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Review and Herald, Vol. 40, No. 9.

OUR BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH GOD

Review and Herald

Aug 13, 1872

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 13, 1872

OUR BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH GOD.

By Daniel T. Bourdeau

BY ELD. D. T. BOURDEAU.
Text: “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22:21.
These words of the Saviour teach us that God has claims upon our property, as well as Cæsar; that while it is right to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, it is equally our duty to render unto God the things that are God’s. Indeed, God has the first claims upon us. We pay our taxes to earthly governments in consideration of the fact that they throw their protection around our persons, our lives, our property, etc. We give of our means to sustain God’s cause in consideration of the fact that God is the author of our existence, and that we owe our property and all our blessings to him. God is the author of our property, and it is God who hath given us power to get wealth. Deut. 8:18.
Though “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof,” yet we are placed stewards over the property that we have, and are amenable to God for the manner in which we use it. We are not our own, but have been bought with a price, and the ransom that has been paid for our redemption calls upon us to dedicate ourselves and all that we have to God, to advance the interests of his cause on earth. Paul uses the example of Christ as a motive for Christians to sacrifice in his cause: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9. How small our greatest sacrifices appear in view of the sacrifice Christ made for us! Yet we should show an appreciation of what Christ has done by sacrificing of our means for the salvation of our fellow-men.
All that we possess cannot pay the debt that we owe to God; and should he require all of our means to advance his cause, in the light of the debt we owe to divine justice, we should have no reason to complain; for “to obey is better than sacrifice,” and all our sacrifices cannot cancel our acts of disobedience in the past. But God is merciful as well as just; therefore he does not require us to give all our property directly in his cause. Anciently he required of his people one-tenth of their increase, and this did not deprive them of the privilege of making other voluntary offerings. And are not our blessings under the gospel as great as those enjoyed by God’s ancient people? Does it require less to sustain the gospel in its closing work, when time is so short, and there is so much to be accomplished in warning the world and preparing a people for translation, than it did to sustain the cause among the Jews?
So reasonable is the tithing system that sinners have been known to make it a rule to give one-tenth of their increase for religious purposes. Christ indorsed the tithing system in saying, “These [paying tithes] ought ye to have done,” Matt. 23:23; and the prophet Malachi, speaking of the duty of the church before “the day cometh that shall burn as an oven,” etc., says: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal. 3:10.
The principles of the tithing system are embraced in the system that Paul recommends in the following words: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” 1 Cor. 16:1, 2. If this plan were carried out by all who profess Christianity, we would not hear of donation parties, pious lotteries, grab bags, and other nefarious means for the support of the gospel, by which the cause of Christ is made a common and unholy thing.
If it is right to pay various taxes to support earthly governments, which are temporal and imperfect, it is doubly so to give of our income to support the cause of Christ and the immortal principles of the government of Heaven. How shameful, then, and what an insult to the great God, and what a manifestation of base ingratitude, to refuse to contribute of our means for the support of the gospel.
But God does not compel men to give in his cause, any more than he compels them to be Christians. He sets forth their duty in his word. He tells them the result of obedience, and the consequences of disobedience. He tells them to love him with all their heart, and strength, etc., and how much of our strength has gone into property, while the cause has been neglected! Can we, therefore, be justified without giving God of our property to redeem the past? He is very reasonable in requiring us to give as he has prospered us, and says, “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened; but by an equality,” etc. 2 Cor. 8:12–14. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Chapter 9:6, 7.
It takes means to advance the cause of truth; to publish books, preach, travel, meet the wants of the worthy poor, carry on missionary enterprises in distant lands, and to mercifully present the question of health to suffering humanity, and give the people a chance to avail themselves of its benefits; and God calls for cheerful and voluntary offerings. The cause of truth is too sacred and exalted to depend upon begging for support. The duty of giving to God is presented to us, not as a cross, but as a great privilege. By performing this duty, we prove the sincerity of our love for God, for the truth, and for our fellow-man, develop holy characters, and lay up treasure in Heaven.
