Following Directions by Mary A. Steward

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 30, 1916

Following Directions

By Mary A. Steward

MARY A. STEWARD

Mr. and Mrs. Straight-Road were an old couple who had lived in the village of Keep-on-in-the-Old-Way all their lives, honored and respected. There their children had been born and had grown up, and they followed in the tracks of their parents, working as they worked and believing as they believed. They said, “What was good enough for father and mother, is good enough for us.” So they lived along year after year, happy and contented. The village was quiet and restful, and everything moved on smoothly in the “good old way,” until finally it grew into a little city, with a mayor, several aldermen, and a town council.

One day a letter came to the post office, addressed to the mayor, and reading as follows:—

“WASHINGTON, D. C., July 1, 1916.

“Mr. — — — — —, Mayor Keep-on-in-the-Old-Way.

“Dear Sir:—

“This is to warn you that a band of robbers has begun operations in the county north of you, and we have reliable information that it intends to work in your vicinity. We are doing all we can to bring the outlaws to justice, but so far they have escaped, and we wish to warn you so you may be on guard against them. We do not know just where they are, but you will do well to be prepared to give them a warm reception if they should come on you suddenly.

“Very truly yours, “— — — — —”

Now the mayor at this time was a son of the old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Straight-Road, and he could not conceive of any danger’s coming to the little city lying so peacefully among the hills. He showed the letter, however, to the aldermen, and a few of the older citizens; but they pooh-poohed the idea that such a disaster could happen, and went home to sleep and dream of prosperity ahead.

Now that robber chief said to his band, “We have been successful so far in evading the police and even the State militia. There is a little hamlet down among the hills where I believe we might get a big haul. They are prosperous, and must have a lot of cash stacked up. Let’s go down and get it.”

So down they went, and the little city woke up with a start one morning to find their stores and banks broken open and their cash gone, and even some of the more wealthy homes invaded and valuables missing.

Then was a great cry raised, and it leaked out that the mayor and other officials had been warned of this invasion, but had taken no precautions against it, nor even informed the men who now were suffering most severely from the raid.

Full of wrath, the bankers and merchants went to the home of the mayor, but he had fled, unable to meet the anger and scorn of his fellow townsmen.

Now, friends, this is only a parable, for no one in his right senses would ever be guilty of neglect so culpable. But think!

God has sent the world a letter, warning men of a destruction more terrible than that which is pictured as befalling the prosperous city of Keep-on-in-the-Old-Way. A few have read that warning and know what it means, and upon them God is depending to warn the rest of the world. But what are they doing? Are they hiding or neglecting the letter, and leaving the world to go on in ignorance of the impending doom? Are they saying, “The way our fathers did is good enough for us”?

Behold, God has a new way for us to walk, to avoid a danger that did not threaten our fathers. We are living in the “time of the end,”—a time such as the world has never known before. The greatest event of all the ages is about to burst upon us, and we have been given the message concerning its approach, and have been bidden to herald that message “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” If we neglect to give the message, how shall we meet, in the judgment, the lost souls who might have been saved? What excuse can we offer? How can we clear ourselves? Verily there will be no way to clear our garments of the blood of lost souls. What agony that will be! O may none of us who read these lines be in that position!