Part 37

In this connection the Saviour answers the question, which so perplexed the Pharisees: If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? Matt. 22:45. Being the Root from whence David sprang, and in his humanity David’s offspring, he was both his Lord and son.

The invitation appended is one of the most endearing that it is possible to conceive of, and the threats are the most terrific. These are given for the admonition of all; and yet how many will turn away from the study of the book, which commences with a blessing on him “that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein,” (1:3); and closes with an invitation for all to come and “take of the water of life freely.” It is no mystical record, and there is nothing equivocal in its predictions. Neither is it to be fulfilled in the distant future; for “He which testifieth these things saith: Surely I come quickly.” And shall not every one who loves his Lord respond, “Even so; come, Lord Jesus.”

“The Church has waited long Her absent Lord to see; And still in loneliness she waits, A friendless stranger she. Age after age has gone, Sun after sun has set, And still, in weeds of widowhood, She weeps, a mourner yet.”

“The whole creation groans, And waits to hear that voice That shall restore her comeliness, And make her wastes rejoice. Come, Lord, and wipe away The curse, the sin, the stain, And make this blighted world of ours Thine own fair world again. Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!”

Rev. H. A. Bonar, (Eng.)

THE OLD EARTH.

Old Mother EARTH is wan and pale, Her face is wrinkled sore; Her locks are blanched, her heart is cold, Her garments stiff with gore; With furrowed brow and dim sad eyes, With trembling steps and slow, She marks the course that first she trod Six thousand years ago!

The Earth is old, the Earth is cold, She shivers and complains; How many Winters fierce and chill Have racked her limbs with pains! Drear tempests, lightning, flood and flame Have scarred her visage so, That scarce we deem she shone so fair, Six thousand years ago!

Yet comely was the youthful Earth, And lightly tripped along To music from a starry choir, Whose sweet celestial song Through Nature’s temple echoed wild, And soft as streamlets flow, Where sister spheres replied with her, Six thousand years ago!

And many happy children there Upon her breast reclined, The young Earth smiled with aspect fair, The heavens were bright and kind; The azure cope above her head In love seemed bending low, O happy was the youthful Earth, Six thousand years ago!

Alas! those children of the Earth With hate began to burn, And Murder stained her beauteous robe, And bade the young Earth mourn. And ages, heavy ages, still Have bowed with gathering woe The form of her whose life was joy, Six thousand years ago!

Old Earth! drear Earth! thy tender heart Bewails thy chosen ones; Thou look’st upon the myriad graves That hide their gathered bones; For them, by day and night, thy tears Unceasingly must flow; Death chilled the fountain-head of life Six thousand years ago!

Old Earth! old Earth! above thy head The heavens are dark and chill, The sun looks coldly on thee now, The stars shine pale and still; No more the heavenly symphonies Through listening ether flow, Which swelled upon creation’s ear, Six thousand years ago!

Weep not in bitter grief, O Earth! Weep not in hopelessness! From out the heavens “a still small voice” Whispers returning peace. Thy tears are precious in the sight Of ONE who marks their flow, Who purposes of mercy formed, Six thousand years ago!

Thy days of grief are numbered all, Their sum will soon be told: The joy of youth, the smile of God, Shall bless thee as of old; Shall shed a purer, holier light Upon thy peaceful brow, Than beamed upon thy morning hour Six thousand years ago!

Thy chosen ones shall live again, A countless, tearless throng, To wake creation’s voice anew, And swell the choral song. Go, Earth! go wipe thy falling tears, Forget thy heavy woe: Hope died not with thy first-born sons, Six thousand years ago!

KNICKERBOCKER.

FOOTNOTES

1 The first Advent was, according to the best-settled chronological data, about four thousand one hundred and twenty years from creation.

2 See margin of Whiting’s Testament. Lord has it, “when he can be ready to sound.”

3 The constitutional language was, “By the authority of the senate, and consent of the soldiers.”—Gibbon, vol. I., p. 44.

4 This is given on the authority of the London Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, for 1852, p. 330, which states that the edict will be found in the “Theodosian Code, XVII. to XX.”

5 “Ubi cogniti fuerint illius hæresis sectatores, ne receptaculum iis quisquam in terra sua præbere præsumat: sed nec in venditione aut emptione aliqua cum iis omnino commercium habeatur.”—Hard., vi. ii. 1597.

6 The following philological law or canon of criticism is universally admitted, and all dictionaries, grammars, and translations, are formed in accordance with it:

“Every word not specially explained or defined in a particular sense, by any standard writer of any particular age and country, is to be taken and applied in the current or commonly received signification of that country and age in which the writer lived and wrote.”—Campbell.

7 This possession by demons is similar to the mode by which pretended spirits claim that they communicate through mediums. One of them, purporting to be the spirit of a departed son of Adin Ballou, in answer to the question, by his father, “Can you describe how you are able to write through a medium?” says, “I feel as though I enter into her for the time being, or as if my spirit entered into her. I am disencumbered of my spiritual form, and take hers. More than one spirit can enter the medium at once. The mediums all go into the trance by means of several spirits entering the body at one time.”—Spiritual Telegraph, May 8, 1852.

8 The word is demon or demons in all the instances referred to.

9 Necromancy is derived from the Greek words nekros, dead, and mantis, a diviner. The Greek, Necromantia, is defined: “The revealing future events by communication with the dead; necromancy.” And Nekromantis: “One who reveals future events by communication with the dead; a necromancer.”