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56 THE EABNEST CHEISTIAN AND GOLDEN BOLE.
geneous incongruities of the pre-miUenarian
systems, they fix on certain great
heads of prophecy, which, however,
they are unable to convert into a system;
such as thfe rapid advance of
atheism, the continued existence of
popery down to the advent, the revival
of the Fourth Empire, and the appearance
of a personal Antichrist in the
latter days, an apostaey in the visible
church, a fanaticism of the ungodly,
persecution of the people of Christ, and
the slaying of the witnesses, the personal
advent of the Lord •with his risen
saints, a fierce warfare against him and
them by the hosts of Antichrist, his
•victory and reign over the earth. To
such an exegesis the leading modern
commentators give their sanction. The
names of French, Ellieott, Tregelles,
the Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop of
London, Alford, Lange, and Tischendorf,
are sufiicient to indicate this class
of scholars and divines. No modem
! commentator of any eminence, so far
I as I know, save Dr. Brown, adheres to
1 the post millenarian exegesis.
6. Such being the logical, providential
and exegetical state of this great
question, it assumes quite a practical
aspect to ministers of the word; especially
to the younger men, who, if
the Realistic exegesis be correct, and
the Bible contains actual predictions of
coming facts, cannot expect to escape
the great conflict. The fathers may
perhaps fall asleep in the comfortable
dream of an entrance into the kingdom
of heaven without tribulation; but
stem facts are upon us, and we must
awake to them for our own sakes and
for our people's sakes. It is time
therefore to throw aside the lumber of
traditional interpretations, and to betake
ourselves to our Bibles and lexicons,
and to our God, by prayer for
his Holy Spirit to open our eyes, that
we may leam the things coming on the
earth, so far as needM for the salvation
of our own souls, and the souls of
onr people. It is worse than folly to
trouble our minds with comments falsified
by patent and unanswerable facts.
Nothing but bitter disappointment and
infidelity can come of expectations ofa
Christless millennium to a Laodicean
church. Let every minister of the
word examine this question in such a
way as to be able to answer for himself,
and to give a reason of the hope
that is in him with meekness and fear.
The question now forced on us is, "Believest
thou the prophets V
7. Should we find reason to accept
the Realistic interpretation ofthe prophecies,
and to own signs of the times, as
denoting the imminence of the great
crisis, it -wiU manifestly give a different
tone to' our lives and ministry, than
if we continued to hold the traditional,
spiritualizing system. The Bible will
become a real book of record for the
future, as well as a real history. Indefinite
visions ofa judgment 365,000
years distant, must vanish before the
sharp thunders of the great earthquake.
The opinions of fathers and synods
must be feeble authority to the man
who expects ere he dies to behold the
Lord standing on the earth. And the
shortness of the time will inspire a diligence
and earnestness in •winningsouls,
incomprehensible to the man who believes
that the Lord delayeth his coming
; who never prayed, "Lord Jesns,
come quickly." —Bobert Patterson,
D, D., in ihe Evangelical Bepository.
GOD'S WILL.
BY MBS. ELLEN L. EOBEBTS.
I was at a camp-meeting with a child
of six or eight months, in my arms.—
He had been troublesome through the
day, and kept me every moment careing
for him, and it was past his usual
time for sleep, for the night, before I
could get him out of my arms.
I then went to a prayer-meeting,
which.was about closing. As I entered
the tent, I heard a sister praying the
Lord's Prayer. I instantly felt the,
Spirit ask me if I could use those words,
"Thy wUl be done," tmthfully? I
knew that to turn a deaf ear to this
still, small voice, would be to grieve
the Spfrit,—and I listenedj and asked
myself. Am I willing to have the experience
of to-day, repeated again and