And He said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of
the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it
is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be
heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites! Ye can discern the
face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not
discern this time?--_Luke 12, 54-56._
Men have always been solicitous about the weather. In the morning
they are desirous to know what the day will bring forth; in
the evening, what sort of temperature it will be on the morrow.
Curiosity, in part, a lack of something more important to think
and talk about, and, in part, the regulation of one's duties and
work prompt this concern. It has ever been so. In the Holy Land,
when the sky was aglow with the exquisite tints of an Oriental
sunset, it meant fair weather the next day; when the west wind,
sweeping over the Great or Mediterranean Sea laden with moisture
blew over the land, it was a safe indication of rain, whereas the
breezes coming from the sterile and desert plains of the East
portended a heated season and continued drouth. We have similar
indications. Flocks of birds, at this season, flying across our
city in search of a more congenial home, tell us of approaching
winter. Not relying on such indications alone, the Government has
established everywhere meteorological stations; weather forecasts
are distributed broadcast, wireless telegraphy flashes out the
approach of devastating storms, thus forewarning navigation and
securing protection to citizens and property and life. All of which
is commendable, argues forethought, wisdom, which God has designed
that men should exercise. Nor does our Lord in the text in any wise
disapprove of such precautions and measures. He would have us make
application of that same forethought, wise provision, with respect
to another sphere. "As you study the weather," is His direction, so
you ought with equally observing and wakeful mind study the times,
watch the signs, regard the phenomena that appear in the political,
civil, social, mercantile, domestic skies, marking their bearing
on the affairs of God's kingdom, and exercise respecting them the
same forethought and sense of provision. That duty shall we now
do in these moments of public worship, noting as our theme: _A
few signs of the times and the corresponding duties of Christians
and church-members. We shall observe:_ _I. Three such outstanding
signs_; _II. what it becomes us to do_.
The first outstanding sign, prevailing and predominating
characteristic of our times, that we shall mention is commercialism.
To explain:--the question of "what shall we eat, what shall we
drink, and wherewith shall we be clothed," has always and everywhere
been a live question. Men must live, and "to live" means the
possession of the things just mentioned, food and drink, dress and
property, the possession of this earth's goods; but it is a question
whether in the history of the world these matters have bulged
out so prominently and so monopolized the efforts and attention
of men as at the present and in our own country. With the avenues
of success open to every man that is industrious and intelligent,
with competition keen, demanding concentration of energy and
effort, gaining a livelihood and a little of this earth's goods has
become like a whirlpool which draws and drags everything into its
devouring current and vortex. The spirit of commerce is supreme;
not, I suppose, that everybody loves money and this earth's goods
simply and only for its own sake, but there is an excitement and
fascination in having it; it stands for the standard of efficiency
and worth and influence among men, so that all are scrambling and
scheming for it. Listen to the trend of conversation, the topic of
discussion in people's homes--what is it? Show a man a material
advantage that he may secure, often at the sacrifice of honesty and
principle, and he is your undying friend. Now, with men's minds
thus set, it is but a natural consequence that it should affect
their heart, endanger their spiritual life. Business, indeed, is
not incompatible with piety. A man may be a devout Christian and
church-member and an excellent business man, but it may so preoccupy
his mind and preengage his heart that he ceases to think about
religious matters at all. It is not an uncommon thing to see a man
attentive unto the things of the Lord, intent in the services and
the meetings of the church; when anything special is to be done, he
is on hand to help. Business responsibilities increase, he becomes
less earnest in these respects; he has to rise so early in the
morning that he has no time or thought for prayer; he comes home so
tired in the evening that he has no consideration for anything else,
and if he goes out, it is in the interest of business. Even the
Lord's day is levied upon, and when it comes, his mind is perchance
more occupied while he sits under the pulpit with his figures than
with the sermon. Tell him he is being missed,--the retort is the
common, trite answer, "No time." But the real reason lies deeper. He
has gotten into the current, he is being drawn into the whirlpool of
commercialism, and if there be any who feel that I have been holding
up a mirror wherein you have seen yourselves, let me urge upon you
to take heed. You are paying too much for your material success, and
if you do not return to your old anchorage, you may find yourself
where you had never thought to get--afar from Christ, His worship
and service. There is nothing better than for a man occasionally
to take his bearings, to find where he is located, and whether
he is holding his own against the stream of opposite tendency
that is flowing through our social life, in which he is drifting,
being carried in opposite direction, among those who pass from the
neglecting to the despising and rejecting of the great salvation.
Hand in hand with this tendency of our times there is another:
indifferentism. Certainly, if everything is gauged by the
measurement of dollars and cents, then men's thoughts are absorbed
by material considerations. It is quite natural that religion
should be placed on the same low basis. Indifferentism generally
resolves itself into a question. That question is, "What's the use?
