The Signs of the Times, vol. 11

October 1, 1885

“The Empire of Grecia. (Continued.) The Reign of Alexander” The Signs of the Times 11, 37, pp. 580, 581.

THE REIGN OF ALEXANDER

BUT it was not for Philip to carry the war against Persia. He could unite Greece under one head; he could shape the forces so that they could be wielded by one mighty arm; and then his work was done. It was reserved for a mightier than he to hurl the rugged forces of Macedon and Greece against the multitudes of the Persian king. B.C. 336, Philip was assassinated at the marriage feast of his daughter. Thus he died at the age of forty-seven years, after a reign of twenty-four years. Ochus, king of Persia, died the same year—poisoned by the eunuch Bagoas, one of his chief ministers. Alexander the Great, at twenty years of age, succeeded Philip as king of Macedon, and Darius Codomanuus succeeded Odhus in the rule of the Persian Empire. Thus the last king of Persia and his conqueror, that was to be, began to reign in the same year—B.C. 336. See Rollin, “Hist. of Philip,” sec. 7, par. 1; and “Hist. of Alexander,” sec. 2, par. 1; “Seven Great Monarchies,” Fifth Mon., chap. 7, par. 188. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.1

“The prospects of Alexander were full of uncertainty and peril, up to the very day of Philip’s assassination.... Cleopatra [Philip’s second wife] was at this time in the ascendant; Olympia [Philip’s divorced wife, mother of Alexander] was violent and mischievous; and Philip only forty-seven years of age. Hence the future threatened nothing but aggravated dissension and difficulties for Alexander.... From such formidable perils, visible in the distance, if not immediately impending, the sword of Pausanias [Philip’s assassin] guaranteed both Alexander and the Macedonian kingdom. But at the moment when the blow was struck, and when the Lynkestian Alexander, one of those privy to it, ran to forestall resistance, and place the crown on the head of Alexander the Great, no one knew what to expect from the young prince thus suddenly exalted, at the age of twenty years.... It remained to be proved whether the youthful son of Philip was capable of putting down opposition and upholding the powerful organization created by his father. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.2

“But Alexander, present and proclaimed at once by his friends, showed himself, both in word and deed, perfectly competent to the emergency. He mustered, caressed, and conciliated, the divisions of the Macedonian army and the chief officers. His addresses were judicious and energetic, engaging that the dignity of the kingdom should be maintained unimpaired, and that even the Alatic projects already proclaimed should be prosecuted with as much vigor as if Philip still lived. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.3

“By unequivocal manifestations of energy and address, and by dispatching rivals or dangerous malcontents, Alexander thus speedily fortified his position on the throne at home. But from the foreign dependents of Macedon—Greeks, Thracians, and Illyrians—the like acknowledgment was not so easily obtained. Most of them were disposed to throw off the yoke; yet none dared to take the initiative of moving, and the suddenness of Philip’s death found them altogether unprepared for combination. By that event the Greeks were discharged from all engagement, since the vote of the confederacy had elected him personally as imperator. They were not at full liberty, in so far as there was any liberty at all in the proceeding, to elect any one else, or to abstain from re-electing at all, and to even let the confederacy expire. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.4

“Now it was only under constraint and intimidation, as was well known both in Greece and Macedonia, that they had conferred this dignity on Philip, who had earned it by splendid exploits, and had proved himself the ablest captain and politician of the age. They were by no means inclined to transfer it to a youth like Alexander, until he had shown himself capable of bringing the like coercion to bear, and extorting the same submission. The wish to break loose from Macedonia, widely spread throughout the Grecian cities, found open expression from Demosthenes and others in the assembly at Athens. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.5

“Apprised of these impulses prevalent throughout the Grecian world, Alexander felt the necessity of checking them by a demonstration immediate, as well as intimidating. The energy and rapidity of his proceedings speedily overawed all those who had speculated on his youth, or had adopted the epithets applied to him by Demosthenes. Having surmounted, in a shorter time than was supposed possible, the difficulties of his newly-acquired position at home, he marched into Greece at the head of a formidable army, seemingly about two months after the death of Philip. He was favorably received by the Thessalians, who passed a vote constituting Alexander head of Greece in place of Philip; which vote was speedily confirmed by the Amphictyonic assembly, convoked at Thermopyle. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.6

