CHAPTER XXVI.

EXTRACTS FROM MR. MILLER'S WRITINGS -THE TIMES AND ITS -THE KINGDOM OF GOD A SCENE OF THE LAST DAY,

DUTIES
ETC.

MR. MILLER'S published writings comprise his Sixteen Lectures on the Prophecies, his Life and Views, of about three hundred pages each, and a number of pamphlets, tracts, &c., comprising reviews of his reviewers, expositions of Scripture, &c.

Dr. Jarvis remarked that he had "often been edified by his excellent and pious observations on the necessity of being in readiness to meet our Judge."- Sermons, p. 58. He instanced the lecture "on the Times and its Duties," and that "on the Parable of The Ten Virgins." A portion of the latter has already been given; the remainder of the book is devoted to the former, and a few other selections.

(6 THE TIMES AND ITS DUTIES.

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.'- ROMANS 13: 12.

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"THE apostle in the context exhorts his Roman brethren to good works, to a holy life in conformity with the law, the royal law, which teaches us to love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves. He then gives the text as one of the most prominent reasons why we should conform to the requisitions of the law: because the night is far spent, and the day is at hand.

"I shall, therefore, in explaining the text, "I. SHOW WHAT

AND DAY.'

THE APOSTLE MEANS BY NIGHT

"II. SHOW THE PROPRIETY OF HIS ADMONITION, · CAST OFF THE WORKS OF DARKNESS.'

"III. ATTEND TO HIS EXHORTATION, 'LET US PUT ON THE ARMOR OF LIGHT.'

"I. EXPLAIN THE TERMS NIGHT AND DAY.

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Night and day are used in this passage to illustrate a

moral or spiritual idea, which the apostle wished to communicate to his brethren at Rome, and through them to us. 1. Night, in the natural world, is that portion of time in which the face of the natural sun is hid from us, or that part of our earth on which we dwell, in accordance with certain infallible laws of nature, such as light and the vivifying influence of the sun, or the revolution of our earth upon its axis. 2. Night in the moral world is like night in the natural. God is the fountain of all light, life, and holiness, and without his vivifying influence we are left to grope our way in moral darkness. We cannot see things clearly, but we stumble upon the dark mountains of infidelity and doubt. This great Sun of light, life, and holiness, is governed by as immutable laws as the natural sun, yes, and ten thousand times stronger, and more stable; because natural laws may change; 'heaven and earth may pass away,' but not one jot or tittle of his word or law shall ever fail. One of these unchangeable laws is, that God cannot look upon sin with the least allowance. Witness the withdrawal of his countenance from Adam in the garden when he sinned, and the beginning of the night spoken of in our text. Adam, like the natural world, turned from God, and all was darkness. He broke the holy law,'thou shalt not sin,'-and he and all his posterity became involved in a moral night, with only now and then some glimmering star, some Abel, Enoch, Noah, some patriarchs and prophets, or a changing moon,—the church, to shed a glimmer upon this moral night, that may haply lead us to a blessed hope of the glorious appearing of the Son of Man. The ancient prophets and apostles all prophesied of the glory that should follow; these were stars in the night of moral darkness. The church, which Christ in his flesh set up in the world, has sometimes, like the moon at its stated seasons, shown her full round face, and has given strong evidence that there was a sun, although hid from the immediate view of the world, and that she looked, by faith at least, upon the glorious Sun of Righteousness. At other times she has been veiled in a cloud of smoke, or error, which rose from the bottomless pit. Sometimes she has been made gory by the persecutions which have assailed her; for the faithful have waded through trials, changes, afflictions, and death. Yet one thing have they all shown by these things, that this is not

their continuing city; but that they seek one to come, whose builder and maker is God. But the apostle says in our text that this night (of moral darkness) is far spent, and the day is at hand; which brings us to consider,

"Second, what we may understand the apostle as meaning by Day. Natural day flows immediately from light, or the great luminary of the heavens, the sun. Just so the moral day. Wherever God by his immediate presence dwells, and light, life and righteousness are enjoyed, there is day. The gospel is sometimes compared to the sun and light, and where and when that is enjoyed, it is sometimes called day, as in Zech. 14: 7, 8; Ps. 95: 7. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.'-Heb. 3: 7.

