p. 9 | Keeping His Pledge

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 13, 1909

Keeping His Pledge

The triumph of Christ in the earth is not a matter of numbers; neither is it a matter of the triumph of all the great organizations that bear his name. The editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, in writing of the triumphs of the gospel in all lands, asks these questions:—

But what of the future? Will Christ be able to keep his pledge? Will the cross retain its magnetism? Will the church meet successfully the strategic struggle of to-morrow?

He answers, “No doubt of it.” There is no doubt that Christ will be able to keep his pledge; but the Advocate expects him to do something that he has never given a pledge to do. He has never promised, for instance, that all men would yield to his drawing and become his willing subjects. Nowhere has he pledged that, as a result of the proclamation of the gospel in all the earth, men and nations would be transformed so that all would be following the ways of righteousness. “Will the cross retain its magnetism?” It has never lost it; but preachers to-day are not exalting the cross and the great sacrifice made thereon as once they did. They have sunk in the scales of theology as the New Thought, the Higher Criticism, Evolution, Theosophy, the philosophies of heathenism, and the doubtings of pulpit infidelity have risen to dazzle and attract. Nevertheless, “when the Son of man cometh,” he will find a few, “his jewels”—they are not plentiful, or they would not be called jewels—who have proved loyal. “Will the church meet successfully the strategic struggle of to-morrow?” As to the “little flock,” the faithful “remnant,” calling itself “the church,” the answer is, Yes; but as to the great organization calling itself “the church,” the answer is, No; and the reason is that its leaders and members are turning from the Word to the traditions of men, putting doubt in the place of faith, evolution in the place of creation, and are seeking to establish the kingdom of Christ by political methods, while they belittle the doctrine of his imminent and personal return. The Jews were looking for a political Messiah, and did not know the Saviour of the world when he stood among them. The majority of the last generation of men will be looking for a king of the world, crowned as such by human endeavors. But when the King of kings and Lord of lords appears in the clouds of heaven to redeem his people and shatter the nations, they will not be ready to greet him, or to share in his triumphs.