LIFE INSURANCE by Hastings

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 22, 1862

LIFE INSURANCE.

By Hastings

MAN naturally loves security and dreads uncertainty. Give him something that is permanent and he reposes in the enjoyment of it. But where all is uncertain all is unrest. Among the things that are uncertain on earth, nothing is more so than human life. No other possession is held by a tenure more frail. No thread is more brittle than that which holds us to these mortal scenes. From childhood to old age, ten thousand dangers lurk along our path. Ten thousand flickering life-lamps expire before the first blast of earth's chill tempest, others burn but feebly and at last go out in darkness, and often the life that seemed to glow with a steady and a quenchless flame is blotted out in an instant by some untoward event. So man dies—"his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. cxlvi, 4. His purposes are broken off and unfulfilled—his wealth is snatched from him—the sceptre drops from his hand—the crown from his brow, and he falls like a potsherd smitten by an iron rod; or fades like a flower before a burning blast. "In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth." Ps. xc, 6.

Life, though so frail, is yet of immense value. Because upon it hangs all enjoyment, prosperity, friendship, wealth, and all the support and dependence of others who look to us for assistance. Cut off life, and happiness fades from the home; joy flees from the hearts of friends; bread for the hungry fails, and the goodly building of human comfort falls in ruins upon the pillars that have been broken beneath it.

Men in the absence of any desired good naturally seek a substitute for it. So if they cannot retain life, they contrive by an associate or corporate action to secure to their friends, or those left behind them, some of these blessings which they would have secured had they been permitted to live to carry out the plans they had formed. So that, by paying annually a certain limited amount, the person is thus insured, and in case he shall die, his heirs or legal representatives are entitled to a large amount of money on account of the insurance thus effected by him.

Reader, I wish to call your attention to a system of "Life Insurance," older, better, and more reliable and satisfactory, in every respect, than any system which is usually known by that name.

The authors of the existing systems of life insurances are all poor mortals, sick, dying, or now dead, and not one of them, nor all of them, can preserve their own lives from the power and dominion of death and corruption.

But the author of this system is the living God; He who lives forever; He who giveth life to everything; Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being; He who is the deep unfathomed "fountain of life." And with Him associated in this work, is His Only Begotten Son, who, quickened by the "Eternal Spirit," lives "by the power of an endless life," and of whom it was said: "In Him was LIFE, and the LIFE was the LIGHT of MEN."

The real object of this system of insurance is far beyond that of all others. They do not attempt to give life, preserve life, prolong life, insure life, or restore life at all. So far as life is insured, men have no more life when insured than when uninsured. Insurance neither stays nor overcomes the power of death. It simply pays money to the living when the insured person is dead. And this has sometimes awakened the avarice of wicked men, and they thought to gain this money by taking the lives of those who were thus insured.

But this system to which I allude does not substitute money for life, it proposes to give LIFE itself. Not to prevent death here, but to give back a better life after this mortal life has fled. For "the GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE."

I wish you now to look for a moment at some of the peculiar excellences that attend this system of "Life Insurance."

It is needful always that insurance be effected in a good company. One where there is an abundant capital. One that is not a sham and a fraud upon community. One, too, that is managed by men morally good; men who will not steal the funds intrusted to them, and who will equitably adjust all the righteous demands which may arise against it. And these desirable traits are pre-eminently found in the system of which I speak. The great God of heaven and earth, just, wise, almighty, glorious and immortal, He promises, He insures ETERNAL LIFE.

While in all other systems life itself is not insured, but instead of it a sum of money is paid to the survivors after the death of the person insured, he deriving no personal benefit from it—in this system the person himself derives the entire benefit, and his life is really insured. "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he LIVE; and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die—shall not die forever." John xi, 25, 26. When these scenes of mortality are past, God shall make good his pledge, and bestow upon those who love him—life, eternal life. "He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." It shall be no substitute of dollars and cents, but life itself in its eternal springtide, flowing from the very Godhead's depths.

In all other systems there are certain limits, beyond which insurance is not effected. It is only upon the healthy; those free from disease, and also (at the ordinary rates) those that are young, or in the prime of life. For the companies could not afford to insure, at usual prices, the aged, the feeble, or the sick. This system differs from them here. No class, age, sex, color, or country; no victims of disease, no infirm persons, none, however near the hour of dissolution, are cut off from the benefits of this system of "Life Insurance."

Persons who have never known a day of health have been insured for all eternity. And policies do not expire by limitation, nor do the rates increase with advancing years and increasing liability to death.

In all other systems the insurance is simply based upon acknowledged uncertainties. The company sometimes say, "We will pay you ten thousand dollars if you die within ten years; if not, we pay you nothing;" and the person desiring insurance pays his ten, or twenty, or fifty dollars, with the understanding that there is no certainty that he will need the insurance, and if he does not, then his money, or the most of it, is a loss to him. He takes the risk of losing the cost of his policy while he lives, and the company take the risk of losing the amount of his insurance when he dies. True, statistics concerning the average of human life enable men to calculate the average risk, but of course many live and lose their ten dollars, where one dies and his friends gain their ten thousand.

