“WE HAVE SEEN STRANGE THINGS TO-DAY.”
By v. s.
This was the exclamation of the multitude, near Jerusalem, one day when they brought unto Jesus a man stricken with paralysis, and had seen him restored, by the word of the Master, to health and strength. Every Bible reader is familiar with the circumstances. The friends of the stricken man, not being able to get near to Jesus on account of the crowd, had climbed up, and pushed aside a portion of the roof of the veranda of the house where Christ was sitting, and had let the man down through the opening, in front of Jesus. He, seeing their faith, immediately greeted the man with the astonishing words, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” The poor invalid looked only for the healing of the body, but found what is better, and always in God’s order, the healing of the soul. Then the scribes and Pharisees, ever ready to fall into skeptical haggling and complaint over the work of Christ, lifted up their hands in holy horror, and exclaimed, “Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” In their witch-pot breath of cynicism, they were ready to mix up divine healing and deliberate blasphemy against God, to gratify their envious spirit, never stopping to think that the two could not possibly go together. And Christ, perceiving their wicked thoughts, did not meet them with anger, but patiently took up the matter as it stood in their own minds, and put them to silence, by saying, “What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins (he said unto the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.” They had indeed seen strange things; but they allowed what Christ had done to the man’s body to excite their wonder more than the greater work he had done to the man’s soul. To take a man who is unjust, and unclean in the sight of God, and make him pure, and upright, and justified, is the greatest miracle that ever was, or can be, wrought. And they who now decry the manifestation of miracles, affirming that the age of miracles is past, thereby cut off the great boon of conversion from all men since the days of the apostles. But that boon will continue till the end of time; and the last conversion that will take place under the third, and last, message of mercy, will perhaps be as notable an event of that kind as any in the past. Many strange things of this kind we have seen, and many more we hope to see. But thought will go forward, and assert its claim to other events that are strange things, which are peculiar to our own times. We are living in strange times. Taking the daily record of the newspapers, as a photograph of the times in which we are living, we can say of every day of our lives, We have seen strange things to-day. The outburst, in 1848, of the predicted anger of the nations (Rev. 11: 18) was a strange and unaccountable thing, if viewed outside of the light of prophecy on the subject; or, rather, the sudden and unexpected way in which the trouble was hushed up was the marvelous thing, from any human point of view. But just as strange are the foretold events that have followed right along since that time—the abnormal convulsions of nature, the sea and the waves roaring, storm and tempest and tidal waves, the threatened distress of nations with perplexity, rolling up portentous and heart-distressing volumes everywhere, till the prospect overshadows the world like a huge nightmare, the spell of which can not be broken,—is not this one of the strange things to be seen to-day? Assemble all these objects into one view, one huge, gloomy picture of the last days, and what can we say of it? Can those be discounted as pessimists who exclaim, “We have seen strange things to-day”? Well may we, like the disciples of old, be amazed over these things; but we can not glorify God on account of them, only as we see in them evidence that the word of God is true, and that he is bringing to pass what he has foretold, and is hastening on that day which is at once the day of his glory and of the triumph and reward of his saints. Wherever we look, we see strange things. Take, for instance, an object nearest home, our own country,—a country risen to the very acme of renown and prosperity through the excellence of the principles upon which it was founded, and the ability and integrity with which it has been managed,—a nation which has grown delirious with self-laudation over the success of the working of these same glorious principles, and now in the same breath repudiating that which has been its life and glory, its Declaration of Independence, and inimitable Constitution! Seeing this, have we not seen strange things to-day? And when we see the artful manner in which the nation is being drawn away from its former safe moorings, and roped in to the bewildering maze of evils in which the nations of the Old World are entangled, till it must bear its share of the burden of expense and perplexity, which are crushing the very life out of them; and how unconcernedly the rank and file are falling in with this condition of things, can we not say that we have seen strange things to-day? But, some one may say: “This nation has life and vitality, and it will endure. Things that would block the way and cripple the power of other nations can not phase this one.” So, the optimist, we know, dreams and sings. But let us ask, in all candor, of any one who is intelligent in regard to the nature of our times, how long before the influences now confessedly at work everywhere among the people of this land,—how long before these influences would, and will, reduce this government to the condition of those peoples whom Lord Salisbury pronounces to be decaying and dying nations—whose power is waning away, and who are hastening to their doom? No one would claim it could be long, for the example of other nations who have gone over the same course is too plain to be mistaken. Figures will not lie; and history is repeating itself. But we have not to wait even for this swift decadence; for this power, in connection with that other one called “the beast,”—a power which, to be sure, has run longer in sin, but not deeper,—is to be cast ALIVE into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Rev. 19: 20. That first power—the Beast—has rounded out the prophetic description given of it, by speaking, at the beginning of the last third of the present century, the great words that it was to utter just before it went into the devouring flame, in which it is to perish forever. Dan. 7: 11; 2 Thess. 