Lucilla could never stay long away from her old home in her father's
house; she was there every day and often two or three times a day.
"Father," she said, on that first Saturday after taking possession of
the new home, "mayn't we Sunnyside folks come over here and join your
Bible class to-morrow evening?"
"My dear child, it is just what I would have you do," he returned, with
a gratified and loving smile. "Don't forget that Woodburn is still your
home--one of your homes at least--and that you are always welcome and
more than welcome to join us when you will. You are my own daughter as
truly as ever you were."
"And just as glad to be as ever I was," she exclaimed, with a bright,
loving look and smile. "And to do your bidding at all times, father
dear," she added.
"Provided it does not interfere with Chester's," Max, who happened to
be present, suggested a little mischievously.
"Hardly any danger of that, I think," remarked his father, with a
slightly amused look; "Chester is a reasonable fellow, and I have no
intention of interfering with his rights."
"And he thinks almost as highly of my father's wisdom as I do," said
Lucilla.
"But not more than Max and I do," said Evelyn, giving the Captain a
very filial and admiring look; "and you will take us in as members of
your class, too, wont you father?"
"It is just what I desire to do," was the pleased reply. "Max has
always been a member when at home; and you, you know, are now his
better half."
Eva shook her head and with a merry, laughing look at Max, said, "Not
just that, father; I should say the smaller partner in the firm."
"That will do, too," smiled the Captain, "since the most costly goods
are apt to be done up in the smallest packages."
"Ah, Eva, my dear, you are answered," laughed Max.
"What is to be the subject of to-morrow's lesson, Captain?" asked Mrs.
Elsie Travilla, sitting near.
"I have not decided that question yet, mother, and should be glad of a
suggestion from you," he replied in a kindly, respectful tone.
"I have been thinking a good deal lately of the signs of the times,"
she said, "and whether they do not show that we are nearing the end of
this dispensation. That might perhaps be a profitable and interesting
question to take up and endeavor to solve."
"No doubt it would be," he replied, "and I hope you will come prepared
to give us some information as to what the Scriptures say on the
subject, and what are the views of Biblical scholars who have been
giving it particular attention."
"I will do what I can in that line, and hope you, Captain, and others
will come prepared to take part in considering the subject."
"Certainly a most interesting one," said Violet.
"And one which must lead to great searching of the Scriptures as the
only infallible source of information," added the Captain.
"Yes," said Grandma Elsie, "they are the only authority on that
subject. And how thankful we should be that we have them."
Sabbath afternoon proved bright and clear, and brought to Woodburn
quite a gathering of the relatives and friends; for all loved the Bible
studies they had for years taken together.
Mr. Lilburn, as the eldest, was persuaded to take the lead.
"I understand," he said, "that to-day we are to take up the question
whether the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ may, or may not, be
near. The Scriptures are our sole authority, and you are all invited
to bring forward anything from them which may seem to you to have a
bearing on the subject." Then turning to Mrs. Travilla, "Cousin Elsie,"
he said, "you are, probably, the one among us the most thoroughly
prepared to do so; please let us hear from you."
"I doubt if I am better prepared than some of the rest of you,"
she replied, "but I have been very much interested in the subject;
particularly of late, and have searched the Bible for texts bearing
upon it, some of which I will read. Here in the first chapter of Acts
we read that the disciples asked, 'Lord, wilt thou at this time restore
again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you
to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own
power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you: 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.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up
and the clouds received him out of their sight. And while they looked
steadfastly toward Heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by
them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Gallilee, why stand
ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you
into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into
Heaven.' And," continued Grandma Elsie, "the Apostle John gives us the
same promise here in the first chapter of the Revelation," turning to
the passage as she spoke, then reading it aloud, "'Behold, he cometh
with clouds; and every eye shall see him.'"
"I have heard the idea advanced that death is the coming of Christ to
the dying one," remarked Chester, in a tone of inquiry.
"But we are told," said Mrs. Travilla, "that 'as the lightning cometh
out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the
coming of the Son of Man be.' That description certainly could not
apply to the death hour of any Christian, nor to the conversion of any
sinner."
"And his second coming is spoken of in the same way in a number of
places in the different gospels," said Evelyn. "Here, in Luke, we
have Christ's own words, 'Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My
words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in
His glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.' And again
in Matthew 16:27, 'For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His
Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to
his works.'"
"The disciples wanted to know when that second coming would be,"
remarked Violet; "here in Matthew 24:3, we are told, 'And as He sat
upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately,
saying, "Tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign
of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" And Jesus answered and
said unto them, "Take heed that no man deceive you."'
