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The axe. This is judgment; destruction. The axe is not for planting, or pruning, or dressing, or propping, or protecting, but for cutting down. It is spoken of as used for trees; for the carved work of the temple; for towers; for a whole forest; for a battle-axe. In all cases for overthrow, utter overthrow. The axe against Israel was the Roman host, and many such axes has God wielded, age after age. ==Every judgment is an axe; pestilence is God’s axe; famine God’s axe; adversity God’s axe. At Christ’s second coming will be the uplifting of the axe against antichrist, against Christendom, against every false church. There is a great difference between the axe and the pruning knife. Yet some of God’s judgments are both in one. An axe to the ungodly; a pruning knife to the saint. It is God’s axe, not man’s; its edge is sharp; it is heavy; it will do its work well. ==

This is the voice of one crying in the wilderness; the voice of a second Elijah; the man of the desert; the burning and shining light; the forerunner of Messiah; the prophet of warning. He spoke to Israel; he speaks to us. It is the voice of warning; a trumpet voice; prelude to the last trumpet; herald of coming wrath and woe. It spoke first to Israel; it speaks to the church; it speaks to Christendom; it speaks to the world; it speaks to each of us.

He is speaking, not of a tree, but trees; a forest. He is likening Israel to a forest. It may be an olive-wood or a palm-wood, the oaks of Bashan or the cedars of Lebanon. Israel is the forest, God’s forest, planted by God, on God’s own hills and valleys. So also is the church; and each member is a tree in that forest. On that forest God has his eye; from its trees God comes seeking fruit. From the forest of Lebanon trees were once cut down for the temple; but this is for destruction, not for building nor ornament.

Christ, at his first coming, laid the axe there; at his second coming He will lift it up and smite! The axe was laid down when Israel least thought of such a thing; when they were boasting of privilege, and calling themselves children of Abraham; so it shall be lifted up to smite, when men are saying “peace and safety”; boasting of progress and reform, and deliverance from the bigotry of narrow-minded men. Now is the age of trial, of probation. Israel’s forest was found barren, and was cut down. Now Christendom is on its trial. Shall it be cut down? It has been long spared. Is it fruitful? Thou, O man, art on thy trial? What is to be the issue when the Lord comes?

Verse 1

On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come then and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of kings.

Verse 2

E’en now the air, the sea, the land,
Feel that their Maker is at hand;
The very elements rejoice,
And welcome Him with cheerful voice.

Verse 3

Then cleansed be every Christian breast,
And furnished for so great a Guest;
Yea, let us each our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.

Verse 4

For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
Our Refuge and our great Reward;
Without Thy grace our souls must fade,
And wither like a flower decayed.

Verse 5

Stretch forth Thy hand to heal our sore,
And make us rise, to fall no more;
Once more upon Thy people shine,
And fill the world with love Divine.

Verse 6

To Him, who left the throne of heaven
To save mankind, all praise be given;
Like praise be to the Father done,
And Holy Spirit,—Three in One.

Verse 1

A voice by Jordan’s shore,
A summons stern and clear:
“Reform; be just, and sin no more:
God’s judgment draweth near!”

Verse 2

A voice by Galilee,
A holier voice I hear:
“Love God; thy neighbor love: for see
God’s mercy draweth near!”

Verse 3

O voice of Duty, still
Speak forth: I hear with awe;
In thee I own the sovereign will,
Obey the sovereign law.

Verse 4

Thou higher voice of Love,
Yet speak thy word in me;
Through duty, let me upward move
To thy pure liberty.