p. 42 | THE SIN OF UNBELIEF by J. O. Corliss

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 10, 1876

THE SIN OF UNBELIEF.

By J. O. Corliss

UNBELIEF in the teachings of God's word is the besetting sin of the present generation. Go where you will, or enter any society you may, the same disposition is apparent. But it does not stop here. Much of the literature of the day abounds with sentiments that dishonor the Bible, and has a pernicious influence upon the minds of those who are brought in contact with it. This mischief is not carried on by an avowed distrust of God or his word; but, under cover of divine authority, unrestrained license is given to join hands with the world in all its pleasures, or, in other words, to follow every inclination of an unregenerate heart.

In a sermon on the Signs of the Times, delivered by the Rev. George B. Porteous, of Boston, he said: “The idea is gradually advancing into orthodox thought and literature that God meant to exclude man from nothing that gives pleasure, but from whatever gives pain. Hence the prohibitory policy in regard to amusements is being abandoned as a false policy and a fatal mistake, and it is seen that the right policy is to permit nothing to pass by us without stamping upon it a moral value.”

After the above manner, many who have risen to eminence as teachers of God's word advance ideas which can only tend to confirm their hearers in the ways of the world. And in order to arrest doubts, should any occur, Christ is represented as having cast out all devils, therefore none exists to tempt or lead astray the unwary, and consequently every thought and desire, whatever it may be, is of heavenly birth. “It is true,” said this Boston preacher, “that the orthodox church to which I belong, still entertains the old idea of the devil and of hell, yet I regard it as a cause of non-development, a retarding element in civilization.”

Could such sentiments as these be confined to the congregations in which they are uttered, their power would not be so great, but they are reported and published in leading journals, and scattered broadcast through the country. This influence is met everywhere by those who go out with Bible in hand to battle with superstition and error. We cannot then justly wonder at the strange conceptions entertained by many of what God requires of them, when so little confidence is maintained in his revealed word that much of it is regarded as non-essential.

Upon being pressed to give his views on the Sabbath question, which was being canvassed at that time in the village, the Methodist minister said: “I believe the seventh day is the Sabbath according to the Bible, but it makes no difference whether we keep it or not;” thus denying the authority of that word which he had been commissioned to hold up before the world as the epitome of all truth, and the standard by which all actions will be weighed in the Judgment; but, in this instance, giving them to understand that they might violate its precepts with impunity.

Said our Saviour, when speaking of the necessity of having importunate faith in God, “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” We see the omens of his approach thickening around us, and in proportion as these are made manifest, unbelief, which is not the least of these signals, increases on every hand, and the church, united with the world, lowers the standard of Christianity, until faith and the power of godliness seem like attainments of other days. Sin is deceitful at the best, and it loses none of this characteristic by coming to us in the form of unbelief, but only tends to harden our hearts, and lead us captive at the will of the enemy. Then let us take heed lest there be in any of us “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”

J. O. CORLISS.