In an age when people compare themselves with their neighbors, look
at the comparative size of their hymn books, the size, splendor and
elegance of the temples in which they meet, the amount of money they
raise, their church organs, festivals, choirs, popular preachers and
numerical strength, the census is looked to with great concern; but
where people are greatly devoted to the Lord, diligently striving to
please him and be accepted of him in the great day, they are led to
think of the piety of the people, their purity, their culture; their
faith, and hope and love; their efforts to save men and build up the
kingdom of God, and not to be troubled seriously about how they shall
appear in the _census_. We are vastly more concerned about maintaining
the purity of the gospel, the faithfulness of the preaching, the
discipline and order of the church, the pure worship as prescribed in
the law of God, than we are about the _census_. We are more concerned
about how we appear before the Lord than we are how we appear before
man.
We are perfectly contented and satisfied with the things of God as set
forth in Scripture. We are contented and satisfied with the very words
and forms of speech in which God speaks to man. We love the lowliness,
simplicity and humility of Jesus. It is the manifestation of infinite
wisdom and goodness. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are vain.” He takes
the wise in their own craftiness.