THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
By Francis M. Wilcox
Signs in the Religious World—The Divine Prediction—The Fulfillment—Fashions—Moral Degeneracy—Higher Criticism—Striving for Political Power—Earnest Hearts.
WHILE Christ placed His followers in the world, He designed that they should not partake of its spirit. They were to be distinct and separate from all around them. As He was a light, so He designed them to be lights likewise, and such lights as would penetrate the darkness, proving beacons to those who, in the wanderings and labyrinths of sin, desired a better service and a higher existence. Had the church of God in all ages been true to this commission, how widely different might have been the history of the world! how different the effect upon nations! how much more far-reaching the influence of the Gospel of Christ! Sad indeed it is that the church has fallen from its high and holy estate, lowering its standard of right and righteousness to meet the demands of the world. Far from the world itself being converted in the last days, the Scriptures say that even the professed church of God itself will stand in anything but an enviable condition before Him. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, says that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." And he says further in the same chapter (2 Tim. 3:1-5), that right in the last days, among those professing a "form of godliness," who could be none other than the professed children of God, there would be found a long catalog of sins. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." It is but necessary for any reader of this article to look around him, and he will see in Christendom to-day the conditions here specified in the Scriptures. The distinctions existing between the church and the world have been broken down. The high and holy standard of the church of God has been lowered. The great churches of the land to-day have become great social, fashionable organizations, in which membership is sought not for the strengthening of Christian growth, but for the social advantages that may be secured thereby. This is not alone true of one church, but it is true of the great majority of churches throughout the world. In the church the standard of morality is but little higher than among worldlings. In almost every organization there are unholy, corrupt, wicked men, who maintain their church fellowship and are saved from righteous discipline on account of their wealth and social position. The same spirit of degeneracy is seen in pulpit preaching. The simplicity of the Gospel of Christ is giving place to a style that caters to the spirit of the world. Questions of politics are brought into the sacred desk. Discussions of science and philosophy engage the attention of hundreds, to the exclusion of the plain, simple preaching of the Gospel of the Lord. And in the pulpit rather than in the pews are there found to-day more earnest advocates of so-called higher criticism, which throws discredit upon portions of the Word of God, and so explains the remaining part that it loses its simplicity and power. Large salaries have called many men into the ministry purely from business considerations, the same as they would enter upon worldly professions or mercantile pursuits. In the majority of church services to-day there is a tendency toward the external and an appeal to display and form in the church ritual, such as captivated the minds of men in the days of Constantine. The same spirit of declination is witnessed in the methods employed by the church in raising means to carry forward its work. Church fairs and socials have taken the place ordained of the Lord for raising means for Gospel purposes. Many churches are now fitted up with rooms for suppers and social gatherings, and indeed some even have billiard tables and other forms of amusements. But above all this is the weakness of the church manifested in its appeal to the civil arm. There is a reaching out to-day, as in the fourth century, for the power of the State to enforce the weak efforts of the church. In this action is a sign of the loss of power on the part of the church. Christ, her lawful Spouse, has departed from her, and now she reaches out to take hold of the arm of flesh to supplement the feeble power she is able to exert. And yet, notwithstanding this spiritual declination and moral degeneracy in the professed church of God, in every denomination there are still true hearts that are reaching out for God. There are still hands upraised to Him. There are those who are lamenting the sins of Israel, who are mourning for the departed glory, and are longing for a return to the old paths of righteousness and simplicity. And God will not pass unnoticed a single outstretched hand. He will not turn deaf ears to a single desolate cry. He will send relief and send deliverance. In every heart which desires it, the power of His truth will be resuscitated. Based upon the signs given in His Word, there will go forth to every longing soul the message of deliverance. Of this message, and the work it is designed to do, further reference will be made hereafter.