“Alexander next advanced to Thebes, and from thence over the isthmus of Corinth into Peloponnesus.... His great force probably not inferior to that which had conquered at Cheroneia, spread terror everywhere, silencing all except his partisans. Nowhere was the alarm greater than at Athens. The Athenians, recollecting both the speeches of their orators, and the votes of their assembly ... trembled lest the march of Alexander should be directed against their city, and accordingly made preparation for a siege.... At the same time, the assembly adopted ... a resolution of apology and full submission to Alexander; they not only recognized him as chief of Greece, but conferred upon him divine honors in terms even more emphatic than those bestowed on Philip. The mover, with other legates, carried the resolution to Alexander, whom they found at Thebes, and who accepted the submission. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.7

“After displaying his force in various portions of Peloponnesus, Alexander returned to Corinth, where he convened deputies from the Grecian cities generally.... Alexander asked from the assembled deputies the same appointment which the victorious Philip had required and obtained two years before—the hegemony or headship of the Greeks collectively for the purpose of prosecuting war against Persia. To the conquest of a prince at the head of an irresistible army, one answer only was admissible. He was nominated imperator with full powers by land and sea. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.8

“The convention sanctioned by Alexander was probably the same as that settled by and wit his father Philip. Its grand and significant feature was, that it recognized Hellas [Greece] as a confederacy under the Macedonian prince as imperator, president, or executive head and arm. It crowned him with a legal sanction as keeper of the peace within Greece, and conqueror abroad in the name of Greece.”—Grote’s History of Greece, chap. 91, par. 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.9

Alexander “summoned, at Corinth, the assembly of the several States and free cities of Greece, to obtain from them the same supreme command against the Persians as had been granted to his father a little before his death. No diet ever debated on a more important subject. It was the Western world deliberating on the ruin of the East, and the methods for executing a revenge that had been suspended more than an age. The assembly held at this time will give rise to events, the relation of which will appear astonishing and almost incredible; and to revolutions which will change the appearance of things nearly throughout the world. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.10

“To form such a design required a prince, .. but above all, a monarch who had supreme authority over all the States of Greece, none of which singly was powerful enough to make so arduous an attempt; and which required, in order to their acting in concert, to be subject to one chief, who might give motion to the several parts of that great body, by making them all concur to the same end. Such a prince was Alexander. It was not difficult for him to rekindle in the minds of the people their ancient hatred of the Persians, their perpetual and irreconcilable enemies whose destruction they had more than once sworn, and whom they had determined to extirpate, in case an opportunity should ever present itself for that purpose.... The deliberations of the assembly were therefore very short, and that prince was unanimously* ¹ appointed generalissimo against Persia.”—Rollin, Hist. Alexander, sec. 2, par. 15, 16. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.11

While Alexander left “Macedonian officers in the exercise of their new imperial authority throughout Greece and the islands,” he himself “returned home to push the preparations for his Persian campaign. He did not however think it prudent to transport his main force into Asia, until he had made his personal ascendancy felt by the Macedonian dependencies, westward, northward, and northeastward of Pella—Illyrians, Peonians, and Thracians. Under these general names were comprised a number of distinct tribes, or nations, warlike and for the most part predatory. Having remained unconquered until the victories of Philip, they were not kept in subjection even by him without difficulty; nor were they at all likely to obey his youthful successor, until they had seen some sensible evidence of his personal energy.”—Grote, chap. 91, par. 26. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.12

But they were soon effectually treated to a “sensible evidence of his personal energy”—in just about five months he had swept the country from the borders of Macedonia through the midst of Thracia and Mœsia to and across the Danube at about the twenty-sixth degree of longitude; then up the Danube about 150 miles; then southeastward to the southern point of Lake Lychnidus (the present Ochrida Lake) in the southern part of Illyria (the present Albania); and in less than three weeks afterward he stood with his army in Bœotia, to the south of Thebes, ready to chastise that city for her rebellion during his absence. Thebes was razed to the ground; and Alexander marched on to Corinth, where he received deputations from various Grecian cities, and presided at a meeting of the assembled deputies of the Grecian States, where he levied the quota of troops that each State should supply in the intended expedition, the following spring, against Persia. This being settled, “Alexander left Greece for Pella in the autumn of 335 B.C., and never saw it again.”—Grote, chap. 91, last paragraph but one. For the full account of this expedition beyond the Danube and back to Thebes and to Corinth, see Grote, chap. 91, par. 27 and to the end of the chapter. For the line of march, not only here but in all his campaigns, see “Ginn & Heath’s Classical Atlas,” map No. 19. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.13

