TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL THINGS.
By R. F. COTTRILL.
It is difficult for men to realize the future, unseen and eternal things, which God has promised in his word, and which at present are matters of faith and not of sight to us. Temporal things are all around us, and press upon our senses; and they must occupy a large share of our attention; but the unseen things, revealed to us by the Spirit of God, and only seen by faith in his word, are apt to be things merely consented to, but not realized as things that will certainly become objects of sight, as real as the things which we now see around us. Men of the world and nominal Christians assent to the reality of the things that God has promised. They say they believe the promises and threatenings of the Bible will be fulfilled. But their faith in these things does not sensibly affect their course of life; because it makes no real, vivid impression upon the mind. It is a faith without corresponding works, and therefore is dead. The rage of the world at the present time, is wealth. That which they can “see no money in,” possesses but little interest to them. The unseen things of the Christian’s faith have but little or no attraction for them, because they see no money in them. Money-making is a thing at hand, and they can realize the importance of it; but spiritual things they cannot see; the promises of God are so far off—it is, to them, so long a time before they become due, that they come to the conclusion that they can make more profitable investments in something else. The things of the present world, they think, “will pay better.” Professed Christians are being carried down with the corrupted currents of this world more and more continually; and as long as they will not heed present truth, this will continue to be the case. Nothing but the faith in the Lord’s coming, based upon the present evidences of prophetic fulfillment, is able to raise one above the present tide of worldliness, while men are “heaping up treasures in the last days,” and are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Let it be observed that this is the prophetic description of the nominal Christians of the last days. And it requires a strong and persevering effort for any one to walk by faith, amid the opposing influences of this present evil world. It is necessary to keep the eyes on the mark of the prize; turn away from the things which surround us; to “look not on the things that are seen, but on the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” If we heed this instruction of the apostle, we shall soon see those eternal things; for they are not things, as many imagine, that never will be seen.