Godly Sorrow by John Matteson

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 19, 1866

Godly Sorrow.

By John Matteson

"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." 2 Cor. vii, 10.

There are many different kinds of sorrow in this world of sorrow; but there is only one kind that has a blessing with it, and can be called godly. It is such sorrow as will lead us to repentance.

The great instrument which God has given us to create godly sorrow is the law of God, as vividly brought home to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, making the word of God sharper than any two-edged sword. Yet this fashionable and delicate generation does not like the sharp sword, but prefer a blunt one, wrapped all up in silk and velvet.

There can be no gospel without the law. For where there is no law, there is no sin, and where there is no sin, there can be no salvation from sin. Therefore, to preach the gospel without the law, is an absurdity. The office of the law at the present time is to make man realize his true condition. To make him see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. We are born in sin, have indulged in it more or less, and have been surrounded by it all our lifetime; wherefore we have lost that original holiness, which would make us abhor even the smallest sin. But God is holy, and does still view it in the same light as ever. Yet, how merciful is he, in providing a way of salvation.

The first step, therefore, in opening our blind eyes, is to bring us to see and feel that we have need of a physician. The next, to bring us to the physician. And even after we have repented, if we would grow in grace and holiness, the same order must be followed.

Whenever we want to reform, or change any wrong habit, we must first have a clear understanding of the sinfulness of such habit, and feel that we are guilty in the sight of God. And this must cause a godly sorrow in our hearts, and make us mourn that we could ever be so unthankful as to thus sin against a holy and loving Father, a tender and compassionate Saviour. Then we are in a right condition to be comforted by the gospel, and these promises apply to us; "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of Heaven." "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Then pardon, peace, and the smiles of Jesus are all ours, for his word cannot fail. And often, when we thus come to him, and weep and long after Jesus, he is close by; as when he spake to Mary, seeking him at the sepulcher.

When we are hungry and thirsty, how glad we are to eat and drink. So the soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness, rejoices in being filled. But the full soul loatheth the honey-comb. The natural appetite has a keen relish for the plainest food; but the perverted appetite cannot be satisfied with all the spices in the world. So the heart that seeks for plain gospel truth, and for salvation through the humble and lowly Jesus, can find blessings in every sermon, every prayer-meeting, and providence of God; but the soul with perverted taste wants eloquence, sarcasm, witticism, a man that is smart, smart! And even then it finds no nutriment, but remains a fashionably religious, perishing soul.

The fact that we are hungry does not really prove that we will have something to eat. Neither can the law, if it convinces us ever so much of sin, bring us to Christ; for it does not say one word about Christ. But when the fact exists that one is hungry, and then food is offered to him, how quick you can draw his attention. So likewise, when we are deeply convinced by the law, and feel the burden of sin, how quickly the gospel will draw our attention, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds. Therefore, the conviction of the law, causing a godly sorrow for sin, must precede all true pardoning grace and divine peace in our hearts.

This position is equally true when we come to speak of the health reform, and sins against nature. These sins are often looked upon as though they were of so different a nature, and so disconnected from the decalogue, that God would wink at them, and not hold us responsible for them. They are often talked about as a kind of "good-natured, little, funny sins; which of course we must at least pretend to overcome, so as to keep our standing in the church. But then I for my part cannot see why Sr. White makes so much ado about it and so much is said in the paper, not to speak about the book called How to Live. We bought one of them long time ago, and there it has been on our shelf ever since."

What a mistaken idea! Can you sin against Nature and Nature's God, and not sin against the decalogue? Can you break down the temple of God, your own body, and not be guilty? Can you weaken your vitality, health, and mind, and not displease God? Can you pervert and stupify those noble faculties of your soul, which exalt you above the brute creation, and enable you to reverence and hold communion with the great God of Heaven and earth, without demoralizing yourself?

In the day of Paul these sins were not so much spoken of, because then the people lived much plainer, and did not know much about those numerous diseases, which are now cursing this imbecile generation. Do you not see all this sickness, and misery, and death round about you? Sin is the only cause of it. What makes yonder glutton sleepy every time he attends a meeting? Overeating. What makes this brother and that sister so slow to apprehend spiritual things? Very often the chief cause is wrong quantity and quality of food. Do you love to hold communion with God? To enjoy clearness of mind and the peace of Heaven? Then cease to pervert the ways of God and nature.

Our Saviour evidently warns this generation when he says, "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life." Therefore, if we do not wish the day of the Lord to come upon us as a snare, but desire to stand before the Son of man, we must avoid surfeiting, or wrong eating, as well as drunkenness, and those many deceiving worldly cares. But the first step in order, is to acknowledge your sin. Then to feel a godly sorrow for sin, repent of sin, and turn away from it to Jesus. There, and there only, can you find help to truly reform. But when you get Jesus to help you, how easy everything goes. Then you will have the health reform connected and interwoven with your religion, and you will praise the Lord for his loving kindness also in this respect.

May the Lord help us to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. May he give us strength to overcome and willingly move forward with the message, until we shall be ready for translation and glory. JOHN MATTESON.

Battle Creek, Mich., June, 1866.