ALONE WITH GOD     

  That Christianity will spread over all the world before the end comes is clearly taught in the Bible. To Abraham, God confirmed with an oath the following promise, and repeated the same to Isaac and Jacob: "In thy seed shall all the nations of earth be blessed. " Gen. 22: 18. "And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. " Verse 17. This last promise reached a literal fulfillment during the law dispensation in Israel after the flesh. They multiplied until they became a numerous seed—a great nation. But its real and principal fulfillment was to take place under the gospel. Paul makes this clear in his Galatian letter: "They which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Gal. 3: 7, 8. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ." Verse 14. "And to thy seed, which is Christ." Verse 16. This makes clear that through Jesus Christ all the nations of earth are to be blessed, and that the heathen thus converted and blessed shall be numbered like the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore. As surely as God has spoken, this must fully come to pass, for it is confirmed with the oath of the Almighty. And from Paul's language it is clear that the multitude saved from the Gentile nations of earth during the entire Christian dispensation is the fulfillment of the promise.

  "I have set thee [Christ] to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." Acts 13: 47. Yes, "all ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." Psa. 22: 27. "The heathen for shine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Psa. 2: 8. "He shall speak peace unto the heathen; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." Zech. 9:10. "My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Mall 1: 11. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Hab. 2:14. "The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. " Isa. 60:5. "The glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream." Isa. 66:12. "The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth. " Jer. 16: 19. "I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.,' Luke 2: 10. " And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations., beginning at Jerusalem.'' Luke 24:47. "And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1: 8. " This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24 :14. Hence the urgent command, " Go ye therefore and teach all nations." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. "

  I have quoted at considerable length, and yet many more like texts could be given to show that Christianity must become universal. The saving gospel will reach every nation and people of earth. It shall penetrate the uttermost parts of the earth and reach all people. Before the end it not only will be preached as a witness to all nations, but will carry with it salvation to every part of the earth. "The abundance of the seas," that is, people from all the ends of the world, shall be converted and turn to the Lord; thus all nations will be blessed. In every place men shall offer sacrifice and praise to God, and " the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Thus Christ shall have the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. His spiritual dominion shall reach " from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." The pure church and kingdom is destined to become a great mountain and "fill the whole earth" (Dan. 2:34); that is, it will be universal "under the whole heaven" (Dan. 7 27).

  Since truth is eternal and the Word of God can not be broken, all the above scriptures will and must reach a fulfillment. According to Matt. 24: 14, they will reach their fulfillment during the current dispensation. Many latter day teachers place the fulfillment of these great promises in a supposed millennial age to follow the present dispensation, but such is all human invention. The gospel age is the last. This dispensation will close with the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the great day of judgment, at which time the righteous will be rewarded in heaven, the wicked punished in hell, and "the earth and the works therein shall be burned up. "

  We are now living in what is preeminently the day of salvation for all the world. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." It is in the age ushered in by Christ's first advent when he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and to the ends of the earth (see Zech. 9: 9, 10; Isa. 11: 9, 10; and Psa. 2: 7, 8). The earth can not perish until every continent, island, and people is illuminated with the light of the gospel. There must be a universal spread of the truth on the inhabitable globe.

  As before stated, this great work began in the ministry of Jesus, was carried forward under the labors of the apostles and the early ministry, and has been more or less progressive throughout all ages. It is, however, a fact that as yet the foregoing scriptures have had but a limited and partial fulfillment.

  In the morning light age of the church the gospel reached but little beyond the limits of the Roman empire. It was confined to the few countries clustering around the Mediterranean Sea. Paul went as far as Spain. A few churches were planted along the northern coast of Africa. Churches flourished in Egypt, Palestine, and a small portion of Asia. In Europe it was confined to territory along the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The entire territory over which the gospel spread in those primitive times would cover only about half the area of the United Sates of America. Before the great apostasy came, the entire territory covered by the gospel was very small compared with the area of the entire world. To say, then, that  the morning light age of the church comprised the reaping of the entire harvest of the Gentile, or heathen, world is indeed folly. If so, then but a small patch of the great harvest field— about one twentieth—was reaped, for " the field is the world"—not merely the few countries around the Mediterranean Sea, but the world. In the light of these positive facts, the limit of the spread of the gospel in apostolic days proves beyond question that the great promises set forth in the many texts already quoted did not reach their complete fulfillment then.

