p. 250 | NEGLIGENCE by Jos. Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 31, 1868

NEGLIGENCE.

By Jos. Clarke

“My sons, be not now negligent.” 2 Chron. xxix, 11.

The people of God had wandered from him, and become corrupt; had erected altars to false gods; had sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, and of Syria, and the Lord had permitted his people to fall before their foes in battle, because of their sins; and many evils came upon them; but wicked King Ahaz was now dead, and his son Hezekiah now sat upon the throne; and he addressed himself to the work of national reform, and summoned together the priests and the Levites, that they might have an opportunity of acting as agents in the great and good work of restoring the worship of God in Jerusalem. In the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and began the work of repair, and from the fifth to the eleventh verses is an account of the charge given by him to the priests and Levites; and it is evident that he feared the consequences of neglect, for in his closing words he says to them, “My sons, be not now negligent.”

Negligence had been a prolific source of evil, and now the nation was threatened with ruin; the public worship of God had been discontinued, and many of the people were already in captivity, and many had been slain; and now this good king wished his servants to be thorough in the work of restoring the true worship of God; and most of all, he feared they would be negligent, and perform his commands in such a loose and slack way, that all his good designs might be frustrated. This anxiety of mind on Hezekiah’s part to have thorough work, and a complete purification of the temple, was productive of the best results.

At the present time much may be learned from this subject. We are now, as a people, endeavoring to restore the pure worship of God, which has been greatly corrupted, and it is possible we may be negligent; not only possible, but we fear it is a probability, and in many instances a fact and a reproach.

We may neglect to watch and pray; neglect to read the word of God with prayer; neglect meditation, and self-examination; neglect to hallow the Sabbath, and keep it holy; neglect to read the testimonies, and heed their vital and important instruction, and reproof.

We may be negligent of carrying out the health reform; neglect to overcome vanity and pride, fretfulness and bitterness, and all the hideous brood of evil passions.

We may neglect to post ourselves on present truth, and fall from sheer ignorance; or we may some of us neglect our duty, as church officers, in making our returns to others; or, as individuals we may embarrass the work by neglect in paying our S. B. funds, and other benefactions, and dues to the cause. Parents may neglect to instruct and restrain their children, and children may neglect to heed their parental instructions; in fact our dangers from slackness, and neglect, may be greater than from actual and overt acts of sin. O Lord, help us all to be thorough in our work. JOS. CLARKE.