Thomas Williams

“ The dew of the morning comes from the womb of the night, and under the rays of the rising sun is drawn into the air to be formed into clouds to give rain upon the earth. So are the true saints to be the dew of the dawn of millennial glory, upon whom the Sun of righteousness shall shine and draw up into the new heavens as clouds to give the latter rain of blessing, and as showers to water the earth. ”

“ Would it not--if "death, translated into the heavenly tongue, means life"--would it not be more merciful to allow death to do its work and relieve those who say: "Burdened with this weight of clay We groan beneath the load; Waiting the hour that sets us free And brings us home to God." To prevent such from dying is certainly not an act of mercy; it is cruel; for they claim to "Know that when the soul unclothed Shall from the body fly, ‘Twill animate a purer frame With life that cannot die." ”

“ We behold man as he approaches the verge of death, after a long and struggling life. As his body declines his mental powers gradually weaken and wane, until he is in his "dotage." Then he lies helpless upon his dying bed; and soon, while there is little life remaining, consciousness ceases, and at last the lamp of life goes out, and he who once lived is now dead; he who once talked is now silent; he who once could see now sees no more; he who once could hear is now oblivious of all sound; he who once thought has ceased to think--he is dead. ”

“ All nations call the Messiah blessed; all nations are blessed in him. Peace, sweet peace, reigns universally. "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wonderous things, and blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory." The world’s conqueror and saviour reigns till he hath put down all enemies under his feet, when the last enemy death is destroyed, and God is all and in all, and here is the world’s redemption. ”

“ In the face of such facts the questions press themselves upon every sensible man and woman, Does death end all? Is there a life beyond? Is evil eternal? Is there a remedy for the world's woes and provision for man's inmost wants? What, if any, are the possible dangers ahead? What, if any, are the blessings attainable? What mean these inmost longings of the heart, and these wellsprings of hope, these lofty aspirations of the intelligent mind whose eyes look over and beyond life's vale of tears with anxious hope and expectation of ultimate realization? ”

“ Look up into the vast heavens above and out over this beautiful earth and who is he that can be called a man and yet will not, yea is not compelled by a throbbing heart and admiring eyes to, burst out in words of praise. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. ”

“ Is all a failure? Is all a failure, I ask? Is the Bible a falsehood and a fraud? Must we hand it over to the infidel and admit that it is what he claims? Nay, verily, a thousand times nay. But if Christ has gone away to remain away; if there is no second coming of Christ to really and literally fulfill these promises then God’s word has failed. Where lies the trouble? In the word of God? In a failure on the part of His beloved Son, the man at His right hand? No, indeed, a thousand times no. "As truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with my glory" ”

“ You may talk and talk to the grief-stricken one who bends over the corpse in the coffin about death being a transition from a world of woe to a world of weal, and the distressed one may try to cherish the thought and proclaim belief, but the tears cease not to flow, the pain and anguish written upon every feature of the mourner refuse to give place to joy and gladness. ”

“ And here we might say that there is nothing in the world that is a more powerful proof of the divinity of the Bible than Israel's history and present existence. The Bible is a book of miracles. Israel is a nation of miracles. Its history is a standing miracle before an astonished world. Its survival of all the persecutions and oppressions which have been heaped upon it is a greater miracle still. No great statesman or philosopher will ever attempt to account for Israel’s history and present existence by ordinary natural laws anymore than it is possible to account for the Bible by such laws. ”

“ And those who think the kingdom is in their hearts might be surprised to find that the kingdom of God is a thing to be entered into, not a thing to enter into men’s hearts. The only sense in which it can be spoken of as in our hearts is that we believe and love the gospel of the kingdom of God because we know that its coming will flood the earth with heavenly blessings and chase away the darkness and gloom of this long and dreary night of sin and sorrow. ”

“ When one calls to comfort the distressed it is not the time to bestow a look of wrath nor to utter words of vengeance. It is a time to speak words of consolation and to give expression to a heart-felt sympathy -- so far as truth and facts will allow, of course. The man who has nothing but vengeance and wrath in his words and looks has no business in the house of mourning. When one is addressing his friends in the language of hope he does not stop to mar it’s beauty by interjections of words of judgment and punishment. ”

“ God of our fathers, known of old-- Lord of our far-flung battle-line-- Beneath Whose awful Hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine-- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget--lest we forget! The tumult and the shouting dies-- The captains and the kings depart-- Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart, Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget--lest we forget! ”

“ Shall we leave the God of the Bible open to the charge of unfaithfulness, and admit that the Bible is a contradictory book? Shall we surrender to infidelity, or shall we take the sword of the Spirit and use it manfully in defense of God and His book? Your Bible, says the infidel, says that God promised the land to Abraham and your Bible, says the infidel, declares that he did not fulfill this promise, and then he asks the leaders of "orthodoxy," Will God ever give that land which He promised to Abraham to him for his inheritance? ”

“ But after all life is but a span, "an inch or two of time," hung upon a slender cord that is momentarily in danger of breaking and in the end-the inevitable end-sure to be cut asunder by the ever-busy hand of man's universal enemy, the dread of all mankind - Death, Death, pitiless, cruel and relentless Death. Sickness, sorrow, pain and death are realities alike in the experience of young and old, rich and poor, great and small, in every land and in every clime. ”

