LUKE xviii. 8. “When the
Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? ”
I. WHAT is the feeling with which this saying was uttered?
Christ was like other teachers—now accepted, now rejected
of men. Now he seemed to feel a sort of inward triumph,
and yet at the last He experienced a depth of darkness
and desolation with which no sorrow in this world can be
compared. He did not lose faith in the truth, but he was
inclined to despair of His fellow-men.
II. If Jesus Christ were to come again, what judgment
would He pass upon us and upon our lives, and how would
He apply the truths of the Gospel to modern society? All
things would appear to Him secondary in comparison with
one question—Are men becoming better? What would
He say about our religious parties? about those who draw
remote inferences from those words? about those who
exaggerate the importance of days? He would teach the
new commandment which is also old. He would not
decide authoritatively disputed points, nor would he utter
the shibboleths of rulers or statesmen.
III. What prospect is there of any great moral or reli-
gious improvement among mankind?
We do not suppose that the condition of the poor is
always to continue amongst us as at present, or deny that
the blessings of education, health, and comfort may be
equally diffused among all. Are not our large religious
differences regarded differently now from what they for-
merly were? Are they not in some instances become
ridiculous?
Again, there seem to be signs that the opposition be-
tween religion and science, faith and knowledge, of which
we have heard so much, is fading away.
Benjamin Jowett, D.D.