Some object to raising means to sustain the cause, because Christ, on a certain occasion, told his apostles to “provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes,” etc. But such overlook the fact that this prohibition was local; for their journey (singular number); that Judas was treasurer; that the disciples could not get along without shoes or two coats in winter when there sometimes falls a foot of snow in Palestine; that just before his crucifixion, Christ told his disciples: “Now he that hath a purse, let him take it.” Luke 22:35. The Lord evidently designed to teach his disciples a lesson of faith and sacrifice as they started out to preach the gospel, that they might be an example to those who would be called to the ministry. But when Christ gives the general commission to preach the gospel, not simply in Palestine, but in all the world, he does not forbid the disciples to take purses with them.
God has intrusted means to his people, and the cause should not be cramped in any of its branches for want of money to sustain it.
In order to render unto God the things that are his, we must realize the claims that he has upon us, and that it is with God we have to do; that those who set forth the duty of giving in the light of Scripture simply present the mind of God in the matter; for, not realizing this, many do not look up higher than the minister, and act as though they simply dealt with man, and make the duty of giving to the cause a commonplace thing.
In this frame of mind men will manifest the same defects in dealing with God that they do in dealing with man. They will be tempted to think that the minister is after their money, while he may not want a dime to appropriate to his own use, but simply wants those for whom he labors to manifest an appreciation of the truth that it has cost so much to bring to them, by giving of their means to help extend the truth to perishing souls for whom Christ died. They will perhaps be tempted to think that the minister is trying to make himself rich at their expense, while he only wants them to give fruit that may redound to their account—to lay up treasure in Heaven, that where their treasure is there their hearts may be also.
This was the sin of ancient Israel in the wilderness. Doubtless they thought that Moses had brought them into the wilderness to kill them that he might have their property. Hence their murmurings against him. But in murmuring against Moses, they murmured against God.
Those who view the subject of giving in this light, of course consider that the less they give the better, and they give as little as they can. They do not look at the recompense of reward, and view that what they give in the cause is as good as lost. God pity such, and open their eyes that they may see things as God sees them; that it is with the great God they are dealing; that in withholding means from his cause, they are guilty of robbing God. “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” Mal. 3:8. The greater the being against whom we sin, the greater the sin that we commit. Therefore, it is more sinful to steal from God than it is to steal from man. But because God is not seen, many make it a light thing to withhold from him the things that are his. But all things are naked to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
What a horrible thing it is to rob God! Yet this is done in various ways:
1. In being slack and indolent in business. Slackness and indolence God hates. Next to the sin of running all of one’s strength in acquisitiveness, is the sin of slothfulness in business. We are responsible to God for the faculty of acquiring wealth. Not that we should hoard up wealth and worship it, but use it as the traveler uses his staff, to bless others with, and advance the cause of God. How shameful and censurable, therefore, is the course of those who, having health and strength, content themselves in simply meeting their own wants, and, aside from this, lead almost useless lives. Such rob God of the use of the strength he has given them. In one sense they are as guilty as those who, having acquired wealth, appropriate it all to their own selfish purposes. Indeed, I have sometimes thought there was more hope of some who have been industrious and had an object in life—to acquire wealth—and have gained that object, than for some who have led indolent and aimless lives. If the former direct their energies in overcoming sin, they will be more likely to succeed than the latter.
2. God is robbed when Christians, either carelessly or through an anxiety to get rich fast, engage in business that will not pay. How often this is done by investing large sums in patent rights, &c.; and thus when calls are made to help pecuniarily in pushing forward the cause of truth, many have no means at their command. If men would take time to calmly consider and pray over their temporal matters, many blunders would be avoided.
