THE UNCOMPROMISING NATURE OF TRUTH.
By H. R.
THIS earth is the battle-field where this last great conflict between the spiritual powers of good and evil is to be fought out to the finish. (See Rev. 12:9: “He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”) All Heaven looks on in sympathy with the Prince and His holy cause, as it is written, “We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” Millions of martyrs have sealed their faith with their lives at the instance of one or another of the mighty engines of persecution, social, religious, and governmental, erected by the arch-enemy, for the subversion of virtue and the promotion of vice. Some of these are masterpieces of his art. (See 2 Cor. 11:13–15.) We have here no vulgar tactics of a novitiate, but an experienced strategist of marvelous skill and power. So hath he wrought through the natural selfishness, cupidity, and avarice inherent in the fallen nature of man, that he hath won this temporal world, practically, into his hands, as he boasted to the Lord on the mountain of temptation when he showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,” and he said: “All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be Thine.” So he bids for every man’s soul—thrones, lands, houses, wives, honors, preferments, titles, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures and delights of the senses, jewels, beautiful and elegant raiment, popularity, fame, wealth, splendor, music, arts, offices, all things that appeal to “the lust of the flesh, the pride of the eyes, the pride of life,” “for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me,” many of these shall be thine. Satan has hedged in all these worldly advantages and emoluments, and they can only be obtained by compromise with him. To the soul standing at the cross-roads of decision, it seems, indeed, like losing this life to choose Christ and His Word, and to such the Word of Christ comes with warning and promise:— “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” Matt. 10: 37–39. To one who knows the history of this great controversy, the uncompromising language of the Scriptures as to the impossibility of maintaining friendly relations with both these antipodal powers, is not a surprise. It is plain to every honest heart that “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4), for “the friendship of the world is enmity against God.” “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve God and mammon.” Matt. 6: 24. Satan is the aggressor and the offender from the beginning, and his is always the aggressive and the offensive role in every campaign. God has called His servants “as lambs among wolves,” to show forth the praises of their great Captain by whose name they are called, by walking “blameless and harmless” amidst “a crooked and perverse generation,” even as Christ, the Lamb of God, walked this earth innocent, harmless, above reproach, doing only good to those who, influenced by the fiends of hell, were bent on His destruction. Never, by teaching or example, did the Lord ever justify His disciples in taking the aggressive or offensive in reply to any insult or conspiracy against them, but rather rebuked them when they took offense at these things, teaching “that ye resist not evil,” but “overcome evil with good,” teaching that we should love our persecutors and pray for their conversion, that our weapons of warfare are not carnal weapons, but spiritual, and “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” (Rom. 13:12; 2 Cor. 6:6, 7; 10:3; Eph. 6:13–18); for this is a spiritual war of evil against good, and if we do not exemplify the character of our cause, and maintain the integrity of righteousness in the face of all evil, then we are not true to the character and mission of our Prince, and we have only added our reproach to the reproach of His enemies. If we can not persuade men to join the ranks of our Prince, it would be worse than folly to try to compel His haters to bow the knee. If we can not win them to His service by Christ’s love, we certainly can gain nothing by forcing them into an attitude of respect which is involuntary and unfelt, but to make their hatred the more bitter and implacable. Thus the great controversy is precipitated. The battle is pitched and waging hotly. On the one side are arrayed the armies of Michael, the Prince of heaven. These soldiers of the Prince of Peace are the “called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14) ones of earth, who have “left all” to follow their Lord,—they have scorned all bribes and temptations of the enemy. And behind this company on earth are the armies of heaven (Rev. 19:11–16), none the less real because invisible. Every one is a mighty power for help, and above all, at the right hand of God, is the Captain of our salvation, with “all power in heaven and earth” for the “present help” of every soldier. For He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Those in His service are asked to bear meekly and patiently all trial and persecution for His sake, and to keep themselves from “fornication” (Acts 15:29; Rev. 18:3) with the traitor power in any form, unspotted, unpolluted, “faithful unto death,” and that by a pure life and pure Gospel they win as many souls from the ranks of Satan as will “hear” the blessed words of life. On the other hand is the great apostate angel, Lucifer, now Beelzebub, prince of devils, and the powers of darkness, and all his legions of earth and hell combined. They are actuated by one fell purpose, viz., to ruin as much of the Prince’s fair domain as the time left them will allow, and to ensnare, seduce, and betray into error as many of Prince Immanuel’s army as will listen to their “cunningly devised fables;” and when guile and hypocrisy fail, all fraud, treachery, and hellish pressure is brought to bear to drive them from their Rock—Jesus, and His pure principles of Gospel truth. And when all these fail, persecution to the death! But they “fear not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul.” And so all the fiery darts fall powerless from the “shield” of our “faith.” “For this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4. And what is the service of Satan? Those who have tried it (and we were all his servants by nature) know that “the way of the transgressor is hard.” “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” His rewards, a few perishing baubles of earthly honors and pleasures, and in the end “wrath” and “fiery indignation that shall devour the adversaries.” All love, all joy, all life and honors and happiness that might have been ours for eternity, lost, and lost forever! Ah, who can hesitate on such a choice as this? O, that all might awake to the realities of this terrific struggle! It means your life, or your eternal death, my brother, my sister. We are living in fearful yet glorious times. We are they “upon whom the ends of the world are come,” and, “behold, the Judge is at the door.” Never before were such grand opportunities opened for proving our gratitude and loyalty to the One who has died for us. There is no neutral ground! We can not hide behind any plausible theory, or non-committal shelter, and evade these issues. God is jealous of His holy cause. He will not permit it. Satan will not allow it; all must acknowledge his sovereignty on pain of his enmity. Every skulker will be dragged from his hiding-place and made to declare his fealty to the dragon or the King, and receive the beast’s damning “mark,” or be “sealed” for God and heaven. How wonderfully all lines of prophecy are trending to the focusing-point,—the coming of our Lord! How marvelously all the great tides of human events are setting in toward the last awful tragedy,—the day of God’s wrath! Dear reader, where is your allegiance—to the King of heaven, or to the prince of this world? Are you enemy or friend? H. R.