Indifference or Fanaticism.
Of the two, with reference to the subject of our Lord’s second coming, it is difficult to say which is the worse. That Christ’s coming is near, the superabounding evidence of his word, and the social, political, religious, and physical conditions of the world, declare. To make the doctrine of none effect in the church, the devil works in two ways: he lulls to indifference; he induces to fanaticism. The former leads to neglect, worldliness, scoffing, and ridicule of the very doctrine itself and of those who hold it. The latter leads to time-setting, extravagance of various sorts, disappointment, infidelity, and more indifference. Nevertheless, Christ is coming, and coming soon, and it is the duty of his people, while they know not the hour, to “know that he is near, even at the door.” Not to know this is to be taken in a snare.