3. God is robbed when we appropriate to our own selfish interests, and sometimes in things that could be easily dispensed with, means which should go in the cause. The man who, to amass wealth, contracts debts so fast, by adding farm to farm, house to house, etc., that every nerve and muscle must be taxed to the uttermost to meet the demands against him, while the cause of God is neglected, is fearfully guilty in this direction. Men have no right to take debts upon themselves that will keep them from paying the debts they owe to God. Here many are blinded by the god of this world. And some act as though they contracted debts on purpose to excuse themselves for not giving in the cause. Let such remember that while they delight themselves in large additions to their property, in Heaven it is recorded against them, “Stolen from God! Robbery in the first degree!”
Some steal from God by adorning their bodies with costly ornaments, as gold, etc., and with unnecessary and immodest apparel; while others rob God through intemperate and injurious habits, as in the use of spirituous liquors, tobacco, etc. Thank God that our people generally have laid aside these injurious articles, and that many put what they used to pay for them into the Lord’s treasury.
If we are so disposed, we can find ways to spend all our means for our own selfish purposes; or we can give God our best affections, serve him first, and give of our means in his cause.
4. Aged parents, who have by years of industry and hard labor gathered a handsome property and helped their children pecuniarily, are in danger, through sympathy for their children, of robbing God unawares in nearly, if not quite, forgetting his cause in the final disposition of their property. God has claims upon such, as well as their children. Perhaps their early life may have been spent in the service of sin, and they may have embraced the truth in old age, and feel that now they are feeble they cannot do much for the cause. This is a mistaken idea. They can redeem the past by putting a great share of their past vigor that has been transferred to property, in the bank of Heaven, that they may find it there with interest at last. What a satisfaction for such to meet souls in the kingdom who have been saved through a proper use of means that they left behind! While they were resting in the grave, their means were preaching among the living, in whose memories they were still living. And what responsibility rests upon children to whom kind parentshave left means that belonged to the Lord. They may not have realized that this property belonged to another when they took it. And now should they not do as the man that has a piece of lost property when the owner is found? Their parents through kindness gave them more property than was their due; now they can as it were return it to the owner, that they and their parents may have a full reward in Heaven.
We should be even more prompt in paying the debts we owe to God than we are in paying those we owe to man. In our business deal with man, just debts never become outlawed; so in our business deal with God. It is wrong to misrepresent in dealing with man; it is a thousand times worse to do so in our deal with God.
If it was wrong to lay up treasure on earth in our Saviour’s time, when unborn generations might make a good use of at least some hoarded-up property, it is doubly so to lay up treasures in the last generation to be consumed by the fires of the burning day. Noah was wise in transferring his property into the ark; and those manifest similar wisdom who use their property in preparing an ark for the saving of themselves and others. I have no idea that the primitive church at Jerusalem left much property behind them when they fled into the mountains; so it will be with the last church when they flee from their persecutors in the time of trouble that is just before us. If an invading army were passing through the land, and we were compelled to leave, we should send our property ahead; in like manner we should lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Matt. 6:20.
Those who see us pursue this course will at least acknowledge that we live up to our profession, that we believe what we preach. Some may call us insane; but the scales will be turned, and the judgment of the whole world will be in our favor, when God ariseth to shake terribly the earth, and when men will cast their idols of gold and their idols of silver to the moles and to the bats for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, and when all things of an earthly nature shall pass away.
Men aim to invest their money where it will bring the greatest income. Brethren and sisters, let us remember that we are strangers on earth, and whatever we do not really need to meet our present wants, let us invest in the bank of Heaven, knowing that it will bring the richest conceivable returns, and help in securing eternal life and a right to the immortal inheritance.

