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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 22, 1867

FromReview and Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 19

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GEMS OF TRUTH.

By Jos. Clarke

Sometimes a conscientious man fancies his sins too heinous to be pardoned; but it oftener happens that bad men think it strange that God should notice their sins at all.
God is continually doing good to men, but if for a short time he withholds an accustomed favor, they are straightway in arms against him, as if they had claims upon him, and he was indebted to them.
Men often murmur because they do not obtain their favorite objects of pursuit, such as ease and fortune. Such do not consider that it was prosperity which ruined the antediluvians; as wealth and honor foster pride, and pride ruins cities and nations, as it does individuals.
Often our own sins appear small to us, until we see the same developed in others. Then we abhor ourselves, and repent in sorrow and shame.
Wisdom comes to one in an essay, to another in a sermon, to another in a proverb, to another in a train of reasoning, to another in an exhortation or a reproof; in various ways does Wisdom instruct her children.
Poetry cannot be manufactured. Unless you are born a poet, unless it gushes forth like a mountain-spring from your mind, let it alone. We need but little poetry. Unless it is good, we detest it. If it is exquisitely beautiful and unaffected, we want all you have. Honey is delicious, if undiluted.
A good thought being written out may be perpetuated and made useful; if unwritten, it may be forgotten and lost. There are few who could not do this, with patient endeavors.
It is a nice thing to have conveniences and comforts; but it is better to pay as you go, and be free from debt.
Our words are written upon the records of Heaven; also, they are engraved upon the minds of the young and the old around us. Let us be as careful of our words as the engraver is of his chisel.
It is unsafe to entrust to others the cares and labors which belong to us, if we have strength and ability to perform them.
Slight not your work because the pay is small. Your work lives, and speaks silently but eloquently for or against you, after you have forgotten it.
Jos. Clarke.