334 The Plan of the Ages.
his laws and instructions would be disregarded by all but the few until experience and compulsion force obedience, yet all who realize the state of things coming should set themselves and their affairs in order accordingly. Thus we say to all the meek the humble of the world, as well as the body of Christ : Seek ye the Lord, ye meek of the earth which have wrought his judgment [his will] ; seek righteousness ; seek meekness, that ye may be partially hid- den in the day of the Lord's anger. (Zeph. 2 : 3.) None will entirely escape the trouble, but those seeking righteous- ness and rejoicing in meekness will have many advantages over others. Their manner of life, their habits of thought and action, as well as their sympathies for the right, which will enable them to grasp the situation of affairs, and also to appreciate the Bible account of this trouble and its out- come, will all conspire to make them suffer less than others especially from harassing fears and forebodings.
The trend of events in this Day of the Lord will be very deceptive to those not Scripturally informed. It will come suddenly, as fire consuming chaff (Zeph. 2 : 2), in compari- son to the long ages past and their slow operation ; but not suddenly as a flash of lightning from a clear sky, as some erroneously expecl: who anticipate that all things written concerning the Day of the Lord will be fulfilled in a twenty- four hour day. It will come as "a thief in the night," in the sense that its approach will be stealthy and unobserved by the world in general. The trouble of this day will be in spasms. It will be a series of convulsions more frequent and severe as the day draws on, until the final one. The Apostle so indicates when he says "as travail upon a woman.' 1 (i Thes. 5 : 2, 3.) The relief will come only with the birth of the NEW ORDER of things a new heavens [the spiritual control of Christ] and a new earth [re-organ- ized society] wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. 3 ; 10,
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