GOD KNOWS.

The secrets of the guilty heart, Far-hidden from the sight of those Who, knowing them, would shrink and start, God knows!
However hid by saint-like face, The current of the life that flows Away from Heaven, away from grace, God knows!
The ills of life—its sad distress, Its many secret, unknown woes, Its wrongs that seem without redress— God knows!
The acts which banish peace and rest, Though hidden both from friends and foes, Though buried in a silent breast, God knows!
The dark deceit, the subtle guile, The slander, dealing hidden blows, The malice cloaked beneath a smile, God knows!
God knows! And in His own good time Will strip from men their whitened clothes, And crush in shame the sons of crime; The masks will fall, the truth be known, And honest men stand forth alone! God knows!
—N. Y. Independent.

INHUMANITY OF PARENTS.

As a little boy came into the breakfast-room one morning, his father said to him, Will you ever learn to shut that door after you? And a few seconds later, as the child was rather sulkily sitting down in his chair, the father says, And do you mean to bid anybody good morning, or not? I don’t think you gave me a nice good morning, replied the lad. Was the breakfast-room door more likely to be shut next morning? No. The lesson was pushed aside by the pain of the father’s words. The motive to remember in the child was dulled. If that father had called his son, and, putting his arm around him, said, Good morning, my little man, and then, in a confidential whisper in his ear, said, What shall we do to make this forgetful little boy remember not to leave the door open, through which the wind blows on all of us? Who can measure the difference of effect?
More than half the cases where family life is marred in peace, these little rudenesses are the cause, and the parents are unconscious of it. It has become a custom to be less courteous to children on small occasions and minor matters. We see this in the cars, stores, schools, and everywhere.
The child may outgrow this rudeness of the parent (especially if it be healthy) and have better manners than the father; but the pain we give little children, when we wound their tenderness, for that there is no atoning. Over that they can never triumph. Why do we dare to be so sure that they are not grieved when we treat them as if they were continually in the way? I know a little girl ten years old, of nervous temperament, whose whole physical condition is seriously disordered by her mother’s habitual atmosphere of fault-finding. She is a sickly, fretful and unhappy child. If she lives to grow up, she will be a sickly, fretful, unhappy, and hateful woman. But her mother is just as much responsible for the whole as if she had deranged her system by poisonous drugs. Yet she is a conscientious mother. She does not know there is any better way than hers. She does not see that her child is mortified and harmed when she says to her in the presence of strangers: How do you suppose you look with your mouth open like that? Do you want me to show you how you are sitting? and then a grotesque imitation of her stooping shoulders. Will you sit still for a minute? Do take your hands off my dress! Was there ever such an awkward child? When the child replies fretfully and disagreeably, she does not see it is only an exact reflection of her own voice and manners. She does not understand what would make for her own peace as well as that of her child. Matters grow worse instead of better, and as the child grows older and has more will, the chances are, the poor little soul will be worried into the grave.
Most parents would be startled at the assertion, that a child should never be reproved in the presence of others. This is so constant an occurrence, that nobody thinks of noticing it. No one thinks of considering whether it is right and best, or not. But it is a great rudeness to a child. I am entirely sure it ought never to be done. Mortification is a condition as much unwholesome as it is uncomfortable. When the wound is inflicted by the hand of a parent, it is all the more certain to rankle and do harm. Let a child see that his mother is so anxious that he should have the approbation and good will of her friends that she will not call their attention to his faults, and then while she never, under any circumstances, allows herself to forget to tell him afterward, alone, if he has behaved improperly, she will spare him the pain of public reproof; and while that child will lay these secret reproofs to heart, he will still be happy.
I know a mother who made it a rule not to reprove a child in the presence of others. She said sometimes to her little boy after callers had left the parlor, “Now, dear, I am going to be your little girl, and you are to be my papa, and we will play that a gentleman has come in to see you; and I will show you how you have been behaving while this lady has been calling. And you can see if you do not feel sorry to have our little girl behave so.”
Once I saw this little boy behave so boisterously and rudely at the dinner table in the presence of guests, that I said to myself: Surely, this time she will have to break her rule and reprove him publicly. I saw several signals of rebuke and warning flash from her gentle eyes, to his; but nothing did any good. Nature was too much for him. He could not force himself to be quiet. Presently she said in an easy, natural tone, O Charlie, come here a minute; I want to tell you something. No one at the table supposed it had anything to do with his bad behavior. She did not intend that any one should. As she whispered to him, I, alone, saw that tears were almost in her eyes. In a few moments after he went back to his seat, he laid down his knife and fork, and said, “Mamma, will you please excuse me?” Certainly, my dear, said she. Nobody but I understood it, or observed that the little fellow had to run very fast to get out of the room without crying. That was the only way she sent a child away from the table, she told me afterward. But what would you do, if he refused to ask to be excused? Then the tears stood full in her eyes, Do you think he could, she replied, when he sees I am only trying to save from pain?
In the evening, Charlie sat in my lap, and was very sober. At last he whispered to me, “I’ll tell you an awful secret if you won’t tell? Did you think I had done my dinner this afternoon when I got excused? Well, I hadn’t; Mamma made me, because I acted so. That’s the way she always does. But I haven’t had to have it done to me before, ever so long, not since I was a little fellow (he was then eight years), and I don’t believe I ever shall again. Mary brought the rest of my dinner up stairs to me, but I would not take only a little bit of it. I don’t think I deserved any at all, do you?”
To this day, the old, tingling pain burns my cheeks, as I recall certain rude and contemptuous words which were said to me when I was very young. Once, my father called me a stupid child in the presence of strangers. I had brought him the wrong book from his study. Nothing could be said to me to-day that could give me a tenth part of the hopeless sense of degradation that came from those words.
At another time, on the arrival of an unexpected guest to dinner, I was sent away from the table, with the remark that it was not of the least consequence about the child; she can just as well have her dinner afterward. The child would have been happy to help on the hospitality, if the thing had been differently put; but the sting of having it put in that way, I never forgot. Such instances of rudeness in parents would be too small to mention, were it not from the fact, the pain they gave lasted till now.
When we consider what ought to be the nature of a reproof from a parent to a child, the answer is simple enough. It should be nothing but superior wisdom and strength, explaining to inexperience and feebleness, where they have made mistakes, to the end they may avoid such mistakes in future. If personal impatience and annoyance enter in, the relation is marred, and the end endangered. If we give our counsel and protection in a churlish and unkind manner, even to the stranger within our gates, we are no Christian, and deserve to be stripped of what wisdom we have: but no words can express what we deserve if we do thus to the little children, whom we have dared to bring into the peril of this life, and whose future way may be blighted by our careless hands.—Independent.

