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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 22, 1870

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 36, No. 23.

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Submission.

By Jos. Clarke

"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven." Matt. 6: 10.
"I saw that many would have to learn what it is to be a Christian; that it is not in name, but it is in having the mind of Christ, submitting to the will of God in all things." Testimony No. 3, p. 15.
Submission to God, a resignation of one's affairs, plans, hopes, and everything, to the mind and will of God, is an act which must follow repentance, and is followed by joy and peace in believing.
Submission to the will of God comprehends much. This act of submission is not only a laying down of the weapons of rebellion, but it is a putting on of the armor of God, and a full enlistment in the army of Emmanuel.
He who submits to God fully and intelligently, feels that he cannot consistently shrink at any cross or self-denial which God requires at his hand; and while he carries out this principle in his daily life, he has the assurance in his own heart that he is accepted of God; but it is a withdrawing of this act which causes darkness, backsliding, and apostasy.
The repentant sinner often submits himself to God, wholly, as he avers; but when tests and crosses come, he shrinks first, then utterly refuses to deny himself, little thinking that, in thus shrinking, he is, in fact, undoing his act of submission to the will of God.
The sinner, in submitting his all to God, does, in so doing, change masters; and virtually says to God, Henceforth I am thine. I now throw off my allegiance to the world, the flesh, and the devil, and commit my all into thy hands. Rule over me, O my Creator, and reign within me. Create within me a clean heart, and renew within me a right spirit.
This act of submission admits of no mental reserve. Should the sinner say in his heart, I submit to thee, O my God, upon conditions that thou perform for me this or that, or should he reserve for himself license for certain favorite plans, schemes, or indulgences in certain sins, or pleasures, or pursuits, his act of submission would bring no light, joy, or peace; for God would reject his plea.
No mortal can perform this act, until he feels his need of a Saviour, so that he is willing to lay down his life and his all for eternal life. His appetites and passions, his wealth and talents, his influence, his affections, are all laid upon the altar, as Abraham laid his son upon the altar at Moriah.
Reader, are you daily striving, by self-examination and prayer, to do the will of God? Have you ever fully laid down your weapons of rebellion? Have you ever ceased to make war with God for an hour or a day? Has God been in all your plans, and hopes, and pursuits, and pleasures?
It is said of the wicked, that God is not in all his thoughts. (Ps. 10: 4.) His plans, and pleasures, and pursuits, he follows from the counsels of his own will. This, alone, constitutes rebellion. The Christian has nothing which he really calls his own; all is consecrated to God; and all hesitation in giving up our loved plans, pleasures, pursuits, treasures, etc., wholly to the call of God, only manifests, either that the first act of submission was made hastily and partially, or, that the act has been reversed to a greater or less degree. This reversal is an act quite too common, and shows plainly the fickleness of our nature, and the weakness of our resolutions, and the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil, to lead astray.
To live constantly as we should, it is necessary to make a full submission of our all to God, and then to hold continually to this act; to hold this as a sacred contract or covenant with our Creator. It should be the constant effort and aim of the one making this act of submission, to study to know God's will, and then to do it with promptness and pleasure. It implies consecration in its fullest sense. It implies obedience to God's moral law, and a willingness to receive and abide by the testimonies of his faithful servants, and to receive and walk in the light, as fast as God opens and directs in reformatory movements. And he who lovingly submits his will to the will of God, will not only be willing, but anxious, to understand the word of God, for it is the rule of his life.
Such an act of submission as we have described stands opposed to prejudice and bigotry; it opens the mind to the influence of sound reason and truth; it tends to lead the mind to God for light, and supplicates the aid of the Spirit of God; it aims to root out error, and to establish itself in the truth; it has no self to gratify, for the very act of submission, well understood, contemplates an abnegation of self, and a baptism of the spirit of God; it stops at no self-denial; it is not a passive, tame, abject, gloomy state of the affections, but it results in a full consecration of all to God, and will be content with nothing short of a perfect conformity to the will of God, and an active participation in his service.
Submission to the will of God becomes a practical matter with the child of God, from his first experience in the divine life. As it was the most important step in his conversion, the one preceding his assurance of acceptance with God, so, in his daily experience, he finds that repetition of this mental act brings sweet peace and joy. When sorrow, and disappointment, and affliction, cause him to faint by the way, submission to the will of God brings a healing balm to his spirit. When he is tempted to murmur at the unforeseen trials which come upon him, submission turns his complaint to praise. When tempted to go astray from God, submission to the will of God protests against the dictates of the carnal mind; and as he yields himself a willing servant to God, he feels that Satan is defeated.
Such victories as these, over the enemy, are the only true victories; these elevate the soul to a true appreciation of the doctrines of the gospel. Here is the difficulty with many who profess the present truth: as, in the first message, a large number embraced the truth who had no religious experience, that is, had never submitted the will to God; but, from the weight of argument, had embraced the doctrine of the second advent; so, now, many have embraced the truth upon the Sabbath question, merely from the weight of argument, who have never really bowed the will to God.
Such are striving unlawfully; and until this heart-work is done, their work cannot be wholly acceptable to God. Such a service is not agreeable either to God or to the one who renders it; to the one who renders it, it is a blind groping in the dark; it is a fruitless search; an up-hill work, in which more is lost than is won. Toward God, this service is wholly barren. He cannot accept it, for it is carnal; it is Satan casting out Satan; bitter against bitter; it is a service as bootless as idolatry.
The carnal mind, undertaking to walk the narrow path, is, in fact, climbing up some other way; the pilgrim must come in by the door; as Bunyan describes, by the wicket gate.
He who has not made this surrender of his heart to God, has not yet changed his position; he is still a subject of Satan.
A man may be outwardly a fair professor of religion, yet inwardly a child of the devil. He may strive and pray to free himself from this bondage, and all in vain, until he make this full surrender of all; God will accept nothing else; he must come back and begin anew at the foundation. Too many will stumble here. They will not acknowledge themselves so deceived; such an acknowledgment would be too humiliating; they self-confidently presume upon God's mercy and their own righteousness.
This is a precious privilege to the true pilgrim, to surrender all to God; whether it is his will, his fair fame, or his fortune, it is all God's; his means, his time, his influence; it only causes joy to give up all to God. Jos. CLARKE.