“ How could God be tempted like as we are? How could God die and be buried? Do not allow yourself to be deceived by the sophistry that it was His humanity that was tempted died and was buried, as if He Himself was not; for that would be admitting that He escaped temptation and death and that the "Christ" of popular religion did not die--could not die, being immortal ”

“ Notwithstanding that Hezekiah believed that he "had walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart, and had done that which was good," the thought that he must die caused him to "weep with a great weeping;" and he prayed that he might be spared from dying. Why was this if death is the beginning of a life of bliss? The popular delusion afforded no consolation to Hezekiah; to him death was death. The words, "Thou shalt die and not live" meant to him the cessation of life, sweet life; and all that he had would he give for his life. ”

“ The groaning millions of our time are looking into the political heavens and watching the clouds, hoping for a rain that will bring relief to a thirsty world; but alas! the clouds have no water to quench their burning thirst, no rain to give life to the withered and blighted fields that are ready for the sickle of the swiftly coming harvest of wrath. ”

“ After this first and staggering blow to the power which has forced its guardianship over the nations, the One who smites him seems to disappear for a time; and the nations, seeing their despotic victor stricken down, cry out, "How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth," "How art thou fallen from heaven, O day star: how art thou cut down which didst weaken the nations!" ”

“ What has been the history of the Bible has been the history of the nation, and we might add that, to some extent, it has been the history of Israel’s King, the man of the Bible, the essence of the Bible, the subject of it from Alpha to Omega, the beginning and end--Christ. The nation has suffered at the hands of every nation, and every attempt possible has been put forth to destroy it, yet it has been providentially preserved. ”

“ Neither shall thy name be called Abram, but thy name shall he Abraham: for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession: and I will be their God. ”

“ THE TRUTH is such a perfect system that it will not admit of the introduction of one error without making confusion. The return of Christ is a burning and shining light throughout the Scriptures, and upon it depends the resurrection of the dead, the reward of the righteous, the fulfillment of the covenants of promise--in short the world’s redemption. This important truth is nullified by the belief that all good men go to heaven when they die, and that heaven, not the earth, is the everlasting abode of the righteous, and that all the good have gone there and are saved. ”

“ Six thousand years of continued and increasing evils and perplexities show that the world is incurable by human agencies, and we may not hope for help from man, but when the time for the promised restitution arrives, the great Deliverer shall appear in His glory and majesty; and though dark be the clouds that precede and usher in His majestic advent, and terrible the convulsions that shall attend the mighty revolution, yet great shall be the glory that shall follow and peaceful and tranquil the repose that shall forever settle upon earth's everlasting hills. ”

“ Is it that the devil has the power of death, and yet that death is the "gate to heaven"? Has the charm of the serpent’s seed cheated men of all reason, that they can believe that "death is the gate to glory" and yet to it the redeemed are to exclaim, "O death, where is thy sting?" Is it that the cup of delusion is so intoxicating as to cause minds that are reasonable in ordinary things to believe that death is a friend and yet that "the sting of death is sin"? ”

“ The morning is about to dawn, the dew appear, the sun to arise; and then, when "we are caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air", the shining sun, the cloud from the morning dew and the descending rain of heaven’s blessing will show that God has filled full His promise, "I will set my bow in the cloud", and to the joy of the whole earth the everlasting covenant will shine forth as the sun, pour down blessings as the rain and the appearance of the bow in the new heaven will command the astonishment and admiration of "all families of the earth" blessed in Abraham’s seed. ”

“ Faithful service brings its own reward even now, in a "peace of mind which passeth all understanding," and it makes sure an "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled and that fadeth not away." With this blessing within reach why will you die? Give not yourself away, for that which is not bread nor for that which satisfieth not. The yoke is easy and the burden is light, and at the end there is a joy unspeakable and full of glory. ”

“ The spectacle presented by human life past and present is a world shrouded in the gloom of death, with its vast millions being carried down as by an ever-restless and resistless stream into the dark depths of the dismal grave. When the apostle Paul speaks of the "mortal" he means the man, recognizing nothing as the man except that being which is "out of the earth, earthy," animated by the breath of life. ”

“ Let the wealthy men, the monarchs of commerce, the learned in all knowledge, the skillful in all arts, the political councillors, who carry in their veins the Hebrew blood which has maintained its vigor in all climates, and the pliancy of the Hebrew genius for which difficulty means new device--let them say, "We will lift up a standard, we will unite in a labor hard and glorious, like that of Moses and Ezra, a labor which shall be a worthy fruit of the long anguish whereby our father’s maintained their separateness, refusing the ease of falsehood." ”

“ But Nature protests against this and cries out, "Death is a self-evident fact. I am stricken with the poisonous fangs of death. I am sick, I am pained, I am dying. Had I all that the world contains how willingly I would give it to save myself from death. ‘All that a man hath will he give for his life.’" It persistently refuses to be silenced by the sanctimonious rebukes and frowns of the ministers of Satan feigning to be angels of light; and knowing from experience and observation apart from revelation that it is right, it confidently answers back, declaring, "Death is a fact." ”