BISHOP POTTER, of New York, has been severely criticised by almost everybody for telling a little wholesome truth in his address on the occasion of the centennial celebration. It is stated that the leading idea of his speech was “that there is already a deteriorating process in almost all departments of official and private life, and that the tone of public and private morals is distinctly lower than it was in the days of Washington and his immediate successors.” And this has been roundly denounced as pessimism by those who believe that the church and the world should be run as mutual admiration societies.
For the most part the secular and religious press have united in denying the bishop’s conclusions, and in insisting that instead of growing worse, the world, and especially this country, is steadily improving in morals. True, they offer no decided proof to this effect, but inasmuch as the people are pleased to believe thus, it requires no proof to satisfy them. However, it would probably not be a difficult task to show that the bishop spoke only the unvarnished truth; and the scenes witnessed in connection with the centennial ball in New York go very far to prove what he said. A century ago such a disgraceful orgy would have been impossible among the same class of people that engaged in it on this occasion. Moreover, the facts which the bishop states are in perfect keeping with the declarations of Scripture: “Evil men and seducers,” says the apostle, “shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” And our Lord himself, referring to his second coming, plainly implied that true faith would be well-nigh extinct in the last days. He said: “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?” The form of the question and the connection in which it occurred, admit only of a negative answer.
But while the religious press is almost a unit in denying the bishop’s conclusions, that the world is growing worse, one important paper, at least, has had the courage to speak against the custom of crying down every warning as pessimism. This paper is the Baptist Examiner from New York, and we cannot do better than to reproduce for our readers the following article from its issue of May 30:—
THE CRY OF “PESSIMISM.”
“The old proverb that tells us to ‘give a dog a bad name and then kill him’ has many modern applications. One of the commonest is the raising of the cry of ‘pessimism’ whenever words of timely and manly rebuke of existing evils are spoken. If the greatness of the occasion and the character of the speaker are such as to attract much attention to the rebuke, this is felt to be one of the most effective means of dulling its edge. Nobody need have been surprised, therefore, when Bishop Potter spoke words that seemed to many of his fellow-citizens to be a temperate, manly, and much-needed rebuke of the spirit of office-seeking and office-mongering that is rife among us, that he should be at once assailed from many quarters as a pessimist. If the people can only be persuaded that there is something the matter with the bishop’s liver, that he looks at the world through jaundiced eyes or blue spectacles, less weight will attach to what he has spoken.
“We are not specially concerned to defend Bishop Potter or his address. Both are fully able to answer for themselves; and as to the address, the longer and the more widely it is read the more highly its merits are likely to be appreciated. What we wish just now to do is to call attention to the spurious notion of optimism and pessimism that is diligently propagated by the glib denouncers of the bishop.
“It is a false optimism that takes rose-colored views of everything, that resolutely shuts its eyes to the existence of evils, and insists that everything is good and lovely, and better than it ever was in the history of the world. This is the easiest sort of gush, the cheapest and the most dangerous philosophy of living. We believe as firmly as any living man that, on the whole, the world is growing better instead of worse. . . . But this does not blind our eyes to the fact that there is sometimes a retrograde movement in society, a backward eddy in the onward moving current. We cannot fail to see that there are evils calling for resistance, for reform, for eradication; and the first condition for advance is that these evils be recognized and strenuously fought. It is vain to cry, ‘Peace, peace; when there is no peace;’ to insist that things are better than they really are; to denounce those who would have us take a calm and intelligent survey of the facts as a preliminary to well-directed action. That is not optimism which acts thus, it is simple foolishness.
“The only optimism worthy of the name, because the only kind that is intelligent, is that which unites the hopeful spirit concerning the future with clear-eyed vision of the present; that shirks no difficulty merely because it is unpleasant to face the facts; that refuses to imitate the ostrich and try to abolish facts by refusing to see them. The optimism that will not see evils existing is half afraid that if it ceases to ignore distasteful facts it will cease to be optimistic. And when the facts are by some social convulsion forced upon its attention, this form of optimism often relapses into the most hopeless form of pessimism. It was those that were most certain that the Chicago anarchists meant nothing serious who were most panicky after the Haymarket riot, and feared that the bottom was about to drop out of society. It was those that were most certain no civil war could grow out of the slavery agitation who were paralyzed with fear when the first guns were fired.”
