BE YE STEADFAST by M. J. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 26, 1868

BE YE STEADFAST.

By M. J. Cottrell

“Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”

May not this injunction of the apostle apply to the work of reform in diet, dress, &c., as well as to other portions of the work of preparation for immortality? Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Is not the reform upon which we as a people have entered, a part of this great work? We receive it as such, do we not?—a part of the work of preparation for immortality, inasmuch as by this reform, as we are led to believe, we shall be the better fitted to serve God and to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.”

We are told to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This command to cleanse ourselves implies impurity, and by the cleansing we are to be enabled to perfect ourselves in holiness. This surely is the work of the Lord. We read, “If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, whose temple ye are.” The light of the health reform is shining upon our pathway, showing us wherein we need to cleanse ourselves, that we may be fit temples for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and ought we not to be steadfast in this part of the work, as well as others? And are we steadfast while we occasionally give way to temptation, and taste a few mouthfuls between meals; take a piece of that highly-seasoned pie, cake, or pudding; take one of those delicious-looking ribs, basted and browned so nicely; a cup of tea or coffee because we dislike to be so different from other people? Are we steadfast in the work of reform while doing thus occasionally? ’Tis not often we do it, but, Are we steadfast? I ask. It is my own course, as well as that of others, which leads me to ask this question. Are we steadfast in this reform while, for weeks together, we live almost exclusively on fine-flour bread, and every now and then regale ourselves with a “delicate” piece of mutton or beef? Brethren, is it not time that we were “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as we know that our labor [to overcome the craving of a perverted appetite] is not in vain in the Lord”? It is not in vain, for it is a labor to prepare our bodies to resist, and throw off, disease, that we may the better engage in the work of the Lord in all its separate parts.

If the body is diseased, the mind is beclouded and crippled; and, if by yielding to our depraved appetites we unfit ourselves, mentally and physically, for the service of God, are we steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord? Are we double-minded? “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” If we should see a person start out on a journey, who would every now and then halt, look back, and occasionally take a few steps backward, we should conclude that he was undecided whether to go or not, and we should certainly think that he was not very anxious to go. And should he continue this undecided course, he would make very slow progress, if, indeed, he made any; and he might, when the shadows of night fell around him, get bewildered, and think he was making advancement in his journey, when, in very truth, he was going backward.

Shall it be thus with us in our efforts to live the health reform? If we every little while give way to the cravings of our appetites, and eat those things which we acknowledge to be unhealthy, are we making any real progress? Will such a course assist us to overcome a desire for such things? And do we not by such a course say to lookers on that we have no real set purpose in our professed reform? that we are dissatisfied? And are we not in danger of losing the control we now have over these cravings? We may get bewildered in the moral darkness which surrounds us, and which is fast deepening, and think we are overcoming when we are being overcome. The light of this reform is advancing. Will we advance with it? or will we sit supping at the old poisonous cups, until the light gets so far ahead that we shall stumble in the darkness, and never reach the perfection of holiness to which those who are steadfast, will attain?

M. J. COTTRELL.