TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
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.
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 bringforth; 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 worldthese 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 thanfor 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. Luthergave 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.