Keep Thy Heart
"KEEP thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Prov. 4:23.
Trials and Comfort
WHILE Peter was with Jesus in the chill of the outer night, he was more favorably circumstanced, whether he realized it or not, than when he was with the officers of the high priest’s palace, near a warm fire. In the one case he was ready to die for Jesus; in the other, he was ready to deny him. We owe more to our deprivations and trials than we realize. If we were more comfortably off than we are, we might lose in character more than we gained in comfort. It is better to shiver in Christ’s service than to grow warm among his enemies. There is nothing for which we have cause of greater gratitude than that the Lord secures to us enough of trials and discomforts to keep us from growing cold in our hearts while our bodies grow warm.—S. S. Times.
THE BIBLE IN PERU.
By A. M. Milne
THE Roman Church is always and in all parts of the world the same in respect to its hatred to the unadulterated Bible. A few days ago Brother Penzotti (agent for the American Bible Society) wrote us an account from Callao of the attempt of the curate of Cocachacra on the lives of Brother Arancet and Brother Illescas, colporters of the American Bible Society, who were there with samples of Bibles and Testaments. This village is not far from Arequipa, Peru, and has a population of some two hundred poor, ignorant people, who are completely under the dominion of the priest, and, being incited by him, they met together with the purpose to kill the men who had brought them the light of the gospel, precisely as the priest of Antioch did to Paul and Barnabas in Iconium. Finding themselves face to face with death, Arancet asked permission to pray. This was granted. Upon ending his prayer, he told them that they might now do whatever they wished. At this moment the governor of the place arrived, and liberated them from the hands of the priest and the multitude. He took them to his house, where he guarded them till the next day. When the fury of the people had subsided, he sent them to another place. Brother Penzotti, when he wrote this to us, said that he was going to start for that place as soon as it would be possible for him to leave Callao. Now he writes us that he and the two other brethren are in prison, illegally detained by order of the bishop for selling obscene books. The Italian consul and other influential persons are taking interest in the matter, and I do not doubt but that the final result will be equal to that which happened to me in an analogous case, when I was detained in the town of Pando, republic of Uruguay, in the year 1865. This being reported to the superior Government, that high authority granted me full permission, without license or hindrance, to sell Bibles in every part of the republic.
General Caseres, the president of Peru, has already given the clergy of Arequipa and the worthless friars of Lima a few lessons which ought to give them to understand that he permits neither friars nor bishops to dominate his people; and I do not doubt that he will cut off forever these abuses. Meanwhile, we recommend to the brethren in the faith that they do not fail to pray for Brother Penzotti and those that are with him.—Rev. A. M. Milne, in Northern Christian Advocate.
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
AFTER a journey of five days from Oakland, devoid of unusual incident, I reached Chicago the morning of May 22. At the mission rooms, 26 and 28 College Place, where I at once went, I met Brethren Olsen and White, just from the camp-meeting at Ottawa, Kansas, and Brethren Saunders, Hope, and Hutchinson, who had preceded me from California, and had reached this point on their journey to England. These brethren went on to Battle Creek, Mich., the same day, while I remained at the mission till the next day. This was a privilege which I had long desired to enjoy. The mission is in a most delightful location, and is as well equipped for carrying on the business for which it was designed as can be imagined. I greatly enjoyed the hospitality of this family of workers, with Elder G. B. Starr at the head, and still more did I enjoy the privilege of uniting with them in their regular weekly prayer and missionary meeting, and in their family worship. Brother Starr laid before us his plans for the missionary training school to be held in the fall, and we feel sure that it will be a means of much good to those who attend.
After spending three days with my mother, in Michigan, and one day with the Book Committee in Battle Creek, I came on to Williamsport, arriving here May 28. The workers' meeting had then been in session just one week, Elder A. T. Jones in charge. About fifty workers were present, and a good degree of interest was exhibited. Several expressed themselves as already having received light on the subject of the righteousness of God, and how it may become ours through faith in Christ.
At the present writing, June 6, the camp-meeting proper should have been in session three days, but owing to the great flood, the attendance is just the same as during the workers' meeting. To-day a train leaves Williamsport for the first time in six days. All communication with the outside world has been cut off, and it was feared that no Conference session could be held; but after viewing the situation, the brethren have concluded that the churches are well enough represented to allow of the business being transacted. So the exercises will go on to the close of the appointed time, just the same as though there was the expected attendance. But for the flood, the camp-meeting would have been the largest ever held in this State, as more tents had been ordered than ever before; but the brethren in charge are of good courage, and doubt not that even this will be made to work for good. Sister White arrived yesterday, having been six days making the trip from Battle Creek, and three days making the last fifty miles of the journey by wagon.