“The ensuing winter was employed in completing his preparations; so that early in the spring of 334 B.C., his army, destined for the conquest of Asia, was mustered between Pella and Amphipolis, while his fleet was at hand to lend support.”—Grote, chap. 92, par. 1. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.14

“The army intended for Asia, having been assembled at Pella was conducted by Alexander himself first to Amphipolis, where it crossed the Strymon; next along the road near the coast, to the river Nestus and to the towns of Abdera and Maroncia; then through Thrace across the rivers Hebrus and Melas; lastly, through the Thracian Chersonese to Sestos. Here it was met by his fleet, consisting of 160 triremes, with a number of trading vessels besides; made up in large proportions from contingents furnished by Athens and Grecian cities. The passage of the whole army—infantry, cavalry, and machines—on ships, across the strait from Sestos in Europe to Abydos in Asia, was superintended by Parmenio, and accomplished without either difficulty or resistance. SITI October 1, 1885, page 580.15

“The army when reviewed on the Asiatic shore after its crossing, presented a total of 30,000 infantry, and 4,500 cavalry.... Besides these troops, there must have been an effective train of projectile machines and engines, for battles and sieges, which we shall soon find in operation. As to money, the military chest of Alexander, exhausted in part by profuse donatives to Macedonian officers,” contained only seventh talents—$78,085—no more than enough to maintain his army for thirty days; besides this he had, in bringing together and fitting out his army, incurred a debt of about $1,450,150.—Grote, chap. 92, par. 24, 27, 28. SITI October 1, 1885, page 581.1

Thus, in the spring of 334 B.C., on the soil of the Persian Empire, stood Alexander the Great, “as the chief of united Greece,” and “the conqueror abroad in the name of Greece,” carrying to all the nations of the East the Greek power, Greek art, the Greek language, and Greek civilization. And so, according to the word of the Lord, spoken two hundred years before, “The Prince of Grecia” HAD “come.” Daniel 10:20. SITI October 1, 1885, page 581.2

A. T. J.

“Notes on the International Lesson. 2 Kings 7:1-17. The Famine in Samaria” The Signs of the Times 11, 37, pp. 582, 583.

OCTOBER 11. 2 Kings 7:1-17

BEN-HADAD had gathered together a great host and had besieged Samaria till the famine had become terrible. So scarce had grown the food that an ass’ head sold for eighty pieces of silver (about $44), and at last women were found who had eaten a child. When the king heard of this, he determined to kill Elisha, but when he came to where Elisha was, then Elisha said: “Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 582.1

“AND there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” When men were found to be lepers the law was that “the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.” Leviticus 13:45, 46. SITI October 1, 1885, page 582.2

THE famine being so great in the city, these men of course could obtain no food from there, and as they were about to perish any way, they concluded that nothing greater than that could befall them even though the Syrians should get them; but if the Syrians should happen to favor them, and give them food, their lives would be saved. So they determined to go. SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.1

“AND they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.2

IT is easy for the Lord to spread terror amongst men. Several such instances are given in the Bible. Gideon will be remembered, with his three hundred men with their pitchers and torches, and how that, all of a sudden, the breaking of the pitchers and the glare of the torches put the 135,000 Midianites to flight in terror. Judges 7. And “the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir” came up against Judah when Jehoshaphat was king. The children of Judah were all gathered together in the wilderness Tekoah, and Jehoshaphat “appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. “And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.3

IT is not alone in the Bible, nor alone in Bible times that such things have occurred. The Lord has done just as remarkable things for his people in later ages as he did in those ancient times. After the Papacy had put to death John Huss and Jerome of Prague, it set about to extirpate all the heretics of Bohemia. For this purpose crusade after crusade was set afoot, only to be defeated in disgrace. At last in A.D. 1427, the pope had succeeded in gathering together an army of nearly 200,000 men. “Led by three electors of the Empire, by many princes and counts, and the legate-a-latere of the pope,” this great host invaded Bohemia, entering it in June. “The Bohemians marched to meet their invaders. They were now within sight of them and the two armies were separated only by the river that flows past Meiss. The crusaders were in greatly superior force, but instead of dashing across the stream, and closing in battle with the Hussites, whom they had come so far to meet, they stood gazing in silence at those warriors hardened by constant exposure, and begrimed with the smoke and dust of battle, and seemed to realize the pictures of terror which report had made familiar to their imaginations long before they came in contact with the reality. It was only for a few moments that the invaders contemplated the Hussite ranks. A sudden panic fell upon them; they turned and fled in the utmost confusion.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.4

