Abram's Call by M. A. W. C.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 26, 1865

Abram's Call.

By M. A. W. C.

WHAT WAS Abram called to do? Was it some light thing? Something that would not cross his feelings, or try his faith, or make his tears flow? No, it was a very serious affair when God said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." Men of all nations love their country, however bleak and uninviting it may be. It is the fatherland, and dear to their hearts. The Greenlander loves his, though it is covered with eternal snow; and the South Sea Islander loves his; and Abram, who was a man of strong attachments, felt his heart ache when told he must leave scenes so familiar and dear.

Not only must he leave his country, but his kindred, his cousins, his friends and relations. Ah! many pleasant days he had spent with them, but now he must bid them farewell, except the few who were to accompany him on his journey. Hereafter he must look upon the faces of strangers. He must forsake his father's house too. He must leave the old homestead, with its sweet and tender associations, the time-worn chair, where his father Terah had rested at eventide. He must forsake the graves of the dead, and the homes of the living, and go forth into a strange land that God would show him.

When Christ invites one to forsake his sins and flee to the great salvation, it is with the same voice that said to Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, and come unto a land that I will show thee." Yes, the sinner must forsake his birthplace, the city of Destruction, where he had lived so long and so pleasantly—all the scenes, companions, and pursuits that would hinder him on his journey, and firmly set his face toward another country, even a heavenly. He has been told on good authority, that he that loveth father, mother, brothers, sisters, houses, lands, ease, reputation, more than Christ, cannot be his disciple.

God only knows the fierce struggles that agitate the soul, as it answers the questions the Spirit of God addresses to it in words like these: Oh, sinner, will you live, or die? Which will you have, earth, or Heaven? Will you wander in the wilderness with God's people, or remain in Egypt to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season? Was the universe made for you, or for God? Has not God a right to you by creation and preservation, and by every blessing he has showered upon you ever since you have had your being? Have you not been bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ? Come, forsake the beggarly elements of this world, and flee to a land that I will show thee.

There is still another period in a man's history, when he seems to hear the voice that Abram heard; it is when he is called to die. Arise, depart, for this is not your rest, says God. Come unto a land that I will show thee. What, says the good man, when love of life at times triumphs over his faith, must I leave my pleasant labors here; the church of God, the solemn assembly, the Sabbath-day; my family, so precious to my heart that it is like tearing limb from limb even to think of leaving them? Must I bid farewell to the changing seasons, to the light of sun, moon, and stars, and lie down in the darkness of the grave, and keep company with the worm?

But come unto a land that I will show thee, says God. It is a better land than this, a land where sickness, sin, and death may not enter. There they have no need of sun, moon, or stars, for God and the Lamb are the light thereof. Come, I will wipe away all thy tears. Now faith prevails. The good man dies as calmly as he would go to bed at night, feeling sweetly assured of the rest that remaineth to the people of God.—M. A. W. C. in American Messenger.