The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-05-08


going away. All of this is fully in ac- |
cord with Peter: There shall come |
in the last days scoffers walking after |
their own lusts saying. Where is the |
promise of His coming, for since the |
fathers fell asleep all things continue
as they were from the beginning until
?"-II Peter iii:3-4.
Jesus not only foretold His going
away, but charged His followers to /
expect His return, and be ready for
it: Watch therefore, for ye know
not what hour your Lord doth come.
Therefore, be we also ready, for in
such an hour as ye think not the Son
of Man cometh. Matt. xxxiv: 42-44.
Every time we lift the communion
cup to our lips we do show forth the
Lords death till He come" There is
no prophecy needing to be fulfilled
before Christ comes. Jesus said:
This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a wit
ness unto all nations; then shall the
end come Matt. xxiv:14. There is
not nation on the face of the earth
that has not had the Gospel preached
within its bounds.
The second coming of Christ is the
emphatic doctrine of the New Tesla
ment. 1t is mentioned and referred to
more than $50 times, and yet the ma
! jority of church members never heard
a sermon on the subject; that is the
reason they think so little of looking
into the matter themselves. The
church makes much of baptism, but in
all of PauFs epistles baptism is only
mentioned or referred to Ii times,
while the return of the Lord is men
toned so times. This certainly shows
which he considered the most import
ant.
Exact Hour
| Is Mystery
McCheyne, the great Scotch preach
er, once said to some of his friends:
do you think Christ will come back
tonight?" One after another they
said 81 think not" Then he solemnly
repeated: Watch, therefore, for We
| know not what hour the Lord doth
come. Therefore, be We also ready,
/ for in such an hour as We think not
| the Son of Man cometh."
With such admonitions as this, what
right have we to be unconcerned
about it and say, as many preachers
do: at is nothing to me; take no
interest in the subject whatever"
/
where the engineer would never read
his orders? Who would ride on a ship
where the captain never looked at the
compass? You may call it rubbish, but
the disciples called it the blessed
hope" "Why call We me Lord, Lord
and do not the things I say?" If
Jesus had said, 81 will not return for
$4,000 years." nobody would have be-
gun to look for Him before the time
was near but He expects His follow
ers to be always looking for His re-
turn.
Just as Simeon and Anna watched
and waited for His first coming, so we
should be watching and waiting fol-
His return. 1t is not enough to say
oh, I'm a Christian: I'm all right We
are not all right unless we obey the
command to watch, for 1t is certainly
as much of a command to look for the
coming of the Lord as it is to keep
the Sabbath holy. Nothing else will
do so much to keep us right where we
should be in our religious experience
Knowing that the bank examiner may
drop in at any moment keeps many q
cashier from becoming dishonest.
Moody Calls
Great Convention.
A little more than 90 years ago Mr.
Moody called a convention of Chris
tan workers to meet in Chicago. anC
that convention was in session there
in Moody's church for two months, anC
out of it came the great Bible institute
The daily program was to spend the
afternoon at the church in prayer anC
|, Bible study, and the afternoon anC
evening in doing practical Christian
work. A man who was my assistant
/, some years ago attended that conven
ton. He told me that one day Mr.
} Moody asked him to go down among
the Anarchists, in the hard part o.
Chicago, and hold meeting there. 30
the best you can, said Mr.. Moody, 'anC
| some night I'll come down and hell
you My friend said that promise was
continual incentive to him to keeI
up his courage and do his very best
He didn't know Mr.. Moody would
come, and so he looked for him every
: night, and the harder time he had, the
harder he hoped and looked. This
shows how the constant expectation
of the coming of Jesus will inspirt anC
encourage us.
, "a great many say, L believe the
millennium will come first, then Christ
will come at the end of it What PEG
pie think has nothing to do with it, but
what God says has everything to dc
with it. Many have missed railroad
trains because they believed they
would come at a time that did not cor
, respond with the official time card
! You will see Gods time card if you
, carefully read the Bible. Not a wore
! can be found in the Bible that gives
the slightest hope for the millennium
before the return of Christ: but yot
! can find plenty of verses that tells
you to look for the coming of the LORD
first.
As we look back over the 1000 year:
since Christ, how far we seem to bC
away from the time when the will O
God shall be done on earth as it is il
heaven. Every edition of the press
seems to make it clear that the devi
is still having his way. Look at the
reign of wickedness in our great cite:
in both high and low. No college ha:
, ever yet made a saint, or ever will. Ed
, ucation may improve conditions, but i
can never change or cleanse the
, heart. Look at the luke-warmness and
Indifference in the churches every
, where. and see what many of then
: are compelled to resort to in order Il
keep from going under See to wha
, schemes and lodges and fooiishnes.
, some preachers have to resort to t