"But that the apostle did not mean this gospel day, is evident from the text immediately preceding: For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.' For the night is far spent,' &c.; strongly expressing it to be future. Now if it meant the gospel day, why did the apostle call the time in which he wrote night? Surely, if ever the gospel shone in our world, it was in the apostles' days. Then, before the antichristian beast, and the smoke out of the bottomless pit, arose on the earth, and darkened the sun, and filled the world with corrupt sentiments, and the minds of men with heretical principles, before the obnoxious vapors of the doctrine of devils filled the moral air, and the moon was turned to blood, and the stars fell to the earth, this day must have been, or we must look for it in the future.

"That the apostle does not mean the gospel day, is evident, also, from the fact that he gives instructions to the Roman Christians how to obtain the gospel armor, which was to be as light to them during this night of moral darkness; for if it had been day their armor of light would be of no more use than a candle at noon.

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The

Again. The day spoken of cannot mean death; for death is nowhere in Scripture called day, but the reverse. night cometh, when no man can work.'— John 9: 4. Then I know not what day the apostle alludes to, unless he has reference to the great day when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.' That this day is what the apostle meant, is evident,- 1. Because it is a day of salvation, as he says in the context-'For now

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is our salvation nearer than when we believed,' and 'he comes the second time without sin unto salvation.' Again, 'I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' To the end he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.' It is evident that he means this day, also, because the Sun of Righteousness will then live and dwell on the earth, and he shall be the light thereof. See Mal. 4: 2: 'But unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.' Again, in Psalm 68: 18: Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.' Zech. 2: 10: Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord, and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee.' Again, Rev. 21: 3: 'And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.' This is the day, my brethren, which the apostle Paul alludes to in our text; and if he could say, eighteen hundred years ago, 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand,' surely, my brethren, we may say now he standeth at the door. And I do most solemnly believe that the day of the Lord is near, yes, very near. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness.' This brings us to our second head, to show, "II. THE PROPRIETY OF THE ADMONITION, CAST OFF THE WORKS OF DARKNESS.'

"What, then, is meant by works of darkness? In the first place, it is an abhorrence of light, for fear our sins will be brought to light, or made manifest. 'We love darkness

rather than light, because our deeds are evil.' These characters may be known by their anxiety to destroy the main principles of the word of God. Sin, in their view, is noth

ing more than a misfortune; salvation is only the good deeds of man; Christ is only a man that set good examples ; atonement is only the forgiveness of our Adamic sin; and punishment is only the evils of life! They always are very uneasy, and often angry, if future punishment is mentioned. And we may know they are wrong; 'for anger rests only in the bosom of fools.'

"Again, there is another class who work the works of darkness. These are those who are ignorant of the righteousness of God, and go about (as the apostle says) to establish their own righteousness. These may be known by their complainings. Nobody is right but themselves; they are always justifying their own ways and condemning others; they will ever be framing some plausible excuse for neglect of any duty, and condemning others for the merest trifle. They are strange characters. You may preach to them of their crimes, and they will give it to their neighbor; you may admonish them, and they regard it not. They are so completely shrouded in their mantle of selfishness that nothing makes any impression upon them. Preach law, they have kept it; preach gospel, they need it not; preach duty, they will throw in your face a host of excuses. Their coat of mail is like the hide of Leviathan,- no arrow can pierce it; and I have thought that nothing but the trump of God will ever awake them. Well did Christ say to such characters, O generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?'

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"There is another class, whom the apostle calls 'worldlyminded sinners,' who work the works of darkness.' These may be known by their anxiety for the world, and their disregard for all the means of salvation. Visit them, and their whole mind is on the world; they can talk freely and flippantly of their farms, their silver, their cattle, and sheep; but not one word about salvation. They can go into a long detail of their plans to gain property; but talk to them of the plan of salvation, and it will be very insipid and dry. The week is spent in hoarding up treasures, and the Sabbath in counting their silver and casting their accounts. They never visit the house of God without some worldly motive in view. They search their accounts oftener than their Bibles; they study more how to obtain the world than eternal life.