The Signs of the Times [1865?]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SIGNS OF THE FIRST ADVENT	2
SIGNS OF THE SECOND ADVENT	6

TEXT. — When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red; and in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? Matthew 16:2, 3. ST186x 1.1

THESE words were addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees at a time when they came to Christ tempting him for a sign from Heaven. It was a reproof to them for their unbelief in the signs mentioned in the Old-Testament writings, which they professed to believe, and which were actually being fulfilled before their eyes, yet disregarded by them. They could tell the weather for the morrow, but had no skill in those prophecies that pointed to that time. ST186x 1.2

That which constitutes a sign of the times, in a scriptural sense, must be a matter of prophecy. The prophetic pencil sketches that which shall take place in the political and religious worlds. Time shows the fulfillment. The student of prophecy compares the prophetic sketch with the facts of history, and, finding a perfect agreement, he sees his position on the great highway of time. The prophets of God had spoken of the first advent of Christ; and the fulfillment of their words relative to his birth, his gospel, his miracles, his humiliation and death, were signs to the Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. ST186x 1.3