AN EVIDENCE OF THE CONSUMMATION.
By S.
WITH the speed of the lightning the doctrines of error and doubt and infidelity are heralded to-day. Let some prominent man bring a railing accusation against the Word of God, or propound some new error in reference thereto, and the telegraph instruments are clicking it over the land and under the sea before it is a day old. Satan seems anxiously waiting to hang a garland of fame upon the neck of every person who will heap reproach upon the Word of God. Christ taught that there would come a time when faith would be scarce upon the earth; when the word and work of God would be assailed with doubts upon every hand. That time has come—but that time was to be the time of the end, the time when the coming of the Son of Man would be due. The pulpits of the land are overflowing with skepticism; and when the pulpit is inoculated there is bound to be contagion in the pews. God designed that His Word should be the man of our counsel; but more and more it is coming to be a guide upon which the chosen leaders of the people are casting aspersions and discredit—all contributing to the one end of destroying faith in the great truths of salvation. It is the enemy's work of befogging the channel that the ships of our souls may founder upon the rocks. It matters not what this policy may be called; the work it does is just as ruinous under a high-sounding title as it would be under a name that would call it what it is in truth. Christ is Himself called the Word; but if He were here in person, He could do nothing for that soul who constantly challenged His statements and His work at every turn, and sought to make each declaration of His a fallacy. If Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then His words are truth, carrying the truth only. We can not discount His words without discounting Him. If we declare that the Bible is not the truth, we bring a terrible charge against Him by whose inspiration holy men of God penned its sacred teachings. The whole is equal to the sum of all its parts. If Christ is the truth, then every word He ever uttered is truth. If His words are part true and part false, He can not be the truth. The spring of truth does not send forth both sweet water and bitter. As we could not be considered worthy members of the household of Christ while we were continually challenging His own truthfulness, neither can we be while we are continually challenging the truth of the Word of God. The angels of God saw the full fruitage of the work of error when Christ expired on the cross of Calvary. There could no longer be in their minds any question of the fruit of doubting the word of God. It is now incumbent upon man to take his stand with the angels of God. As long as Satan lives, he will continue to challenge the Word and works of God, and will cast discredit upon truth and righteousness; and we are his assistants, espousers of his cause, when we join in the promulgation of the dogmas of doubt. But it must be a cause of amazement, even to the teachers of doubt, to see with what avidity the distributors of the daily news gather up and distribute to the ends of the earth every item of doubt and infidelity that is tossed to them. The exponent of Bible truth will scarcely get a hearing in his own local paper; while the fulminations of doubt are heralded around the world. Satan is using, and will continue to use, every agency afforded by the inventive genius of the age to disseminate darkness and infidelity; and the teaching of these doctrines from the pulpits is increasing and accelerating the speed of his conquests in this direction. In every crisis that has come to this world God has had a remnant that would stand true to Him no matter how threatening their environments. He will have a remnant in the close of this age. They will stand with unwavering faith in the midst of the severest trials. They will bear the brunt of ridicule; they will receive the sentence of death; and while the world is looking upon them in derision, God is saying of them, "Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. It will be a most trying experience; but it will be a glorious experience to stand with that company and receive the approbation of God and angels. The advancing work of the enemy in the teachings of doubt is but one of the many evidences that the consummation of the Christian's hope is near at hand.