THE DEMAND FOR A DEFINITE MESSAGE.
By J. O. Corliss
AT sundry stages in earth's history, God has given definite messages through His ministers, all of which were well calculated to arouse moral sensibility, and institute an era of moral reform. Each of these various messages has been a definite, unmistakable call to the people to separate themselves from some general overspreading evil, which threatened the existence of God's rule among men. Beginning with the days of Noah, we learn that the world had then become so corrupt that every production of men's thoughts was toward evil. Gen. 6:5. The world was, in fact, so nearly sunken in evil that the days were numbered when it must go down, and its corruption be purged. One family alone was found that had not succumbed to the universal depravity. To the head of this house the Lord gave commission to build an ark for the saving of himself and house. Gen. 6:13, 14; Heb. 11:7. Through this man, during the 120 years in which the ark was preparing for the reception and salvation of those who believed God, the Holy Spirit proclaimed to the antediluvians the one special, definite message of a coming flood. 1 Peter 3:18-20. Coming down a little farther in the stream of time, we find, situated in the borders of the "pleasant land," which had already been assigned by the promise of God to a peculiar people, the "cities of the plain" given over to fornication and other terrible sins. Gen. 18:20; Jude 7. The time of their extinction had come, and yet, in the mercy of God, He would not destroy them without first sending a message of warning, by which they might escape impending doom. Lot, the nephew of Abraham, heeded the warning and used all the time of probation given the inhabitants of that and the cities of the plain, in warning others of their destruction. The message was definite and clear, one just suited to the needs of the people and the times, as God's special messages always are. It was just the same in the days of Elijah. All Israel had departed from the true service of God, and were following in the ways of the sun-god Baal. 1 Kings 18:17-22. Baal's 450 prophets had so confused the people's minds that, altho they seemed desirous to be right, they were quite wedded to that which was contrary to God's commandments. The burden was therefore laid upon one lone, the faithful, man to proclaim a definite message of reform,—one which would, if heeded, radically change the customs and worship of the people. The time had come for this distinct message, in order that Israel might be saved from utter extinction as a part of God's inheritance. Just before Christ appeared upon earth as the Messiah, the professed people of God had again become corrupt. So far had they descended, indeed, that simony stalked abroad in daylight. Even the high-priesthood was put upon the market like meat in the shambles, and sold to the highest bidder. The moral sensibilities of men had become so blunted that they even descended below the dumb animals in failing to acknowledge the gifts of a benefactor; for while an ox always knows his owner, and the dull ass distinguishes his master's crib from all others, Israel did not know or consider that the Lord had nourished and brought them up. Isa. 1:2-4. At such a juncture it was necessary for the most potent remedy to be applied in order to rescue God's people from the terrible depths to which they had descended. At this time God came in the flesh, revealing Himself to the human race that His people especially might reform, and be brought into conformity to His will. It matters not that His own rejected Him, and gave Him over to be crucified; that but proves that the time was ripe for a moral reform to be wrought through just such a definite message as was given by the Son of God,—a message, indeed, which contravened the traditional religious teaching of that time. True, that message did not turn all the professed people of God into the way of reform; but it did establish an apparently small beginning, which was designed, like leaven, to permeate all ranks, and call out from the masses those who would hold aloft the standard of righteousness to the glory of God. But the enemy of all good has persistently opposed the growth of grace in the human heart, and has assiduously worked to stop its progress. This has not been altogether by standing off and using strong language against the requirements of God, but in bringing into the sacred assembly of the people—the church—such measures as would oppose the progress of true Christianity. This is really what is meant by the warning of the apostle when he said that the man of sin would so oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God as to sit in the temple of God (the human heart or conscience, and the aggregate of such hearts, the church, 1 Cor. 3:16), and there reign as God. 2 Thess. 2:4. Beginning with the so-called conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the early part of the fourth century, the way was opened for the full development of just such a work. Acknowledging Christianity in words, but refusing to leave Paganism behind, he laid the foundation for Papacy, which in the sixth century was clothed with power to correct heretics, even to their extermination. For more than a thousand years it pursued the humble followers of Christ with relentless hatred. The Word of God shared the same fate as the innocent worshiper in the sentences of pope, council, prelate, and religious magistrate, and the auto da fé, the fagot, and the flame, were called to the work of their destruction. Thus things went on until it seemed impossible for them to be worse. In the sixteenth century the notoriously depraved Leo X. was occupying the papal chair. Indulgences for sin were freely hawked about the streets, while the Bible and its adherents were hunted to death. At this very juncture the stentorian notes of reform began to sound forth from the lips of an Augustine monk, Luther by name. Thousands rallied to the support of the message so clearly sounded at that time, and the great Reformation began. Step by step it moved on, calling to its ranks, as necessity demanded, such men as Calvin, and the Wesleys, with their co-workers, each one adding measures of reform to the swelling tide. All these did noble work in their day, but Satan has stood strongly against the tide of reform, lest it should bring the professed church of Christ up to the high standard which He left for His disciples to follow. Divisions exist in the professed church of Christ. Her creeds are as numerous as her costly towers. Confusion—Babylon—exists, which can only be annihilated by the unity of the faith of Jesus Christ in that work which in the beginning brought order out of confusion, cosmos out of chaos. But faith in the Word is weakened by "higher criticism" and infidelity in the churches. The religious establishments have, therefore, as a result, become worldly, wealthy, and popular, with a growing tendency to dominate religious beliefs and practices. They have accordingly solicited the aid of the civil power in their behalf, exactly as did the Papacy in its development to a persecuting power, and so the tide of true reform to a higher life in the nominal church has been stayed, and a rapid decline has become noticeable. The only remedy for this is another definite message, which shall, as God's messages have ever done, demand a separation of His people from every unclean thing. 2 Cor. 6:15-18. This message must be such as to separate men from every earthly support, in order that their faith may be wholly in the power of God. This will call forth such a reform in men as to present a positive contrast between the practice of their lives and the lives of those who reject the message. Besides this, the time has come for the gathering together of a people who shall be translated at the soon coming of Christ. 1 Thess. 4:15-17. The signs of that coming are nearly all fulfilled. The sun and moon have been darkened (1780); the predicted meteoric shower occurred in 1833 (Rev. 6:13); wars are on every hand; the sea and the waves roar, to the destruction of their traffic, and men's hearts are everywhere troubled regarding what is to come on the earth (Luke 21:25-27). The time has surely come, therefore, for a ripening message which shall prepare men for translation, so that when the Lord comes, He may receive as His own those in whose mouth is no guile, and who are without fault before the throne of God. Rev. 14:5.