  The church of Rome spread out farther. But this was apostate Christianity, and the pure gospel was not preached. The Sixteenth Century Reformation was confined to a few European states, while the Wesleyan Reformation spread over only Great Britain and a few American colonies. Protestantism has been imbued with a missionary spirit, and considerable work has been accomplished by the faithful self sacrificing saints therein. We would not for a moment reflect upon tile work accomplished by these faithful men and women, but after more than three hundred years of missionary effort by Protestantism the world yet remains enshrouded in heathen darkness. Today more than a billion people are antichristian. It is estimated that about eight hundred millions remain in heathen darkness. It follows conclusively, then, that the universal spread of the gospel, the final triumph of Christianity in all the world, returning to the Lord of people from all the ends of the earth, has not yet been fully realized.

  But let us get at the real truth. In all the dealings of God with man there has been a plan, and he in his own good time has worked out that plan. Let us consider why the gospel did not and in fact could not reach the ends of the earth universally in the morning light age of the church.

  First, the limited knowledge of the earth's area. At the time of Christ's first advent and the introduction of Christianity, it was generally understood that the Roman empire covered about all the earth (see Luke 2: 1). The Mediterranean Sea was the largest body of water really known on the globe. Around its shores clustered the provinces of the whole then known world. The Atlantic Ocean was mostly an unexplored sea, as was also the Pacific. The Indian Ocean had but a shadowy and almost fabulous existence. In fact, the whole world, with its teeming millions, that lay outside of the limits of the Roman empire was unexplored and unknown. The maps at that time showed the Great Sea—the Mediterranean—to be the center and the countries surrounding it the limits. This explains how the Queen of Sheba came from "the uttermost parts of the earth" to see the wisdom of Solomon. She came but a little distance as we measure the earth now. In this instance Jesus accommodated his language to his hearers' limited knowledge and understanding. It seems that Paul did likewise when the gospel reached the limits of the Roman empire. It was said that it sounded out "in all the earth" and "was preached to every creature under heaven." This shows how limited was their knowledge and understanding of the extent of the earth's area. What to them seemed like all the earth was in reality not a twentieth part of the whole world.

  Second, the poor means of conveyance. The ministry of Jesus was confined to a small territory a few hundred miles in circumference. The most northern point reached by him was Caesarea Philippi, a city only one hundred and twenty miles north of Jerusalem. But we must take into consideration the fact that most of his traveling was done on foot, possibly some along the seacoasts in sailboats. He and his disciples walked from place to place, from city to city. He sent the Seventy before him two by two. There were no railroads, no electric lines, no steamships, no flying machines, no telegraph wires, no telephones, no wireless telegraphy, no printing presses—in fact, none of our modern rapid means of conveyance or of transmitting messages. Their only means of carrying messages was on foot or by donkey and camel. Paul, who traveled more extensively than any other of the early ministers, went mostly on foot. His travel on water was by sailboats, which were very slow and tedious. By modern methods, the entire ground traveled by the apostle during his thirty two years' ministry could be covered in a very few weeks. Taking all this into consideration, we see that the self-sacrificing primitive ministry did remarkably well to carry the gospel truth even to the Roman world and a few places in regions beyond.

  The ministry of Jesus was one of constant labor and sacrifice. His was a busy life. When Jesus sent forth his disciples with the message of salvation, he told them that their message was so urgent they should salute no man by the way. Salutations is those Eastern countries were very tedious and would have required much of their time. "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "And ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of man have come." This is more properly rendered, " till the Son of man overtake you. " That is, he sent them forth to introduce the gospel of the kingdom in the different cities in which he himself would preach, and he gave them to understand that they would not reach all the cities of Israel until he would overtake them.

  But times have changed. The globe has been circumnavigated The great waters of the Atantic and Pacific and Indian Oceans have been crossed and recrossed The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans have been penetrated by modern sea vessels. Probably every navigable country on earth and every island of the sea has been explored. The great and mighty nations of earth, then entirely unknown to civilization? have been penetrated by modern civilization. Such great nations and countries as China, India, Japan, and Africa, which have never been reached by Christianity, except in a very limited way,, but as a whole remain wrapped and bound in pagan darkness, are today opening their doors to the gospel and with outstretched arms are calling for salvation from sin.

