depths of ''eternal woe''-countless
millions of unfortunate beings for the
sole purpose of being reminded of their
| former ''naughtiness, and then to be
peremptorily ordered back to the place
from whence they came-a place from
| which an infinite monster would
shrink; the majority of whom, (heathen)
would be at a loss to know why they
were called into existence to be so
cruelty and everlastingly consigned to
such fearful doom; which would GER
tainly be their sad and unutterable
fate if the requisite power was dele
gated to our unmerciful fellow men.
Let us rejoice, and clap our hands for
joy, that we are in the hands of our
own merciful and loving creator, who,
ever since sin has ruined our race, has
been silently laying down infinite
plans, and carrying out great and
merciful purposes with view to the
restoration of the whole of mankind to
their primeval Edenic happiness, and
to elevate them to far higher state of
bliss than that to which traditional
orthodoxy has doomed them. Another
text informs us that the second coming
will be similar to the silent approach
of thief in the night; both texts
though apparently conflicting, have
direct reference to the second advent,
and can be easily harmonized by those
who are competent to turn over the
sacred leaves of the Bible.
The angel who was present on the
occasion Of the ascension of the Saviour,
said to those who were watching His
disappearance among the clouds-''this
same Jesus which is taken up from you
into Heaven shall so come in like
maner as ye have seen Him 60 into
Heaven This statement of the
angel must be somewhat discouraging
to those who are expecting visible
demonstrations on that occasion, and
those who are promising themselves a
rich morbid feast, will be disappoint
ed, inasmuch as the return is to be in
''like manner to the going away
unostentatious, quiet silent, similar
to the approach of thief in the night:
entirely unobserved by the world, and
only visible to the "eye of faith'' by
those who are watching and waiting
for His appearance.
! A Rev. Mr.. Needham recently ad.
dressed Henderson audience on the
great and vital subject of the second
advent; but to my limited understand.
ing some of his remarks were not ex.
actly consonant with the account given
in the Bible. Although ''master in
Israeli he failed to impress his audi
ence that there is not a prophecy or
record, but has a definite date attached
pointing to the exact time when due tC
be fulflled-and never fails to be OIL
time. Had Mr.. Needham been IA
miliar with the chronological dates
with respect to the fulfilment of thi.
great prophecy, he would not have tolt
his audience that he had ''no authorit,
to say when the second coming wa
due;" he certainly consummated hi
ignorance with respect to the sacret
dates when he said-''He may CONF
to-day, or He may come Tomorrow
and then stated an inconsistency 70
which he was not aware) by sayin!
what was very true, that "Antichris
must first come,' of whom he gave
very indistinct and unintelligible de
scription; and here lies the inconsist
ency, that if the second advent is du
at any uncertain day or hour-thi
predicted Antichrist-who must ''firs
come," and to whom it was given t
''make war with the saints and over
, come them,' would have neither tim
5 or opportunity to carry out his awfu
r mission of wearing out the saints of fth
most Hi5h.''
Mr.. Needham must certainly kno,
that there is nothing irregular or un
certain about the mighty works {
Deity, and that it is not carried on i
any haphazzard manner; but alway
on an Infinite, and grand systemati
, scale. We will now turn away wit
mingled feelings from Mr.. Needham
I Misrepresentation and mixed up cor
fusion of this great and vital subject
r and consider as brief as possible th
' scripture account of Antichrist. Bot
sacred and profane history unite in th
q description of such character-that b
= has already appeared on the scene
land accomplished his mission to th
letter. answering more especially to
e system rather than that of a person
n he was first discovered in a state
= infancy as far back as the days of tt
apostles, gradually developing an
| prOWinp into Dower-unfil in a nosif;o