It is indeed solemn and deplorable when any nation, which has been specially favoured by God with spiritual blessings through the granting to them of His Holy Word, the raising up among them of godly witnesses and the establishing of His Worship in their midst, and in addition have enjoyed tokens of divine kindness in matters temporal, turns aside from Him and forsakes His ways. Spiritual judgments and desolation follow, as in the case of the children of Israel in that period when godly King Asa reigned over the children of Judah. Then it was said of Israel, “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law” (II Chron., chap. xv, v. 3). And what a miserable and wretched people Israel undoubtedly were during this time, being godless, ignorant and lawless. Perhaps this was not so in their own estimation; yet in point of fact there can be nothing but vexation, trouble, dissatisfaction and a seeking something unattainable when a people are without God, without spiritual teaching and without regard to the divine law.
Although in our own nation to-day there is a remnant, a goodly remnant, who fear God, and ministers of the Gospel of Christ who teach the whole counsel of God, and many who exercise at least an outward regard for the moral law; yet it is to be feared that vast multitudes of the people in Britain to-day have been now for a long season “without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law.” This is a state of affairs which makes itself evident in all parts of the land. The evidence is abundant and varied, and easily obtainable by those who examine the situation with the holy light and guidance of the inspired Scriptures and a degree of spiritual understanding and discernment.
The true God is largely unknown among the people
throughout our nation in these times. This may seem a sweeping assertion to some minds and yet in our view it is only too true. We must remember that all unconverted sinners are without the true knowledge of the true God, whatever natural appreciation they may possess regarding the existence and revelation of the divine Being and Name. And surely the numbers of such as are obviously unconverted far outstrip the numbers of those who give clear proof in their life and conversation that they are “born again.” Then those who positively declare their atheism and agnosticism are not a few, inasmuch as the philosophy of millions is, “Seek ye first, what ye shall eat, what ye shall drink and wherewith shall ye be clothed.” “We want our heaven here on earth. The promise of such beyond the grave and after death, by religious leaders does not interest us,” they say in effect. The nation is permeated with this materialistic outlook accompanied with an utter disregard to the claims of God and the blessings of His Kingdom which include “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. xiv, v. 17). Sport, gambling, the theatre, dancing, etc., are among the gods worshipped to-day, but the true God is not in all their thoughts. But it is peculiarly sad when we examine the case of multitudes connected with the professing Christian Church, who publicly own the true God and are yet without God in the world. Great numbers of such refuse to accept or believe much that the Bible reveals of the name, majesty, words, works and purposes of the “true God.” Predestination, the Fall of Man, the Incarnation of the Son of God, Miracles, Salvation through the sacrificial death of God’s Son, the resurrection, everlasting punishment, and suchlike truths revealed by God in His Word and related to His glory one way or another, are not believed, understood or considered essential to the Christian faith. As to the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, such a view of the Scriptures is wholly untenable or of no real interest to such. And this type of person we write of can dance, play cards, enjoy the whole round of worldly and vain pleasures and live without family worship, without secret prayer, without a scriptural observance of the Lord’s Day, while Church attendance and the “Sunday” newspaper both claim their attention. They are inoculated with the delusion that God is their Father and that they are proceeding to heaven; and yet are as ignorant as heathen of evangelical repentance toward God, the merit of the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and the operations of God’s Spirit in the bringing about of the new birth. They are without the true God indeed.