Of the terrible calamity that has befallen this section of Pennsylvania, the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES have learned ere this from the secular papers. But no tongue can ever describe the situation. Next to Johnstown, which was almost entirely swept out of existence, Williamsport was the greatest loser. The loss in this town is many millions of dollars of property and quite a number of lives, how many is not yet known. In the section of the town nearest the river, it is impossible to tell where the streets run. Houses, mills, logs, lumber, and almost everything else, are left in one confused mass. The stock of goods in nearly every store in the city was almost completely ruined. Not the least feature of the calamity is the danger of disease from the decaying matter that fills the streets.
Although the camp-ground was on the outskirts of town, near the hills, it was covered to a depth of three feet by the waters, which rose so rapidly Sabbath, June 1, that all were compelled to flee. No one was injured, however, and comparatively little loss was sustained by the campers. The inconvenience suffered was nothing compared with the suffering of those who lost their homes and members of their families in the angry flood.
The weather now is pleasant and seems to be settled, and the prospects for a happy termination of the meeting are good. E. J. W.
THE DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY.
By C. P. B.
It is related that when Frederick the Great asked the Abbot Steinmetz to give him in a few striking words a proof of the truth of Christianity, the latter replied, "Your majesty, the Jews," meaning, of course, that the separate existence and unhappy condition of that people is an evidence of the truth of that which they rejected. Commenting upon this fact, the Jewish Exponent says:—
"Not by the evidences of wondrous achievements in its own votaries is the truth of Christianity to be established, not by the exhibition of its benign effects in preventing bloody conflicts could the abbot prove the efficiency of his faith to the war-like king, not by the test suggested by Lessing, viz., the love which it displays towards its brother faiths and which it gains from them, no—but by the supposed afflictions of a whole people were the truths of Christianity to be established."
The idea expressed in this that Christianity should "prevent bloody conflicts" and bring all elements together in harmony, is one that has obtained to a great extent not only among Jews but among Christians as well; but why, we cannot imagine. Certain it is that the Scriptures do not teach any such thing. Says the Saviour: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." And the apostle John says: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Again we have the words of the Master: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."
True Christianity, instead of making peace with other elements, makes division, because it is diametrically opposed to everything outside of truth. The only peace, the only unity, promised by Christianity, is among its own votaries. Speaking of the disciples, the Saviour said: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
Again we are assured by the apostle that "all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Persecution is not the result of union but of disunion. Christianity was never designed to cement men to the world, but rather to cut them loose from the world, and transfer their affections from the things of the world to the kingdom of God; to separate them from worldly things.
The error of supposing that Christianity must not antagonize anything, must not oppose anything, that it must be on good terms with everything, is a fit companion-piece for the theory that it is to convert the world. And the fact that this doctrine is taught as Bible doctrine is responsible for a vast amount of infidelity which is in the world to-day. Men teach that Christianity was designed to transform the world into a second garden of Eden, that it is to bring all into willing obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is plain to be seen that it is not accomplishing this result.
True, the gospel has been sent to all lands, it has been preached in the most remote parts of the earth, and has its disciples everywhere, but, according to the best authorities, it is scarcely keeping pace with the increase of population, even counting all who make a profession of Christianity as true converts. But when we come to consider the fact that very many who profess to accept Christ have really no part nor lot in the matter, it is to be feared that Christianity is not really accomplishing as much as might be supposed. Skeptics are not slow to see this, and, taking it for granted that those who profess Christianity, and those who profess to teach the gospel, are correct in saying that it is designed to convert the world, they conclude that its Author must have been mistaken, and therefore could not be divine.
The truth, however, is that Christianity was never designed to convert the world. It is to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; it is to call out a people who shall be saved in the kingdom of God; but, according to the words of the Saviour himself, few, comparatively, will be saved. Some from every kindred, tribe, and nation will enter the kingdom of God, but not all of any people. Christianity is too often wounded by misrepresentation in the house of its friends.
SELFISHNESS.
By M. C. W.