But this system which I commend is based upon absolute certainties. Death is certain. Our need of life is a certainty. We effect this insurance, knowing it will be needed. This is the understanding on both sides. We shall stand soon on the uttermost verge of mortal life. We shall need something beyond, and as this life slips from our grasp, or breaks asunder within it, we need to "lay hold on eternal life." This we are enabled to do by the great plan and purpose God has formed and developed in the gospel.

In all other systems the principle involved is merely that of debt and credit, of loss and gain. It is mainly a matter of self-interest on both sides. It is money paid for an equivalent to be rendered, with an assumed risk included. Not so here. This system proceeds upon principles of grace, not of debt. It is free insurance. It is "the gift of God." "God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." This gift is free, because none could purchase it. "Priceless, because above all price." It flows not from principles of speculation or self-interest, but from the free grace of God. As if the Rothschilds should devote all their great riches to the issuing of free policies of insurance to all who would come and get them; and yet this would soon use up all their immense wealth. But the great God is richer than all men. The wealth of the universe is his. With him is "the fountain of life."

The terms of ordinary life insurance are necessarily kept within certain rates. Any company which goes upon a lower scale of premium will fail, according to the ascertained laws of mortality. A certain amount of money is needful. Men without money cannot be insured. And here is a marked difference between the

two systems. "He that hath no money" may come and be as welcome to this insurance as the richest or the greatest. Mercy is free; grace is free; life is free. "Without price" is God's standing stipulation. No man may change it. None may take toll of those who pass through the "strait gate." None may charge commission upon the policies by which God insures. Beggars and slaves, as well as priests and princes, may come and be accepted here.

In order to have life insured in ordinary systems, there must be a medical examination, and a certificate from the physician that you are in health, in no special danger of dying, or else insurance cannot be effected. No such evidence is requisite here. "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." God requires no certificates of health, but rather a confession of disease. He is not pleased with our pretensions to self-righteousness and goodness. An insurance agent would stare should an applicant say, "I am in the last stages of consumption—will you insure my life?" He would say, "O, no, sir, you cannot be insured here." But our Saviour delights to receive and examine just such miserable dying men as have no other help or hope. His invitation is, "Come unto me;" "and whoso cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

There are in all life insurance companies certain prohibitory conditions attached to policies; certain occupations, which are right and honest in themselves, but somewhat perilous, and certain localities of disease and danger, at their dangerous seasons, are prohibited. But there are no conditions of this kind connected with this system. "From sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth" this insurance holds good. And amid the icebergs of the north or the simoons of the south—the pestilence that walks in darkness, or the destruction that wasteth at nonday—amid cholera, yellow fever, or plague—by land or by sea—in the desert, or in the dungeon; anywhere, everywhere where duty calls and where a righteous man may go, this insurance still holds good. No matter where the believer is; whether buried on land or in the ocean's depths; whether his dust be mouldering in the sepulchre of his fathers, or his ashes be flung to the heedless winds by the hands of furious foes, he is sure of eternal existence, and "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory." Then shall this corruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.

There are, however, certain conditions of this life insurance, with which all must comply to secure it. First of all is this: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved; confide in him; trust him with your all. You never would secure insurance in any company unless you had faith or confidence in them—in their plans, promises and honesty. So you must confide in Jesus Christ. He is your only hope. Look to him, cast yourself upon him, and seek to be saved by his grace and mercy alone. Second: You must obey his commandments, follow his example and abide in his love continually. You must leave the sins, and passions, and pomps, and vanities of time. You must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. You must be wholly the Lord's. Come, then, to Christ, sick, dying, lost one, come to him and live. Accept his terms and take his promise as your surety and support. You may trust in him and fear no evil.

Beware of spurious and fraudulent institutions. Those companies that insure very cheaply are unsafe. Be sure you have your insurance in a reliable company, however stringent the regulations are. Beware of those who say that all are insured, and that there is no danger. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Men are not insured by accident. Eternal life they must "lay hold" of if they will have it.

Are you insured? The question is important. If life insurance of the present imperfect character is so important as men suppose, how much more so is that amazing plan which springs from the wealth of divine love, and which secures eternal life through Christ? "The wages of sin is death!" "Sin entered the world, and death by sin. Death has passed upon all men for that all have sinned." But you may have life—eternal life! Will you not secure it? O, come to Christ! Take his words and cast yourself entirely upon his mercy. Give yourself wholly up to him. Do not delay. Do not forget this matter. Are you insured for eternity? Is your life insured? Do you object that you must seek wealth? "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be a castaway?" Ah! you are in danger. You slumber on the verge of death. Will you not come now to Christ and be forever safe?

Poor man—sick man—do not fear to come. Here is your only chance for "life insurance." Reject this and you lose all—you perish—you die! Accept this—secure this, and you shall live forever. Come! believe in Christ. Hand in your name. Confess him before men. Live to his glory.

Listen to this divine proposal: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John iii, 16, 17. Will you have eternal life?