  The evening light is breaking. Surely God rules in the kingdoms of men, and thus through modern improvement and invention the way has been prepared for the evangelizing of the world. All this, with famine, pestilences, and wars, have plowed furrows for gospel seed into the darkest corners of the earth. Today instead of the slow foot travel of primitive times, we have a modern railroad system with its lightning express trains operating throughout the land. We have a network of electric lines operating in every direction. Great steamships plow across the seas in a few short days. Already airships are safely carrying passengers from one point to another. Thus messengers of God can "run to and fro" in the earth with almost lightning rapidity and also fly in the midst of heaven, "having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people " (Rev. 14: 6).

  The modern printing press is being utilized by God to turn out volumes of truth and send them broadcast to every nation like leaves from the tree of life. Messages can be sent around the world in a few hours by telegraph and telephone. The North Pole is said to have been recently discovered, and an expedition is now on its way toward the South Pole. It looks as if every corner of the earth would be reached. We stand in awe and wonderment, yea, in holy awe and reverence, as we behold the guiding and directing hand of God. It is the great day of preparation. It certainly looks as if these modern inventions would be used of God in bringing about his glorious purpose and in carrying out his plan in the world's evangelization.

  The evening light reformation is, we believe, the one designed of God to fulfill the great spiritual work thus to be accomplished. '"It shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall Jehovah be one and his name one. " Zech. 14: 7-9, A. 13. V.

  The evening light reveals the corruption of sect Babylon' calls out the people of God scattered in the various folds, and restores a pure church the church of God in all its primitive glory and power. This has largely been the work of the reformation thus far. The pure church thus gathered and redeemed is in prophecy metaphorically termed Jerusalem. Many have thought that the restoration of Zion—the church—to its primitive glory is all that is to be accomplished in the blessed evening light, and that when this is fully accomplished, the Lord will immediately come; but, dear reader, you will observe that after the restoration of the pure church—Jerusalem—then shall living waters go out of her toward the eastern and the western sea. These living waters are the streams of gospel truth and salvation that shall flow out to all the world. These Dow out from Jerusalem—the pure church of God. They are destined to cover the earth with the knowledge of God till all nations shall be blessed thereby and people from all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord. Thank God for this blessed day!

  Jehovah shall be king over all the earth in the evening of time. The spiritual domain of Christ shall reach from sea to sea, even to the ends of the earth. Present facts, we believe, bear this out. The reformation thus far has been principally directed in restoring the whole truth—full salvation from sin through holiness, divine healing, gifts of the Spirit, and unity of the Spirit in the one church of God. Sect Babylon has been exposed as a false and corrupt system, and a voice from heaven has been calling out of her the people of God. The result is, thousands of sinners have been saved from sin into the one fold of Christ and thousands of others have been gathered out of sectism. All these together constitute the Zion of God, the redeemed church in the blessed evening light. Others are still coming from sin and sectism to the heights of Zion, to the mount of holiness.

  But a missionary spirit is now taking hold of the church. Instead of thinking that the day of judgment is but a step before us, the church is being inspired with a spirit of evangelizing the world before Christ comes again. Though the great truth of Christ's second coming and the near approach of the end of the world is made prominent in our teaching, we believe that all signs point to the impending judgments soon to break in upon this degenerate world, yet a special effort is being made to spread the saving truth of the gospel to all people before Jesus comes, and we believe that it is the hand of God moving in the order of his plan. Already self-sacrificing missionaries are going to the different nations of earth, missions are being established in foreign lands, missionary homes are being built in many of our cities for the training of workers to invade heathen lands, pure literature by the ton is being sent to almost every corner of the earth. All this is preparing the way for the stupendous work before us. In fact, the reformation thus far has been but a preparation for the great work soon to be accomplished. The whole church on earth is being inspired of God for world wide missionary work. It is certainly God's time, his plan, and his leading. He had prepared for this. Everything in the world seems to point to this spreading of the gospel over all the earth.