This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come; for men
shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those
who are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power
thereof.--2 Tim. 3: 1-5.
The Savior once began his instructions with these words, "This day is
this Scripture fulfilled." They seem to be an appropriate introduction
to our lesson upon this occasion. What is the religion of thousands?
They were made the special objects of God's favor in their infancy (?),
were christened in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit (?), were dedicated to God and his service by their parents
(?), who, for them, took a solemn vow to forsake the devil and all his
works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires,
to forsake, also, all the carnal desires of the flesh, and not to follow
or be led by them. It is said that the christened took this vow when
they were children, and understood it not; when they became men they
understood it about as well as when they were children. But in all
candor, I confess that I never could believe they took this vow; their
sponsors took it upon themselves to make it for them, and usually
pledged themselves to see it fulfilled. What fearful responsibilities
are assumed just here. It is too frequently the case that those very
sponsors serve more devoutly, love more affectionately, and confide more
heartily in the profits, honors and pleasures of the world than in the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Survey the lives of many of these men, of all conditions, and then deny,
if you can, that the profits, honors and pleasures of the world are the
gods they worship. Their daily and constant employment is either a
violent pursuit of the vain pomp and glory of the world, or of its
power, riches and profits; or it may be that they are led on by pride,
malice or revenge. Such persons live, not knowing or regarding the fact
that the baptism which now saves us is "not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, _but the answer of a good conscience_ toward God."
There are many such who live but little in advance of pagans in a
commonwealth of Christians, and know but little more of God or of Christ
than if they had been brought up in India. A great many are taught to
act over this play in the name of religion, and learned to say, "Our
Father who art in heaven," and "I believe in God the Father Almighty;"
but do they live as though they did believe in earnest that God is their
Almighty Father? Do they fear him and trust in him? Do they love and
obey him? Mere pretense, or, as Paul termed it, a _guise_ of godliness,
for such is the meaning of the original term, is so common that we meet
with it almost daily. Men have learned to tamper with the word of God
until the world is full of theorists. How many talk about religion who
set aside a great portion of the word of God as worse than useless? And
that which they profess to believe they do not believe with half the
simplicity which they manifest in believing the words of their earthly
parents. It has been said, "He who is not industrious to obtain what he
professes to desire does not desire it, and he who is not industrious to
bring about that for which he prays, prays with his tongue _only_, and
not with his heart." All such have simply a "guise" of godliness, while
they deny its power.
A great many people profess to believe the Scriptures are true, and that
they present the plain and only way to infinite and eternal blessedness,
and yet they neglect the study of the Scriptures. How is this? If there
was a book revealing a plain and easy way for all men to become rich and
enjoy health and pleasure and this world's happiness, would it not be
studied by all men? And why is it that the Bible is not studied by the
masses and regarded more? Why are so many professors of religion
negligent in this matter? May it not be because they prefer all other
business and pleasures before this? If professors of religion throughout
christendom heartily believed the Scriptures even as they profess, they
would be more diligently studied, and in many instances treated with
greater respect. The faith of many is undoubtedly very weak. If the laws
of our country provided a plain way of escape from temporal death for
the benefit of the condemned criminal, as plain and pointed as the great
commission given to the apostles of Christ, would any condemned criminal
hesitate to obey or treat the stipulations of law as men are constantly
treating the precepts of the gospel of Christ? When a man believes the
Bible contains _the facts and truths_ which concern us infinitely more
than all earthly matters, his care and diligence should be, _to some
extent_, in harmony with his persuasion. At this point men _seem to be_
most strangely careless and grossly negligent. How few people do, or
will, understand that the terms of salvation are written as with the
beams of the sun? Is the trouble a low degree of faith, approximating
unbelief? The shadows are always the longest when the sun is lowest. Is
the sun of righteousness low in your spiritual heavens? Or have you
given him the uppermost seat in your affections? What think you of
Christ? Whose son is he?
