p. 202 | A WORD TO BACKSLIDERS by Adolphus Smith

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 10, 1868

A WORD TO BACKSLIDERS.

By Adolphus Smith

A MAN in a skiff is floating down Niagara. He does not ply his oars, although they are within his reach. He appears to be intent upon watching the gambols of the fishes beneath him, or in grasping at the drift-wood floating about him, and with which he is lading his craft, and to make room for which he is casting out one by one all the articles of real value he possesses, gold, silver, raiment, &c. His companions warn him of his danger. He raises his oars and gives half a dozen vigorous strokes, when he relapses again into his former indifference, seeming not to realize that every moment his danger is increasing, that his chances of escape are rapidly diminishing. Again and again his companions called to him. They even throw him a rope and offer to take him in tow. For a moment he yields and seems to bid fair to escape destruction. But matters not going to suit him, he relinquishes his hold on the rope, and again floats away in self-security. He is approaching the rapids. Louder and louder his friends raise the voice of warning; but his habits are formed adverse to his salvation. As before, he gives their warning only a passing notice. See! he has already entered the rapids. He awakes to a sense of his danger. He raises his oars, calls loudly for help. Alas! the longest rope cannot now reach him. He now plies his oars with the energy of despair; and his shrieks are drowned in the thundering of the cataract. My soul turns away from the sickening sight. He is on the brink of the fall, throws up his hands in terror, and is plunged into the fathomless gulf below.

O thou backsliding Sabbath-keeper! Thou art the man! Time is the stream on which thou art floating. Thou art bartering the gold and raiment and eye-salve, for the things of this life. Repeatedly thou art warned of thy danger; the strong arm of the church is offered in thy behalf; and above all, the dear Saviour invites thee to lay hold of his word and be saved. But as the dew before the sun, so thy resolutions vanish in the face of temptation. Thou art nearing the time of trouble, upon which if thou once embark unsaved, the mercy of Christ cannot reach thee, and thine own efforts cannot save thee; and thy name not being found in the “book of life,” thou wilt be cast into the lake of fire.

ADOLPHUS SMITH. Ottawa Co., Mich.