p. 203 | A Touch of The Whip by Congregationalist

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · May 6, 1875

A Touch of The Whip.

By Congregationalist

I NOTICED once, when riding on the top of a stage-coach, that the driver, at certain points on the road, gave one of his forward horses a slight touch of the whip, and, as the horses were going at a fair pace, I asked him why he did it. He replied that the horse had been in the habit of starting and sheering at something seen or imagined at that place in the road and a touch of the whip, just before arriving there, gave him something to think of, so that he passed by without noticing what had before startled him.

And is it too much to believe, that He who is conducting many sons and daughters to glory, notices all the perilous points they pass, and when the case requires it, directs their thoughts and purposes from dangerous directions, by giving them such things to think of as will break the force of temptation, and secure them from wandering? A sad bereavement, a bitter disappointment, a serious illness, a pecuniary loss, as the hour of temptation is at hand, is the touch of the whip. It awakens serious thought. It drives the soul to prayer, dims the false brightness of things earthly, and gives fresh vividness and power to things heavenly and eternal; so that, under such spiritual influences, the points of danger are safely passed, and the rest of life’s journey is traveled all the more safely, and the prospects of heaven are made all the brighter.—Congregationalist.