“It Matters not when, if We Are only Prepared.”
By Roswell F. Cottrell
CONCERNING the light of prophecy an apostle has said, “Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.” But thousands are deceiving themselves with the idea, seemingly self-evident to them, that it is of no use to them to know whether the coming of Christ and the end are near, or far in the future, if they are only prepared. This excuse for not heeding the injunction of Jesus and his apostles to “watch” and to “know that it is near,” “lest coming suddenly,” they be found “sleeping,” is so well expressed and so plausible, who can deny its truth? Is it not true that, if they are only ready, all is well with them? Say they, “It matters not to me whether Christ should come to-day, this year or next, or whether he should not come in ten thousand years, it is all the same to me; if I love Jesus, all is well.” Now I wish to show how little such persons know and realize in what will consist a preparation for the close of probation for those that shall in the providence of God be “alive and remain” to that all-important event. Please read the closing message of probation, as recorded in Rev. 14: 9-12. Listen to the awful warning against the worship of the beast and his image, and the terrible denunciation of the unmingled wrath of God against those that shall be found so doing, when that great day of his wrath shall come. Then, on the other hand, read the account of the last persecution of the church, recorded in Rev. 13: 11-18, when that government, which will bring into being an image of the papal beast, shall demand that you shall worship the image, the very thing which God warns you not to do, on pain of death; and it will be seen that a grand and decisive test will close probationary time, and that those who live till the Son of man shall be seated upon the white cloud with the sickle in his hand, because the “harvest of the earth is ripe,” will have passed this final, trying test, refusing to worship the beast and his image, and identifying themselves with those “who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Now let me ask you, my friend, Who will pass this test, and not know that Christ’s coming is near, even at the doors? Who will, at the risk of his life, refuse obedience to the mandates of earthly government, standing firm for the commandments of God, in spite of the threatening of death, till Christ shall come for their deliverance, and not know that deliverance is coming, and without praying for, and expecting, the coming of the Deliverer? At that time will be fulfilled the promise of Christ: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18: 7, 8. To one who heeds the sure word of prophecy it is absurd, in the highest degree, to suppose that one can be prepared for the grand and solemn event of the close of human probation without being aware that that event is at hand. And why should Christians choose to close their eyes to all the signs of the coming of that day, and desire to have that day come upon them as a thief in the night. “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” “The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.” Why should Christians deliberately choose the unbeliever’s fate?