SELFISHNESS! how much it comprehends! We mourn over the sins and vices around us,—the lawlessness and licentiousness everywhere prevailing; the greed of gain, which is grinding the face of the poor, and rapidly transforming the Governments of earth into vast plutocracies; the hydra-headed monster intemperance, which is converting the meetings of legislative assemblies into drunken revels, happy homes to paupers' dwellings, men in the image of God into beings lower than brutes, orphaning and beggaring its millions, swelling the torrent of crime and misery, blasting and blighting everything of good in its path,—all these crimes and woes, and many others, till "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." It is, indeed, a sad picture, and it is sadder still to know that the root of all these sins is deeply grounded in our nature, deep in the carnal heart, the sin of all sins, because the beginning of all—selfishness.
Sin began with Satan. He was its prime instigator. It was in the weakness of selfishness that he fell. Says the Lord to him, through his prophet, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." It was in the weakness of selfishness that man fell under his wiles. It was a selfish motive which the arch-enemy presented before him, namely, "Ye shall be as gods." Selfishness thus brought into life, by the father of evil, predominated, and our first parents fell. Fell also the human race. The secret spring was touched which unlocked the human heart, and Satan entered and took possession. Truly he is a foe we have reason to fear. "Eternal vigilance is the price of safety" from his pernicious wiles; but there is one foe we have more reason to fear than even Satan and all his host, and that is selfishness, or375self-love. It is this sin that opens the door of our heart and admits the enemy. It is this sin which leads to the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life. It is this sin which leads us to reject Christ, the embodiment of unselfishness.
Many suppose that the magnitude of the sins they commit rests with Satan, that if we can only resist his wiles we are safe; and this is true in a measure. But there is only one way to meet his advances and repel his attacks. If we hold paramount our own selfish ways and wishes, if we cherish and cling to our darling sins, the devil will be sure to lead us captive at last. The only successful way to overcome sin and gain the victory is to dislodge from our hearts the terrible enemy of all good,—selfishness,—which dwells within. This is in harmony with the teaching of the apostle James: "But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed." The devil is the "enticer," but he entices by drawing on the selfish lusts, desires, and longings of the human heart. Were there nothing of evil cherished in our heart, there would be no affinity or union with the king of evil.
How dangerous it is, then, to harbor within our heart one sin, be it ever so small! It is a traitor who will unbar the gates to the enemy. Search, dear reader, through all the catalogue of sins which you have committed, and see if they did not have their origin in the selfishness of the carnal heart. Knowing this, we can work intelligently in overcoming sin. Put away the lust, the pride, the love of pleasure and ease, the greed of gain, the vain ambition, the love of power, and open the door of your heart to the King of holiness and peace. Follow the advice of the wise man: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Our Saviour has said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself."
M. C. W.
BEGINNING TO SEE IT.
By C. P. B.
WE are glad that the California Prohibitionist is beginning to see the inconsistency of prohibiting liquor selling on Sunday and permitting it on other days. The following paragraph from that paper, of June 6, will explain our meaning:—
"Cardinal Gibbons says he is opposed to prohibition because it does not prohibit. High license with 'moral sanction' he regards as the most efficient way of diminishing the drinking vice. He would, however, prohibit the sale of liquors entirely on Sunday, and would have that law 'rigidly enforced.' We would like to hear the Cardinal explain two things: First, what 'moral sanction' means as applied to high license, and second, why a law which can be rigidly enforced on Sunday cannot be as rigidly enforced every other day in the week."
The Prohibitionist has evidently got things a little mixed. What Cardinal Gibbons said was: "I regard high license with moral suasion as the most efficient way of diminishing the drinking vice." Of course we cannot agree with the Cardinal in this, for it has been demonstrated repeatedly that high license does not diminish drinking. It gives a few the monopoly of the business, that is all. At least this has been the case in a number of States where high license has been tried. Liquor dealers themselves are almost if not quite unanimous in testifying that high license does not reduce the consumption of intoxicating liquors.
Our contemporary is quite right, however, in demanding to know "why a law which can be rigidly enforced on Sunday cannot be as rigidly enforced every other day in the week." To single out Sunday and specify that liquor shall not be sold upon that day, is simply to imply that it is proper and right to sell it on other days. We do not see how any Prohibitionist can consistently advocate Sunday prohibition, any more than he can advocate high license. The two measures are off one piece; they both legalize liquor selling under certain conditions, and by giving it the sanction of law, make it respectable in the eyes of the great mass of the people. If liquor selling is a legitimate business it ought in all respects to be placed on an equality with other branches of legitimate business; if it is not legitimate it ought to be prohibited on all days. We believe that it should be prohibited. C. P. B.