When I tell you that thousands received the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins, even before the Holy Spirit was given, and were
clean through the words spoken unto them, many are ready to cry out,
"These are hard and strange sayings--who can hear them?" Yet, strange as
it may seem, these facts have been upon record near _nineteen hundred_
years. Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he
that believeth not shall be damned." In the record of St. Luke, chapter
24, the condition of the new covenant, to which remission of sins is
promised, is expressed by the term _repentance_: "Thus it behooved
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem." The word repentance, when used in the law of
Christ, is always equivalent to the use which the ancient martyrs made
of it, viz: "Amend your lives." We have it beautifully expressed in
these words: "If the wicked turn from all the sins which he hath
committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and
right, he shall surely live, he shall not die."
Paul summed up the whole matter of his preaching in the sentence,
"Repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." In some of
the best Latin translations this passage in Acts 20th is rendered,
"_Conversion to God_;" also in Hebrews, 6th chapter, we read, "And
_conversion_ from dead works." Such is more clear and natural; but if we
should read, according to modern theology, _sorrow_ towards God, and
_sorrow_ from dead works, it would sound very unnatural, and almost
ridiculous. This is a grand argument in favor of the reading of the
_Geneva text_, which reads, "_Amend your lives_ and _turn_, that your
sins may be blotted out." But if heaven may be gained at an easier and
cheaper rate, how is it that we are so frequently and so plainly assured
that without actual newness of life, holiness and sanctification unto
obedience, there is no hope, no possibility of salvation? John the
Baptist, preaching repentance, said: "Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." It is not the leaves,
simply, of a profession, nor the blossoms of good purposes and
intentions, but the fruit, _the fruit only_, that will save us from the
fire. "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and
cast into the fire."
Our Savior said, "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my father
who is in heaven." After he had delivered all the beautiful precepts
found in the lesson given upon the mount he closed up all by saying, "He
that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not I will liken him to
a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand, and when the rain
descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that
house, it fell, and great was the fall of it." They that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. If they have not
done this, and so attained fitness of character to dwell with God, it
matters not what their sorrow has been, nor their intentions, they will
not enter the kingdom of God.
Paul says, "The works of the flesh are these: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditious, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revelings, of which I forewarn you, as I have told you in
time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God." He does not say they who have done such things shall not be saved,
but just the contrary, for he adds: "Such were some of you, but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified;" but he teaches the doctrine that those
who do such things and do not amend their lives shall not be excused by
any pretense of sorrow and good purposes; they "shall not inherit the
kingdom of God." "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature"--a creature living by
a faith, which worketh by love. It is not simply wishing you were a new
creature; not simply wishing for a working faith; nor sorrowing because
you are not a Christian; but "keeping the commandments of God," that
will permit you to enter heaven.
In the final closing of the New Testament writings it is said: "Blessed
are they who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree
of life and enter in through the gates into the city."
Paul says, "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord." And Peter says, "Add to your faith virtue, and to
virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance
patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly
kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity"--and finally says, if ye do
these things ye shall never fall, for so an abundant entrance shall be
ministered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And John says, speaking of the Christian's hope, "Every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure;"
then the impure may flatter themselves, and presume upon the favor of
God without "purifying their souls in obeying the truth," but they are
without hope in the world. And again he says, "Little children let no
man deceive you, he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is
righteous."
So all the writers and teachers of the New Testament, with one consent,
proclaim the necessity of obeying the commandments of the gospel. What a
vain whim it is to think that sorrow and mere intention without
reformation of life will admit you into heaven. This golden dream of
heaven has sent thousands out of this world unpardoned and unsaved.