FOUR years afterward another army was raised for the invasion of Bohemia, to destroy the followers of the doctrines preached by Huss, and for which he had been cruelly and treacherously burned at the stake. This time—the fifth of these crusades—130,000 men swept into Bohemia. “On the first of August, 1431, the crusaders crossed the Bohemian frontier, penetrating through the great forest which covered the country on the Bavarian side. They were brilliantly led, as concerned rank, for at their head marched quite a host of princes, spiritual and temporal.... The feelings of the Hussites as day by day they received tidings of the numbers, equipments, and near approach of the host, we can well imagine. Clouds as terrible had ere this darkened their sky, but they had seen an omnipotent Hand suddenly disperse them.... They reflected, however, that victory did not always declare on the side of the largest battalion, and, lifting their eyes to heaven, they calmly awaited the approach of the foe. The invading host advanced, ‘chanting triumph before victory,’ says Lenfant, and arriving at Tochan, it halted there a week ... Forming in three columns, the invaders moved forward. Procopius fell back on their approach.... His design was to lure the enemy father into the country, and fall upon him on all sides. On the morning of the 14th of August, the Bohemians marched to meet the foe.... SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.5

“The enemy were encamped near the town of Reisenberg. The Hussites were not yet in sight, but the sound of their approach struck upon the car of the Germans. The rumble of their wagons, and the war-hymn chanted by the whole army as it marched bravely forward to battle, were distinctly heard. Cardinal Cesarini had a companion climbed a little hill to view the impending conflict.... The cardinal and his friend had gazed only a few minutes when they were startled by a strange and sudden movement in the host. As if smitten by some invisible power, it appeared all at once to break up and scatter. The soldiers threw away their armor and fled, on this way, another that; and the wagoners, emptying their vehicles of their load, set off across the plain at full gallop.... The army had been seized with a mysterious panic. That panic extended to the officers equally with the soldiers. The duke of Bavaria was one of the first to flee. He left behind his carriage, in the hope that its spoil might tempt the enemy and delay their pursuit. Behind him, also in inglorious flight, came the elector of Brandenburg; and following close on the elector were others of less note, chased from the field by this unseen terror. The army followed, if that could be styled an army which so lately had been a marshaled and bannered host, but was not only a rabble rout, fleeing when no man pursued.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.6

THE cardinal succeeded in rallying a few of the flying soldiers. “They stood then ground only till the Bohemians were within a short distance of them, and that strange terror fell upon them, and the stampede became so perfectly uncontrollable, that the legate himself was borne away in the current of bewildered and hurrying men. He left behind him his hat, his cross, his bell, and the pope’s bull proclaiming the crusade—that same crusade which had come to so ridiculous a termination. SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.7

“This was now the second time the strange phenomenon of panic had been repeated in the Hussite wars. The Germans are naturally brave; they have proved their valor on a hundred fields.... There is here the touch of a divine finger—the infusion of a preternatural terror. So great was the stupefaction with which the crusaders were smitten, that many of them instead of continuing their fight into their own country, wandered back into Bohemia; while others of them, who reached their homes in Nuremburg, did not know their native city when they entered it, and began to beg for lodgings as if they were among strangers.”—Wylie’s History of Protestantism, book 3, chap. 17. SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.8

IT is impossible to read this narrative and not see in it a perfect likeness to the panic of the Syrians in this lesson. Rome and the Emperor Sigismund had treacherously burnt the saintly Huss, and the scholarly Jerome, and now sought to destroy their innocent brethren, and God wrought for his people here as veritably as ever he did in the world. God’s wondrous workings for his children are not all confined to the times in which the Bible was written. He is the same Mighty One still. There is still a God in Israel. SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.9

YES, and still there are men as unbelieving as that “lord” upon whose hand the king of Israel leaned when Elisha said that “to-morrow about this time” there should be such plenty in the gates of starving Samaria. Still there are such ready to say, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven might this thing be.” But yet for all the unbelief of men, the fact remains that God leads, and works for, his people. And yet for all the unbelief of men, every part of the word of God will be fulfilled as literally as was the word of Elisha that day. The four lepers went and called to the watchman of Samaria, and told the city, by him, that the Syrians had fled and left everything; then a company was sent out to learn whether it were really true, and they returned and confirmed the word; then the whole city poured out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” 2 Chronicles 20:20. SITI October 1, 1885, page 583.10

A. T. J.

“‘Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye My People’” The Signs of the Times 11, 37, pp. 585, 586.

