CHRIST’S RETURN

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10896, 10 May 1921, Page 4

CHRIST’S RETURN

THE DAWNING OF THE DAY “A9POSTACY AND SOUL-DBSTROY-ING DOCTRINES.” IS THE MILLENNIUM AT HAND? An interesting public address on Christ’s second coming, held under the auspices of the Pre-Millennial Advent Association, was delivered at the Newtown Library last evening by Mr D. B. Forde Carlisle. The subject of his address was: “The Four Watches—Which Are we In?” Startling events in the religious, political and social world, he said in commencing, had given rise to the qnes- • tion, “What shall the end of these things be?” There were two outstanding events in the world that spoke loudly of the imminence of Christ’s second coming. One concerned the political and the other the religious worlds. The first was the return of the Jew to Palestine, involving the preparation of the land for the people and the people for the land; anil the second being the appalling apostasy from the faith in the professing church. The Scriptures never contradict themselves, and the budding of the fig tree (Matt, xxiv.), i.e., the political privileges of the Jewish nation, harmonised perfectly with the fourth watch (Mk. xiv. 35). To the Jew alone does the first and fourth watches apply (Matt. xiv. 22-25). The evening settled down on the nation in her rejection of her Messiah. That evening had increased to the darkness of midnight. The second or midnight watch was applicable to the Churcti in this dispensation; so also the third watch (Luke xii. 34-38). Matthew’s Gospel was peculiarly Jewish in that reference was made to the first and fourth wat-. ches only, while Lake’s gospel was that of the “Son of Man come to seek and to save them that were lost.” To Israel Christ was the Sun of Righteousness, to the Church Be was the Morning Star. In the first watch Israel’s night began. The kingdom was postponed because the King was rejected. The coming of the Lord would complete the third watch, and this was the next great event to take place in the Church’s history. To fix a date for the event would be to go beyond what had been written, but one thing was certain—that the Lard might come for His Church at any moment. The son appeared soon after the morning star, and similarly the Sun of Righteousness would appear to Israel in the . fourth watch.

There was. also outstanding evidence of His coming in the apostasy. On every hand the Bible was being called into question, and with it the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Did this mean a widespread growth of. Atheism? Not at all. It was the rise of infidelity within the pale of the professing church. Practically every denomination could be charged with the guilt of this spiritual crime, and coupled with the tragedy of these was the revival of numerous cults—Spiritism, Christian Science, Theosophy, International Bibla Students’ Association, and many others which with their- soul-destroying and God-dishonouring doctrines obtruded themselves into the religious world and Claimed their foDowers. Apostasy was an outstanding sign of the imminence of Christ’s return. The social upheavals and the organised revolt against constitutional government hot added to the darkness of the night that spoke of the dawning of the day.