The lack of divinely commissioned ministers of the gospel
is a feature of the spiritual decadence which prevails in our land to-day. There are, of course, here and there throughout Britain men who have been “born again,” and, further, have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, to teach and to preach the Word of God and the gospel of salvation to guilty and ignorant lost sinners. But on account of the influence of false teachers in the Christian Church and the itching ears of several generations who would not endure sound doctrine, it appears as if the Most High has left the greater part of our people in Britain without the scriptural teaching and instruction of a faithful and living gospel ministry. The land is afflicted with hundreds, yea thousands, of men who profess to be “teaching priests” in Israel, who in the light of heaven are nothing of the kind, but unconverted men, never sent by Christ, false prophets and a danger to the precious souls of sinners. And so the lack of a heaven-sent teaching ministry in many denominations to-day, has had, and is still having, a desolating effect in the land spiritually and religiously. Thus the people in general with a Church connection are satisfied with and complacent under a spiritually dead ministry, comprised of men who in many cases condone, if they do not actively supervise the organising of dramatic plays, concerts, dances, whist drives, and ritualistic performances at such seasons as Christmas as it is called. Scriptural teaching of sound and saving truth and doctrine is conspicuous by its absence. What do the masses of people who call themselves Christians to-day know of the doctrine of justification by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? What do they know of this by personal experience? Nothing. They are completely in the dark. Why? They are without a gospel and teaching ministry. What do such understand about the law of the Sabbath? Next to nothing. The Rev. R. Selby Wright, Edinburgh, the Radio Padre as he is called, recently spoke out against the old Scottish Sabbath. He asserted that “the good old Scottish Sabbath has not the slightest foundation in the New Testament. The Lord’s Day is a different thing: it should be a day of rest and recreation.” He said further that the Church (the Church of Scotland apparently) must distinguish between the good old Scottish Sabbath and the “Continental Sunday,” as it wanted neither. So this is the teaching or rather lack of teaching with which the people of Scotland and elsewhere are plagued and by which they are confused, as to the Fourth Commandment, and indeed regarding all other fundamentals of Biblical Christianity. We never hear from such men as Rev. R. Selby Wright that the Church of Scotland Gateway Theatre has not the slightest foundation in the New Testament. Why? The people are without a teaching ministry which takes the Word of God as its inspired textbook, and so the blind leading the blind are to be met with in all parts of the nation. And then there are those who are thought to be sound ministers of the Gospel of Christ, and yet fail lamentably to give warning to their people against ministers of religion whose doctrinal views may well be called in question. “We must be charitable,” is the cry. “There are members of Christ’s body in all Christian denominations,” is part of the argument also for watering down or relegating to the background, any witness against a modernistic and unscriptural class of men who claim to be, but are not, the ministers of Christ. And so quite a number are left without a ministry which would teach to discern between good and evil, the holy and profane, in matters of public concern to the real cause of Christ and truth in the nation. Thus the precious and desirable grace of discernment becomes rarer than ever and largely because of the lack of a faithful teaching ministry.
And disregard to law characterises the nation
whether the law be the Word of God as a whole, the moral law, or the law administered by the civil magistrate. There was a time in Israel when the people were without law and a period in their history when, we are told, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. This latter statement appears to explain the condition of affairs when a nation or a people are without law. We do not exaggerate when we state that there is an ever increasing tendency to-day for every man to do, or endeavour to do, what seemeth right in his own estimation, without reference to the Word of God, the ten commandments or the law of the land. Human wisdom and the desires of the unrenewed heart of man guide and regulate millions in these times as to their views, words and actions with respect to God (if they think of Him at all) and their fellowmen, and their own standing in society. There are more than sufficient Bibles for all, but how many are absolute strangers to personal and private reading of its wonderful truths? It is to be feared that in a small minority of homes only the Word of God, prayer and praise are to be heard day by day. Family worship has largely disappeared from our land. People have no time it is said, as they are so occupied with their daily worldly tasks. But have they not plenty time for that which profits not for the eternal world? And thus the children grow up in an irreligious and indeed heathen atmosphere, bereft of any basically sound Christian example or advice, that is, “without law.” This process has been in operation in these modern times among us for the last forty years and more, and the fruits are visible and, to say the least, deeply disturbing. And now we have with us juvenile crime, lack of parental control, adultery, divorce, robbing by violence, murder and self-murder, and a host of other iniquities, all on an increasing scale. There is not only disregard for law, but defiance of law on the part of a considerable section of the community. And yet another phase of this lack of law and recognition of the same is to be found in the Churches. Christian Churches profess to have ecclesiastical laws, government and discipline to preserve that order they deem worthy of their respective organisations and the Christian faith. Irrespective of this, it does seem to be the case, that men holding office and others having full membership in many Churches, can conduct themselves much as they think fit contrary to Christian principles and practices without the least probability of being taken to task according to existing ecclesiastical law within their denomination. In fact, the application of Church law in bringing discipline to bear upon those in office and members in full communion, when called for, is becoming a thing of the past. The view seems to be, avoid trouble at any cost. This means ignore or cover up offences and do so by refraining from putting in operation the law which provides for dealing with offenders. It seems that in the days of our Lord on earth, there was little or no law recognised or administered as to what was, or was not, permissible for men to do in the precincts of the Temple at Jerusalem. This was revealed when Jesus drove out of the Temple those who bought and sold there. Churches require urgently to seek the mind of Christ and to follow His example as to the administration of law and authority for the cleansing out of what is carnal, unscriptural and worldly. But a day of the power of the Holy Spirit is required to bring this about.
The times are indeed dark and perilous. They cannot be otherwise, when a people live without the fear of the true God, the God of the Bible, and are not under the influence of scriptural teaching regarding divine things, and are more or less a law unto themselves. It therefore behoves those who tremble at God’s Word and love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity to “hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering” (Heb. x, v. 23) and to seek to be given much to secret prayer on behalf of the nation, that the God of salvation would arise and have mercy upon us and turn us yet again to Himself, to His Word and the ways of His commandments.