THE CONDITION AND THE REMEDY.
By Editor
THE question pertains to the condition of the church of God, and the remedy. The very idea that a remedy is needed presumes that the condition is not favorable. And it is not. Let us give three statements of Holy Writ upon this point, divine predictions of the church in the very time in which we live. We hope that our readers will not pass them by, but consider them seriously. The first is a general statement from our Lord, recorded in Matt. 24:11, 12. "And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold." The multiplied lawlessness is not in the world; for the world has ever been lawless as respects God. Among the heathen and those who know not God in Christian lands there has ever been all kinds of iniquity; devilish deeds of deepest dye have been prevalent from the time that murderous Cain struck to his death his brother. Such deeds without have ever brought the people of God nearer to Him. The multiplied iniquity is found in the professed church, a condition thus predicted by the apostle Paul, in 2 Tim. 3:1-5:— "But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof; from these also turn away." The merest careful reading of this scripture will clearly disclose (1) that its application is to religionists in the last days; (2) that these eighteen different sins are only various forms of selfishness which the power of God has not touched; (3) that the "grievous times," the "perilous times," result from the fact that the spiritual condition of the church is such that these things are tolerated; (4) that these sins are not crimes, infractions of civil law, but that they are even more dangerous, because the very conservator of righteousness in the earth, the light-bearer, is herself in darkness; and (5) that from those who take pleasure in such things it is as much the duty of the child of God to turn away as from youthful lusts and false doctrines. The third scripture (Rev. 3:14-17) to the Laodiceans reveals the awful condition of insensibility to spiritual things resulting from indulgence in these sins and their toleration:— "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked." O, it is awful, the condition of God's professed church when measured, not by worldly standards, but by the law of God in the illuminated life of Jesus Christ and the teaching of His prophets and apostles. The grosser forms of sin are not so manifest as in the past perhaps, but the selfishness—the root of all—is more prevalent in a thousand more pleasing and delusive, but not less deadly, forms. The very sins which Paul charged against the heathen world in his day, he predicts of God's own professed people in the last days. See Rom. 1:28-32. They are all the fruits of the flesh, and "My people love to have it so; but what will ye do in the end thereof?" Family prayer is the exception, not the rule. Prayer-meetings are thinly attended, and the religious meetings are considered long if extended an hour, while foolish, senseless parties of pleasure will continue into the small hours of the morning with none weary. God's cause calls for means to save souls, and the response is feeble, while pleasure and commercial investment can always command a full purse. We know that there are many who will read impatiently this article. We are sorry, but we can do no otherwise than to write it. God's Word and Spirit and present conditions witness to its truth. It is for your eternal good and highest enjoyment we write these words. If God's Book is the truth, it is worthy of all heed. If Christ is worthy of service, He is worthy of our best. We can not hope in His promise if we ignore the conditions of implicit obedience, of simple childlike faith in His holy Word, of answering loyally to His law and kingdom. The devil, clothed as an angel of light, is lulling millions into the slumbers of eternal death. Christ comes with open hands filled with the jewels of Heaven's choicest truth, but like children we turn away to the tinsel toys. He comes offering His own stainless robes of righteousness, but we prefer the gaudy, fading trappings of pleasure or the tarnished robes of the harlot of Babylon. Angels of God bend low to sing to us glorious symphonies of heavenly peace, grand diapasons of victory, but our ears are so filled with the din of the world's traffic, and the blare and discord of the fish-horns of pleasure, that we hear no sound of the music of God. The very beauties of heaven are disclosed in Christ's life and Word, but, blinded by the glare of the world, we can not see them. O soul, awake from thy stupor of death; awake alone; wait not for others. Take acceptable words of repentance and confession and return to thy God. Give up the world, break partnership with Satan, yield all to God. He waits to be gracious. He longs to heal. He has the white robes, and the eyesalve, and the pure gold of eternal riches,—yea, more than tongue can tell or lips repeat, to give to thee, and more than all else His own priceless companionship. Will you not, O soul, cast off the powers of darkness and turn to Him who is light? Will you not reject the counterfeit and accept the only genuine?