2: 8; Rev. 19: 20. And this latter one—the Image of the Beast—is preparing to crown with honor, and laud to the very heavens, the first Beast, just when the God of heaven, in his wrath, is about to blot it from the face of his dominion. See last-cited references. When we see this nation turning its back upon this precious heritage of civil and religious liberty, which Henry Gannett, in his late work, called “The Building of a Nation,” says “has contributed more than any other single agency to the career of magnificent prosperity which this country has pursued, almost without interruption,” and when we see it oppressing its citizens for conscience’ sake, have we not seen strange things? But that which gives these things their startling significance is not only that they are so strange in themselves, but that they are the sharply defined precursors of the world’s coming funeral day. But the world is ignorant of them and does not see them,10because it has not studied the signs of the times. And seeing in these things no significance, they drowsily declare that there is no sign of his coming, for “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3: 4. They hear the truth, and think they have heard strange things, because they do not acquaint themselves with what God’s word teaches on these points. How often we hear them speak thus of the doctrines of God’s word. Just so the Epicureans and Stoics thought of Paul’s teaching. They said, “Thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.” Acts 17: 20. We would that listeners to-day would have the same interest as then, to learn “what these things mean.” How often have we had the same experience? But are there not some things among ourselves that should seem strange to us? To those who do not believe these things they seem strange; and their course, under such unnecessary blindness, seems strange to us. But have they not as much reason to look upon the course of us who profess to believe these things, as strange? Is it not strange that, making the profession we do, we display no more earnestness and zeal than we do to make them known to the world? Is it not strange that the different agencies established to promulgate these momentous doctrines are not abundantly sustained? Is it not strange that we manifest no more of the spirit of pilgrims and strangers, seeking a better country, and give no more evidence to the world that our inheritance is above, and that we are seeking a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God? And if men, with their dull perceptions, can discover such inconsistencies in us, what must be the feelings of angels, as, from their heavenly point of view, and with their more perfect knowledge, they look down upon our half-hearted and semiconscious efforts in the work of salvation for ourselves and others? “It is high time to awake out of sleep.” Must they not often be led to exclaim, as they look upon our divided hearts, and unstable course in the cause of the Prince of Life, “Lo, we have seen strange things to-day? What is the matter with that people who claim to believe that heaven and hell are trembling in the balances, soon to be their portion forever, and they no more alive to the situation, and no more zealous in their walk and conversation? They see the heavens and the earth full of startling signs that nature in her present condition is about to be laid in her last winding sheet; and while this is pending, they see the world lying asleep, and dreaming of a time of peace and safety soon to dawn upon them; but, stranger still, though professing to understand these things, and to know the course that events are about to take, and the results that will follow, they seem but half awake. They think themselves rich, but they are poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. They know that the Lord is coming,—coming as a snare upon all the dwellers on the earth,—and yet they themselves live as permanent dwellers, not as pilgrims and strangers. They understand the subject of the sanctuary, and the closing work of Christ as the only High Priest above, and yet fail to study and sense the subject in its sublime importance. They know the King is soon coming in to examine the guests; but where is the wedding garment? This is a strange sight,” we imagine we hear the angels say. “What will awake the people to their duty and destiny?” But some will be overcomers, and will be saved; and such will soon see strange things of another nature. The great controversy will be ended, and deliverance will come. And they will be able to say, “We have seen strange things to-day.” We have seen the Lord take to himself his great power, and reign. We have seen all his foes cut off, and have seen them perish. We have seen the new heavens and earth come into a new creation before our eyes. We have seen the Sun of righteousness arise, all glorious, with his wings full of life and healing, and have seen the worn warriors with sin, don the robes of victory, and enter upon days which shall be as the days of the tree of life, and enter into a country where they will “long enjoy the work of their hands.” With reference to such scenes as these, may we not hope to be able some day to say, “We have seen strange things to-day”? v. s.