What's the use of prayer? Has it ever brought you any gain? What
have you that you wouldn't have if you had not prayed?" "What's the
use of going to church? What benefit has it ever brought you? It
has not fetched you one customer, one penny of profit, rather the
reverse--it has been an expense, easily avoidable." "What's the use
of going to the Lord's Supper? A man may be a Christian for all
that." "God governs the world, His providence overrules it all,
but it is, after all, the man who plans and plods that wins out,
so why be concerned about this overruling Providence?" "When the
end comes, well, then I hope there is a place where those who, like
myself, have tried to be honest and upright will finally get to. I
am willing to risk my chances. What is the use of being over-much
concerned about the future?" It is not that our times are stubbornly
and positively atheistic and infidelic; perhaps there was never less
of that than now. But comparatively few in speech or person or in
print venture to attack Christianity as a system. The danger lies
elsewhere. We have lapsed into a state of indifference. There is a
passing away of an earnestness of conviction, of moral stamina, of
strength of belief. What was once accepted as God's truth is now
called into question. "Don't emphasize creed, doctrine, destructive
belief; we have gotten beyond that." Yes, we have gotten beyond
that, and in consequence have gotten and are daily getting into a
current that shall find us contending for the simplest truths of the
Christian faith. What fad, however unscriptural and irrational, but
it finds multitudes of followers. Consider the greatest fad that is
sweeping over the land--Christian Science. How is it possible that
such an absolutely heretical, nonsensical system of unchristian,
anti-Biblical statement should ever have had such a phenomenal
growth, if our people were not so dreadfully indifferent in matters
of Bible teaching? The same is true of the Russellites, whose
publications are being distributed broadcast over the land, who deny
the simple doctrines of hell and resurrection, and foretell the time
of Christ's coming to Judgment and to reign in unadulterated bliss
for thousand years.
The Catechism is denounced from the pulpits. "Why instruct the
juvenile mind in such fetters of theology?" "What is there to
confirmation?--teaching children in their teens to confess a faith
they do not half comprehend?" The good old Bible Book--"is it
really what has been claimed for it?" Do not most clergymen of
progressive ideas put allegorical interpretations upon its stories,
for instance, the fall of man into sin? Do not many learned scholars
point out what they claim to be discrepancies, and say it must be
considered and weighed just like every other book in which are
some good things and some inferior? And the sorry consequence of
all this? It is this, that we have no positive conviction at all,
that the majority are like a vessel without a guiding compass or a
determinate course, floating hither and thither, as the wavering
current of whims or opinion may chance to drive them. And if, to
note the application, we are asked whether we join in this trend
of thought of the times, this contemptuous treatment of the Word
of God and Catechism, we should answer with an emphatic "No."
But are we quite sure that we have not imbibed a little of it
unconsciously? After so much has been said about the old-fashioned
hell,--a hard doctrine for sentimental souls to believe,--why not
mitigate it a little, and believe that after this life poor sinners
have another chance?--'Tis true, the Savior does say, "This do in
remembrance of me," "but I guess I'll not be condemned if I do not
go to His Sacrament." Beloved hearer, you may flatter yourself that
it will have no effect upon you, but unless you conscientiously
and determinedly watch it, you will find yourself yielding to it.
Beloved, we watchmen on the towers of Zion, scanning the skies and
observing the signs, are everywhere noting the indifference among
our older members, among our young people, and the only thing to
do is to get back to the old anchorage, to place our faith firmly
and securely upon the rock of eternal Truth, _i. e._, the grand old
Bible. Its words are truth and nothing but the truth. Let that be
our guide in doctrine, in practice. What that says let us believe;
what that forbids let us forsake; that will put us right and keep
us right. These vagaries and fluctuating opinions of men and women
will pass away like the clouds of the air; but even though heaven
and earth pass away, God's Word will not pass away. Our safety and
happiness lies in adhering to what it teaches and following its
directions.--When the storm-clouds are gathering in the horizon and
the weather bureau flashes out the danger signals, then it is wisdom
to seek shelter, to get under somewhere. There is such an ark of
safety yet, and that is the Church of Christ, where His cross and
Gospel are preached, held and confessed, uncompromisingly. Take your
place there as a consistent, positive member, and avoid indifference
in religious matters.
And one more disastrous sign of the times would we regard. I need
not remind you that the brightest jewel that we possess under the
Constitution of this country is religious liberty. Its wise and
pious framers, knowing both from reason and from sharp experience
that religious liberty can only exist in the strict separation of
Church and State, adopted every precaution to prevent the admission
of anything hostile to religious liberty, to go into the political
machinery of the state. Their object was "a free church in a free
country." It is well known, not suspicion merely, but known by those
who have the best understanding of the times, that a spirit has of
late years prevailed which is intensely hostile to the civil and
religious principles of our government. There have been some bold
encroachments on the part of a subtle and formidable antagonist.
You know whom I mean--Rome, dangerous Rome, which does not believe
in the separation of Church and State, which acknowledges but one
head, who is the embodiment of temporal, political, and spiritual
power, which openly and unequivocally asserts that the civil
authority is subordinate to the Church. Rome's representatives have
been loaded with official favors and flatteries; Rome's interests
have been fostered with the most fatal insidiousness by political
leaders; Rome has been caressed, and complimented, and taken into
confidence and alliance with those in authority. What is the meaning
of all this? Sordid maneuvers of diplomacy and craft undermining
the fundamental principles and rights of our Constitution, menacing
clouds in the sky that threaten our civil liberty. And what is to
be done? We ought to know; the name which graces our denomination
points the way. Luther gave Rome its death-wound in his day by
wielding so powerfully the sword, the sword of the Spirit, which is
the Word of God. Let us grasp that selfsame sword; let us teach the
doctrines which he taught so effectively to its overthrow, and we,
too, shall prevail. Point out the soul-destroying errors of Rome,
and you unarm her spiritually. And again, as citizens, let us make
a determined and combined movement to repel the creeping invasion,
the subtle but forceful and successful invasion of popery. The
political leading men of our day may not be conscious of it; let
us hope, in the judgment of charity, that they are not; but it is
perfectly clear that the influence of that dark and mysterious and
tremendous system is upon them. For us who have studied and know
Rome it becomes to counteract, eradicate every tendency that would
break down or reduce our constitutional liberties.
We have mentioned three specific signs--commercialism,
indifferentism, Romanism. Let us, keeping our eyes open, beware of
the destructive power of the first, the deadening influence of the
second, the insidious danger of the third, and so pass through these
things temporal that we lose not the things eternal. Amen.