The Law Must Be Preached
By R. F. Cottrell
"Since the commencement of the present year, the Western Advocate (Methodist,) it is stated, has reported no less than ten thousand who have been brought into the Church within this short period! It is said believers in revelation have, for more than a thousand years, looked forward to the year 1866 as one in which the Son of God would manifest himself to the Christian world as he never did before."—Sab. Rev. There are multitudes being converted in these days, who do not know from what they are converted, nor to what. Thousands of them could not tell you where the ten commandments are to be found, and probably a majority of them do not know that such a law was ever written by the finger of God. It is no wonder that those who are converted by mere excitement and without instruction and enlightened conviction, should fulfill the word of the prophet: "A month shall devour them." If genuine and reliable conversions are to be realized, the law of God must be preached. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." A. Barnes, on Matt. v, 19, says:—"We learn hence, 1. That all the law of God is binding on Christians. 2. That all the commands of God should be preached in their proper place, by Christian ministers. 3. That they who pretend that there are any laws of God so small that they need not obey them, are unworthy of his kingdom. And, 4. That true piety has respect to all the commandments of God and keeps them." There is but very little of this sort of preaching at the present time. Anecdotes are told, and "thrilling" incidents are related of sudden deaths and remarkable conversions, with glowing descriptions of great revivals in other places; and children and youth come forward to the anxious seats and get converted that could not give an intelligent answer to the question, What is sin? The commandments of God are not preached; and should it be asked why they are not preached, I think no better answer could be given than that the teachers of religion are not keeping them themselves. Some say they have been abolished, and others that they have been changed; and with either view the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is not kept. Ministers are becoming more and more aware of this; consequently should they preach the whole law of God, they would preach their own condemnation. So the world is to be converted to God without so much as knowing what his law is! It is no harm to expect that the Son of God will "manifest himself to the Christian world as he never did before," even in the definite year, 1866, provided he comes to fulfill the fabled hope of the conversion of the world; but when we preach the personal coming of the Lord, according to his promise, within a very few years, even in the life-time of the present generation, they will object to preaching definite time, preferring blissful ignorance of the time of such a calamity, and quoting, or rather misquoting, "No man shall know the day or the hour." There can be no reasonable doubt that 1866 will be an eventful year. The "waking up of nations" for the last great strife is upon us. The prophecy of Joel is meeting its accomplishment. "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears," &c. But notwithstanding this word of God is fulfilling, men will dream of peace and safety, and flatter themselves to believe that the world is about to be converted, and the nations to learn war no more. They can hope against hope in this, against the word and providence of God, while his providence is thus evidently fulfilling the sure word of prophecy. But tell them the truth—that the day of the Lord "is at hand;" that it is coming like a destruction from the Almighty; Isa. xiii, 6-9; that Jesus is coming to save his people and take vengeance on his adversaries; and they can see no signs, but begin to ask, with the scoffer, "Where is the promise of his coming." It is true that the Lord will cause wars to cease to the ends of the earth. But how? Not by the preaching of a corrupted and depreciated gospel; but by dashing in pieces the nations. "Come, behold the165works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cuteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps. xlvi, 8-10. The Lord will cause wars to cease by the destruction of his enemies. After this the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord, and there will be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain. The rebellion will be subdued. War shall be no more after all the enemies of the Lord are finally slain.