Photograph of New York.

By Wm. Penniman

The following photograph of New York, taken this year, is startling, and should cause those who believe in the speedy conversion of the world to pause and think. This is the photograph for 1872; what will it be (if time lasts) in 1882, as crime is increasing in an alarming ratio.
“The world stands aghast at the spectacle of a Nero fiddling as Rome burns; but is the heartlessness of thousands any less in this age? In Chicago, gambling saloons have increased since the fire almost twofold; the whisky saloon and house of degradation in almost like proportion. The prevailing religious apathy stands out in marked contrast with the crowded haunts of fashion and the whirl of licensed vice and indulgence.”
The “religious apathy,” of the so-called Christian world is astonishing. It can look upon this swelling flood of wickedness with calmness, and makes little or no effective effort to stay its progress. Corruption and demoralization, deep and damning, in both church and state, is the “order of the day.” Says a writer in the American Messenger of 1871, “There seems almost no position so sacred, no office so dignified, as to escape the polluting touch of dishonesty.
Wm. Penniman.
This city contains about a thirty-eighth part of the whole population of the Union, and there are thirty-two States of the Union, which have a less number of inhabitants than are living within ten miles of this city. The growth of New York is enormous. In 1800, it had a population of 60,000, in 1871, nearly a million.

DESTITUTION AND DIFFICULTIES.

There are 20,000 more women than men in New York, and consequently 20,000 women who can never be married, unless they emigrate.
There are 70,000 children who attend no school, and of these 30,000 are vagrants. It is from this street-nursery that the criminals are constantly recruited. A great deal is being done for these children, but a great deal more must be done. The Sunday-school is a most important agency, but it meets with great difficulty on account of the mixed character of the population. There are more Irish in New York than in Belfast, and more Jews than in all Palestine.

TENEMENT HOUSES.

In 15,000 houses, there is an average of 7 families to each house. The seventeenth ward has one fortieth of the area of the city, and one tenth of the population—4,000 houses in it contain 95,000 inhabitants, of whom 14,000 are children. It has the great honor of being the banner-ward for children.
In the eleventh ward, the population is at the rate of 290,000 to the square mile, giving sixteen square yards to each. In no other city is the population so closely packed. One house in the sixth ward contains 360 persons; 97 men, 90 women, and 212 children, were found in one house 25x100 feet. Another house had 267 persons. In many rooms of 8x10 or 10x12 there are living from 5 to 7 adults of both sexes. There is a cellar population of 20,000, and of these cellars 400 are wholly below the level of the street, with neither light nor air. He had visited them, and had been almost suffocated and nauseated in a very short time. In one room, 10x14, 25 men and women slept.

THE DEVIL'S AGENCIES.

Other powerful agencies of the devil have to be encountered. There are 7,000 rumsellers, and but 700 ministers and missionaries! The saloons of this city, placed in a row, would extend eleven miles. Growing mainly out of this traffic there were 87,000 arrests in the year, of which ten per cent were for crimes, and 15,000 were women.

LICENTIOUSNESS.

The police return 2,100 abandoned women, which is far below the mark. There are 6,000 bad houses, of which 100 are first class, and several are dance and music saloons, whose business it is to allure to destruction.

AMUSEMENTS.

Man must have amusement and recreation, and he (Mr. M.) enjoyed them as much as anybody, but he did not let the devil take the management of his amusements. There are seventy theaters and theatrical saloons, frequented by fifty thousand respectable supporters, and two hundred thousand of the lower class. Seven millions are expended annually in these amusements, while 40,000 men and women know not where or how to get their next meal.

LICENTIOUS LITERATURE.

There are a dozen papers in the city of New York that are doing more to ruin souls than all the Bibles are saving. They vitiate the whole nature, and leave their readers an easy prey to the most shocking vices and crimes.

CONCLUSION.

There are 380 Protestant churches, with seats for 350,000, but a great number of these are of no use to the masses, and there are not 200,000 people in these churches on any one Sunday.
There is more spent in New York in drink, which only does evil, than all that is spent in moral and religious efforts, not only in the city but in the country; more on actors and actresses than on ministers and missionaries.
The above facts so vividly portrayed by Mr. Mingins, apply with more or less force to all our great cities; and the general tendencies are on the increase in smaller communities. The great problem of the age is “How to grapple with the social and religious condition of the masses that crowd into the great commercial centers?”
The appearance has in the past been that the priest and the Levite were inclined to pass by on the other side; but we hail with increasing satisfaction the fact that some of the most earnest and intelligent of the Christian workers of our land are directing attention to this vital question.

