Duty to be Done in Time of Judgment
J. Cumming, D. D. Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. About sixty years ago, there was in America a universal superstition — not an enlightened belief — that the world was about to close. They believed that the world was about to end, because a total eclipse of the sun took place at noonday. There was all the darkness and the gloom of midnight. It happened that the Congress of the United States was assembled at this hour; half the members of the Congress believed that that dense night, caused by a total eclipse of the sun, was really the darkness that preceded the ushering in the judgment and another state and world. They were in great alarm, and two or three of the most agitated got up at once, and moved that the Congress do adjourn. There was a panic. In the midst of the panic, and while some were proposing an adjournment, an old and venerable Puritan, who had learned noble lessons from the Puritans of England, the salt of the country at that time, rose up and said, "Mr. Chairman, we are told that our duties are always imminent, that they are always obligatory. Some in this house are afraid that the last day is come; it may be they are right; I have some suspicion they are so; but as our duties never cease, instead of moving that the house adjourn, as we cannot see in this darkness to do business, I move that the candles be brought in, and that we proceed to the order of the day." That man spoke like a Christian, and he lived like a Christian. And may we be found going on with the orders of the day when the light of the last day shall flash upon this world. (J. Cumming, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. WEB: For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.