The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-17
WAITING ron THE I.onp,s COMING

(SeleCtcu LOT Inc lmeS-DlSpatch.)
-. Yc turned TO God from Idols to
serve the living and true God: and to
wait for His Son from heaven. whom
He raised from the dead, even Jesus,
which delivered us from the wrath TO
GOMEZ Thess. l., 0, TO-
II was some twenty years after our
Lords ascension that St Paul wrote
the Epistle to the Thcssaloninns from
which the text is taken. and which
seems to say very plainly, that he and
they Gv. l5) would be alive at our
Lords second coming Then, a few
months later, he writes In his seconc
lplstir TO the same church, that they
were not to be troubled as though "by
word, or by letter" from him. that
the day of Christ is at hand" Ten
years afterwards he announced to the
Philippians, The Lord Is at hand"
and speaks of himself as. hooking"
for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, from heaven" In the year fol-
lowing he reminds Titus, that the
grace OF God hath appeared to all
men" teaching them ito look for that
blessed hope. the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ" About the same time,
ST. Peter eNhorts those to whom he
wrote TO be looking for, and hasting
though. in some sense, the time de-
pended on themselves. And lastly thirty
years after that, ST. John, the beloved
disciple. declares. Behold. He cometh
with clouds" and he brings the book
OF Revelation to close with these
words lie which testifcth these
things saith, Surely come quickly
Even so come, Lord Jesus" And you
must bear in mind. that while some of
the passages which 1 have quoted
from st. Paul certainly referred in
their first sense, at any rate, TO the
destruction of Jerusalem, the language
of ST. John, which Is Identical with IT
ESQ far as the speedy coming of the
Lord is concerned) was used many a
year after not one stone had been left
on another In Jerusalem, her temple
was burned, her children in captivity,
her house "desolate."
The first Christians, therefore, had
large excuse for their mistake in look
ing 10 the judgment day as to an event
close at hand, and often In their mis-
cries they must have been tempted to
utter the impatient cry, How long. O
Lord, holy and true, dost Thou mob
judge, and avenge our blood on them
that dwell on the earth?"
We my brethren, have gone into the
other extreme, that of cold, hardened
unbelicf; and because the Lord dclav-
eth His coming, we speak as though
all thinE9 would continue as they were
from the beginning OF creation: as
though In fact, the day of Judgment
would never come, forgctful of that
most solemn warning, that when men
feel quite sure that It Will not come.
then IL Will.
Assuredy 1t will come, ana come
soon. whether you and live to see it
or no This was truth when apostles.
In their day. wrote OF It, and by the
lapse Of 1900 years II must be still
truer truth now. Our duty, as ST.
Paul taught the Thessalonians, is to
walt for IT. The two doctrines which
he most pressed upon those to whom
he wrote and preached were. first,
Jesus and the Resurrection: and sec
ondly, the certainty that God would
judge the world by that Man whom
lie had ordained.
And they were hidden. and we are
hidden to lead lives in preparation for
Ito wait for 1t, ms close at hand; be-
cause VIC have the assurance of Him
who cannot lie. Behold, come quick
ly"--yea.. that in some senae or other,