“PERILOUS TIMES” FOR YOU.
By A. SMITH.
A. SMITH.
(Grandville, Mich.) Our Saviour has warned us, even us who are recognized as His remnant people, that “as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:38, 39. This admonition is written because God’s people, on account of the prevailing wickedness, are in danger of committing the very same sins here specified. The acts of marrying and giving in marriage are honorable and right in themselves, but the spirit of courtship is sometimes carried to such an excess as seriously to endanger morality and to harm the cause of God. Paul testifies that in the last days “perilous times shall come,” and then proceeds to specify certain sins which will be practiced by professors of religion. See 2 Tim. 3:1–5. When we read this scripture, we are too apt to apply it wholly to other churches or other people, and do not feel alarmed lest this very condition of things should exist among ourselves. Some of God’s people seem paralyzed or stupefied by the prevailing evil customs of our times. There is sometimes lack of strict integrity in business transactions, and promises or engagements are not always kept with a sense of honor. Circumstances of more or less importance are regarded as sufficient excuses, while the parties affected by such breach of faith are not informed of the delay, nor asked to accept the conditions. Such disregard of one’s word constitutes truce breaking. A person who would use a ticket on a railroad or other public conveyance the second time, if he has opportunity, is dishonest; and in business transactions a person receiving by mistake excess of what is his due in money or merchandise, is dishonest if he does not, when he discovers the mistake, make restitution. And for obvious reasons such dishonesty, when practiced by a Seventh-day Adventist, is more wicked than when practiced by anybody else. There is no excuse for a child of God to depart in the least from strict integrity in business; for he has the promise of One who loves us as a father, and who has the wealth of the universe at His command, and who will not suffer us to lack anything needful if we walk uprightly. “If we will move in harmony with Heaven, ministering angels will work with us, and crown our efforts with success.”—“Testimony for the Church,” No. 32, page 176. Shall we heed the Saviour’s warning?