"I shall not read the whole chapter, for I know it is familiar to you
all; but in the 27th verse he says, 'For as the lightning cometh out
of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming
of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the
eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of the Heavens
shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in
Heaven: And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power
and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one
end of Heaven to the other.'"
"Many persons," remarked Grandma Elsie, "tell us it is not worth while
to consider at all the question of the time when Christ will come
again; quoting the text, 'But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no,
not the angels in Heaven, but my Father only.' But again and again our
Saviour repeated his warning, 'Watch, therefore; for ye know not what
hour your Lord doth come.... Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an
hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.'"
"I do not quite understand this," said Grace. "Luke says, here in
the 21st chapter, 20th verse--quoting the words of the Master--'And
when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the
desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to
the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out.'
How could they depart out of the city while it was compassed with
armies?"
"There is a satisfactory explanation," replied her father, "in the
twelfth year of Nero, Cestius Gallus, the president of Syria, came
against Jerusalem with a powerful army. Josephus says of him: 'He
might have assaulted and taken the city, and thereby put an end to the
war; but without any just reason, and contrary to the expectation of
all, he raised the siege and departed.' The historians, Epiphanius and
Eusebius, tell us that immediately after the departure of the armies
of Cestius Gallus, and while Vespasian was approaching with his army,
all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella and other
places beyond the river Jordan."
"Every one of them, papa?" asked Ned.
"Yes; Dr. Adam Clarke says 'It is very remarkable that not a single
Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were
many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city.'"
"Papa," asked Elsie, "don't you think God put it in the heart of that
Cestius Gallus to go away with his troops before Vespasian got there;
so that the Christians had an opportunity to escape?"
"I certainly do, daughter," was the Captain's emphatic reply.
"Had not the earlier prophets foretold the destruction of Jerusalem?"
asked Lucilla.
"Yes," said Mr. Lilburn; "even as early a one as Moses. Here in the
28th chapter of Deuteronomy he says 'The Lord shall bring a nation
against thee from far, from the east of the earth, as swift as the
eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand.'"
"The Romans?" Elsie said, inquiringly.
"Yes; their ensign was an eagle and their language the Latin, which the
Jews did not understand. The prophesy of Moses continues. In the 52d
verse he says, 'And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy
high and fenced walls come down; wherein thou trustedst, throughout all
thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout thy
land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the
fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters,
which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the
straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.'"
"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Elsie. "And did all that happen at the
siege of Jerusalem?"
"Yes; it lasted so long that famine was added to all the other
sufferings of the besieged. So dreadful was it that mothers would
snatch the food from their children in their distress, and many houses
were found full of women and children who had died of starvation.
Josephus tells of human flesh being eaten; particularly of a lady of
rank who killed, roasted and ate her own son. And so the prophecy of
Moses was fulfilled."
"Oh, how dreadful, how dreadful!" sighed Elsie.
"Yes," said Mr. Lilburn, "it was the fulfillment of our Saviour's
prophecy as he beheld Jerusalem and wept over it, saying, 'If thou
hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the
days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about
thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall
lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they
shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest
not the time of thy visitation.' That is told us in the 19th chapter
of Luke. In the 21st we read, 'And they shall fall by the edge of the
sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled.'"
"Have those times been fulfilled yet?" asked Ned.
"No, not yet," replied Mr. Lilburn; "the Turks still have possession of
Jerusalem, though the Jews have begun to return to Palestine and the
Turkish power grows weaker. But the time of the Gentiles will not be
fulfilled until the work of the Gospel is finished."
"And when will that be, Cousin Ronald?" asked Ned.
"I cannot say exactly," answered the old gentleman, "but the trend
of events does seem to show that we are nearing that time--such a
feeling of unrest all over the world, some men--comparatively a
few--accumulating enormous quantities of wealth by paying their
laborers a mere pittance for their work, while the cost of living goes
higher and higher. This is a land of plenty, and but for the grasping
selfishness of some, none need lack for abundance of the necessaries of
life."
"I wish nobody did lack for plenty to eat and drink, and wear," said
Elsie, "and I want to do all I can to help those who haven't enough."
"I hope you will, daughter," the Captain said, in a tone of pleased
approval. "And now the important thing for us to consider is what is
our duty, in view of the very possible nearness of Christ's second
coming."
"He has told us again and again to watch and be ready," said Grandma
Elsie; "yet we are not to be idle, but to work while it is called
to-day; to occupy till he comes; to be not slothful in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."