And then, O God, with thanks to Thee,
Shall I embrace those dear to me
Forever in my arms.
Ever, ever, ever-living,
Thee abiding to behold
Shall my life anew unfold.
Thou camest Humankind to free
From death and ill, that there might be
Blessings and fortune everywhere.
And now with this, Thy new descent,
On Earth all shall be different;
To each man shalt Thou give his share.
After Bruno Bauer had sown doubts in his soul, Engels wrote to some friends,
It is written, “Ask and it shall be given unto you.” I seek truth wherever I have the hope of finding at least a shadow of it. Still I cannot recognize your truth as the eternal truth. Yet it is written, “Seek and ye shall find. Who is the man among you who would give to his child a stone, when it asks for bread? Even less will your Father who is in heaven.”
Tears come into my eyes while I write this. I am moved through and through, but I feel I will not be lost. I will come to God, after whom my whole soul longs. This, too, is a witness of the Holy Spirit. With this I live and with this I die The Spirit of
God witnesses to me, that I am a child of God.
Engels was very well aware of the danger of Satanism. In his book Schelling, Philosopher in Christ, Engels wrote:
Since the terrible French Revolution, an entirely new, devilish spirit has entered into a great part of mankind, and godlessness lifts its daring head in such an unashamed and subtle manner that you would think the prophecies of Scripture are fulfilled now Let us see first what the Scriptures say about the godlessness of the last times. The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 24:11-13: “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” And then in verse 24: “There shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” And St. Paul says, in II Thessalonians 2:3ff.: “That man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is God, or that is worshipped…. [The coming of the Wicked] is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Engels quotes Scripture after Scripture, just as the most Bible-believing theologian would do.
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