Evening journal., 1897-08-18
CHRIST'S NEXT COMING
CONTINUED From First Page. ]


day or the hour. They have no sympa-
thy with any such practice While that
is so, they do not entertain the idea, as
many DO, that Christ may come at any
moment. There are events foretold
that must be fulfilled before Christ
comes again. But they believe that
these have nearly all been fulfilled, and
so believe that the coming of Christ is
near at hand.
One great sign that the Bible gives
by which we may know this is the dry
ing up of the Ottoman Empire. The
Ottoman Empire is the king Of the
NORTH of Daniel, XII, 40. OF this power
it is spoken: He shall come to his end,
and none shall hlep him. v, 49, This
will come soon after the Turk is driven
out of Europe, and plants the taber-
nacles of his palace between the seas
(the Mediterranean and the Dead Seal
in the glorious holy mountain (near
Jerusalem.) At that time Michael
(Which means he who is like God
Christi shall stand up, the great prince
which standeth for the children of thy
people. For Christ to stand up in this
connection is for him to take the king
dom. When this occurs the kingdoms
of earth 90 down with a crash, and
trouble as never was before will be over
the whole world; and then it is that
Gods people will be delivered. That
the end of the Ottoman Empire is near
no one who is conversant with the
trend of events in connection with that
power will deny. That being so, it
cannot be denied that the coming of
Christ is near at hand.
Near the close of His ministry on
earth Christ foretold the destruction Of
the temple Of Jerusalem. The disciples
associated that with the the end of the
world, and so came to Him and said:
Tell us when shall these things be, and
what shall be the sign of Thy coming,
and OF the end of the world?" Matt.
xiv, 3. Did Christ give them any sign
in answer to this question? Concerning
the destruction of the temple, He told
them that that event would take place
when they saw the Roman armies sur
rounding Jerusalem compare Matt.
Xxiv, 16; Luke, xxi, 90.
"Of His coming and the end of the
world, Christ said: There shall be
signs in the sun and in the moon, and
in the stars; and upon the earth dis
tress of nations, with perplexity. Luke,
xxi, 20, 26. What were these signs? In
Matthew'S gospel it says: The sun
shall be darkened and the moon shall
not give her light and the stars shall
fall from heaven. Chapter xiv, 29.
! AS to when these events should be-
gin to be fulfilled we are not left in
doubt. 1t was to be Immediately after
the tribulatiOn of those days. What
days? Those referred to in Matthew
xiv, 21, %. The Bible speaks of
many prosecutions, but there is only
one persecution mentioned in connec-
tiCn with certain days. This is found
in Daniel, vii, %, which every Bible
student will recognize as the 1860 years
of papal supremacy, and which ended in
1889. A short time before the ending
of these days the persecution ceased.
Between this and the ending of the
days Christ said the sun should be
darkened (see Mark, xiii, 24) This
was literally fulfilled on May 10, 1880
This was no eclipse. but phenomenon
which has never to this day been eX-
planned on scientific grounds. On the
night following the moon refused to
give its light and became as blood The
next event in order was the falling OF
the stars. This took place November
display of CELESTIAL fireworks the world
had ever seen.
The people living at these times felt
that the last day had come. OF course
we know that such was not the case;
but they were signs that the last day
was near a hand. AS certainly as We
know that summer is nigh when we SEE
the trees putting forth their leaves, *
certainly we may know that before the
generation that saw these events cav
pass Christ will come. It is now ovel
sixty years since the stars fell, and tina
4 generation has almost passed away
hence it must be true that we are nov
=, living on the very verge of the eterna
world How many believe this? Yer!
few. And that in itself is a sign, fo
as it was in the days of Noah (when thu
people refused to believe the flood wa!
b near at hand) so shall it be in the day
Of the coming of the Son, of Man"