COLONEL SHEPARD ON THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
COL. ELLIOTT F. SHEPARD, of the American Sabbath Union, so-called, discusses the law of the Sabbath as follows:—
"It is summarized, though not first instituted, by the fourth commandment, which God gave at Mount Sinai: 'Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.' The very first word shows that it was not any new thing. God rested upon the accomplishment of his work of creation: and his seventh day was man's first day. Now we keep the Sabbath as the day of the resurrection of the blessed Master, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We observe the first day, and for aught that is known to the contrary it may be the very hebdomadal of the day that Adam observed. The Sabbath was his first day, and he was prepared by this first day of rest for six days of labor."
Mr. Shepard's assumption that the first day of the week is really the seventh is purely gratis. He offers no proof of his assertion, for the very good reason that it is susceptible of none. Of all the assumptions made in behalf of Sunday sacredness, this seems to us to be the most groundless. The statement that Adam's first day was God's seventh day is utter nonsense. Man was created upon the sixth day, but, according to the record in Genesis, it must have been early on the sixth day, for after his creation God brought to him all the beasts which had been formed before man was created, and he named them; but among them all was there not found a helpmate for man. Then God caused the man,—Adam,—to fall into a deep sleep, "and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." This was the institution of marriage. So that not only was Adam created on the sixth day, but he named all the animals upon that day, fell into a deep sleep while this miracle was performed, and received his wife, and yet we are solemnly assured by Sunday advocates that the following day was his first day!
There is, however, another reason for utterly repudiating this idea that Sunday is the original Sabbath. The fourth commandment specifies expressly that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." And this for the reason "that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." It may be said that the children of Israel could not have known which was the seventh day from creation, but God knew, and pointed it out to them. It was expressly stated that "to-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath," and then this day was pointed out every week for forty years by the absence of manna upon that day, whereas manna fell upon every other day.
Then again, we have mention made of the Sabbath in the New Testament in a manner which forbids the idea that the day then observed was any other than the one specified in the commandment. We read of the women who witnessed the crucifixion that after the crucifixion "they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment."
No one will pretend to deny that the day upon which these women rested was the day specified in the commandment, and that it was also the day generally observed by the Jewish people, and of course they could not keep, according to the commandment, a day other than the one specified in the commandment. And according to the commandment the day to be observed is the day upon which God rested.
But it may be urged that the day has been lost, or changed in some way, since the crucifixion. It is enough, however, to say that it would have been impossible for a whole nation, to say nothing of the whole world, to lose track of the days of the week, and that forty years after the crucifixion Jerusalem was absolutely destroyed and the Jews scattered among all nations; and they have remained a separate people ever since, and yet we now find them in all parts of the world keeping the day which we call Saturday, the day which, according to the numbering of all nations, is the seventh day. Moreover, in all the ancient languages the seventh day, the day commonly called Saturday, bears some name meaning the Sabbath, or rest, so that we have the united testimony of Jews and heathen to the fact that the day commonly called Saturday is the seventh day specified in the commandment.
But Mr. Shepard says that "it was not the seventh day which God blessed, but the rest-day." In this he squarely contradicts the word of God. The fourth commandment expressly says, "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day." But it may be asked, Which is the Sabbath-day? Let the commandment itself answer: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." The Bible says that the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and Mr. Shepard says that God did not bless the seventh day. Whose testimony shall we receive? Only a weak case requires such subterfuges as that resorted to by the president of the so-called American Sabbath Union to sustain the claim of Sunday sanctity.
C. P. B.
NOT ENCOURAGING.
By C. P. B.
