October, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
343
Thus Saith the Lord: S O to now, ye rich; men, weep and hpwt. for your miseries .that shaft Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are:moth-eaten* Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your^flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last day$v ; , ,\ Behold, .the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which, is of you kept back by. fraud, ccieth: and the cries of them,which have rèapéd are en tered into the ears of thes Lord of Sab aoth. I g f ; ~ Tf ^ Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton;, ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, , brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the- hus- 1 bandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and ,hath long patience for it, j untilhe receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts:, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, * — JA M E S 5:1-8.
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m COMING OF THE LORD >e com ratee ili Aligli B y STEWART P. M ac LENNAN* Hollywood, Calif.
[Dr. MacLennan’s article takes the place this month of the regular department, “Present-Day Fulfillment of Prophecy." It is expected that Dr. Bauman will be back again in these col umns in the November issue .—E ditor .] T o d a y w e a r e living in a leaderless world. W e are worshiping at the altar o f a false god. Bewilderment, ap prehension, and uncertainty are everywhere about us. The world is apparently bankrupt. It is bankrupt not only financially, but physically, socially, politically, and even intellectually. The voice o f the pessimist is heard in the land. Sir George Parish in his book, The Way to Recovery, says : It is not the wreck of a single nation that is involved; it is the wreck of a world. Universal bankruptcy accom panied by universal revolution will place in jeopardy not merely civilization but life itself. What a startling statement is this from the pen of an authority on international finance ! Listen to Ramsay MacDonald, England’s great Prime Minister, a true statesman and possessed o f far-reaching insight. He says : If we cannot find a solution to the present crisis, it will be difficult to stay the flood before it has overwhelmed the whole o f Central Europe, with consequences, social, po litical and financial, which no one can estimate. Time is against us. Every day adds to the risk of a collapse which will be outside human control. Where shall we turn in this hour o f darkness ? Listen to the Apostle James as he declares, “ Be ye also patient. Stablish your hearts, for the coming’ of the Lord draweth nigh” (Jas. 5 :8 ). How sad that in this hour so many Christians should dismiss prophecy as unimportant and uninteresting ! What a shameful blot it is upon the theological escutcheon o f the church! H. L. Mencken, outstanding journalist o f our day, editor o f the American Mercury, points the finger of criticism in this direction when he says : Thè silence of the theologians is one of the incredible phenomena o f these dangerous days . . . All I desire to point out is that the New Testament offers precise and elaborate specifications of the events preceding the inevit able end o f the world [age], and that a fair reading of them must lead any rational man to conclude that the events are now upon us. This is a statement from a professional journalist, not a preacher or Bible teacher! No intelligent person can escape the same conclusion. If our New Testament is in spired, if we believe Jesus Christ, surely we must open our New Testaments, not only to establish our own hearts, but to call the world’s attention to the fact that we are even now
on the threshold o f a m i g h t y change that is to involve the en tire world. Let us take the lamp o f prophecy and light up some o f t h e s i g n s which i ndi c at e that “ the coming o f t h e L o r d draweth n igh .”
T h e P o l it ic a l S ig n Daniel, statesman and prophet, foresaw a day in which a mighty potentate and world-dictator should arise. We read o f this one in Daniel 11:36 and 37: “ The king shall do according to his w ill; and he shall exalt himself, and mag nify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God o f his fa thers, nor the desire o f women, nor regard any g o d : for he shall magnify himself above all.” John, on the Isle o f Patmos, is given a vision of the same towering world-personality, and under the image of a beast, he describes conditions which obtain at the end of the age in which we now live. “ Who is like unto the beast ? who is able to make war with him?” is the challenging word o f Revelation 13 :4. And the implication is that none can stand before this tremendous personality. Not only is he delegated power, but also authority to be spokesman for the people, for “ there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” Long have students'of the prophetic Word proclaimed the fact that the closing years o f this age would witness the rise o f dictatorships among nations. Now that they are actually appearing, the world is astonished, and thoughtful men and women are concerned as to what they may por tend. The phenomenon of Caesarism is one o f the most startling omens o f our day. Even in free America, with her advanced democratic principles, we have now delegated to the President powers greater than ever before given to any human ruler. One country after another has turned to some type of dictatorial regime, and the amazing thing is that we all realize that the only possible way out, humanly speaking, is for one man to take the reins. Nevertheless, there is an uneasy feeling that no ordinary human being is capable of such tremendous powers. Whither shall they turn to find a great, wise, loving dictator ?
*Pastor, First Presbyterian Church.
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