Disobedience to Parents.

By James Sawyer

IN Isa. 3:5, it says, “The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient;” Mal. 4:6, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers;” and in 2 Tim. 3:2, 3, disobedience to parents is spoken of.
One prophet says this is when men fear the majesty of the Lord, “When he ariseth to shake terribly the earth,” another, that it is before “The day cometh that shall burn as an oven,” and Paul says it will be “In the last days.”
What shall I do with my child? said a lady to me a short time since. She will not obey me, but goes where she pleases. I punish, but it does no good. How old is your child? Three years. What shall I do with my pupils? says the teacher. They do not respect me. How can I secure the authority my position requires? Why are my children so unthankful and rude? says another. Oh! that my children would respect me, says a poor heart-broken mother!
Although this is a time particularly noticed in prophecy, yet there must be a cause.
The following extract may throw some light upon the minds of those who wish to have their children’s heart turned toward them. It may help the parents to turn their hearts to the children first.
JAMES SAWYER.

BIBLE THOUGHTS.

“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18: 8.
The Son of man shall come! This is one of the special burdens of this parable. This is one of our special messages, whether speaking to the church or to the world; whether exhorting the saint, or warning the wicked. He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. The scoffer may mock and say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” but he shall come. The faithless servant may say, “My Lord delayeth his coming;” but he shall come. Whether men are ready or unready, he shall come. “Behold, he cometh with clouds.” “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints.” But when he comes, what shall he find? and what shall he not find?
1. What shall he find? Many things which will offend; few that will please.
(1) An afflicted people. Our Lord’s parable here specially announces this. His church is likened to an injured widow, crying for redress. She is a little flock, a lily among thorns, an election, a band of pilgrims passing through a hostile territory to the kingdom.
(2) A luxurious world. The days of Noah and of Lot are types of the days before the advent. Then all was luxury, lasciviousness, riot, ungodliness, flesh-pleasing. They were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. The flesh was indulging itself to the full. God was forgotten. The world to come was disbelieved. Even so in the last days perilous times shall come.
(3) A defying Antichrist. For Antichrists fill up the whole space between his first and second coming; and the great Antichrist shall grow and gather strength, till he shall openly defy God and deny his Christ.
(4) A groaning creation. For during all the time of his absence will creation groan; its groans will grow louder and sadder as the advent draws nigh. He comes in pity, to bring it deliverance; for nothing but his coming can hush its groans, or end the curse.
(5) A raging devil. For Satan walketh about, like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And he is in great wrath in the last days, because he knows that he has but a short time.
All these evils, and many connected with them, he is to find when he comes again; for man cannot deliver himself or his world. He has tried it in vain.
2. What he shall not find. This is expressed in the question of our text. “Shall he find faith on the earth?” A question this which intimates how low faith shall be; how powerful and widespread unbelief; unbelief in his coming; unbelief in God. The cry will then be at its loudest. “We will not have this man to reign over us;” and, also, “There is no God.” And as faith shall then be low, so shall love have waxed cold; and, “Lovest thou me?” shall meet with but faint response, even among those who call themselves by his name. Instead of a world full of faith and love, he shall find earth one great region of enmity and defiance; and even his own church neither looking out for or desiring his arrival.
Let us then watch and pray. He may be nearer than we think. Let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
There are many kinds of unbelief which shall then be developed; some more daring than others. We see the seeds of these vanities in the present day. There is the bold unbelief of atheism, or the more specious unbelief of pantheism, or the unbelief in the Christ of God, accompanied with professed faith in God himself; unbelief in the Spirit of God; unbelief in the word of God; unbelief in prayer; unbelief in the cross, and in the gospel of the grace of God; unbelief of many shades and forms. There shall be special unbelief in the prophetic word; disregard of the light that shineth in a dark place; contempt for the church’s blessed hope. There shall be faith in man but not in God; faith in human power and wisdom; faith in intellect and science; faith in nature;—but all this faith set in opposition to God, and setting aside his power and wisdom, his personal interference with the affairs of man. There shall be faith in the miracles of science, but none in the miracles of the Son of God. There shall be faith in the regenerative power of literature and liberal government, but none in the regenerative power of the Spirit or the energy of Him whose scepter is that by which alone earth is to be governed and renewed.
Continue reading: Putting the Law in the Shade