IN an address delivered at the fifty-sixth anniversary of the Sunday-school Union at Albany, May 18, 1889, Rev. M. D. Hillis, of Peoria, Ill., stated some facts in regard to the condition of the small towns and rural districts in the West, which are worthy of serious consideration. He said:—
"Another alarming fact has been and is developing. I refer to the depopulation of our smaller towns of their American and Christian elements. In the State of Illinois a leading denomination reports ten churches pastorless. The compiler of this report says that ten years ago many of these churches supported a pastor and were in good condition, but the city has drained the country town of its best blood and its Christian leaders. While the State of Illinois has increased in population, the population of the country districts and of the smaller villages is actually less than it was in 1880. I recently spent a few days in a town of 2,000 inhabitants in central Illinois, which ten years ago supported five evangelical churches, three of which are to-day closed. There are whole sections where we once had strong churches which have been entirely taken up by foreigners. The Christian work which was done twenty years ago must now be done over again, otherwise these communities will be given over to godlessness and Romanism!"
This is certainly not very encouraging from the standpoint of those who expect to see the world converted. To think that in old communities where churches and Sunday-schools have once been planted, the work has to be done over again after only twenty years, certainly does not indicate that the world is to be converted as rapidly as many are wont to believe. This does not prove, however, that Christianity is lacking in power,376but it should call attention to the fact that the Bible gives no warrant for the popular belief that there will ever be a time when all will become Christians. On the contrary, we are assured by Inspiration that in the last days "perilous times shall come," and that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." The purpose of the gospel is not to save all, or to convert the world, but to gather out of all nations a people that will serve God.
C. P. B.
THE RESURRECTION AND THE SECOND ADVENT.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
[The manuscript of this article was found among Elder J. H. Waggoner’s papers after his decease, and is probably one of the last articles written by him. We believe that it has never appeared in print. Under the circumstances, the writer’s expressions of firm faith in the blessed hope are particularly touching.]
THE doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and the doctrine of the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, prove each other. They necessarily go together, and depend upon each other. Paul plainly teaches that if there be no resurrection of the dead, our faith is vain; there can be no salvation—no hope for the future. 1 Cor. 15:12-19. This is a truth lying at the very foundation of the Christian system, and yet how sadly it is neglected at the present day! On this point Dr. Clarke in his Commentary on 1 Cor. 15 remarks:—
“One remark I cannot help making: The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now. How is this?—The apostles were continually insisting on it, and inciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it; and their successors at the present day seldom mention it! So the apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect.”
Dr. Clarke wrote this comment more than half a century ago, and that which he so plainly saw in his day is yet more plainly to be seen now. The departure from the teaching of the Scriptures on this subject is widening continually.
The resurrection of the just will take place when the Lord comes. Paul gave comforting words of instruction to his brethren at Thessalonica, and through them to us, concerning them that are asleep, in which he said:—
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:15-18.
And thus it appears that if the Lord himself should never return to this earth, the dead in Christ would never arise; and then, according to the words of Jesus in Luke 14:14, the righteous would never receive a recompense. We have already seen that everything concerning man’s final salvation is made dependent on the resurrection; and here it is shown that the resurrection itself is made to depend on the second advent of Christ.
And here we may say of the second advent exactly what Dr. Clarke said of the resurrection. No truth of the gospel is dwelt upon more constantly, more earnestly, and with more loving desire, than that of the second advent; and at the present time it is not only neglected, but it is treated with contempt, and many professed servants of Christ even manifest hatred towards the doctrine! With them it is the deepest reproach to believe in and to love the appearing of the Lord. But see what the apostle says in 2 Tim. 4:1-8.
Jesus said the reward of the just will be given at the resurrection. He also said, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:12. His reward is with him at his coming, because he restores the saints to life at that time. See again: “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” Matt. 16:27.
And this coming of the Son of man in the glory of the Father, Paul called the blessed hope. Titus 2:13.
Peter said, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Peter 5:4.
And thus again Paul says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Col. 3:4.
We have learned that when the Lord Jesus comes, the trump of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall be raised. Again we read that when the last trump shall sound, then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality. It is when Jesus comes to give life to his people, when this mortal puts on immortality, that that saying is fulfilled which is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” Death is now continually gaining victories over the saints of God. The grave is daily claiming its prey. But when the Lord, our life, shall come, when his voice calls the sleeping saints from their graves, when angels bear them aloft to meet the Lord in the air, then they can raise the glad shout of triumph: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? . . . . But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:52-57.
The disciples were sad when the Lord told them that he was going to leave them. But he told them not to let their hearts be troubled; he would come again and receive them unto himself. This, to them, was the blessed hope; earnestly they prayed, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” This promise comforts our hearts to-day, and we, too, thank God for this blessed hope.