118 The Fundamentals he is, the Lord actually came to our earth in the fall of 1874 and He is now present here. (Vol, II, 240.) Accordingly, the glorified Son of God has already been in the world per- sonally and literally for thirty-seven years! In reading this amazing statement which is made again and again one stares, and rubs his eyes and stares. Old-fashioned Christians have for centuries believed that the glorious advent of Christ will be accompanied by the most majestic tokens of the Divine Presence and the most stupendous changes and revolutions in both earth and sky. They are profoundly convinced that the Word of God warrants such anticipation; nay, it is because of the Lord’s own testimony touching this mighty event that they thus believe and expect. But this period of thirty-seven years since 1874 differs but little if at all from any other thirty-seven years during a thousand years. Nay, the student of history could point out period after period in the last five hundred years marked by immensely more tragic events than any of this. As if to put us on guard against being deceived by plausi- ble arguments and evidences of His presence our Lord has with most solemn words warned u s : “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or Here; believe it not. . . . If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, He is in the inner chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:23-27, R. V.). Mr. Russell refuses to accept the word “lightning”, and he substi- tutes for it “bright shining”, and makes it refer to the sun’s rising. He does so to escape the idea of the suddenness of the advent as symbolized by the lightning’s flash,, for this rendering would contradict his theory that Christ’s “presence” is gradually disclosed, that He may be long on the earth and but few (the Dawnists only) be cognizant of the stupendous fact. As usual he is totally mistaken. Every version ex-
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