A great many persons satisfy themselves with a mere confession and
acknowledgement of their sins. They seem to think they have done enough,
if to confession of sins they add some sorrow for it. They think all is
well if, when their fit of sinning is past and they are returned to
themselves, the sting remains, breeding some remorse of conscience, some
complaints against their wickedness and folly for having done so, and
some intentions to forsake it, though never carried into effect. There
are many persons in the churches of our country who seem to think the
church is a stage, whereon they must play their parts, who make a
profession every day of confessing their sins with humble hearts, and
yet, after having spent twenty, thirty or forty years in this manner,
their hearts are as stubborn as ever, and they as impenitent and
disobedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If giving thanks to God for
the blessing received at his hands is performed with words only, with
simple hosannas, and hallelujahs, and "_gloria patris_," and psalms, and
hymns, then I presume it is done very efficiently, (?) though our lives
are provoking to his majesty. _It is not the office of a friend (?) to
bewail a friend with vain lamentation._ To be thankful to God is not to
say God be praised, or God be thanked, but it is to remember what he
desires and execute what he commands. A dying Roman once said, "It is
not the office of a friend to bewail a dead friend with vain
lamentations, but to remember what he desires and execute his commands.
It is the office of the friends of Christ to remember his desires and
carry out his instructions. If we do so we are thankful, and if we do
not our thankfulness is nothing more than mere talk."
Jesus said to his disciples: "Ye are my friends if ye do what I command
you." And again: "If a man love me he will keep my words; he that loveth
me not, keepeth not my sayings." Again: "If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free."
Those who love God love his cause. When that cause prospers they
rejoice; when it declines they are hurt. When clouds and darkness are
round about the church it is time to double our diligence and pray to
God for help. Circumstances, over which no human being can have control,
sometimes cause sluggishness in the character of a church. The hearts of
God's people are often deeply affected by witnessing the indifference
and carelessness of the people, and still more affected by a falling off
in their numbers. When the godly man ceaseth and the faithful fail from
among the children of men, it is distressing; but such is the lot of man
that we are often called upon to witness the truthfulness of the
prophet's statement. All true Christians love the godly because they are
faithful. The term _faithful_ implies truth, sincerity and fidelity.
Christ, our great example, is called the faithful and true witness. The
use of the term in our religion indicates believers in Christ--_obedient
believers_--_faithful brethren in Christ_. Col. i: 2. Sometimes it is
equivalent to the word _true_, as in 2d Tim., ii: 2--"Faithful men;" the
fidelity of the persons alluded to had been tried--_proven_. And again,
it means a Christian, in opposition to an infidel, as in 2d Cor. vi:
15--"What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" A good man is
faithful in his business transactions; faithful to his _profession_,
adhering to the principles of the gospel and laboring to be faithful to
death; faithful in the discharge of his duties; faithful in the
employment of his talents; faithful in all things committed to his
trust; faithful to his promises; faithful in his friendship. These men
fail and cease by means of death. The fathers, where are they? And the
teachers, do they live forever? The visitations of death are often
mysterious to us. Sometimes the most brilliant in intellect and the most
useful in talent, also the most pious and useful in the church, are cut
down, while mere cumberers of the ground remain.
The profession of some is only transient; they soon disappear from the
assembly of the saints. Some improper motive, some peculiar excitement
may have moved them, or their goodness of heart may have left them. They
have possibly been stony ground hearers or thorny ground hearers. The
world allures thousands and kills the vitality of their religion.
Judas betrayed his master from the love of worldly gain; and Demas, an
acceptable preacher and companion of Paul, abandoned his profession,
"having loved the present world."
Many fail by endeavoring to unite the world and their religion,
maintaining a good moral character, but are destitute of energy in
Christianity.
When this spirit gets hold of a man, and he is disposed to secularize
his religion, or subordinate it to his worldly interests, he is sure to
fail sooner or later. Some fail by falling into temptations of various
kinds, and disgrace their profession; and some fail through
intemperance. Many fail through the influence of error and the enemies
of Christianity. These frequently beguile the unwary.
There never was a time in our history when unbelief and skepticism was
more determined in its opposition to the Christian religion than at the
present. There is an incessant attempt to instill into the minds of the
young principles in opposition to, and destructive of Christianity. Many
have split upon the rocks of infidelity, and stranded upon the
quicksands of doubt and skepticism, in spite of the fact that
Christianity presented them an example, which is the light and life of
men--a character without a blot! And this example is the only foundation
upon which to build a moral and pious temple in which the Lord does, and
the creature may dwell.
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION--THE TEN ATHEISTS IN COUNCIL--No. II.