THINGS WANTING | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 25, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 26.

"THINGS WANTING."

Under the above heading the Rev. W. E. Glenville, Ph.D., declares that the three following things are wanting to-day:—

"A clear-cut conception and conviction of sinfulness."
"A clear-cut conviction of our need of conscious individual turning to God."
"On the part of professing Christians a more thorough, earnest, and diligent imitation of Christ, the daily 'practise of the presence of God.'"

And all these are sadly wanting. What are the causes?

For the first Dr. Glenville mentions "science" and its teaching of "heredity," by which much of sin is excused; and "the more pleasurable view of life." He thus continues:—

We put respectability first, and character is but little thought of, and respectability often stands merely for a well-filled pocketbook, a well-furnished house, the elements of a general education, a well-polished exterior, an occasional conventional patronage of the worship of God; and we give little heed to the old-fashioned talk of Jesus Christ, who described such a life as like a whited sepulcher, well cleaned and painted white on the outside, but corrupt and stenchful within. And so in the literature of our day, in the magazines, the papers, the works of fiction, in the society gossip of the day, and in the popular amusements of the times, the old idea of simpleness is pooh-poohed, and the word sin itself is seldom heard. All of which, in the writer's judgment, is a most pitiful infatuation; an infatuation as real as the infatuation of any unhappy patient in the lunatic asylum. . . . The most casual observation and experience should teach us that this light and airy and sportive attitude toward sinfulness is continually working out, all around us, the most grievous and wretched results. Young people, whose sense of sinfulness has never been stirred by faithful and dutiful parents, enter life with the idea that it does not matter how we live, what habits we allow, as long as we keep ourselves out of the reach of the arm of the criminal law, get all the money we can, and have as good an all-round time as it is possible to cram and crowd into the twenty-four hours of the day. That is their philosophy of life.

They have never been seriously taught to love and reverence the Sabbath day and the worship of their God. They have never been taught, by family worship, the influence and importance of private personal prayer. In fact, the influence of the home and society has been largely the other way. And so, as they go forth into life, we see them, one after another, entangling themselves in evil habits, stupefying and stultifying the brain, confusing and confounding the voice of conscience, embarking their forces of virtue, knowledge, and strength in downright practical heathenism, living without God and without hope in the world, and in some cases reaching the conclusion that life is not worth living. True! such a life is not worth living; this kind of life we were never created to live, and this kind of life is the logical and inevitable outcome of making a mock of sin.

1. Of course the primary cause of all this lies in the tendencies of the carnal heart. But one reason why this fearful condition exists among professed Christians, is that the very means that the Spirit of God would use to quicken conscience is not preached. The Word tells us: "By the law is the knowledge of sin;" that "sin is not imputed when there is no law;" that "where no law is there is no transgression;" that "sin is the transgression of the law;" and that "I had not known sin, but by the law." How, then, can there be definite, deep, true conviction of sin where the law is not preached? When God's means are ignored, what effectual means has man to put in its stead? By what other power can the sinner—in the church or out—see his attitude toward God's law (Rom. 8:7), and that by the law the carnal mind must be and is condemned to death? There is mighty need of preaching the first seven chapters of Romans; yes, to 8:12.

But here "science, falsely so-called," has, through the higher criticism, taken from us the law preached by the prophets, the Master, and the apostles. It is relegated to the past as a part of an ancient Hebrew code, albeit declared by Inspiration to be unchangeable and eternal. Again, how many ministers are there who are afraid to use the law to point out sin, for fear that some one will ask a question about the troublesome Fourth Commandment, which enjoins the day that Jesus and prophet and apostle kept. O, for the courage of conviction on the part of preacher, and the courage to do and dare and follow Christ when he finds that through erroneous early teaching, conscientious wrong example, and pagan tradition, his feet have been set in wrong paths.

2. The second thing would not be "wanting" if the causes of the first were removed, if God's law were pressed home upon the individual conscience. There is coming in the idea of "Christian" nations, and "Christian Socialism," through which comes the idea that men are saved en masse. It is a delusion and a snare. The individual man must be born again. The individual soul must believe.

3. Yes, it is wanting. But the lack of imitation means the lack of life. All true outward forms of Christianity are growths from the inward life, fruits of the tree, outward expressions of an inward faith. We witness to what we know. If we do not know Christ as the Life, how can we bear life witness to Him? "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."

The great remedy is the preaching of the Gospel of God, the Word of God, without doubt, without partiality, as God has given it. This means that the law shall have its proper place; the prophecies shall have their proper place; God's present reforming truth shall have its proper place, in His everlasting Gospel. Then, and not till then, will the church of Jesus Christ arise, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."