Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple (2 Chron. chap. 6), and God's answer to it (chap. 7:12 :14), embrace subjects which justly apply to present conditions among "Christian nations" in our day.
The king, kneeling before God in the presence of the people, presents petitions in their behalf. Of national sins and perversity he says:"If thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy because they have sinned against Thee "; or,
"When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee"; or,
" If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence," etc., to all of which God answers:
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I forgive their sin, and will heal their land " (chap. 7:14). Of such deliverances, on these conditions, we have many records. (See Judges 3:6, 9, 12-15; chap. 4; chap. 6; i Sam. 12:9-11, etc.) These are principles in God's governmental dealings with nations and men which apply at all times.
It may be objected that Christians are on a different basis than was Israel. True, as to the individual Christian's relation to God; but, in God's government, ''Christian nations" are on much the same ground as was Israel. Since the rejection of Christ by the Jews, Christianity replaces Judaism as the vessel of God's testimony upon earth, and is blessed or disciplined accordingly, As God disciplined Israel for unfaithfulness to their calling, and at length cast them off for their rejection of Christ, bringing in Gentiles in their place of privilege and blessing, He has also disciplined Christendom at various times, and threatens to cut it off if it turn away from Christ and the truth connected with His name. (See Rom. 11:13-25.)
It should be plain to every sober mind that Christendom as we see it today is a degenerate Christianity. Damnable heresies have been brought into it, as leaven in the parable of Matt. 13; Satanic influences, like the birds in the mustard tree, have found shelter therein, until it has become "a great house," wherein are found vessels, "some to honor and some to dishonor," from which they who fear God must separate. For Protestantism-a bulwark for truth at the beginning-protests no longer; it is fallen, and in it Christ's person is assailed, atonement by His precious death is denied, and infidelity, under the guise of "higher criticism," has filled many of its pulpits.
And may we not say that for these things God has delivered Christendom to the fearful condition in which it has been plunged for the past four year? Does not God call aloud to repentance before cutting it off for its apostasy?
What remains in this condition of things ? In the midst of it all God hears still " them that fear the Lord"; and He gives us examples of such confessions as delight His ear, and of effectual pleadings, in Dan. 9 :3-21; James 5 :17, 18 ; Isa. 37 :1-8, etc., etc. The Lord grant that this spirit of confession and intercession may yet rest upon them that fear His name and trust in His grace.