“COMFORT ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” This is the word of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah. The Lord knows our trials, our afflictions, our troubles, and in his great pity sends comfort. “Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Job 5:6, 7. Trouble is the common lot of all men. Who in this world is free from it? None. And the Lord, knowing our frame, remembering that we are dust, says, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.1

Paul, in contemplating this, exclaims, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4. The Bible is a perfect storehouse of all the needs of human experience, and trouble is as universal as is the human race. “Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Job 5:6, 7. Solomon, in considering the oppressions that are done under the sun, said: “Behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.” Ecclesiastes 4:1. It is had enough to be oppressed, but to be oppressed and have no comforter is terrible. It is true that there are many such, but it is equally true that there need not be any such; for all that are oppressed, all that are afflicted, all that are troubled, may do as one of old, “I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause,” and he, “the God of all comfort,” will “comfort all that mourn.” His tender mercies are over all his works. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.2

It is a fact that the Lord has not, in his word, told us to do anything without telling us how to do that thing. It is so in this. He has not only told us, “Comfort ye my people,” but he tells us how to comfort them. We will notice an example or two. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.3

In John 13 to 18 we have Jesus’s last talk to his disciples before his crucifixion. He was about to leave them to go again to his Father, and in John 13:33 he said: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so not I say to you.” This is a very important statement, “Whither I go ye cannot come.” But not only that, the Lord refers us to something else, “As I said unto the Jews, ... so now I say to you.” Therefore to obtain the full meaning of this word, whither I go ye cannot come, we must find what it was he had said to the Jews. The only place in which he spoke these words to the Jews is John 8:21: “Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come.” This it is to which he referred in John 13:33. “As I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” Therefore, so far as going to the Lord is concerned, it is positive by his own words, that his disciples have no pre-eminence above men who die in their sins. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.4

When Jesus said this to his disciples, they were troubled. Could it be possible that they who had left all and had followed him; that these whom he had chosen out of the world; that these whom he had loved unto the end; could it be possible that they, after all their experience with him and is love for them, should now be left on the level of those who die in their sins? Why should they not be troubled? He had asked them once, “Will ye also go away?” and Peter had replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go” thou hast the words of eternal life;” and now after having trusted in him for eternal life, to be told that when he should go away, they could not go where he went, that was enough to trouble them. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.5

But Jesus did not allow them to be long troubled thus. He comforts them. He said: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:1-3. This relieved them of all their trouble on that point, this was comfort indeed. And, mark you, it is the Lord’s own word. It is Christ’s own message of comfort to his disciples. And that message of comfort is, although it be that “whither I go, ye cannot come,” any more than can men who die in their sins, yet, “I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also.” And this word “that” shows that it is only by his coming again that his children can ever be where he is. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.6

Now why should the Saviour, who loved his disciples so tenderly, stir up this trouble in their hearts? They were with him when he told the Jews, “Ye shall die in your sins, and whither I go ye cannot come.” They understood the full force of that fearful sentence. Now why should he plunge them into fear and trouble, by saying the same thing to them, and this too, by the phrase, “As I said unto the Jews,” so emphatically that they could not possibly misunderstand him? Why was this done? The sequel shows plainly that it was for the purpose of making such an impression upon the as they never could forget; and so to fix ineffaceably upon their minds the truth that without his coming again, there is absolutely no hope of ever being where he is; and thus to set them in view of one event as the consummation of all their hopes, and that event the coming again of the Lord. That is the comfort of Christ himself. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.7

Another instance: The Thessalonian brethren were sorrowing because some of their number had died. And now the Lord, by Paul’s pen, sends them comfort. And what is his comfort? The same Jesus gave to his disciples, for it is Jesus who sends this. Here is is: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. That is the comfort the Lord gives to the sorrowing. And any other under such circumstances is false comfort. It is not only his comfort to us, but it is his command that we comfort one another with these words. SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.8

Once more: In 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 Paul speaks to those “who are troubled,” and his comfort is that “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven ... when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe ... in that day.” This is the comfort of God: The Lord is coming. “I will come again.” “The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven.” “The Lord shall be revealed from Heaven.” “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” SITI October 1, 1885, page 585.9

A. T. J.